Sitka was host to more than 13,000 cruise ship passengers during one single day the week before. This is more than one-and-a-half times the approximately 8,300 who reside in the town according to the latest figures of the U.S. Census Bureau.
Sitkans knew there could be times similar to this: People shoulder-to-shoulder across the roughly 5 blocks along Lincoln Street that were closed to vehicular traffic in preparation for the event.
The Mayor Steven Eisenbeisz owns a retail store in the area. In the assembly session on Tuesday the mayor pondered aloud if the 21st of June was a lucky day or perhaps a lesson on overcrowding.
“The general consensus I heard was that If you had a storefront you were told it was crowded with people. If you owned food trucks or if you were on the streets in that manner the majority of people liked it because you were able to sell out before closing time and got the chance to return home” Eisenbeisz said. “The perception from people who make a profit from it was that ten thousand people at once was a lot. This is not just because it was one or two people, but it was all of us.”
Sitka Administrator John Leach said he took the walk to downtown Sitka to meet entrepreneurs. Leach informed the assembly that Sitka’s main road that was crowded.
“Trying to things in City Hall, our bandwidth was absent,” Leach said. “And our computers were slowing to an absolute crawl and our phones were not functioning. Also, I’m aware of other communities that have experienced these issues before. I’m aware that Juneau faced these problems as they experienced their boom in cruises. And I also reminded a few of the people I spoke to within the cruise industry of some of the earlier discussions that we had over the spending of Sitka’s resources. What is the balance?”
On the main street there were other businesses being hit. Sitka Sound Science Center was among them. Sitka Sound Science Center announcing that they will be cutting their hours and would close around 3 p.m. Director Lisa Busch says her organization is grateful for the chance to educate people about the scientific process, salmon and oceans, however it was simply excessive crowds.
“We are only beginning to realize how much capacity we have to handle that, both for our employees and the building itself,” Busch told KCAW in a telephone interview. “We cannot accommodate all of the people who want to join us all at the same time.”
Busch states that closing earlier will allow her team members time to get ready for the following day’s work and also fulfill other duties in the center, which is a permanent scientific research facility.
The influx of cruise passengers visiting Sitka on the 21st of June was caused by simultaneous visit by three ships: the Ruby Princess, the Eurodam and the Quantum of the Seas. These three ships will be back at sea on the 19th of July.
