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Waterfront Threats and Opportunities

Before the first Bay Bridge, the way to get your car to San Francisco from the East Bay was via car ferry from the end of the Berkeley Pier. When it was first constructed starting in 1926, the pier reached 3.5 miles into the Bay from the original shoreline (pre-landfill/Berkeley Marina). Car ferry service started in 1927 and ended when the Bay Bridge was opened in 1936 with cars on the upper deck and trains on the lower deck.

Just maybe the eyesore/obstacle will be updated with a sail-through sandwich pick-up spot, though you may have to watch for fishing lines being cast again from the end of the pier.

latitude/JR
©2017Latitude 38 Media, LLC

Since then the decaying pier has been a place to stroll and fish if you came by land or an obstacle to avoid when you’re out for a sail. In 2015 it was deemed to unsafe for pedestrians and was closed. It’s also pretty unsafe if you’re not paying attention under sail.

Berkeleyside now reports a public process will start in January to redesign and reopen the Berkeley Pier sometime in the future.

Just after finishing this note on the Berkeley Pier, we opened an email from Mark Sanders of Redwood City’s Westpoint Harbor saying, "As you may be aware, on November 16, 2017, Westpoint Harbor will appear for a public hearing in front of the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) Enforcement Committee. BCDC staff has brought an enforcement action against Westpoint Harbor, alleging the marina violated a number of its BCDC permit conditions. As part of this enforcement action, BCDC staff seeks to require major changes at the harbor, issue a cease and desist order, and pay a penalty of more than half a million dollars. The allegations are false, and we are vigorously contesting BCDC staff’s claims. Westpoint Harbor’s ‘statement of defense’ was submitted last month and can be downloaded from BCDC’s website here. The BCDC staff allegations and the proposed ‘cease and desist and civil penalty order’ are available here."

The 416-slip Westpoint Harbor in Redwood City is one of the newest marinas on the Bay.

© 2017 Westpoint Harbor

Mark asked that anyone who wants to support Westpoint Harbor write to the “Enforcement Committee Members” and the “BCDC Commissioners.” The email can be sent to BCDC’s legal counsel, Marc Zeppetello, and cc’d to [email protected]. You can include “Westpoint Harbor Proposed Order No. CDO 2017.04” to identify what your comments are about.

If you would like to attend the Enforcement Committee hearing, it is open to members of the public. It will be held on November 16 at 9:30 a.m. at 455 Golden Gate Ave., Milton Marks Conference Center, Monterey Room, Basement Level, San Francisco.

If you read through all the documents you will definitely want to cast off and go sailing this weekend.

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Here’s your 2017 Baja Ha-Ha recap: the fleet did a roughly three-day leg from San Diego to Turtle Bay (about halfway down the Baja peninsula), then Turtle Bay to Bahia Santa Maria, then on to Cabo San Lucas for the finish, which was officially last night at El Squid Roe, where the Poobah could be seen in all his fluorescent orange T-shirt glory.