At the Aug. 12 assembly meeting, Diana Lapham brought up a motion for reconsideration of a previous action that had delayed indefinitely a tour operator’s application for a new tour at Chilkoot Lake. The reconsideration motion and another associated with it subsequently passed and the permit will apparently be issued.
Two media representatives pointed out that this was done without notice to the public who might have wished to attend. That is a good point. However, Lapham understood, and I think correctly, that a motion to reconsider must be brought up at the same or next meeting after the action to be reconsidered. She stated that she had learned new information from State Parks, which had conducted capacity analyses, that the proposed tour would be compatible with their plans for the park, thus her change of mind. Her motion did not need to be advertised.
Lapham will undoubtedly take heat because she initiated this action. So perhaps will the other three assembly members who voted with her. But the real culprit, if there is one, is the State of Alaska that has been aware of the congestion problem at Chilkoot Lake for 20-plus years but has done nothing at all to relieve it. It would not take a rocket scientist to configure an orderly parking scheme that would allow at least 50 percent more parking than the current haphazard mess. Borough management should initiate and maintain pressure on the state to correct this mess and do it soon.
Mike Case