On April 13th, students at Haines High noticed large, professional-quality posters in the school saying “Save Our Beloved Beach” and students were encouraged to attend the evening assembly meeting to protest planned dock developments on the Haines waterfront.
The posters presented the image of a golden toilet over the water with the implication that this is how $2 million of cruiseship head tax revenue would be spent. The eye-catching posters were the result of a last minute effort on the part of some in the community to stop the planned developments at the Port Chilkoot Dock.
Dock improvement plans had been in the making for years with the construction to be financed with cruiseship tax monies that Representative Bill Thomas worked hard to get directed to Haines. So an organized protest involving students just before construction was to start was a bit of a shock to some in the community. The posters and last minute effort resulted in over a dozen students attending the April 13th assembly meeting to voice concerns over perceived loss of the beach.
A real civics class opportunity was missed here and in its place the main lesson taught was how to protest without being properly informed of the project plans and impacts. Although student involvement in local government and awareness of local political issues is to be commended, one wonders at the misdirected effort at involving students in a project when the public input part of the planning process was over. Their public comments were made at a meeting where the subject was not even on the agenda.
Assembly meetings the past year (and longer) have seen hundreds of hours occupied with review of engineering plans for proposed dock improvements. Alternatives were presented and modified by the assembly many times after review and public input. The planning commission was heavily involved. Land ownership problems were discovered in the process between the Borough and the Department of Transportation resulting in improvement plans having to meet DOT standards for public parking and street access.
The process progressed to the Army Corps of Engineers permitting phase early in 2010. As part of this process, final public comment was invited between mid-February and mid-March. Where were the protesters?
As discussed in a previous article in this publication, the opposition mis-represented the scope of the project. A relatively small amount of beach area would be impacted; the restrooms were a small part of the cost of the overall project; access to the beach would be provided with stairs; and the dock structure would be improved.
Teachers and students interested in changes to the Haines waterfront and improvements that affect the Haines economy did not take advantage of the public process in local government by following the project properly. Instead, they were encouraged to protest at the last minute.
Is this the way we want to teach our students to get involved?
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