Juneau voters rejected a ballot proposition that would have banned all large cruise ships on Saturdays in this year’s municipal election.
But supporters say it’s not the end of the local grassroots effort to address the impacts of tourism growth. And now, plans for a new cruise ship dock on Douglas Island are complicating things.
This year’s municipal election season was packed with candidate forums and campaign signs. You couldn’t scroll on social media without seeing an ad.
Most of the time, they all centered around the most contentious issue on the ballot — whether Juneau should ban large cruise ships on Saturdays? Final election results showed just over 60% of registered voters were against the idea.
“It’s too hard a line just to say no ships on Saturdays,” said Juneau voter Heather Ramseth on Election Day. “I think trying to be more nuanced about our approach is important, and continuing to have conversations, even though it’s hard.”
Karla Hart is a longtime activist against tourism growth and one of the community members behind the initiative.
“I think that the fact that 40% voted yes is very telling,” she said.
She thinks most people in Juneau want to see real change to slow down the expansion of tourism, but she wasn’t surprised the initiative failed. That’s because of how much money the opposition group, Protect Juneau’s Future, threw at its campaign.
According to a campaign finance report from late September, the group raised nearly $500,000. On the flip side, Ship Free Saturdays only raised $380.
“We didn’t advertise, because it was clear that we were never going to win a campaign on advertising,” Hart said.
One of the loudest voices against the initiative was McHugh Pierre. He’s the president and CEO of Goldbelt Incorporated, an Alaska Native corporation based in Juneau, and was the chair of Protect Juneau’s Future. One of the group’s bigger donors was Royal Caribbean Group. The cruise line also sent a letter to the city threatening a lawsuit if the initiative passed.
Then, just a day after the election results were certified, Goldbelt and the cruise line announced a partnership to develop a new cruise ship port on the backside of Douglas Island.
“This is the very beginning,” Pierre said in an interview after the announcement. “There’s a lot of communication that needs to happen now and a lot of feedback, but what’s really important is that we wanted to start the conversation. We’re excited for the long-term prospects of opening up this area for our use and for the community’s use.”
City officials said they were blindsided by the announcement.
“I’ve heard, personally from McHugh Pierre, that this is the beginning of the dialogue. But you don’t start a dialogue with the press release the day after a contentious election is certified,” said Alix Pierce, Juneau’s tourism manager.
Pierce said the timing erodes the trust people have in the city to fairly manage tourism.
“It makes the city look like we were somehow in on it, and I can assure the public that we were not,” she said. “I’m just so incredibly disappointed in the approach that they took and the way that this was handled.”
Hart was also taken aback by the news.
“I think it’s indication that Goldbelt and Royal Caribbean are entirely tone-deaf on what’s going on — it just is entirely tone-deaf,” she said.
According to City Attorney Emily Wright, a proposition similar to Ship Free Saturdays can’t be on the ballot again for at least one year after the election is certified, which rules out a repeat initiative next year.
But Hart said she and other advocates plan to continue to make noise by attending city meetings about tourism, speaking with Assembly members about future ideas and speaking out against the proposed Douglas port.
Pierce said the city also wants to ramp up public outreach on what residents want to see change in Juneau’s tourism landscape.