A Petersburg Co-op?

The 'One Minute Manager' is in a 'safe place' so I can't get a chapter heading out of it for a title for this post. I'll rename the post if the book ever becomes 'not so safe' and shows up around the house. I do have a major correction having to do with the name of this whole blog. My mother informed me that the Pastime Cafe has indeed always been in the very same place as the later Homestead Cafe, and now the Trident mess hall. And that the cafe I was referring to across from the Mitkof Hotel was called the 'Recreation.' Jeez, these young whippersnappers don't know a thing.

My sincerest apologies to the past patrons of Petersburg's iconic cafe and unofficial city council chambers. And business incubator, and mental health center, and perpetual political caucus. You just couldn't get a majority of the councilors together at one table, or one would have to leave, although that wasn't the way it always was. Just the way it was at the end before Trident Seafoods bought it. Nowadays I see more clusters of people standing around talking on the floats or docks, gathered in a pilot house, or in the Harbormaster's shack.

Which leads me to mention that my mother is advancing my sister's idea of gathering community support for another regular cafe, since there isn't one now in downtown Petersburg. The spark for it didn't come from this blog, but from the need of a local woman who lost a son to join the land of the living again and go to work. A win-win situation. Could the Economic Development Fund be used? Well, of course not. And certainly not to help a respected citizen get back on her feet. That just doesn't compute. I raised two kids in wheelchairs and believe me, there is always a hitch in getting help.

The existing EDF monies can only be used by a not-for-profit organization. Meaning it won't be successful and the EDF will have to be hit up again to bail projects out. They might not have ever seen a crusader as determined as my mother though. After all, she raised us three hellions and two gentle-ladies. And she has been on half the committees in town and got out the book 'Petersburg Profiles.' The P.P. is used all the time in Petersburg to see who is related to who, by those who don't readily accept that everyone is related to everyone else, and is simply referred to as 'The Book.'

When the restaurant in Petersburg burned down early in the 20th century, my great-grandfather Rasmus, decided to build another so the town wouldn't die out without one. Hence the 'Enge Building' on Sing Lee Alley. It was a great story, as little white lies usually are, but my mother had a different story and probably the correct one. Rasmus wanted a place to provide female company to his wife Anna, the first white woman to settle in Petersburg. After all, when they came to Petersburg from a 'worst winter ever' in a log cabin to prove up Bushmann's claim in Sitkoh Bay, Anna cried on seeing only "one watchman and two Indians on the beach." The cafe in the bottom floor was a win-win for Anna and Petersburg. In the distant past, you didn't hear as much "screwing up the simplest things" going on.

I've maintained for some time that you run the risk of ruin by changing the model of the successful fishing port by moving the key infrastructure out of the downtown district. Then if you want to apply the coup de gras, close up the restaurants. Petersburg has done just that. The population has already dropped by one sixth.

What else is going on? The older wood boats in the harbor, like the 'Betty,' the 'Baranof,' the 'Silver Crest,' the 'Jerry O,' and the 'Duwam,' are looking mighty good. Although there was a troll opening under way and a lot of nice wood trollers were fishing so I didn't get pictures of them. There was always a Petersburg culture of taking good care of the boats, and a good shipyard to help. As well as a culture of getting bigger and bigger boats. I think those are two different cultures though.

The old 'Vesta' that was 'retired' in Thomas Bay in the '70s I noticed is deteriorated down to an engine block and a few ribs. It was the Lee family boat, and before it got too bad Scott Hersey cut out the name on the stern and mounted it and gave it to Harold Lee. Harold's mother was one of the women hired to help my great-grandmother run the restaurant in the bottom of the Enge Building long ago. One of the Lee girls was telling me they are now the proud owners of a sister peapod to my row-boat. That makes five of them in Petersburg now, plenty enough for a row boat race next Norwegian Independence Day celebration there. I told her I'd see her at the races. Although I'm a little loath to go up against her longliner husband. I might have to bring in a ringer, heh, heh.

Getting Glorianne as Harbormaster was a real score. I think the consensus among fishermen is that her name be put in for Alaska Harbormaster of the Year. It's only a matter of concern to harbor users. When the Governor's brother applied for the job, the City Manager was politely advised by the retiring dock boss to "either hire Glo or pack your bags." That's the way to cut through the politics and get something done right. That right there made my day.

Lots of money in Petersburg these days with the sale of Icicle Seafoods, and many of the shareholders being Petersburg ones. All except me maybe. My stock disappeared somehow not long after I set up and ran a buying station for them one time. It would be a good time to form a co-op with all that philanthropic goodness in the air, from fishermen who invested in a plant to help a town. They started the Medford Co-op down here to sell food, why not a Petersburg Co-op to sell food?