Greg

i've seen this sailboat and was wondering about it... i guess if he has a
functioning lectrasan, he'd be legal although i doubt he has one...

the coexistence of anchored boats and expensive real estate is and will
always be an issue but it's up to us not to be a nuisance, whether anchored
for the day or a week. My wife lives on the key and i live on the boat
across the bay at dinner key...  i often anchor off the YC for the day on
week ends (sometimes even pick up the kids with the dinghy behind the church
(my daughter goes to school there...) but make it a point to stay a
reasonable distance off the shore line, no loud music, etc...  as much as i
believe in our right to anchor, water front residents have rights too and
it's too bad a few boat owners are responsible for most of the complaints...

btw, glad to see the KB patrol boat a few weeks ago, trying to enforce no
wake in the anchorage.... much needed!

pascal
miami, fl
1970 hatteras 53my

----- Original Message -----
From: "ory Han" ghan@greghan.com
To: trawlers-and-trawlering@lists.samurai.com
Sent: Tuesday, May 03, 2005 8:28 PM
Subject: Re: T&T: Miami & Anchoring

Gregory wonders "what is the advantage to a small wealthy community to cater
to transient boaters" and opines, "the commercial benefit of boaters buying
food or going to restaurants is minimal".  Not so, according to a just
published study on the economic effect of boating in Palm Beach County,
Florida - arguably one of the wealthiest counties in the state.  The first
two paragraphs of the article from the current issue of BOAT/US magazine
(Volume X, May 2005) are quoted below:

"A study by the Marine Industries Association of Palm Beach County, FL,
shows the marine industry has an annual direct economic impact of $1.35
billion there, a 112% increase since a similar study was done in 1999.  The
study found that the current average value to the county of a boat slip is
$94,235, an increase of 204% from the average value presented in the 1999
report.

The purpose of the study was to measure the economic value of boating
businesses and services in Palm Beach County.  In addition to the direct
economic impact of the marine industry, the study also found that boaters
spend approximately $52.97 per outing on non-marine-related purchases such
as gas, food, drinks and ice.  These non-marine related purchases total $91
million in retail purchases ($51.6 million for gasoline sales and $39.4
million for food, drinks and ice) and are estimated to generate economic
impacts of $135 million in business volume, $34 million in personal income
and 850 jobs."

Whether large or small, wealthy communities do not exist in a vacuum.  They
need ancillary services and support, such as gas stations, grocery stores,
restaurants, bars, drug stores, etc., the same as non-wealthy communities.
Boaters contribute to the economic welfare of these business, just as local
residents do.

MOJO was anchored in Biscayne Bay off the Miami Yacht Club for 3 months in
2003.  A review of our records show that my wife and I spent almost $10,000
during those 3 months.  It's been our observation that the vast majority of
live-aboard cruisers are not the "boat bums" that the non-boating
public tend to associate with boaters who choose to live at anchor out vs.
in a marina.  Having lived aboard for over 10 years, spending 50% of that
time in the Caribbean, we have met hundreds of full time live-aboard
cruisers.  While every anchorage has a few boats (out of hundreds) that you
might classify as "derelict", the rest are well-maintained boats that middle
age, middle income, couples trust their lives to every time they pull anchor
and get underway.  Whether we choose to live in a house, apartment, or boat,
we all have to eat, meaning we buy groceries just like everyone else.  We
all have to do laundry, whether at "home" or in a Laundromat, we all like to
entertain ourselves and are willing to spend money to do so going to movies,
eating out at restaurants, renting DVD's, going to the  theatre, to bars, to
festivals, etc.  The economic impact of boaters should be viewed the same as
it is for permanent residents of the community who have enough disposable
income to afford to buy and maintain a boat large enough to live on full
time.  We may not spend quite as much as tourists who are "on vacation", but
as the Palm Beach study indicated, we do have a significant economic impact.

It appears cities such as Miami Beach are attempting to use a very broad
brush to get rid of of derelict vessels, many that appear to be abandoned by
their owners.  A handful of the waterfront wealthy protest to the city
council, and with little or no study, a new law gets passed.  The proposed
Miami Beach law lists as reasons for the ban, the "potential" boaters have
to serve as a source of polution, the fact that boats "constitute aesthetic
pollution", that they "constitute nuisance and invasions of the privacy of
homeowners", and that they "constitute a threat to the safety, health and
welfare of residents of the City through unregulated activity upon and
aboard such watercraft."  So because we potentially can polute the waters,
we're banned.  Because people who buy waterfront house don't want to look at
boats (aesthetic polution!), we're banned.  Because they can't figure out
other reasons to ban us, they say that we "invade the privacy of homeowners"
(how?), and threaten the safety of citizens via "unregulated activity",
whatever that means! A portion of the proposed regulation is quoted below.

I plan to write to the City Commissioners of Miami Beach protesting the
proposed 72 hour anchoring ban and attend the city council meeting to speak
against it.  I hope any other listees who are in the area will do the
same... we're rapidly losing the ability to pursue our lifestyle because in
the past it's simply been easier to just pull up anchor and move.  It's time
to make our voices heard and our economic impact known before anchoring
becomes a privledge granted or withheld by municipalities rather than a
right to navigation granted by congress.

Ray B.
m/v MOJO

"WHEREAS, the City Commission finds and declares that the proliferation of

watercraft in use for residential purposes or otherwise stored in the waters
of Biscayne

Bay within the boundaries of the City have had and have a deleterious effect
upon the

health, safety and welfare of the residents of the City in that they
potentially serve as a

source for pollution and contamination through discharge of human waste as
well as

garbage, refuse, debris, oil and other obnoxious products; constitute
aesthetic pollution,

being unsightly and interfering with views and enjoyment by the public of
the beautiful

vistas of Biscayne Bay; constitute nuisance and invasions of the privacy of
homeowners

and other residents of property adjacent or proximate to the Bay and other
waterbodies;

constitute a threat to the safety, health and welfare of residents of the
City through

unregulated activity upon and aboard such watercraft; and numerous other
problems and

disadvantages which adversely affect the quality of life of the residents
and visitors to the

City;"