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I was recently in Sitka, visiting en route to Ketchikan, where my niece works for the Forest Service. Sitka is the loveliest town I visited while touring Alaska, and I was particularly struck by the walk from Bishop Innocent's house to the Totem Park, including the now boarded Sheldon Jackson College.

As an urban planner/tourism specialist, I was shocked to hear from the Sheldon Jackson Museum staff that there is no master plan for the adaptive reuse of the historic college buildings. I believe they are one of Sitka's most important tourism resources, and they should be preserved historically in situ as a new use. I hope that the city will allocate funds for a master plan that could draw the right kind of investment.

Thanks to Sitka for being a very special place for cultural tourism - such a relief after Juneau's complete surrender to cruise boats which now form a wall of the historic downtown. (What do diamonds have to do with Alaska's heritage?)

Sandra Chesrown, AICP

Arlington, Virginia