From: billc@sextant.Eng.Sun.COM (Bill Courington)
Newsgroups: rec.boats
Subject: Re: What is your marina like?
Date: 28 Jul 92 19:13:27 GMT
Reply-To: billc@sextant.Eng.Sun.COM
Organization: Sun Microsystems
NNTP-Posting-Host: sextant.eng.sun.com

Thanks for bringing up an interesting topic.  

I'll comment on South Beach Harbor in San Francisco, a facility 
that's about 5 years old and is run by the City.  The marina is 
located 1/2 mile south of the Bay Bridge in a once-funky area of 
rotting piers and warehouses that is being redeveloped.  It is a 
premier location:  usually sunny, sheltered, close to the west bay 
(the slot between Marin and SF where most sailing is done).  It has 
superb protection in all weather, and virtually no surge.  

>1)price/foot/year
The rate is progressive; you pay more per foot for a bigger
slip.  Example:  $185/mo for 30 feet ($6.17), $225/month
for 34 feet ($6.62).  Although I have a small slip, I find
the attitude mildly annoying and _suspect_ it to be
politically motivated (soak the better off).  Worse, there
is a hidden cost.  Because the City owns the property, but
is providing it to the tenants, the tenants are assessed
for property taxes.  That's right, you don't own anything
but you get to pay taxes anyway.  Seems to me that my bill
was $84 for my 34-foot slip.  Not a lot of money, but it
seems sneaky to me--I surely don't recall being advised of
this tax when I rented the slip.  (I recognize that a
private marina would pass its taxes to the tenants, but not
as a separate unmentioned item.)

>2)quality of management
More indifferent than incompetent.  If you have a problem, little 
is done.  For example, there is a ship repair facility to the north.  
Ships there sometimes clear their stacks sending what I believe 
are bits of rusty water into the air.  In the winter the prevailing 
wind is north, and decks of some boats are dotted with rust stains.  
The harbormaster writes a letter, the practice continues.  Another 
example:  each year during herring season empty slips are taken 
by commercial fishermen.  During their stay there is a rash of 
thefts, principally electronics from powerboats.  The harbormaster's 
idea of how to deal with this problem was to padlock all gates 
but one and install a TV camera at that gate.  Fortunately, this 
idea, insane if one considers a fire in the marina, was squelched.  
The fisherman left, the thefts stopped.  BTW, liveaboards are not 
allowed at South Beach, though many tenants feel that they would 
be the best protection against theft.  

>3)quality/quantity of facilities
The floats are fine, though they are single fingers (two
boats share a dock).  The "temporary" heads (trailers) are
grossly inadequate for the business they receive; they are
tiny and are usually dripping with condensation from the
showers.  They are kept reasonably clean, however.  I have
a feeling they are permanent.  The parking lot is full
every weekend of the summer--and guests aren't allowed in
the lot on weekends.

>4) other...
That's about it.  The harbor has a lot going for it (location 
and protection, principally), enough to keep me there.  But there's 
no feeling of service from the staff--even though the place has 
a lot of empty slips.  They seem to be immune from competition, 
which I suppose they are, drawing their pay no matter what happens.  
(Though the idea of losing money on empty slips in a city with 
great budget problems seems strange.)  I'm not happy, but I can't 
think of anywhere better overall to move to.    

Bill Courington