It may look like I am walking Pearl, but I am actually still in the Haines Borough Assembly meeting that began Tuesday at 6:30, recessed at 10:00pm, resumed at 1:00pm yesterday, and then recessed a little after 5:00pm, and will begin again Friday at 1:00pm, and hopefully be over by the weekend.
Don’t ask. It is complicated.
It has, however, been fascinating listening to two appeals regarding land use, discussing garbage rates, the police budget, and taxes. In between the assembly meeting breaks, there have been two other evening meetings on park and trail designs for Portage Cove, and they too have been informative.
Tonight there is a planning commission meeting, which staff and I at least have to attend, and that is part of the reason why the assembly meeting isn’t resuming today, the other reason, is that Margaret, who has been chairing the epic meeting because the mayor is in Juneau and the deputy mayor is having eyesight issues, is traveling on the ferry today. The mayor will be returning on it this afternoon, but needs to be at the Freeride World Tour reception at the museum from 4:30-6:30 to welcome the competitors to our fair borough. (Which is much fairer than the name Haines Borough suggests, as you know. If the sun ever comes out again, after all this snow, the Chilkat Valley will shine like Switzerland with beaches.)
Also, to make a decision on the appeals that the assembly is hearing regarding rock hauling from the Skyline neighborhood, it takes a super-majority, so everyone should be present. The mayor will be at Friday’s meeting (she may have to listen to the eight-plus hours of tape in her sleep to catch up with us), and Margaret will call in from the Seattle airport where she has an eight hour layover, which turns out to be providential, doesn’t it?
The best antidote to winter fatigue, the news, and politics, are the arts and humanities- a good book, film, concert– and thankfully there are opportunities galore- the library has all kinds of options, as always, and the bookstore has a green display in the window for St. Patrick’s Day. Tonight at 7:00, the lobby of the Chilkat Center for the Arts is the place for an evening of storytelling for those of you lucky enough not to be attending the planning commission meeting with me. Carol Tuyman says you will ” hear some authentic Haines chatter in the The Chit Chat Cafe”. Rebecca Brewer, JoAnn Ross Cunningham, Deborah Vogt, Deborah Marshall, Lorrie Dudzik, Tresham Gregg, and Heidi Robichaud will all share yarns tonight.
No doubt, as we did last night in the park and trail meeting held in the same location, you will also hear the play rehearsing in the theater on the other side of the wall too– performances of the Hannah’s musical fairy tale are Friday and Saturday Night at 7:00pm. Also, Friday night the Fireweed was supposed to open, but alas, frozen pipes are delaying that, but the Fogcutter Bar is serving corned beef and cabbage in memory of Aaron Nash as a fundraiser for his little boy, Noah.
One more thing: the pool is repaired! It reopens tomorrow morning (Friday) I plan on taking a much needed swim before the meeting resumes at 1:00.
