Advocates who wanted to limit cruise ship visits to Juneau failed to gather enough signatures to place three initiatives on the October municipal election ballot.
The group, Juneau Cruise Control, needed about 3,000 signatures to put the questions on the ballot, but failed to collect the required amount. Instead, they presented letters June 2 addressed to borough assembly members, asking that they impose limits on cruise ships coming to town, and for the cruise ship companies and tour operators to voluntarily limit their impacts on the community.
“We’re going to give the city the chance, and the industry, to do the right thing,” organizer Karla Hart said at a press conference. “And if they don’t, we’ll be back. … We’re not going away at all. We’ll be around.”
Hart declined to say how many signatures the group had gathered since it started the effort May 3.
One of the proposed amendments to the city charter would have banned cruise ships in town between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m., though it would apply only to ships with capacity for more than 250 passengers. Another amendment would have banned ships of that same size all day on Saturdays.
A third measure would have banned all cruise ships over 100,000 gross tonnage, beginning in 2026. That would apply to almost all of the large cruise ships that come to Alaska.
Juneau set a record in 2019 with more than 1.2 million cruise ship passengers coming to town.
The tourism industry spoke out strongly against the petition drive, arguing it would hurt Juneau’s economy and cost jobs.
Protect Juneau’s Future, which opposed the initiatives, issued a statement that described its “icefield-sized sigh of relief” when the petition drive fell short
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