Author: kfskadmin

The deadline has passed and a recall effort for a Petersburg city council member has fallen short of the signatures needed to put the issue on a special election ballot.

The debate over how the city of Petersburg replaces its vehicles continued before a committee of department heads and one city councilor Monday. The Motor Pool Advisory Committee ultimately recommended replacing six vehicles, the sale of two others, and transfer of another vehicle between departments. But that was not before tensions ran high at Monday’s meeting.

A local workshop on suicide intervention skills attracted a full house of students this week in Petersburg. Petersburg Mental Health Services brought the instructors to town and they stopped by KFSK studies to talk with Matt Lichtenstein about the issue.

The federal government has again selected Alaska Airlines as the Essential Air Service carrier for Petersburg, Wrangell, Gustavus, Cordova and Yakutat. The EAS program subsidizes the cost of daily flights to remote communities and as Matt Lichtenstein reports, that cost is going up.

Petersburg’s tourism industry and local support businesses will be feeling more affects of the worldwide recession this summer as fewer people have been planning trips on visiting tour ships and local charters.
Alaska bookings are down significantly for Cruise West, which is the largest company that brings its ships to town. Another, smaller line that made frequent stops in Petersburg, American Safari cruises has shut down. Some of the ships will be running under a new company name, but with a lot fewer stops in Petersburg according to local travel agent Dave Berg. Berg is the local representative for Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska and works with visiting tour ship companies as well as local charters and tour operators.
Matt Lichtenstein asked him about the tour ship outlook for this summer in Petersburg: