On Tuesday (7-29-24), former assembly candidate Austin Cranford filed to run a third time for a seat on the Sitka Assembly. This year, he’s the first candidate to throw his hat in the ring, and hopes to bring a youthful energy to the seven-member group. KCAW spoke with Cranford to learn more about his decision to run again, and some of his priorities if he’s elected.
KCAW: To start, you’ve run for the Sitka Assembly before. Why are you throwing your hat in the ring again?
CRANFORD: So I continue to throw my hat into the ring because essentially, the community wants me to. I have community members that are like, ‘Are you going to run? Will you run? Can you run?’ And as long as the community continues to want me to run, I will continue to run. As I’ve mentioned to people before, I’ve got plenty of stuff on my plate. So if I get it, great. It’s one more thing that I can put effort into and hopefully do a good job. And if I don’t get it, I have plenty of other stuff to keep me occupied.
KCAW: If you are elected, what do you think that you will bring to the table?
CRANFORD: I think I’ll bring a younger voice to the table. I’m 27, so I’d be the youngest person on the assembly if I was elected. As much as the current assembly…and I am on a conversation basis with some of them, Scott Saline and others…as much as I talk to them, yes, they’ve been here a long time, yes, they want what’s good for the community, I think they lack what it truly means for somebody that is coming out of high school, coming out of college, what it means to be in Sitka. They’re already well established in their careers, well established in their businesses. One of the recent things that came up in the assembly was like, ‘Oh, the reason people aren’t coming to Sitka is because there’s not recreational opportunities,’ it’s like, the reason people are leaving and not coming to Sitka is because they can’t afford to pay for their rent. They can’t afford to buy a house. So I’ll be bringing a younger voice to the assembly and hopefully being able to tackle some of the larger issues that are ongoing.
KCAW: Yeah, so you touched on these larger issues. What do you think are some of the biggest issues facing Sitkans? And if you could choose maybe one of those to tackle, what would that be?
CRANFORD: So some of the issues is obviously utility rates, cost of living, the housing crisis, the haulout is kinda in there. I know there’s been a lot of discussion about a city-run haulout versus a non-city-run haulout. Of all of those, I think, just like previous years, my main focus would be the cost of living, which would ultimately be utility rates, how to lower them, and how to lower housing cost, or somehow get more housing built. I know there’s been talk about, you know, getting the state land from Indian River Valley, or possibly even finishing that road out to the tribal land up north, but I’ve not seen any movement on the state or local level, other than ‘We’re working on it.’ Well, I’m glad that you’re working on it, but we’d like to see some movement on that.
KCAW: And lastly, what do you think that Sitkans should know about you and your campaign? What’s important?
CRANFORD: As mentioned, I’m focusing on cost of living. That’s been my platform for the past two years that I’ve ran. It’ll be the platform again. Really it’s, I would say, ultimately it tends to side closer to the younger age groups. Because, yeah, it’s like, I understand, oh, you know, you just have to work two or three jobs, or you just have to do this, or you just have to do that. Eventually, there is only so many hours in the day. I work for the University. I continue to be a part-time student pursuing my degree. I’m working on my certificates for my job. I hold two quasi administrative positions on top of my main title for my job, and I am on a out-of-state board. So cool, I can go get another one or two jobs, but at the end of the day, there’s 24 hours in a day, and wages nationally, not even in Sitka, have not risen at the same pace as inflation and all this other stuff. So that doesn’t fix the underlying problem as well.
Sitkans will be voting to fill two open seats on the Sitka Assembly and two seats on the school board in the upcoming municipal election. Both assembly seats and one school board seat are three-year terms, and one school board seat is a two-year term. The filing period to run for a seat is open until 5 p.m. on Aug. 8. Sitka’s municipal election is Tuesday, Oct. 7.
