MikeR":1820uu7o said:
From the Port of Friday Harbor page, it looks like there is a special meeting tomorrow (March 24) and one of the agenda items is to authorize the closure of transient moorage at Friday Harbor:
https://www.portfridayharbor.org/march-24-2020-special-meeting-agenda/
Mike, Thank you for that link. I did join that meeting (The Port of Friday Harbor Commissioners ) via that "Zoom" link. There were the 3 elected commissioners, and about 6 members from the public. It lasted about 2 hours. The important parts that concern us as public and C-BRATS are this:
1. The initial announcement was that the Port of Friday Harbor would not accept transient moorage , (which would include the FH-CBGT) and was typed prior to the meeting, to the date of May 31. BUT, that had not been voted on by the commission befpre it was put into that announcement.
2. Two of the commissioners agreed with the May 31 date and felt that they could do that and then IF the Covid19 numbers, the Health Dept, and the Medical advisers agreed, they could dial the date back to earlier, and open earlier in April or May depending on the numbers and medical advice. The third commissioner did not agree. His thoughts were that it would be better to close to a shorter (sooner) date, with the caveat that the date may be extended if the Covid19 numbers and medical advise agreed that they needed to remain closed longer.
3. There was time for public input. At that time I was one of the public that had mike time. I stated that we have a group of 40 to 50 boats that typically show up, and that is based on planning schedules from early in the year. Also, that we have folks who travel from outside of the Puget Sound area and at times from Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, California, Oregon, and have had folks from Texas, Wisconsin,and as far as Florida. these people plan very far in advance, and for some, this is just a stop off on the way north to Broughtons, Mid BC coast, or SE Alaska for most of the summer.
4. Not being able to plan for Friday Harbor, most would bypass and be gone so essentially, postponing is the equivalent of cancelling for 2020.
5. I asked that they strongly consider, changing the "No Transient" order from the end of May to the end of April, with the ability to extend the closure if needed. That response was echoed by the third commissioner, and by one of the other public members on the meeting site representing the BnB (AirBnB) industry folks from the island.
6. After the discussion, the vote was taken and approved to change the end date to April 30 with the possibility of extension, and the written announcement would be changed to reflect the current vote.
It was heartening to listen to the discussion that followed and the effort and struggle that these folk are dealing with. The island survives primarily on the tourist, travel and visitor $$$ and being closed Mar, April and maybe May and even June, essentially shuts down 75% to 90% of their annual income. There are tons of considerations, but my hat is off to the Commissioners for their efforts in working with those whose survival depend on income from people who will not be coming to their doors.
SO . . . Where are we at for the C-BRATS? Well, if you filled out your 2020 USA National Census forms already, I should be asking you BECAUSE in order to do that form accurately, you have to have some sort of eye into the future, ( YUP, April 1, 2020 to know how many people slept in your house that night), So, if you know that already
Please, let me know IF we are going to be sleeping on the dock at Friday Harbor May 15.
7. For Now. I am still working on outguessing the CoronaVirus Covid19, and putting together a reasonable, safe and sensible, and prudent plan for the
2020 FH-CBGT. I will make a safe prediction. There will be a definite, for sure, announcement here on May 4, 2020. I hope that will work for anyone that has hopes and plans for joining. AND I hope we will be able to meet. That depends on a lot of things. Stay Tuned.
Harvey
SleepyC :moon
