Candidate for
Harbor Commissioner; San Mateo County Harbor District

I was born and raised in Newton Massachusetts, near Boston. I grew up sailing in Marblehead with my Godfather, and later took it up myself on the Charles River. I moved to the West Coast to pursue higher education, finding that a somewhat protracted process as I am still trying to get into a program. I lived in Redwood City for my first 6 months in California, but found rent very high, so I looked into living on a boat and fell in love with it, the San Francisco Bay being the greatest place in the world for boating.

I have lived aboard now for almost 5 years and plan on continuing to do so. I observe what goes on in my community and have lots of ideas about what needs to be done here. I believe in getting involved instead of complaining, so here I am, seeking your vote, hoping to be given the opportunity to serve you and represent your best interests so that all the county's residents can enjoy access to boating and the unique ecosystem of the Bay and the Coastline as I did growing up.

One of the factors which motivated me to put my life on hold and seek a position on the Harbor District Board was an incident I encountered when I spoke at a harbor commission meeting during the portion reserved for "Public Comments." I expressed my concerns to the Commission regarding numerous deficiencies at Oyster Point Marina and offering my ideas about how circumstances might be improved. No sooner had I completed my presentation when the Commissioner who considers himself "the father of Oyster Point" proceeded to attack me verbally with insults and and berrate me for having the audacity to "disrupt their Meeting." He informed me that it was inappropriate to address the Board, and that I should have taken the matter up with my Harbormaster, who would then bring it up to the Board. It was then explained to this curmudgeon that I had in fact brought it up with my Harbormaster, and it was he who had encouraged me to personally deliver my concerns and ideas directly to the Commission. Apparently he felt as though his inability to get any kind of response from the Commission might get bolstering by a concerned tenant. The abusive "Public Servant" neither acknowledged his mistake nor apologized for his actions.

It became clearly evident to me that the Commission holds the Public in contempt as the liveaboard tenants at both facilities are often referred to as "riff raff," a fact not lost on those of us who choose to live on our vessels. They choose to hold votes on issues pertaining to Pillar Point in South San Francisco, where Oyster Point is and likewise hold votes on Oyster Point issues in El Granada, where Pillar Point is.

This outrageous behavior certainly piqued my interest, but the final straw that spurred me into action came shortly after I experienced a 25% rent increase and then learned about a 28 million dollar giveaway that the Commission was involved in. After striking a deal with the developer of the Oyster Point Hilton and settling on 5% of room rental revenues and having all the paperwork signed off on, the developer later requested a minor revision of another provision of the lease and incidentally thought it might be nice of the Commission to knock a couple of points off the room rental fee, bringing it down to 3%. The manager readily agreed and the Commission rubber stamped it resulting in the loss of between 28 and 37 million dollars for the County over the length of the 75 year lease. After being assured that the drastic financial hardship I had been forced to swallow was borne out of necessity to keep the District solvent, this incredible blunder was more than I could accept from a Board of 5 "qualified" politicians, 3 of whom were in fact appointed, who are supposed to be wise, prudent, judicious and civic-minded as are all elected politicians.