Harbor lights: Boaters’ voice
The boaters voice in King Harbor
by Harry Munns
Title 2. Chapter 9. Article 7. of the Redondo Beach city charter has a simple title, Harbor Commission (HC). The commission was created by Ordinance No. 2327 adopted on March 15, 1982.
As is the case with all city commissions, the mayor appoints citizens to serve. Membership qualifications are more specific than the commission’s tasks. The municipal code defines 15 specific criteria for serving on the HC, including a number of professional qualifications such as an attorney, a civil engineer and a real estate broker.
Article 7 acknowledges the importance of boating to King Harbor by including a boaters’ representative as one of only two designated members that must have a seat on the Harbor Commission. So if you paddle an outrigger, sail a Sabot, launch a boat with an outboard from the Redondo Beach Marina, hoist or sail in Thursday night beer can races, the city of Redondo Beach has made a provision for the representation of your interests on the Harbor Commission.
I spent 20 years studying the habits of boating enthusiasts and the organizations they join. One statistic emerged time and time again. People choose a boating lifestyle to escape groups of other people. Fewer than 15 percent of all boaters join any club or organization.
So while a representative of a boating organization such as a boat-oriented club might speak for the interests of that club, the possibility always exists that those interests could clash with the interests of other boaters. Even in a case where more than one boat club or organization agrees on an issue, which often happens in King Harbor, the vast majority of boat people have no voice in a discussion limited to organized clubs.
It’s almost as if the city council that created the Harbor Commission knew this fact and they wanted to make sure everyone who uses the harbor for boating had a conduit to city government. I’m familiar with all of this for one simple reason, I’m the boaters’ representative on the Redondo Beach Harbor Commission.
I’ve declined well-intentioned offers to join various clubs during my five years on the commission to avoid any potential conflict of interest. I know a lot of individual boaters and I try to take their pulse on the issues that cause them most concern.
Some level of disdain for regulation usually accompanies the freedom that’s implicit in the boating lifestyle. Unfortunately, some of the most critical issues that affect King Harbor boaters have to do with regulation. The ongoing struggle with the Marine Life Protection Act Initiative (MPLAI) is a prime example. At the conclusion of the MLPAI process, fishing, diving and boating access to large chunks of our coast may wind up severely restricted or prohibited. Most boaters won’t know about it until they see the Keep Out buoys and law enforcement officials handing out tickets.
I’m not aware of any regulations due to change inside the harbor but there are some issues that will affect boaters. At various times in King Harbor’s history, there have been places where people who own boats on trailers could back their trailers into the water and push their boats off. Those boat ramps were replaced by the hoists at Redondo Beach Marina.
The city has put a great deal of effort into finding a location for a boat ramp, but thus far no acceptable location has been selected. The search will continue.
RB Fire Chief Dan Madrigal successfully petitioned the state Division of Boating and Waterways for a grant to install transient moorings in King Harbor’s main channel. With any luck sometime before the 2011 boating season, approximately 50 moorings will enable traveling boaters to visit our harbor. Both of these projects will affect traffic and boating density in and around the harbor. The basic character of boating in King Harbor will change as a result.
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