Each year, a crush of tourists arrives in Alaska’s capital city on cruise ships to see wonders like the fast-diminishing Mendenhall Glacier. Now, long-simmering tensions over Juneau’s tourism boom are coming to a head over a new voter initiative aimed at giving residents a break. A measure to ban cruise ships with 250 or more passengers from docking in Juneau on Saturdays has qualified for the Oct. 1 municipal ballot. It sets the stage for a debate about how much tourism is too much in a city experiencing first-hand the impacts of climate change. The “ship-free Saturdays” initiative will go to voters unless the local Assembly enacts a similar measure by Aug. 15, which is seen as unlikely.
