KCAW

The Sitka Imagination Library, an affiliate of the well-known national organization led by country music star Dolly Parton, provides a free book each month to children up to age 5 in Sitka and Port Alexander. Nicole Filipek and Kari Sagel joined KCAW for the Morning Interview to discuss an upcoming ‘story stroll’ event the organization is hosting in Sitka this weekend for young children and their families. Listen here:

The fourth annual Sitka Jazz Week begins next week, with participant activities and more than 20 free public concerts. Christian Fabian, founder of the festival, joined KCAW on the Morning Interview to discuss what, and who, to expect at this year’s event, including instruction from Bernard “Pretty” Purdie, Matt King, Cleave Guyton Jr, Christian Fabian, Heather Gluth, Anne Phillips, and The Gateway Trio. To find out more, or register for activities, visit the Sitka Jazz Week website.

This Saturday August 22, the city’s Parks and Recreation Division, in partnership with Sitka Rotary, will bring back a beloved Sitka event that took a hiatus during the coronavirus pandemic — the annual bike rodeo Parks and Rec manager Kevin Knox and Rotarian Jeff Budd joined KCAW for the morning interview to discuss the event. Listen here:

The public is invited to attend Journey to the Center of the Show at the Sitka Sound Science Center from 5:30-7 p.m. tonight (8-17-26) to explore the micro-universe of life on abalone shells. Researchers from the University of California Santa Cruz will share more about their investigating shell erosion in pinto abalone in the area. They joined KCAW’s Morning Interview to discuss the event and their work. Listen here:

Over the next month, Brave Heart Volunteers is raising money through its annual Buoys & Art fundraiser. Artist-decorated buoys and artwork are up for bidding during the organization’s online auction, which culminates in a banquet and live auction at Odess Theater on September 12. Michele Friedman and Bitsy Mosher joined KCAW to discuss the events. Listen here:

Three candidates are in the running for Sitka mayor this October. Lisa Lane filed to run for the assembly’s top job last week (8-6-26).

Lane moved to Sitka nearly 40 years ago, and is now semi-retired. She currently works part-time greeting guests and offering information at the cruise ship terminal, and volunteers cutting hair for residents at the Pioneer Home. 

KCAW’s Hope McKenney sat down with Lane on Thursday (8-13-26) to discuss her bid for the seat and what she hopes to accomplish, if elected. 

TRANSCRIPT:

LANE: I arrived here in 1988 as an entertainer. I have lived here since that time. I bought my first home in 1991. I have three fine sons that all graduated from Sitka High School, and I’ve been part of the community as a small business owner, a vacation rental owner, a long-term rental person. I’ve worked for other people as well. I worked for a video production company for several years. Part of that time, we filmed the assembly meetings, and I became real familiar with the process and the people, and very interested in it at the time. At the time, I felt with three kids and three jobs, I probably didn’t have the time to focus on what needed to be done in order to do that job. Now I have time for the research and the process.

KCAW: And so you’re running for the mayor’s seat against two current assembly members. Tell me a bit about that decision.

LANE: Well, as I just said, I became interested when I was working for a video production company, and we were filming the assembly meetings. At the time, Bert Stedman was on. Thor [Christianson] had just been elected, and so I’ve watched the process for a long time. I’m very proud of how our community works together as a community. I think it’s real important that everyone is inclusive. I don’t want to see us be something like Skagway, where we’re only a community during the tourist season. I like that we’re a real community. We have a lot of things going. I want to see those options continue. I had a couple of conversations that concerned me that made me think that maybe now was the time for me to run for mayor, as my children have all grown up and I’ve retired. Even though we sold the city hospital and the property, I think it’s still important that as a community we have a voice as to what is being offered at SEARHC. It’s a beautiful, brand new, shiny building. I’d like to see it have content that was stable, so we’re not just dealing with travelers or different travelers randomly. I think we need a mental health department. It distresses me that when people are in their largest form of need, they have to be shipped to Bartlett [Regional Hospital] or Anchorage. Same with dialysis. It seems that we could be able to offer those services here in such a beautiful facility, and acquire people that could come on a regular basis, even if they couldn’t live here full time.

KCAW: Yeah, and you’re touching on some of these issues that are important to you. What do you see as some of the other large issues facing Sitkans right now, and if elected as mayor, how would you address those?

LANE: Of course, the largest issue is probably housing. We have to be able to facilitate for everyone, and we have to be concerned that everyone is taken care of. Can’t leave anything out just for easy access. It’s important that everyone has water. I’ve talked to some people who actually get their water from a hose out of the creek. I want to make sure that everyone has water and sewer and all the basic facilities that happen. [I] want to see the harbors be safe. I think it’s important that we address some of the issues when we do have large boats and stuff. I’d like to see something happen, so the tourists are herded to the crosswalk instead of yelled at. No one’s listening when you get yelled at, and the distance between Lincoln Street and the bridge and accessing the airport and the hospital, I think that’s important that they’re actually herded to the crosswalk, which sounds a little frivolous, but I do think that’s important. Major issues: taxes are an issue, always an issue. I want to make sure that property taxes — there’s got to be some way that when you buy a property and you maintain the property, you’re not punished just because your neighbor sells at a very much higher rate, especially for people with fixed incomes and stuff, we have to really examine that. I understand we need the money in the infrastructure. I also know that when people have made something their home for a long time, you don’t want to punish them because they’ve done the repairs that are necessary to keep it standing.

KCAW: Can you tell me a bit about any past civic engagement? For example, have you served on any commissions or boards either in Sitka or somewhere else?

LANE: No, I haven’t. As I said, I had three kids and three jobs, so I felt like it was important that my focus was raising a family that made the paper in a positive manner, not a negative manner. As a hairdresser, I’ve done hair at the Pioneer Home as necessitated before my last child was born, and now that I’ve returned, I also visit people who are unable to get out and do their hair if it’s necessary. [I] try to be available if people are need me. I’m not necessarily someone who — I don’t look for boards and stuff. I will listen to anyone and everyone, and I will try to do my research and make any kind of judgments that are needed from me in a thoughtful manner.

KCAW: Why should Sitkans vote for you?

LANE: Well, I think that’s subjective. I don’t know that you should necessarily vote for me or anyone else. I do know that you should vote. It’s very important that you maintain your right to vote and you maintain your voice as a citizen. It’s very important that you read and make sure you understand what’s being said, and sometimes that is a little confusing. For instance, I was discussing the fact that it grieved me that we lost facilities like Raven’s Way because I think it’s important that when we’re trying to help the people that are in distress for whatever reason, we have more to offer than just methadone. I think we need to offer hope and education. I think that’s the real key to keeping younger people here, and keeping families together and stable, and keeping them safe.

Stephen Lawrie sits at a booth in the Pioneer Bar in Sitka and points to a painting behind the counter. It’s a portrait of Art Petraborg, whose windswept white hair whisks across a canvas filled with dark clouds.

“He’s got braided sideburns,” Lawrie points out. “Are you kidding me? I mean, that was the coolest thing I’d ever seen.”

The two met nearly 50 years ago when Lawrie started trolling, and he still remembers their first interaction. Lawrie’s 30-some paintings hanging in the bar look to capture these types of stories.

The collection is called “This Thing We Call the Ocean Part II: Names discovered, stories told.” It’s similar to last summer’s exhibit — in name and content — but this time it also honors some people from the past. 

“They are no longer with us, but they formed sort of the core, or they set the tone for fishing in Pelican and in Sitka,” he says.

A downtown bar might not be a traditional gallery space, but Lawrie prefers it that way. 

“This is where ordinary people come and that’s the audience that I’m interested in,” Lawrie says.

Earlier this summer, Lawrie accepted the People’s Choice Award for one of New Zealand’s most prestigious painted portraiture contests, the Adam Portraiture Award competition. He was recognized by the New Zealand Portrait Gallery for a painting of him and his sons aboard the fishing vessel Born Again. It hangs with his other works at the Pioneer Bar.

The bar’s walls are typically covered in small, framed photographs of fishermen, their boats, and the ocean. But Maite Lorente, who helped Lawrie curate this collection, says there comes a time when you start to ignore the photos. 

“If you want to see a work of art that you have in your place, or you really want to see it, once time has gone by, you need to move it. You need to shake it,” Lorente says. “When we remove these paintings, those stories come back with a louder voice.”

Lawrie’s paintings help bring a new perspective.

“It feels different, not better, not worse, but different,” Lorente remarks.

Lorente helped Lawrie find stories and family photos for him to paint, though the artist seems to know quite a few of his subjects. 

“He was so kind to me when he could have been really tough on me,” Lawrie remembers as he looks at a portrait of Jake Phillips.

Lawrie says he admires how fishermen would help one another, even when they didn’t have to. He knows fishing is a stressful job — he was a troller for 43 years — but he wants to capture the lightness of his subjects, not just their grit. 

“Painting someone like Moses Johnson Senior there, that guy was one of the best fishermen in this town, just totally low key and not at all pushy. He was a really mellow guy. His biggest thing was his basketball when he was a young man, but he caught fish like crazy,” Lawrie says.

There’s a portrait of Bill Hills, a name Lorente came across when researching Greentop Harbor on Yakobi Island, not far from Pelican. Hills started fishing in Alaska in the late 1930s, a time, Lawrie notes, before float planes and U.S. Coast Guard helicopters.

“You’re on your own,” he says, “so it becomes a community of people keeping an eye on your neighbor, even if he cuts you off every now and again. You’re still keeping an eye on him.”

Lawrie remembers a time when there’d be picnics on the beach if fishing was slow. He says the shortened fishing season has made the job more competitive over the years, and he hopes his paintings are a reminder of how essential a close-knit community is to fishing in Southeast.

Aklei Helen Dangel, Liz Zacher and Jeremy Rupp joined KCAW for the Morning Interview to discuss an upcoming registration event and student orientation, the Sitka Start program and other tuition waiver opportunities. Listen to the conversation here:

The Sitka Assembly voted to postpone a conversation concerning a major overhaul of the city’s commercial transportation code on Tuesday (8-12-26) after several community members spoke out against the proposed changes. 

Sitka’s current taxi code has remained largely unchanged for nearly three decades. At assembly meeting, Municipal Administrator John Leach said the city has been working for several years to update it to more accurately reflect the community’s current transportation landscape. 

“The chapter in place has remained largely unchanged since the late 1990s,” he said. “The existing chapter regulates only taxis. It does not account for tours, shuttles, limousines, human-powered vehicles such as pedicabs, all of which operate in Sitka today.” 

The updated code city staff developed would introduce an endorsement system divided into three classes, folding in the updated transportation methods. It would not allow taxi operators to hold any other endorsements, a change Leach says is intended to ensure dedicated public taxi service. The new code would also update the existing fare structure to a flat-rate system based on pick-up and drop off zones, rather than a metered one. 

“Under the current chapter, a person who believes they’re hiring a taxi at a regulated rate can find that the trip is billed as a tour or a sightseeing service at a rate the city does not regulate,” Leach said. “That’s a hard position for a passenger who has no way to know the difference, and it’s not fair to the operators who do charge the published rate.”

Leach said changing the city’s taxi code is contentious. The “painful process” began with community conversations in 2023, but the city’s efforts were stalled after a taxi company sued the former police chief over his interpretation of the taxi code. The case was settled last summer, allowing the city to revisit the issue.

“Nobody’s touched this in 27 years because every time we try to touch it, this is what happens,” he said. “And most people have said, ‘This is not worth my time and energy.’”

Even though a few years have passed, the issue still got pushback at Tuesday’s meeting, where several community stakeholders said they don’t support the proposed updates, and that if approved, it will hurt business. 

Elias Carroll works for Tidal Taxi and Tours. He said taxi demand has decreased in recent years, as hotels, fishing lodges, and cruise terminals have started to provide their own shuttle service. He said a few local calls and walkups a day isn’t enough to maintain the cost of running a taxi business. 

“As regulations on taxis increase, drivers will soon not be able to survive in Sitka’s high costs of living,” he said.

Sig Rutter agreed. He said throughout his tenure as a cab driver in Sitka, he’s sold taxi, tour, and shuttle services, and he wants to keep it that way. 

“I believe it’s completely inappropriate for the assembly, or chief of police, or the administrator to try to force us to choose whether we’re going to be a taxi, tour or a shuttle,” Rutter said. “I’m entitled to continue doing business the way I have for the last 16 years.”

Assembly Member Scott Saline said he wants more public engagement before voting on the code update, and suggested postponing the issue until later this year. 

“I’m just afraid we’re going to end up with like a haulout that can’t haul out boats, and we’re going to end up with cabs that can’t pick people up,” he said.

Assembly Member Katie Riley agreed with the postponement. She said balancing the affordability needs of residents with the needs of providers to make a living is a tough line to walk.

“I would love a little bit of thought to go into this process because it has been talked about for 27 years, and there keep being impediments,” Riley said. “So there needs to be some dedication to getting a comprehensive look at what all the comments are on this proposal, where all the little rub points are, and then what can we do about that.”

Ultimately, the assembly voted unanimously to move the issue to its meeting on Nov. 24.

Sitkans are invited to a new community event to celebrate the winding down of the busy summer season. Sitka Sound SummerFest, hosted by Sitka Sound Cruise Terminal and the Greater Sitka Chamber of Commerce, aims to bring together live music, local food, artisans, families, and businesses on August 22 from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Parking will be available at Harrigan Centennial Hall and the ferry terminal, with shuttles running throughout the day to the event. Rachel Roy, executive director of the Chamber, and Ember Livingston Emmons, market coordinator, joined KCAW on the Morning Interview to discuss the upcoming event. Listen to their conversation here: