What's to be done about it?

2/9 note - Paddling friend, bottle-hurler, free-diver and majorly committed DTBH volunteer Tim emailed me to let me know that the rumour about the DTBH submitting a proposal for the Pier 66 boathouse is just that, a rumour. No truth to it, and in fact they can't submit because they won the last one. I now wonder if that would also apply to the Tribeca boathouse, if the Trust DOES build it, or if the DTBH history there would be taken into account. Very confusing. Anyways, immediate situation is just Pier 63 vs. New York Kayak. Still messy.

Wow. No comments at all about yesterday's post. And one email. That's even more depressing than people getting mad at me! :D

Well, the weirdness of the Hudson River Park paddling situation IS sort of old news, I guess, and the NYKC vs. Pier 63 gang is just an ugly new variation on a theme that's been playing for a long time.

However, I did want to make a suggestion - if you happen to have an opinion & want to get it in front of people who can do something about it - emails at the Trust are:
ndoyle@hrpt.state.ny.us - Noreen Doyle, EVP Hudson River Park Trust
cfishman@hrpt.state.ny.us - Connie Fishman, President, Hudson River Park Trust

To email our new steamroller - er, I mean our new governor, Eliot Spitzer, click here

To email Mayor Mike: click here.

The group at the non-official-meeting gathering where Randy came to speak came up with an idea I thought was good - rather than choosing sides, possibly just writing a letter of support to the Trust for the paddling community in the Hudson River Park.

Actually, I think that could be rather effective coming from individuals, too.

At one point, it looked like theoretically, there was enough storage planned that there'd be room for current users, plus room for growth. Now, with the Tribeca boathouse up in the air, and the barge still in limbo as a paddlesports center, that's not so clear - and that's what I mean when I talk about playing musical chairs with water access.

And that's not even getting into the issue that I realized I never thought about much - an easily accessible launch for cartoppers & folding kayakers (24/7/365 access being something that the barge had provided but that the Trust may not really have on their radar, as it's generally been the storage people who've been the squeakiest wheels).

Storage and a place to launch - provide enough of those to serve the current demand & leave room for future growth, then the competition between the various groups can be of the healthy variety - let the companies & not-for-profits thrive, or not, based on how well they run their operations.

That can be healthy.

But the kind of competition that's happening now is based on a sudden scarcity that's been caused by sheer lack of foresight. One big oops.

If that bothers you - just say so - use these emails to share your opinion with people who can actually do something about it.

Back to fun posts after this, I promise. OH -BTW speaking of fun, I went to Cheri & Turner's slide show last night - the Canadian CKayaker was RIGHT - it is FABULOUS. If you hear about them doing this presentation in your area - just go, you'll LOVE it!