Port Townsend Moorage Tenants Union Now Forming

At an 8 % moorage rate increase every year, boat ownership will soon be unaffordable for many of the present moorage tenants. Downsizing your vessel to save on moorage costs will not be an option, as the Port plans to eliminate smaller slips to accomodate vessels 45' and greater, most of them owned by recent arrivals or visitors living in affluent urban centers. Funding for this new construction is drawn from our ever-increasing moorage fees.

While new citizens are welcome, a funding process that forces out the very people who built the Port facility is not right.

The Port of Port Townsend serves two stated functions: to provide access to the waterfront for all the citizens of this community, and to encourage economic development.

At present, these two functions are in conflict; economic development can not be done at the expense of community access to the waterfront. Real economic development is not just the amount of cash collected.

Truly viable economic development is the ability to provide a safe place for the marine trades to function, and affordable moorage for everyone, including the average citizen in this county - young families just starting out as well as retirees on fixed incomes.

Unfortunately, the Port commission controls the only access to Port Townsend Bay and treats moorage tenants as inexhaustible cash-cows for their multimillion dollar corporation.

Only if we respond as a unified voice can we make the Port treat us differently. Our moorage rates should be based on the cost of maintenance, and not by how our rents compare to rates charged in more urban marinas around Puget Sound, marinas serving communities with far higher median incomes. As a publicly owned entity, capital improvements to Port property should in some way directly benefit the people who fund those improvements, not drive them out.

If Port Tentants are asked to fund projects, we should expect some clear benefit from such projects, and should be actively included in the planning process.

The port should ask the moorage tenants whether the replacement of A and B dock is worth the increase in moorage rate. Rather than eliminating the small slips, they should make moorage within the reach of the many residents with small boats who can't afford 200+ dollars a month ($2400.00 per year) for moorage. If our moorage fees are used for the gentrification of Port Hudson, then the fees collected from the "improved" facility should be directed to offset further rent increases. Some form of rent control should apply to existing tenants.

By forming a moorage tenants union, we want to help define the agenda for the next Port Commission election. We will interview the candidates for port commissioner and have them address our concerns. We willl work with the other organizations such as the Marine Trades Organization, the Port Townsend Sailing Association, Rat Island Rowing Club, and the Wooden Boat Foundation during this election.

We want to include you in our union. No dues are necessary at this point. Please send us your email address so we can communicate effectively with you. Also we welcome any comments or concerns you have.



Bertram Levy