The filing period to run for local office wrapped up on Friday (8-8-25). Two more candidates threw their hats in the ring for a chance at a seat on the Sitka Assembly shortly before the city’s 5 p.m. deadline. One of those candidates is Jonathan Wolf, who owns the Sitka Veterinary Hospital with his wife. KCAW sat down with Wolf on Monday to talk about his decision to run, and some of his priorities if elected.
WOLF: I’ve been in Sitka now for six years, and I want to get involved in local politics because I want to preserve the magic that brought me to Sitka in the first place, and I feel like contributing in local assembly and local government is one of the best ways to make that happen.
KCAW: If elected, what do you think you’ll bring to the table?
WOLF: I think I bring a diverse set of skills to the table. But I think the ideas, there’s a lot of commonality between the candidates — I’ve read some of the other interviews — and the issues here everyone talks about: housing, childcare, affordability in general. But I think that it comes down to affordability. It comes down to people need to be able to make a life work here in Sitka, if this is the place they want to be. And unfortunately, I think for some, affordability has really driven a wedge, and there are people who have lived in Sitka for a long time that are seeking other places to live because they can’t make it work anymore. And I want to work with other people who are on the assembly, people who have served longer, who understand these issues, and see if there are approaches to this that haven’t been uncovered yet, and really drive towards using whatever avenues are available to us to make Sitka affordable and accessible to anyone who chooses to make this their home.
KCAW: So you talk about this issue of affordability, which is affecting all Sitkans. What is included in that? And what are the big topics that you’d like to address, and how would you address those if elected to the Sitka Assembly?
WOLF: That’s a great question, and I think it is sort of a nebulous topic. But you know, it can look different for different people. I have a three year old son. For families, childcare can be an issue. Some people are having to pay a lot of money to have a family here. And for some it might be grocery bills. Some might have a big family, and those $600 grocery carts can be a huge burden. And I think that for others, it can be housing. It can be the price of monthly rent, but it also could be utility bills. That falls under that same umbrella of housing, and whether or not Sitka can be an affordable place to live. And I think really a solution is going to look at all of those aspects and say, ‘Okay, we need to address these in the ways that we can as a community, as a government.’ There are a lot of different levers and knobs to tweak and and turn, but really it’s starting with a discussion as to how do we do this? And I think that that’s come up repeatedly before, and I think that there’s probably been a lot of good discussion in the past, but unfortunately, I don’t think a lot of that has materialized as far as real, meaningful change, because we’re still talking about it. My focus would be to try to move towards truly actionable things that can be done that can make a difference in people’s lives here.
KCAW: And what do you think Sitkans should know about you or your campaign that we haven’t talked about?
WOLF: I’ve lived here in Sitka now for six years, and through the animal hospital, I’ve come to know a large number of people in Sitka as we’ve cared for their pets. And it’s interesting because I’ve met people from all walks of life, from all professions. From healthcare, fishing, the tourism industry, small business owners like myself, people who work for the federal government, people who work for the state government, and it’s really been valuable to me to make those relationships and get to know people from many different walks of life. And I feel very fortunate and privileged to have had the opportunity to do that.
KCAW: Well, thank you. Is there anything else I should have asked you or you’d like to share?
WOLF: I would ask that the people of Sitka place their trust in somebody like me. Although I haven’t had the privilege of serving in Sitka government, I think that that’s one of the things that makes Sitka unique, is that we do stagger assembly seats and the races for that so that no matter when you decide to enter government service, you know, when you decide to participate in that government, you’re working alongside people who have a wealth of experience. And being able to bring together different perspectives and different ideas is the cornerstone of a functional government. And being able to listen to those ideas and participate in that collaborative process for steering a community is an opportunity I look forward to, and it’s something that I will throw myself into wholly.
Jonathan Wolf is one of six candidates to file for one of two open seats on the Sitka Assembly — Thor Christianson, Austin Cranford, Katie Riley, Tracie Castle, and Sherri Blankenship are also in the running. Two school board seats are also open this year. Paul Rioux, Lance Ewers, and Courtney Amundson have filed in that race. Sitka’s municipal election is Tuesday, October 7.
