Proposed Recommendations to Improve Existing Public Piers & Observations from the year 2013. If I offend you, well SORRY!

Proposed Recommendations to Improve Existing Public Piers:

1. Perform more frequent (weekly) and extensive cleaning and maintenance of all exiting public piers and floats.

2. Add a dedicated function equivalent to the City “Park Ranger” to enforce rules, identify areas/amenities requiring more attention, raise awareness and improve appeal of the facilities and emphasize the presence of this function during busy days/times of harbor use.

3. Institute a “sponsorship” or “Adopt-a-dock” program approaching businesses, community organizations and/or individuals to partner with the city to ensure the various public docks are well maintained, safe, clean and signature is intact, complete and accurate

4. Reconstruct/reconfigure docks to better insulate piles/pilings from boats that want to make use of floats and optimize available space

5. Add/improve amenities on the public piers that boaters use including public restrooms, fresh water. 30A electricity, upland loading zones, bike racks and marine recycling facilities.

Additional Piers

1. Lido Marina Village

2. Balboa Marina
3. Lower Castaways
4. Lido Isle Bridge
5. East end of The Bay Resort Property

Here are some of my observations from the year 2013. If I offend you, well SORRY! 

Observations.

1. Its time for Cheyenne to leave the harbor. Sorry Chris, I hope you prove me wrong. It’s time to shoot this dog.
2. One of the biggest challenges in this harbor is for the City Council, Tidelands Management Committee, Harbor Commission, Harbor Resources Department and the Harbor Department to define codes. For example: If you ask, what is a derelict boat? You will get up to 50 different answers. The deputy on the water will have a completely different answer than the Council member. This effects so many different issues on the harbor from noise, mooring permit waiting lists, how many boats can you keep on one mooring, public dock waiting limits, check up on our charter fleet, the list goes on and it is becoming obvious that the city should hire a marine code enforcement agent. Or just have the different agencies attend the Harbor Commission meetings. 
3. Harbor Commissioners attendance record. Assuming the commission meets 11 times this year as of October Rhyne was absent 3 times, McIntosh twice, West and Avery once.
4. Ask Harbor Resources to list public complaints along with the Harbor Department at every Harbor commission meeting. A type of police plotter report.
5. Why is the Harbor Department not showing up to Harbor Commission or Tideland Management Committee meetings?
6. We need the speed limit code amended. History will repeat itself.
7. Lower Castaways has to provide room for our harbors commercial business. A launch ramp to remove derelict boats, lobster pods, docks, mooring equipment etc.
8. Newport Beach needs another launch ramp. Did you know that The Dunes can close the launch ramp whenever they want?
9. You have to give it up to Harbor Commissioner Rhyne. When the Invictus issue came up, she did not hesitate to list her concerns and voice her opposing opinion. I did not agree with her, but thats how the system works best.
10. How can the City audit the harbors commercial industry. This one could bite my own butt?
11. Should the Harbor have a tidal gate?
12. As a mooring permit holder you DO NOT have to keep a boat on your mooring.
13. Where is Marina Park I thought was supposed to have started by now?
14. When will we start using the dinghy racks in Basin Marina?
15. We should have dinghy racks at 15th street.
16. We need to keep working on a better mooring system. We all know why we will never have a better mooring system and that is because The Irvine Company will kill it. Why would they want the competition.
17. When you read through the Harbor Commission objectives, the chairmen of that objective is doing over 75% of the work.
18. If you are considering dredging now and you do not have eelgrass within 15' of your slip, you do not care if you depth is -7 and not -10 and you are not making changes to your dock. You should consider dredging now. Something tells me there will be a rather large rate increase for the new RPG due this April 1st no fooling?

These racks should be at 15th street and full.

The Harbor Commission should place these items on their objective list.

1. A better mooring system.
2. Rules for mooring waiting list.
3. Launch Ramp.
4. City Dredging System or local contract.
5. Marine Recycle Center
6. Apply for the states VTIP program or consider starting there own like LA Harbor. This allows derelict boat owners to turn in their boats for disposal at no charge to them. 

The Harbor Commissioners are assigned a Council Member to stay in contact with an update them on harbor issues. That is the Council member cares to hear their advice?

District                 Council                                          Commission

1                          Henn                                                 Girling

2                          Petros                                               Stapleton

3                          Hill                                                     McIntosh

4                          Daigle                                               West

5                         Selich                                                Rhyne

6                        Gardner                                              Blank

7                         Curry                                                 Avery




SEA YA.