Apparent neglect at Aurora Harbor
Letter to the editor
The table for cleaning fish at Aurora Harbor's main float, between the L and N floats, has not had water for a long time. That's obvious, because the top of the water station has been removed for weeks.
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The fish table is needed by all fisherman, and it is the height of the coho and sockeye season and many still catch halibut.
The only reason for the fish table being unusable for weeks, was that the standard water receptacle was not working, so there was no water for cleaning the fish.
The reason given for this neglect was that the harbor ran out of hose bibs, and have ordered them already.
There are three water outlets per float in Aurora Harbor at floats A-N and around 25 on the main float. Why are there no spare parts for routine maintenance? I would guess that the other harbors use the same water spigot, so the total could be well over 100.
This illustrates a pattern of neglect by mismanagement or design. There is no ongoing maintenance in the harbors. There is no monitoring of inventory, nor preventative maintenance.
If this was because of mismanagement, it shows that keeping facilities available to the public has no priority. Only special interests get harbor resources.
This neglect could also be by design, so repairs build up to the point that they must be contracted out for lucrative private sector profits.
Problems with Aurora Harbor maintenance were brought up before, in an e-mail to the Juneau Assembly, and a letter to the Juneau Empire on June 21. Whatever the cause, the present port system is clearly dysfunctional.
Greg Hayes
Juneau