Experts Plan to Fight Invasive Marine Species

(By Heidi Zemach, for Seward City News)
Marine invaders such as Chinese mitten crabs, European green crabs and the elusive, little understood tunicates, may not have arrived in Alaska yet in significant numbers yet-but they’re on the move. That was the main message of a vast variety of experts on invasive species who gathered at the [...]

Council vote moves fluoridation forward

(By Heidi Zemach for Seward City News)
heidizemach@yahoo.com

(Will this water contain fluoride in the future?)

A divided city council has moved city water fluoridation a step forward. With a 4-2 vote they passed a resolution at Monday night’s meeting “affirming council support for fluoridation of the public water supply to improve oral health.” The resolution directs the [...]

Railroad plans include new restroom, dredging, and undisclosed coal facility improvements

(By Heidi Zemach for SCN)
The Alaska Railroad held an open house at the Breeze Inn in Seward Friday, Feb 19. Alaska Railroad Chief Engineer and Vice President of Engineering Tom Brooks gave an update of the railroad’s capital project program plans for the upcoming year at the Seward Chamber of Commerce, Conference and Visitor’s Bureau [...]

City Council Addresses Coal Issues

(Heidi Zemach for Seward City News)

Coal dominated the Seward City Council meeting Monday, Jan 25th, as nearby, coal-filled trains pulled up to the Seward waterfront coal transfer facility, steadily growing a 90,000 ton-plus coal pile as it was loaded onto a waiting ship. The council unanimously agreed to undertake a community-wide ambient air [...]

Second Installment: KWF’s Seward Connection

The Kenai Watershed Forum (KWF) is a local 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to maintaining the health of the watersheds on the Kenai Peninsula. KWF is recognized as the regional watershed organization of the Kenai Peninsula. KWF is building strong Seward relationships and is working on several projects in the local Seward area. KWF’s mission is working [...]

Council votes to extend Seward Ship’s Drydock lease another 30 years

By Heidi Zemach for SCN
Seward City Council voted unanimously Monday night to authorize the city manager to extend the contract to Jim Pruitt for Seward Ship’s Drydock, Inc at Seward Marine Industrial Center through 2040. Councilmember Robert Valdatta was absent for the meeting, but all of the others voted for a 30-year lease extension that [...]

Good News and Bad for Seward Tourism

(By Heidi Zemach, for SCN)
Three-thousand independent travelers on the website TripAdvisor have given Seward top billing as a tourist destination for 2010. TripAdvisor, an Internet website much used for vacation planning, announced Wednesday, Dec 9 that its yearly travel trends survey of U.S. travelers had chosen Seward first among its top five U.S. Destinations for [...]

Alaska Logistics to expand Seward operation

(By Heidi Zemach for Seward City News)
The Seward City Council has agreed to have City Manager Phillip Oates negotiate a lease with Alaska Logistics, LLC, to construct a large vessel maintenance, repair and storage enclosure at the Seward Marine Industrial Center in support of their Western Alaska Barge Service. Alaska Logistics has operated a barge service [...]

City Passes GF Budget, Will Replace Fleets Aging Vehicles

(by Heidi Zemach for Seward City News)

Photo: budget bloodletting

The “bloodletting” known as the annual budget process has officially ended, and Monday night the Seward City Council approved a $9.8 million General Fund Budget for 2010, and $9.9 million for 2011, which retain the property tax rate at 3.12 mills. The council also passed a [...]

Design Discovery Workshops

Design Discovery Workshops
ECI/Hyer Architects will be hosting a series of workshops during the week of Nov 16-20 as we kick off the 35% schematic design phase for the new Seward Community Library Museum.
Join us; we need your feedback as we:

Evaluate design work to date
Create community connections
Share site development opportunities
Examine building form
Measure sustainability

Monday, November 16th
6:00 – [...]

Thank You Voters!

The Seward Community Library Museum Committee (SCLMBC) members thank you, the community, for your strong support for the new library museum.

With a very successful Yes vote on proposition 3, the project is now well positioned to seek state and federal funding as well as funding support from private and public foundation grantors. Local commitment [...]

It Takes 2 YES YES Votes to Support the Library Museum

Since 2005, the Seward Community Library Building Committee (SCLMBC) has worked diligently on behalf of the community to bring a new co-located library museum facility to reality. Their efforts have been mindful of what is essential for our community’s future education, information and historic preservation needs and the need for this new facility be one [...]

Harbor News

Harbor News Muse
1. Interesting request from Homeland Security USCG boats last weekend when securing port for the departure of a cruise ship….. They requested that the tug Junior move away from the proximity. Junior, who was in process of tossing the cruiseship’s lines from their mooring, responded that they were doing so at ship’s request. Security made a second request to [...]