Page 6 The CATALINA ISLANDER Friday, June 7, 2002
Fair increase?
I wish to alert all boat owners,
who rely on use of Avalon Harbor
moorings for winter refuge, to
attend a special City Council pub-
lic hearing on June 18, at 7 p.m
in the court house at-which time
the Council will consider a pro-
posal by the city manager to
increase daily, year-round and
winter mooring rates, some by as
much as 125 percent.
At this public hearing the City
Com/c'fl will consider 63 different
fee increases, throughout City ser-
vices, including 14 which apply
exclusively to use of Avalon Har-
bor moorings.
For Avalon boat owners seek-
ing winter refuge Avalon Harbor
is the only option and this option
is in danger of no longer being
affordable. The most severe
increase in mooring fees will fall
on boats of 49 feet and under, per-
manently based in Avalon Harbor,
and will apply during the winter
months when boaters must rely
solely on Avalon Harbor for
refuge. The proposed winter rate
increase would result in a 112.5
percent increase for boats zero to
29 feet and 125 percent increase'
for boats 30 to 39 feet.
The City staff report to the City
Council,l rovides no specific
financial j" tification for the
increases other' then vague com-
ments such as, "daily mooring
Service
Luxury
"The
Newport
Boat"
Reservations Required 949/673-5245
Catalina Passenger Service, Inc.
Sen/or Rates
Packages Availal
t)dlg Savice
*Real Est, at, e in Avalon
"Premiere Developer'e PenChouee"
CCo5 Bahia Yiet, a
PHvaCe 2 level, 3 BOg, 2 Bach Perrr, houee wi
Harbor, Hilleide & Town viewe, Over 2200 e I.
f'r of living epace, e orage & decke. Off-eCree
parking, pdvate baGk deck wl Jacuzzi, fire-
,placee & much. much more. Curre being
remodeled & redecom'ced and will come
fully furnished. Vac, al;ion Rerrr, al.
Offered for &9,000.
Call Est, her Choi @ I each Realty
o) 9
fees have not been adjusted since
July 1998 winter rates are way
below market rate," "the Isthmus
charges more then Avalon" etc.
There is no information that
directly links the proposed
amount of increases to increased
cost of service. The notion that it
is reasonable to equate Avalon
mooting rates with Isthmus moor-
ing rates is truly a false premise.
The mooring operation run by
Two Harbors Enterprises is a pri-
vate operation conducted on Tide
and Submerged Lands leased
from the State of California and
subject to Submerged Lands lease
fees and State and Federal taxes
typically imposed on all private
businesses.
By contrast the City of Avalon
Harbor operation pays no Tide-
land fees or Federal or State taxes
and the City retains 100 percent of
all revenues collected in the har-
bor. If there is any comparison to
be made it should be that Avalon
mooring rates should be signifi-
cantly less then the Isthmus!
Mooring fees are the single
highest cost of maintaining a boat
and if affordability is your con-
cern I urge all boat owners who
rely on Avalon Harbor for their
winter refuge to become informed
about the proposed rate increases,
talk to the mayor and councilmen
and be present at the public hear-
ing on Tuesday, June 18, at the
Avalon Court House.
Rudy Hitch
Avalon
of the "Students Helping Stu-
dents" for making an evening in
Avalon--a night to remember!
Donna M. Loomis
Avalon
Re: Variances
The following is a letter I sent
to Pete Woolson and Ralph Mor-
row. I believe it is an important
issue which your readership would
be interested in.
As an owner of unit C51 in
Bahia Vista for more than 10 years
who is now being affected by the
new "non-resident" parking rules,
I wish to state my opposition to
the approval of any new variance
for "less than required" parking
applications.
If those of us who spend vaca-
tion time in Avalon ourselves,
and/or rent our property out to oth-
ers who do the same, cannot park
on the streets overnight if we so
choose, there is certainly no room
for any additional variance for
"less than required" parking or any
new construction that is prohibited
without such a variance.
This unequal treatment of differ-
ent categories or "classes" of citi-
zens and how they can use the pub-
lic streets is unfair enough. It should
be obvious, if there is enough of a
parking problem to pass this ridicu-
lous ordinance, that no more park-
ing variances be issued, or any per-
mits for construction be issued that
would not be allowed without such
a variance.
Please place this comment into
ight at the next public heating of
A fun n Planning Commission.
The Multi-Cultural Channel
Dana Gordon
Crossing Club of Avalon is to be
congratulated on its International Hesperia and Avalon
fund.raiser feast, which was heldat ! r =inn
Tremont Hall on May 23. The exot-
ic variety of food was a delight. The following is a letter that
Members of the Channel Cross- was sent to Mayor Ralph Morrow:
ing club also presented an informa- I must withdraw my name for
tive presentation of their "Students reappointment to the Avalon Plan-
Helping Students" program, this ning Commission upon expiration
time in India. I'm very proud of of my term. At the time I applied
these students wanting to reach out for reappointment, I felt a strong
beyond Avalon and America. sense of responsibility and com-
Last but not least, the audience mitment to the on-going task of the
was treated to more! The Ameri- commission to forge an equitable
can Indian singing was so beauti- balance between Avalon's housing
ful, India Chanting with cymbals needs and property owners' rights
and drums were inspiring, and the as guaranteed by the United States
belly dancing with audience par- Constitution.
ticipation in the last number was I believe that the planning com-
fun to watch, mission was making real measur-
I just want to say, kudos to all able progress toward this elusive
goal, and I felt that my work in
this regard offered some hope of
achieving the dream shared by
every concerned citizen of our
town: that of making a difference
in an important area.
In my April 30 letter to you, I
outlined that "I have stood firmly
for the right of the property own-
ers to use their property as they
wish, so long as it falls within the
confines of our ordinances and
state laws."
Furthermore, I can say without a
doubt that I have weighed the issues
based on fact and current law and
worked together in compromise for
the betterment of our community.
However, based on your per-
sonal performance at the first two
city council meetings of your
new administration. I have come
to realize that you apparently
view the planning commission's
sincere recent efforts as mere,
inept meddling in the business of
politics, to which you appear to
be more dedicated than.to any
rule of law.
I refer to your duplicitous waf-
fling on the Trout application last
month, and to your shameless
abandonment of all principle in
the Hutchinson appeal.
In neither case did you even
attempt to sway the opinions of
your council members. You not
only accepted their liberal biases
at face value, you even allowed
yourself to be convinced by their
specious arguments that the plan-
ning commission had acted irra-
tionally and that property rights
must take a back seat to political
expediency.
Moreover, you even opened the
door to yet another pointless
moratorium on conditional use
permits due to your lack of leader-
ship and pathetic apologetics.
How can you quickly abandon the
fine sounding promises you made
as a candidate regarding property
rights Mr. Mayor?
Clearly the course you have set
for yourself will inevitable collide
with the April 24, commission's
decision to handle transient rental
applications on a case-by-case
basis, and lead to the complete
demoralization of that selfless,
dedicated agency. I do not wish to
be a party to any process that puts
political expediency before com-
munity betterment.
Norbert Reyes
Avalon
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