Letters/Comments

Opening up a dialogue about opening up docks to tie up boats Dear “Log”, I relocated to San Diego about a year ago from Michigan, and before that, Fort Lauderdale. As both a maritime professional and as a lifelong boater, I came here expecting to use my center console boat as I had in other places: going to dinner, running errands, and general transport. I’ve always called it my “pickup truck.” Here in San Diego, that’s effectively impossible. There are only a few places in the Bay where I can tie up: Joe’s Crab Shack, Coronado’s Town Dock, and Bali Hai. Coming from Fort Lauderdale, it’s frustrating. There, I had a selection of hundreds of restaurants and businesses to choose from. The same is true in Muskegon, Long Island, Miami, Milwaukee, Seattle, Newport Beach and many others. All of these cities reap great benefits from the boat traffic. Water taxis carry people from place to place, relieving traffic and parking pressure. Families stop in for lunch. Restaurants fill their docks with well-heeled boaters looking to spend money. I walk down the Embarcadero’s miles of empty seawall and wonder how much money San Diego is leaving on the table by not accommodating boaters...