WakeWorld - ALERT! - Councile meeting 5/13 to restric hours at Long Beach Marine Stadium

Received the following email today.

Quote:

Dear Boaters,

It's time again to stand strong in our fight to save access to the water at marine stadium.

Just an update. There have been two MAC (marine advisory commission) meetings March and April which involved the marine stadium. In March it was voted to change the vessel size to 23 feet not including a removable swim step. During that meeting it was voted not to change the hours of operation. At the next meeting in April the hours of operation was voted on again since one of the missing members was now present. Again it was voted not to change the code. But I learned by accident last Friday that Mark Sandoval was not happy with this decision and decided to go straight to the city council without the MAC recommendation. Luckily, one of the boaters saw this in the grunion and approached Mark. In short this topic is going to be revisited this Thursday May 13th at 2:30 at the Long Beach Yacht Club.

My understanding is that the swing voter is going to suggest a new compromise:
The rowers would have access to the stadium 4 days a week 4-6 pm from Oct 1st -March 31st.
Remember the last vote was 3 days a week (Mon,Tues,Wed) 3:30 - 6:00pm Oct 1st - May 31st. (which was a compromise from Mr. Sandovol's recommendation of 5 days a week 3:30 to sunset Oct 1st -May 31st)

This is a big vote.

I already contacted Gary Delong our council member for the 3rd district who told me there will be a change. I encouraged him to support the shorter window Oct 1st - March 31st BUT ONLY 3 DAYS from 3:30 - 6 pm. In the end he said he would support that compromise.

If this cause is important to you, you need to voice your opinion.

Please let me know how you feel. If you can't be at the meeting I will present your opinions.

Are you for or against changes to the hours ?

If a change was to be made which would you agree upon?
none
2 days
3 days
4 days
Oct 1st-May 31st
Oct 1st- March 31st

Comments:

Again the meeting is this Thursday, May 13th at 2:30 at the Long Beach Yacht Club (6201 Appian Way, LB 90803).

I encourage you to leave a message with Gary DeLong 562-6300 or 562-8756.

Sincerely,
Mary Kate

My view especially, if there is a change coming one way or another is that I'd REALLY like to see a change to this 'water ski" area to during boating hours to make it what it is called. Often 2 or 3 boats can enjoy the stadium together without destroying the water, but the constant influx of "joy riders" who just do laps around the stadium again and again quickly ruins the water for everyone.

If they are going to restrict hours and further concentrate them I'd love to see a new rule go into effect during boating hours which restricts the entire stadium to 5 MPH unless actively engaged in towing a rider/skiier. Actively engaged could be defined as both towing as well as maneuvering back to your rider (though I'd love to eliminate power turns too ha ha).

This would eliminate the constant barrage of boaters who use this designated 'water ski zone" to do laps around and around trashing the water. I know a lot of discussion happens on this site about public water ways and people imposing their will on them but this is a small area set aside for water skiing and wake boarding. Tubing and Jet skiis are already banned from the area. I don't think it's a big deal to eliminate ignorant boaters when there is a whole port and ocean right around the corner.

What do you guys think?