Editor’s note: This year the Chilkat Valley News partnered with KHNS on its election coverage in addition to hosting two candidate forums. A playlist of these profiles, as they are posted, can be found here.
You can find KHNS’ coverage, including audio-only excerpts of these conversations here.
We’re hosting a forum for assembly candidates on Friday, Sept. 25 at 6:30 p.m. in the Chilkat Center. It will also air live on KHNS, 102.3 locally.
Will Steinfeld: Lee Robinson, thanks for joining me. We’re in the KHNS studio. You’re running for assembly this year. Tell me a little bit about yourself and tell me why you decided to run.
Lee Robinson: You bet. I’m from Colorado. My wife and I moved here about 10 years ago, and we made that move so that we could be in a small community with our family. We wanted to raise our family here near where other extended family was living. So it was a great opportunity. We felt to just engage in a small community and be with that extended family. I’ve got two sister in laws that also moved up here, so our kids got to grow up around in total, like, 17 or 18 cousins.
We came from a small community, and so we kind of all came up here at the same time, and so it’s been special. We have no regrets. We weren’t really running away from anything in Colorado. In fact, we left a lot. We left great friends. We left some family. I left a career back there teaching.
Prior to moving here, I was a teacher for 12 years in Colorado. I was a photojournalist. I’ve been a mountain guide, a river guide. I have been a realtor and been a wedding photographer, a right of way agent. So I’ve got a long list of careers under my belt and professional endeavors. I think all of those will give me perspective and will give me perspective on anything I do, but particularly in running for office here.
We moved up here and we had never done food service before. We bought the building anyway from the folks that were selling it in 2017, and in May of that year, we opened the Rusty Compass. It had been a coffee shop before, but we kind of expanded its operation quite a bit over a couple of years. We remodeled the place, tried to make it bigger. Now we could use even a bigger place, but that’s not going to happen — at least not in the foreseeable future. We love what we do. We love community, and I think that’s what’s always been my driving passion.
I guess the thing that energizes me is is being part of the community and making relationships with people in the community, and that was true of my teaching career: just coming alongside young people and helping them to realize their dreams, their goals, their vision for what life could be, and and really just come alongside. I oftentimes remarked, you know, just if you look at my past with with all the careers I had, with young people these days, just like any time in history, it’s like, well, I don’t know what I want to do when I grow up. Trust me, neither do I, and if I can do it, then you can too. You can make it. Trust me, you’ll be fine.
What were you teaching?
I taught history, government and geography. So a lot of the social studies. My first teaching gig was for middle school, and then I took a few years off and then went back to teaching and these were in small rural Colorado towns and I went back to teaching as a high school history teacher and geography teacher and then when I left Colorado and came here I didn’t think I was going to teach again but when the COVID hit and they shut down all the restaurants and a lot of businesses, et cetera, I had to pivot and do something. An opportunity opened up at the school when Mrs. Boron went to be a principal, and so it was a great opportunity to jump back into my role as a teacher, and it was great. It was just fun to be back in the classroom, even though I didn’t think I was gonna be back in the classroom. So it lasted three years, probably two years too long, just because of how busy we ended up being at the shop. But again, it’s I think it’s part of what drives me is just to be around people and to be an encourager.
Tell me, with all that history, why now for running for assembly?
It’s been a position that I’ve considered for the last couple of election cycles. I’ve always enjoyed politics. I’ve always enjoyed policy making, and I see the need for government, and I see the need for, you know, contributing as a citizen of our town or of our country. I appreciate those who have served, and the many people who’ve gone, you know, before me. So, I’ve always liked the idea of it. I’ve never necessarily thought that I was cut out for it, but you know, I think that I have the skills, I think I have the patience and and hopefully the common sense and the wisdom to do it.
So why now? I think we need people that can step up and provide some leadership, provide some insight, and you know, this is an interesting town politically. We all know, and the mantra is that we’re a divided town, and I’d say that is true in some ways, but in a lot of ways we are not.
In a lot of ways, we have a lot of things that unite us, and we have a lot of commonalities. We tend to focus on those divisions, and they’re important things that separate us, no doubt. But what I do think is true is that we all generally want good things for our community. We want policies that will benefit everybody. So we just differ maybe in how we are going to get, you know, certain things done, how we’re going to get it across the finish line, whatever that is. But I think we all definitely are starting from at least a desire to do good.
So hopefully, I’ll be able to bring some of that leadership, some of that creativity, and I have a lot to learn too. I definitely don’t come into this thinking I’m gonna change the world. I’m going to come into this eyes wide open and asking lots of questions and doing my research as I go and hopefully, you know, do things and work with others to get things done in a good way.
Yeah, those assembly meetings would get long if we’re changing the world. A lot of two day meetings.
Yeah, I was gonna say as far as that goes, I mean, assembly meetings can get, you know, people get emotionally invested, they get personally invested in these things, and so there’s definitely, I think, room for that. But I think we got to remember, at the end of the day, we do need to be cordial, professional, and respectful of each other and of each other’s ideas. I think it’s important to champion what you think is right and to push certain ideas forward, but know that there are differing and opposing viewpoints.
So there, on some level, there may need to be compromises, and there may need to be – maybe there’s a new way to see something or a new perspective on something that none of us have considered, and we need to we need to flush those out if we can.
Other candidates have talked a lot about the Lutak dock. Some have talked about the Port Chilkoot dock and cruise ship traffic. Do you have a sense of what you think are the most pressing decisions that the Assembly is considering right now?
Well, we all know that the Lutak dock is first and foremost. Hopefully by the election we will have that thing underway, and we can get that thing across the finish line. At least it seems like we’re steps closer to that. So I think there are good questions that need to be answered, and I think there are important factors to consider still, especially with funding. And so, yes, that is a major thing. Man, though, we’ve been working on this for several years, and hopefully now we have a vision set well enough that we can see this thing through.
This dock is not getting any better as we wait. So I definitely am a proponent for staying the course and seeing the current version as accepted back in April to get completed. Yes, we do have some due diligence to do, and we do need to answer some important questions about funding. But I think those can be resolved in satisfactory ways.
I feel like with any of these issues, Lutak dock included, the individual votes come and go. The thing I’m always curious about is the process of how the assembly does the fact finding and deliberation. When you watch the current assembly or you watch the assembly from the past few years, is there anything, let’s say on the Lutak dock specifically, that you would have changed about the process of how they’ve attacked this problem?
It’s a difficult question to answer because I haven’t seen all of the behind-the-scenes fact-finding. Over the last few years, I’m only getting highlights, I guess, if you will. Certainly, it has appeared that there are different factions of people, different stakeholders that want different outcomes, and you know, I can only speculate why different factions want, say, to get a smaller design or to get a smaller footprint.
I don’t want to put words in anybody’s mouth. But I think what’s important is that we all agree that we need one, and that we all need to just move forward. So I want to see what we can do moving forward, and really just empower the different decision makers and the different stakeholders to get that done and that, of course, starts with I think the assembly. But we need to put the right people in place and give them the right tools and then follow the direction of those who are professionals at this, who have built docks, the engineers and the architects and all of that.
I think we need, definitely once we have a plan in place, we need to follow their lead within the boundaries that we have. With budget and those considerations. So again, there’s lots to be uncovered as we move forward. But I do not want to jeopardize the funding that is available from the federal level, and we just need to be very careful and not not see that disappear. Or we’re going to be left footing the bill ourselves, and nobody wants that. I mean we just can’t afford that.
For the last two election cycles that I’ve covered, Lutak Dock has been front of mind for pretty much everyone. It seems like there’s a chance that it will be more of a resolved issue come next year, at least come the year after that. So I’m wondering, besides the short-term Lutak Dock stuff, do you have a long-term vision? That when you go to the assembly, you’re thinking in 20 years, I want Haines to look more like this, and here’s how I’m going to get there?
I do think you know the economy is an important factor, and I know it’s one that’s been raised several times. I think one of the issues is we need a sustained revitalization effort for downtown and for Haines in general. Diversity in our economy is, I think, key. I don’t know necessarily what that looks like, but I think I’d like to see what we can do to create that diversity and to keep people interested in Haines. And I don’t mean just like tourists and potential cruise ship tourists and passengers. I think that’s already established, right? We’ve got a pretty good base in summer tourism, so I would like to continue to capitalize on other ways that we can create a diverse economy.
So I’m open to different ideas of what that might look like, but I think we need to kind of focus on revitalizing Haines. I know that we aren’t the same place that we were 30, 40, years ago, but I think there’s so much potential in what this community has to offer. There’s so much potential in where we live, and we have a lot of potential in the people that live here. If you look at our education. Our school system serves the people who live here. And right now we have about 260, 270, I think, students enrolled. And maybe that’s changed this year, but over the last couple of years, we’re close to that. I think back 30, 40, years ago, we had as many as 450 to 500, so we’re at almost half of our enrollment, and that tells us that young families are moving out of here.
They are desperate for good jobs or jobs that they think can sustain their family, and I see that, and I think if we’re going to have any kind of a turnaround whatsoever, we need to focus on what can keep young families here. There can be a number of things, but you know, a five month or six month tourism season, I don’t think is enough. It’s wonderful, and it is good. It’s one of the many great things about our place now, but I want to hear from those around me. I want to continue to hear what people have in mind.
There are some, you know, obvious discussions over some economic development proposals, but I want to explore any and all. So I think if we can just diversify our economy and get players to come in and invest in this community… I think another thing we can do to help people invest in our community, invest in infrastructure, or invest in revitalization is either expand or look at what we can do for business owners or landowners, property owners who want to improve their commercial property. I know there’s code already in place that helps delay the onset of assessed values or taxation for increased values, but I want to see maybe if there’s some place we can expand that or to help again encourage business owners or property owners to improve the buildings.
The Rusty Compass is kind of bustling whenever I walk past, but on either side, or in Fort Seward, there are a lot of vacancies. Do you have a sense for what the difference is between where you’re at and why the rest of downtown isn’t full?
I mean, it does take investment. It does take a concerted effort to make something work. I think what we’ve done with the Rusty Compass, it goes back to my desire to do something for the community and not only that, but to be there year round, I think is important.
I think to be a place for all community, and just to be consistent, I guess the Rusty Compass has been successful a lot because of our great employees there, and our setting, but we’ve been very consistent. I think we need opportunities in Haines for businesses to branch out and to feel like when they come here that they see a road or see a pathway to being successful. And right now, I think there’s a lot of people who feel like they’re taking a huge risk. How can we help it not feel so heavy? Not feel like such a big risk in coming to Hanes? People need to see the potential that’s in Hanes, so we can attract more creative people, more creative business people, and entrepreneurs. I think that’s what we need.
What kind of risk do you think people feel? What do they worry is going to go wrong?
They’re afraid it’s not going to work. They’re seeing, like, why would I want to come to a community where people are leaving, where it feels like people are leaving, and so I think if they can see some kind of a consistency with with the economy, if they can see some kind of consistency with people moving here, then I think that takes some of that fear away. So again, there’s a lot of potential, but I think there’s a lot of burden that comes with potential. So we need to help newcomers feel welcome, and we need to, I think, find ways, or even people that live here help them feel like they are empowered to generate, you know, do something with business and do something with the economy.
You’re talking specifically about various kinds of property tax breaks, that’s something I’ve heard people from all different viewpoints talk about. I’m wondering if you have any other things in mind, levers that the assembly can pull, to try and reduce that kind of risk, or go out and court other kinds of businesses that will bring in jobs.
That’s a good question. I think that getting us on the map and just getting us noticed. I guess there’s a lot of research and a lot of investigation that can still yet be done to help reveal some of these things.
Like I said, I don’t have all the answers to that, but I think that if we don’t want to look like a ghost town that you see in other communities that have gone by the wayside, you know, I’m thinking like in — I’ve driven through towns in Kansas and Nebraska where you just you blink and there’s vacant storefronts everywhere. If we don’t want to become that, if we don’t want to become a community that is just full of vacancies and people leaving, we need to really just highlight, to find ways to be creative. I guess I don’t necessarily have the answer to that, other than to say, we need to be open to a lot of different ideas and diverse economy. We need to continue to rely on our tourism. I think that’s great. I think people love it when they come here. I do often hear people say we don’t want to become another Skagway, or you know, a place where we have five or six cruise ships a day, but I do hear a lot that there’s room for improvement there, and so we can use that as a stepping stone to help boost our economy.
If we could maybe double the number of passengers that we have coming through our cruise ship port, that would be great. There’s other industry and there’s other things that we can look at, too, that I think would help a lot of small business opportunities too. There’s a new economy. There are people who work from Home, there’s a lot of disagreement on how good that is necessarily, but there are a different there is a different economy out there that didn’t exist 15 years ago, and we have to be mindful of that and and be open to having new people, new new new forms of business in town, but we should develop multiple pathways to a strong economy. Otherwise people are just going to continue to leave.
One of the conversations I hear in the assembly is about how the assembly should regulate these industries — what kinds of guardrails. If you’re sitting on the assembly and a major industry comes in or a new company wants to come to town and do business, what parts of Haines, as it is right now, do you want to protect with your regulatory ability? What parts of the town do you want to hold on to?
That’s a good question. I’m gonna get out of the way. My philosophy is, I think that we shouldn’t regulate our community to death in a sense. But that said, I think it would be important to see what code we already have in place and use that as our guidance and use that as our guardrails for new — I mean, I guess global port holdings is an interesting concept and an interesting idea, and I think that is a conversation worth exploring and worth continuing. We’re very early in that discussion, and I think that’s a good opportunity to have some guardrails.
I don’t think we should have just unfettered growth, but I don’t know that we’re in danger of unfettered growth. Like, we’re in danger of no growth. We’re in danger of actually having negative growth. So I think that what we want to do, if you know, if something like that were to progress, we need to tread carefully, and we need to be thoughtful, and seek consensus on what we can do to strengthen our position in the cruise ship industry, but not necessarily give it all away. So I am definitely on board, you know, with that idea and with that notion.
Your coffee shop is not a chain or anything. Does it worry you at all that people in a couple years could be buying coffee from a Starbucks or something like that?
Not no, it doesn’t worry me at all. I just think that, like, as a business owner, we provide a service and we do it in our own special way. And I think that if we continue to do what we do best, it’ll be fine. I don’t think we need to throw up roadblocks for other businesses that are similar, just so we can hold on to what we have. Like there should be room for all of us, right?
And our community is a great example of that already. With coffee shops, we have more than two or three already. There’s definitely enough room for all of us and for all of us to be successful. So I think we need that kind of mentality with other with other businesses. I think we can have more than one of a thing, and so we just we just need to continue to pursue, I guess, you know, ways to find and to attract new new businesses and new industry.
I wonder if part of the concern is maybe less with coffee shops, maybe more something like tour operators, whatever it is, that cruise ship companies or whatever larger corporations are out there can put money into businesses in town that can provide a service at a lower cost to tourists than someone who lives in town and has to pay for housing in town, pay all these other costs. Does that feel real to you at all?
I think that local operators are savvy enough and wise enough to pivot, and maybe they need to partner with other investors to help expand what they do and do well, they’re already doing what they do very well. So let’s just trust them to pivot the way they need to pivot and to make the best decision for their own business. So I think that you know I don’t want to take anything away from local operators, but I think I would only see opportunity for local operators to expand and do more and to do better.
Do you think there’s anything that isn’t on people’s radar right now? Any issues or solutions that you have in your head that you want to bring to the assembly?
I mean, I think we have enough to tackle right now. There’s nothing… I don’t have an agenda, right? I don’t have anything that I want to bring and be a champion of necessarily. I do want to keep my ear to the ground and hear what people have to say and what people want. You know what’s on their minds, and so from that end, that’s what I want to do.
I want to be a listener, and I want to seek wise counsel and and seek consensus as much as consensus can be found on the topics and the issues that are currently out there. I’m not here to drive an agenda. I’m not here to drive, you know, my favorite thing.
If I had a favorite thing, it’s definitely the economy. I want to see more families moving into town rather than families leaving town. I want to see what we can do to make this a desirable place for young families. If I’m not mistaken, I think we are the oldest community in Alaska as far as our median age. I think it’s the oldest median age in Alaska right now, and I think that’s great, and I’m glad that there are retirees who want to call this place home. Why wouldn’t you want to call this place home in retirement? And this place is great, but we want to make sure we want somebody to live here and retire here. I want to see family move here and build a life here and retire here. That’s what we want, and so let’s get out of the way. I don’t want to stop, you know, a business or an endeavor from happening if it can attract and bring in young people. I don’t want to get rid of anybody. I just want to bring in more people.
Do you feel like borough government has in recent years been standing in the way at all? Like, is it as simple as if we get out of the way, people will come?
Well, like I said, I’ve lived here almost 10 years, and I think when I first got here, somebody said I had to be here 30 years to be considered a local. So I’m still working on that. I don’t know that necessarily. You know, our government — listen, we’ve got a people who are on the assembly and who are in government that are a reflection of the community that we live in, and we have differing views on how we’re going to get across the finish line or how we’re going to grow, let’s say, our economy. There’s no doubt we all want the best, or for what we consider to be the best for our community.
And so, I don’t know. I don’t know necessarily. I could probably fish out a few things that government has done to either encourage or to discourage growth. I do know that moving forward, I just want to encourage it. I want to encourage growth. You know, know we’ve seen the economy change over the years. We’ve seen certain industries leave, I guess that is what it is now. But I want to see what we can do to encourage new growth and new entrepreneurs to come to town.
Is there a most effective or impactful thing you’ve seen the assembly do to encourage growth?
No, I mean, getting out of the way is the most impactful thing. I think removing obstacles to business. I can’t point to any single thing, but I think that, I think, yeah. I do think a large part of our government is to provide, you know, safety and paved roads and good utilities and all of that.
I think a lot of that is some of the necessary functions of government, and I want to see that continue. I do not want to see regulations and things that might you know become a stumbling block for people who want to come in — I guess one of the things that’s been hashed over is like the heli skiing thing. I get the different concerns that are there, but my personal feel on that is I think the two aren’t mutually exclusive. In other words, the protection of the environment or or the protection of the enjoyment of the environment of some people against the enjoyment of the wilderness by the heli skiers. I think both can live together, and I think both should be able to live together, and they’re not mutually exclusive of one another. I think we just need to find ways to let both happen, and one shouldn’t, you know, one is not to the exclusion of the other.
I have one last question for you. I’ve been asking everyone this: Are there types of voices or types of people that you think are being underrepresented on the assembly that you’re excited to go up there and bring into the room.
I honestly think that our working population is perhaps underrepresented. I think they feel burdened by how much they have to work and hold down extra jobs. And I think there’s just a working population out there that maybe sometimes they just don’t vote because they either don’t know who to vote for or what issue to vote on, or maybe they do know and they just don’t feel like it matters.
So I think that our working population and our working folks need to be heard more, and I think we need to give them, I don’t know, just continue to bend an ear towards them.
I think that the people who are doing the daily grind here and working day in and day out, or they’re fishing or they’re teachers, they’re employees for stores and restaurants. I think all of those people need to be heard, and I think in some ways we should elevate them and to really say, hey, you know, they’re the backbone of why we even have a community that still exists, and we want to continue to encourage other people to move here and to live here, but let’s really listen to and hear out what our working working population has to say.
Thank you, Lee. Thanks for coming in.