Lake Havasu Boaters Assoc?

[Wicked Game]

I had a thought.:mix: It doesn't happen often and it usually gets me into trouble but here goes. What are your thoughts on a political association organized for the sole purpose of representing the rights of the people who enjoy Lake Havasu but have no voting rights. "UNITED WE STAND" type of thing.
Like many of us on these boards, I own a home in LHC and spend many weekends there. And like even more of us, along with spending weekends there, I spend a lot of my hard earned cash and contribute to the local economy. I care what happens there and have a vested interest in the decisions made by the Mayor and City Council. Even though I own a house there and pay property taxes, I live in Dana Point, CA and I do not have a vote or any kind of influence on the decisions of the local government.
I've been a participant in the Lake Havasu scene for over thirty years and still love the place. I've seen a lot of changes good and bad. But what I continue to see is the local government slowly taking away the privileges of boaters as an answer for their inability to do their job. First the answer was to shut down CC on holidays, then Sandbar. The latest is the restrictions on the channel. What's next, close the channel completely to boaters? Imagine 600 boats floating in Thomson Bay. But then they would shut that down too.
Just a thought. Please give me your thoughts.

[cc322]

Good idea BUT I think it has been brought up before and it is hard to get it started. If enough people got involved I believe we would see some positive changes or at least have a voice to be heard. I would join. It is easy to bitch about the city council and all the other laws that either directly, or indirectly affect us, but nothing will change unless we organize. I also own a home in Havasu and am concerned about the future of our lake.

[INSman]

Strength in numbers, let's make it happen somehow :idea:

[phebus]

I think an Organization like a Surfrider Foundation (I know totally different ideals) that was formed to protect the rights of boaters would be great. But, organizing such an organization would be a huge endeavor. Imagine the power of some lobbyists in the small time political arena. With enough backing, we could ensure that politicians that had the boaters interests in mind were elected.
Just a huge undertaking, that would require an attorney (big costs) to get off the drawing boards to become a reality.
Fantastic idea, I just don't know if it is feasible.

[cc322]

What ever happend to this group, seems that they are still making it work
http://www.ijsba.com/ijsba/index.cfm

[INSman]

There are many boaters that own companies (incl. Boat Mfg's) that are very wealthy, and probably wouldn't mind dumping some cash into a well planned and organized endeavor as what is being proposed.
I am guessing that guys like Gibson, Teague, Leach and such that benefit from us the consumer and who also boat on Havasu may be in a position to do something. I also heard that Steve Shugrue was furious over what happened the prior weekend as it dramatically effected his business and livelihood.

[Wicked Game]

I think a lot of the local merchants in town would have an interest in supporting something like this to protect their businesses. Where we buy our gas, restaurants, where we buy our beer, etc. I think there are better ways of dealing with the problems and we (the ones who it effects most) need a voice in how the problems are solved. The way it stands now, we're at their mercy. We're forced to live with whatever decision they make without any consideration given to us whatsoever. So far all we've heard from the Mayor and City Council is close it down. If there is some interest, I'll voluinteer to investigate with an attorney how much effort it would take.

[TCHB]

Good Idea and count me in!

[Mandelon]

I like it. Where do I sign up?
Should it be limited to Havasu?
Expanded to the Southwest maybe? To inlcude all of So Cal, AZ, Nevada and New Mexico ?
Or perhaps limited to the Colorado River to include Powell Mead and Mohave as well as the lower river down to Yuma?
Too big and organizing gets tougher, but too small and fundraising will be tougher...

[Huckleberry]

Contact lakeracer on the boards. Art has looked into doing this before when the Lake Havsu Marina issue was at it's peak.

[Kachina26]

My organizational skills are pretty much nil; however, I am willing to participate. If someone can get the ball rolling, I think we could make a very big impact.

[nyeti]

I'm in

[Focker]

Strength in numbers, let's make it happen somehow :idea:
BOSTEN TEA PARTY CREW IS NEEDED HERE

[Wicked Game]

I like it. Where do I sign up?
Should it be limited to Havasu?
Expanded to the Southwest maybe? To inlcude all of So Cal, AZ, Nevada and New Mexico ?
Or perhaps limited to the Colorado River to include Powell Mead and Mohave as well as the lower river down to Yuma?
Too big and organizing gets tougher, but too small and fundraising will be tougher...
I totally agree. My knowledge of issues is limited to Havasu but I assume othe lakes have similar problems with local governments.

[C-2]

Lakeracer and I looked into and talked about forming such a group – since there isn’t one in any shape or form that represents boater’s interest. Personally I’ve been playing with the idea since MWD announced no watercraft on Diamond Valley. At the time I was impressed by the lobbying efforts of bass fisherman, who ultimately prevailed with MWD.
Personally I think it’s a huge undertaking, but can be done by several people with some time on their hands and who have good organizational skills (I’m guesstimating a lot of time is about 15-20 hours per week).
The mechanics of organizing would not be difficult; costs would be minimal for the first year or two. Forming a Cali corp I believe is about $250 and you can do it yourself; the group could probably skate taxes for about 1.5 years or so before something formal needs to be done – and if the group isn’t clicking by then, it would be time to shut the thing down anyways.
The easiest way to success in this day and age is not to reinvent the wheel – meaning find another similar organization and use them as a mentor. There are many advocacy groups out there that have kick ass legislative action committees – bass fisherman, jet ski association, offroaders, and other parallel groups such as the Blue Ribbon Coalition.
I contacted Blue Ribbon and spoke with two or three of their area managers, they didn’t seem too interested. They too said it was difficult to start big and also suggested finding another more-similar mentor group. Offroaders seemed more interested, they said call them back when something was formalized. Then I ran out of time.
But logic dictates there are people who’s careers are administering non-profits – finding folks like that who are willing to help could be fruitful. JDNichols on this board also spoke with a former AZ congresswoman who has associated herself with some type of group with the same goals – last I heard she was hitting it hard for Sleekcraft/Magic, and the former CG Chief out of San Diego also was aware of her lobbying efforts. Probably contacting her would be a good first step?

[Danzo]

I had a thought.:mix: It doesn't happen often and it usually gets me into trouble but here goes. What are your thoughts on a political association organized for the sole purpose of representing the rights of the people who enjoy Lake Havasu but have no voting rights. "UNITED WE STAND" type of thing.
Like many of us on these boards, I own a home in LHC and spend many weekends there. And like even more of us, along with spending weekends there, I spend a lot of my hard earned cash and contribute to the local economy. I care what happens there and have a vested interest in the decisions made by the Mayor and City Council. Even though I own a house there and pay property taxes, I live in Dana Point, CA and I do not have a vote or any kind of influence on the decisions of the local government.
I've been a participant in the Lake Havasu scene for over thirty years and still love the place. I've seen a lot of changes good and bad. But what I continue to see is the local government slowly taking away the privileges of boaters as an answer for their inability to do their job. First the answer was to shut down CC on holidays, then Sandbar. The latest is the restrictions on the channel. What's next, close the channel completely to boaters? Imagine 600 boats floating in Thomson Bay. But then they would shut that down too.
Just a thought. Please give me your thoughts.
An awesome idea. But one problem. Most of the city's council meetings are mid-week during daytime hours or very early evening when the retirement community participates. It is mostly these people who are bringing these ideas to the forefront. It was great to see the channel open up some more spots but it kind of reminds me of the current gasoline situation. Gas prices stay around $2.00 a gallon then shoot up to about $2.60 then go back down to $2.35 a gallon and everyone is semi-happy that the prices went down but in all actuality they went up .35 cents a gallon. I hope I am making sense.
We lost some spots on the channel overall (in a nutshell) but everyone I talked to over the holiday weekend was pretty happy they didn't shut the channel completely.

[BoatPI]

U can count me in but I think we need to focus on issues directly realted to the problems and necessary positive changes at Lake Havasu. Working with the city in providing input from active boater and the PD who issue all permits is a good start. We should get the know the shakers in town, and recgonize out allys. IIt seems that Don Clark does have an an interest and could provide a supporting role. A point-person in town is a must.

[OGShocker]

We could just join the Yacht Club (http://www.lhyc.net/). Before you blow the idea off, these guys have a bit of clout in LHC. Besides having cheap booze and G.M.I.L.F's at their parties they have an infrastructure in place for dealing with the city.

[havaduner]

I am in agreement with BoatPI.
OG, not sure if the Yacht Club would want us to join their group, but if not we could use them as mentor/partner to stregnthen each others position.
I think the time has come for an idea like this. Count me in.

[SummitKarl]

I had a thought.:mix: It doesn't happen often and it usually gets me into trouble but here goes. What are your thoughts on a political association organized for the sole purpose of representing the rights of the people who enjoy Lake Havasu but have no voting rights. "UNITED WE STAND" type of thing.
Like many of us on these boards, I own a home in LHC and spend many weekends there. And like even more of us, along with spending weekends there, I spend a lot of my hard earned cash and contribute to the local economy. I care what happens there and have a vested interest in the decisions made by the Mayor and City Council. Even though I own a house there and pay property taxes, I live in Dana Point, CA and I do not have a vote or any kind of influence on the decisions of the local government.
I've been a participant in the Lake Havasu scene for over thirty years and still love the place. I've seen a lot of changes good and bad. But what I continue to see is the local government slowly taking away the privileges of boaters as an answer for their inability to do their job. First the answer was to shut down CC on holidays, then Sandbar. The latest is the restrictions on the channel. What's next, close the channel completely to boaters? Imagine 600 boats floating in Thomson Bay. But then they would shut that down too.
Just a thought. Please give me your thoughts.
that extra 120' morings on the east side by KoKoMo's, was scheduled to be shut down for Memorial, you can Thank Shagroos, LBI, and Havalina Cantina for getting them opened up, The merchant's/ chamber of commerce, are not as stupid/(corrupt = mayor Bob) as our city council, so your idea is already being done by the C.O.C. of LHC. slowly they are starting to see the error of their ways, closing things down only concentrates the crowds, which means the more LE notices the problems, things will get opened up again, but with fire lanes.
"please stand by" we are suffering growing pains.

[CJ]

I have some web space to donate if someone wants to take the helm.