Stating emphatically that she was "personally very disconcerted by the information that has been presented", Kathleen Connell, chairwoman of the State Lands Commission (SLC) agreed to defer a vote on the lease to the San Diego Mooring Co. The information she was referring to was provided by the Mooring Tenants Association regarding maintenance issues, RFP/Lease discrepancies, and the underlying purpose of the Port of San Diego in attempting to privatize the moorings. Lisa DiMaggio and Alan Schretzmann of BARC supplied additional information regarding the lack of public process.

Ms. Connell directed her staff to conduct their own investigations prior to any vote.

The last S.L.C. meeting was in April and the Lease was not on that agenda. The Port however sought and received approval at the Port Commissioners meeting on 3/28/2000 to pass an ordinance to amend the Lease extending the application period for S. L. C. consideration. The original version of the lease gave 60 days for S.L.C. approval after consideration of the lease. The 60-day "null and void" clause was to take effect on April 6, 2000. After that date the lease would have become null and void.

It appears that even after the meeting in Sacramento the Port is still going to try and push this lease through even with all of it’s flaws. Our position remains the same: The moorings should remain public, they should be safe and the rates must remain verifiably reasonable. None of which is likely to happen if the lease is approved as is.

The Mooring Tenants Association has continued to communicate our concerns to the S.L.C. On April 28,2000 they (SLC) met with Lisa DiMaggio and again on May 8th with both Lisa, members of BARC, and members of the Mooring Tenants Association. This was essentially a fact finding mission in which we were asked to provide in more detail issues that were brought up to the SLC commissioners in Feb.

SLC has also met with the Port of San Diego and the proposed new operator, SDMC. The content of those meetings centered on whether the Port feels it has done all it could to rectify any errors it made during the RFP process. According to the SLC, the Port feels that they have corrected all errors.

For those of us who keep our boats in the Commercial Basin, heads up! The newest version of the master plan went before the Port Commissioners on March 28th. While this is not the final version there were some significant changes happening to Shelter Island and the Americas Cup Harbor area.

One very significant change is the proposed reducing the size of the Kettenburg Boat Yard by half. (This will also do away with the existing dinghy dock now located there.)

This plan is available to the public and can be picked up at the Port Building on Pacific Coast Highway. Don’t be caught unaware!

This past winter about five boats broke free of their moorings due to improper tie-ups with insufficient lines. The mooring office has asked me to remind all of you about the importance of properly securing your vessel to your mooring. The required tie up procedure is available at the mooring office.

We are in the process of putting together our own website. Portions of our newsletter "ON THE BALL" will be featured as well as a calendar of up-coming events. We will be looking for input from our members on surveys as well as a comment section. We hope that this will enable us to get information out to all of the mooring tenants quicker and be more cost effective. We will keep you posted on our progress. We will of course still be mailing out our newsletter on a quarterly basis for those of you who do not have access to a computer.