Oakland and Affiliated Agencies Continue To Fail Public Access to the Bay
After spending a glorious weekend on the Bay, we hate to have to write another story on Oakland’s dereliction of duty to its citizens. It remains distressingly difficult to wake up to emails and the photos from members of the East Bay Rowing Club, highlighting the abject failure of the City of Oakland and numerous related agencies’ inability to manage a dock measuring about 20 feet by 100 feet.
With their youth rowing camp scheduled to start at the Jack London Aquatic Park docks at 8 a.m. today, Heather Krakora, executive director of the East Bay Rowing Club (EBRC), wrote a desperate plea to the City and other agencies to help. This may feel like too little too late, though; as Latitude 38 readers know, numerous citizen advocates and organizations have been lobbying for years without result. Our own efforts to understand the problem leave us mostly bewildered that there simply appears to be no agency with clear jurisdiction and authority to manage this tiny dock and cove on Oakland’s miles-long waterfront. On one end of the Estuary, the Coast Guard ships on Coast Guard Island look well-cared-for and -managed. At the other end of the Estuary the massive Oakland shipping terminal sits gleaming in the sun with an annual budget of something like $700 million. In between is the public shoreline managed by the City and the Port.
Around the Bay, private and public marinas and yacht clubs manage miles of docks and coves, giving kids and adults access to the Bay. It would be hard to overstate the hours of time volunteers have invested in trying to find out how to solve the problem, and likely also hard to overestimate the hours of time various agencies have met to discuss the problems over the past decade. Yes, we mean decade. We do know it’s harder than it looks, but we also know the City, the Port and numerous related agencies should and can get this done.
We share EBRC executive director Heather Krakora’s email to a long list of agencies and media: “I am writing to alert the City and Port of Oakland, given the severity of what we have experienced at Jack London Aquatic Center in the past 48 hours.
“In that time, we have three large boats that are moored to the public dock for well over 48 hours, since the evening of Friday, June 19. They are blocking access to the water and have emptied the contents of their boats onto the dock. One of the occupants of the vessels has threatened staff and athletes.”
“We are set to launch our summer Learn to Row Camps for Oakland youth ages 12–18, including Oakland Unified School District students, on Monday morning — tomorrow, June 22. Senior citizens and youth access this dock daily for programming. We cannot operate safely while these vessels remain in place.
“The occupants of these vessels are agitated and their behavior has become threatening. It is not safe for our participants to be at this facility right now.
“If these vessels are not removed before Monday morning, we will be forced to cancel programming for the Oakland youth and seniors who depend on this facility. If we cannot consistently operate from this dock, East Bay Rowing Club cannot continue as a functioning organization. This community loses its only public-access rowing program. And the City of Oakland loses an anchor tenant who has been helping to keep this facility running and safe.
“We provide over $20,000 in scholarships to Oakland youth, pathways to college, and have been paying rent on time, every month to the City of Oakland for over 15 years. We have offered solutions and have been reporting these issues for over two years.
“We are asking for emergency removal of the vessels currently blocking the JLAC dock before 8:00 a.m. Monday, June 22.
“We need someone to take responsibility and act.”
Mark Yolton, Board president of the East Bay Rowing Club, added in part, “Drug dealing and prostitution take place in the parking lot day and night. An unlocked gate to the parking lot allows drinking, drug use, trash, refuse and all manner of illegal activity in the middle of the night, which we encounter when we arrive to use the facility at 5:20 a.m. each [day] (the JLAC park is supposed to be closed overnight but the gate allows unfettered access). Note: This will be a site of illegal fireworks, drinking, drug use and other overnight activity on the 4th of July; last year on the 4th the dock was severely damaged when someone drove a vehicle onto it — it took months and thousands of dollars to repair.”
“We are asking for help from our city leaders, the Port of Oakland, the Coast Guard, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, Oakland Police Department, Oakland Parks and Rec, and anyone else with the power to assist in addressing these issues. We are willing and committed to help and to partner with you but we can’t do this alone without proper support from more powerful authorities.”
Public access to the waterfront is a national problem on both coasts. The small scraps of land still available to connect people to the maritime heritage and simple, recreational fun in and on the water has become increasingly hard to preserve. As Mark Yolton noted above, there is a long list of agencies with large bureaucracies and budgets that are supposedly working on behalf of “the people,” but the results appear almost nonexistent. We know the housing problem is an enormous challenge, but it appears to be impervious to the many well-intentioned people who go to work every day to resolve the issue.
Separately, we understand there are glimmers of hope that the removal of some of the many derelict vessels on the shoreline will begin soon. However, summer camp for kids at the East Bay Rowing Club was supposed to start at 8 a.m. today. The Bay, the volunteers and the parents are all looking forward to welcoming more kids to the incredible beauty and adventure of the Bay. The East Bay Rowing Club and all the Estuary advocates are waiting and wondering who the responsible adults are that will step up to make all their efforts and commitments to the Bay and youth possible.
Oakland needs to take a page out of San Diego and just impound, tow, destroy any boats out of compliance. I was not always an advocate as this limits boating access to those who also follow the rules. But the CMYC (Crystal Meth Yacht Club) does not have a charter to operate, those vessels are pumping fuel, waste, and anything else the proprietor chooses to spill into the water. Further, not a one of them has adequate ground tackle or the knowledge on how to deploy it if they did. USCG safety inspections and boater card review, impound and destroy after the fines are unpaid and vessels left at the boat yard. If there is a 3 hour limit on the dock then 1 minute after impound the boat. The rules need enforcing and the ordinances need to be dialed up to clean up this problem.
I will keep this as friendly as possible. Starting at the top; The mayor of Oakland and Alameda should be ashamed of themselves. The City Council’s should be ashamed of themselves. All involved agencies should be ashamed of themselves. A hero must emerge from this ash heap and take the bull by the horns. If one leads, many will follow. The domino’s will fall and positive results will happen. The hero stands to reap the rewards of the success, be it an elected official or a private enterprise. I’ve been following this story (and Richardson Bay) for YEARS and the driving force behind these undertakings seems to be someone of influence taking charge, and not a series of finger-pointing meetings. I apologize if I’ve offended anyone—except elected officials who can do something about this. As the old saying goes: “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.”
I have been saying for years that there need to be more enforcement. I would like to be able to come to Oakland, tie up at a dock and go to dinner and then leave. Too many times I am blocked by the exact people hogging the docks that are mentioned here. The lack of public docks in the bay area really takes away from what people could do to support the areas water activities.
I am all in favor of the ticketing and hauling away for violators. The same people that oversee the car parking could cover that dock. How many parking tickets do they issues in a day, the same could apply to the boats. You get 3 hours and then leave, if still there after that there need to be some bite that hurts.
I used to keep my boat in Alameda before sailing to Alaska last year. I watched over the past few years the derelict boats pile up eventually becoming apprehensive about kayaking in certain areas. So much potential yet so much incompetence. The failure to build the A’s ballpark was devastating. Oakland sucks frankly. In AK all the public marinas and docks are well run and maintained. People respect the community property. Public servants are hard working, fair and friendly. I’m sailing back to SF Bay now for work but starting to regret it. Wondering where I should keep my boat?