Save our department

MIKE WHITEHEAD

Ahoy.

The attack on the state’s Department of Boating and Waterways is

on again, led by the Department of Parks and Recreation. Parks and

Recreation seems unwilling to give up its attempt to merge Boating

and Waterways with its department, and for one purpose -- money. Your

letter-writing campaign stopped the merger earlier this year, and now

Parks and Recreation is trying again with the new administration of

Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger.

On my “Boathouse” radio show last Sunday, Ray Tsuneyoshi, director

of Boating and Waterways, called in to discuss how Parks and

Recreation is aggressively trying to absorb his department only for

monetary reasons, as Parks and Recreation officials view the boating

department as a cash cow.

Boating and Waterways receives all its funding from you, the

boaters, through a fuel tax and loan repayments. Parks and Recreation

receives its funding from the infamous black hole called the General

Fund. If Parks and Recreation absorbs Boating and Waterways, then its

funding would eventually be dumped into the General Fund with little

accountability for how its being spent. Already, Parks and Recreation

is slowly pecking at Boating and Waterways’ dedicated funding, and

this fiscal year, Parks and Recreation has been able to take $26

million from the boating department that was suppose to go back to

you, the boater. Is Parks and Recreation spending this money paid by

boaters for boating?

The Boating Needs Assessment Study details that in the next 10

years, more than $800 million is needed for renovations of marinas,

launch ramps and facilities.

“Across the United States, California is the cutting edge of

taking care of the recreational boater,” Tsuneyoshi told my radio

listeners. “If the Department of Boating and Waterways merges with

Parks [and Recreation], the money will dry-up [for boating

projects].”

Boating is not just a recreational pursuit; the marine industry

employs approximately 284,000 people in California.

If the merger happens, “the ones to lose are the boaters,”

Tsuneyoshi said.

Russ Robinson, president of Recreational Boaters of California,

has confirmed that the Department of Parks and Recreation is pursuing

the merger of the Department of Boating and Waterways into Parks.

Recreational Boaters of California has issued a call-to-arms;

below is the sample letter for you to sign and let the Schwarzenegger

team hear from as many boaters as possible. Recreational Boaters of

California is emphasizing that this time, it is important to generate

even more letters and communications than ever before.

Robinson is asking everyone to print and sign the letter below,

and send it to Recreational Boaters of California via fax (916)

441-3520, by e-mail to rboc@rboc.org, or by mail to 925 L St., Suite

220, Sacramento, CA 95814. The letter is on the Internet at

https://www.rboc.org/save

DBW_10-15-03.html.

California Gov.-Elect Arnold Schwarzenegger

Schwarzenegger Transition Office

831 L St.

Sacramento, CA 95814

Dear Gov.-elect Schwarzenegger,

I urge you not to propose the merger of the Department of Boating

and Waterways into the Department of Parks and Recreation.

The Department of Boating and Waterways and its vital,

boater-funded programs are critical to:

* Safety on the waterways for more than 3 million boating

enthusiasts;

* Environmental protection for the state waterways; and

* Stimulation of the state’s economy through loans and grants for

boating facility construction.

The Department of Boating and Waterways does not receive monies

from the state’s General Fund. Boater-generated fuel tax dollars and

interest earned from loans of those funds, support Boating and

Waterway activities.

Boaters are already contributing to the Department of Recreation

and Parks. For several years, the state’s boaters have been supplying

more than $11 million per year in boater fuel-tax dollars for a total

exceeding $100 million, to Parks and Recreation. In the current

fiscal year, the amount is $26 million.

It is also quite important that this state’s more than 3 million

boating enthusiasts, who support a $17 billion per year boating

industry, continue to have the leadership, accountability and

dedication that are ensured by a boating department with a director

whose principal focus is boating. Since becoming a department in

1967, Boating and Waterways has proven to be an effective, efficient

and model department.

Please decide not to propose a merger of the Department of Boating

and Waterways into the Department of Recreation and Parks.

Sincerely, name and address

Remember, you can listen to me every Sunday from 4 to 5 p.m. on

KCBQ AM (1170), and you can call in with you nautical questions or

comments during the show to (888) 344-1170. This Sunday, our roving

reporter Eric Hovland will be calling in from the “Hooked”

sportfishing exhibit at the Newport Harbor Nautical Museum.

Safe voyages.

* MIKE WHITEHEAD is the Pilot’s boating and harbor columnist. Send

him your harbor and marine-related thoughts and story suggestions by

e-mail to mike@boathousetv.com or visit https://www.boathousetv.com.