Coming Soon - Seward Brews
By: James “Dr. Fermento” Roberts
I don’t know how many times I’ve been in Seward and smashed my face up against the glass on the front of the Chinooks Waterfront Restaurant and looked at the small, but idle brewing operation inside. I’d heard rumor after rumor concerning a brewery opening in Seward, but never having been around when the place was open and never being able to contact anyone that knew a whole bunch about what was going on, I was destined to remain curious for over a decade. How could someone possibly own that shiny equipment and not put it to use?
A brewery in Seward makes perfect sense. It would become Alaska’s 22nd licensed brewing operation. Seward features good craft beer from everywhere else in the state in pubs and restaurant, but doesn’t produce beer of its own to brag about. Seward is a good-sized community that gets an influx of tourists in the summer but doesn’t roll up the sidewalks in the winter. If Skagway, Haines, Kodiak Island and other smaller outposts can support a homespun brewery, why not Seward?
RBCA Rejects City's Settlement Offer Again
Editor’s Note: The following letter was sent to RBCA’s attorney group, Trustees of Alaska, by the City of Seward attorney, Cheryl Brooking.
April 23, 2012
Re: Resurrection Bay Conservation Alliance v. City of Seward
Case No. 3:06-cv-00224-RRB
Dear Vicki:
Eliminating Foreign Workforce Impacts Local Businesses
The J-1 Visa program fills labor shortfalls
By Vanta Shafer
A House of Divided
Effort to resurrect the Jesse Lee Home raises skepticism, stirs conflict in Seward
By Victoria Barber
Sitting on a hill overlooking Resurrection Bay is a grand, hulking building, an abandoned orphanage with dark, blown out windows. It’s a structure that’s creepy on the kind of grand scale that wouldn’t look out of place on a movie set. But this is no Hollywood haunted house. It is, of course, the old Jesse Lee Home.
City Council Insider
Mayor, City Manager Shake Things Up on Earthquake Day
Noah Hull Diamond
It's not often that I enter the council chambers with the hope that the meeting will be a stale, boring expenditure of two and a half hours. But on the night of March 27th, I was ready for nothing. Literally. After a long day at work, I wanted nothing more than to lean back, take my notes, listen to "resolution-this" and "ordinance-that," head home and go to bed. And for awhile there, I had grand hopes, as my main man, City Manager James Hunt, requested the postponement of THE ONLY RESOLUTION TO BE DISCUSSED. It seemed like manna from the heavens. It was Christmas, it was gravy, it was going to be the best city council meeting ever. Or alas, so it seemed...
Ramblin Ruckus
Kevin Twing has spent a considerable amount of time and effort refurbishing the Ramblin Ruckus. The Ramblin Ruckus ended its life as a State Trooper vessel, and Kevin purchased it in January. He has labored hard and long to convert it to a fishing vessel, and was able to launch it on May 5. He will be shrimping and jigging for Pacific Cod and Rockfish this summer, and hopes to move to Seward in the near future.
Reel Life II - Piscatorial Practice
By: Bob Shafer
The sun came out five days in a row. Now we are talking. Wahoo - walking a mile or two in the great out of doors. No treadmill for me. Big old mess in the yard to clean up and a little more snow to melt and one big weekend of cleaning to look forward to. This year seems different somehow. Old man winter was so long, windy, cold, and tons of white stuff covering everything. Just going to a snow- and ice-free driveway/path to the wood shed is a treat. I woke up early Monday and took rod in hand and drove to the end of the road to entertain some fishy thoughts. I saw a fish which, upon noticing me, swam like hell the other direction. You would think after a generation or two they would forget.
Seward Delegation Brings Local Issues to D.C.
By: Ron Long
Vice Mayor Jean Bardarson, City Manager Jim Hunt and I recently made the rounds in Washington, D.C., to present the City’s legislative and capital projects priorities, and we also took advantage of the opportunity to bring the Congressional delegation, their staff and others current on other items of interest to the City and community. We started April 16 with a visit to Kim Elton, former State senator and now US Department of the Interior special liaison to Alaska, where we discussed the Departments’ role in the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee’s funding of the vessel wash facility and wastewater disposal at the SMIC 250-ton Travelift, the need for a similar facility for the 50-ton lift at the Small Boat Harbor, and Interior properties and projects in Seward.