Skagway residents cast their ballots in the 2015 municipal election. (Emily Files)
Skagway has another write-in candidate for borough assembly. That means there are now three contenders for two open seats.
Philip Clark filed as a write-in candidate Thursday morning. The 17-year Skagway resident works as a carpenter for the National Park Service. He says he wants to give voters options.
“My motivation [for running] is primarily what appears to be a lack of motivation by other members of the community,” Clark said. “And I thought people should have an option at the voting booth rather than one person and nothing else, you know.”
Former Assemblyman and restaurant owner Dan Henry is the only resident who filed for assembly in time to get his name on the ballot. Retiree Dewey McCracken later registered as a write-in candidate.
Like McCracken, this is Clark’s first bid for public office.
Clark says if elected, he’s interested in addressing Skagway’s air quality concerns and housing shortage. Clark says he was opposed to a recent ordinance aimed at allowing higher-density housing in residential general zones.
“There’s a lot of new housing units going in, multi-unit buildings. And honestly I’m not a super big fan of that,” Clark said. “I’d like the city to address housing issues in other ways. And while I haven’t explored them yet, I’d love to explore different ways.”
Perhaps the biggest issue facing Skagway right now is the future of the waterfront. The city is talks with White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad for a new 15-year tidelands lease.
Clark says he has to play catch-up on that topic. He says he has not closely followed the waterfront situation.
Skagway’s mayoral position and two school board seats are also up for election Oct. 3.
Incumbent mayor Mark Schaefer is running unopposed. There are four candidates for the school board positions.
The deadline to register as a write-in candidate is Sept. 29.
Housing is the major issue for a lot of Skagwegians who have lived here for a very long time and still find themselves shuttling from temporary housing season to season. To a lot of these residents the issue of the waterfront is secondary to whether they’ll have a place to live for the summer.
Summer housing will be a null issue if the waterfront issues don’t get resolved. The cruise ships can easily cancel when there’s no place for their newer vessels to park.
The people not finding housing aren’t just summer residents, but rather the people who spend the winter here but don’t own property.
It’s all good and well to say that if the waterfront issues aren’t resolved the housing issue will be moot, that doesn’t mean it’s not an issue that doesn’t need to be tackled. It directly affects the lives of people _right now_. If you want a community that lives here beyond the tourist season and brings commerce to Skagway in the winter, than you need to fix the housing issue for the residents who want to stay here in the winter. Diversifying the economy and making it robust against fluctuation in tourism starts with making people feel like they’re welcome here even if they don’t own property.
And if the waterfront issues do result in a larger dock and more tourists, the housing pressures in Skagway will be even more acute. Putting this off is illogical.