Problems for Berryessa...

[Heatseeker]

Not "could very well happen" but it WILL happen elsewhere. Today its Berryessa and after they accomplish what they want they will move on to another lake or river for "rescuing" What will be next? Naciemento and/or San Antonio? Shasta? Mead? Don Pedro? All will be a target. :2purples:
Funny you should say that Bob! Although Don Pedro is not ran by The BOR, the same franchise (Forever Resorts) has monopolized the facilities there. They took over one marina and then the other over the course of 5 years or so.
Since then, the houseboat mooring fees have increased dramatically. So much so that they'll be double what they were a few years ago in the next year or two. Some houseboat owners have protested and were told basically "if you don't like it, pull your boat out and surrender your permit, we have 300 people on a waiting list that would be more than happy to pay the fees".
I don't even pull into the marinas there for a bag of ice! F-em!!!
If Forever gets into Berryessa, folks there can expect the same treatment!

[abraman1326]

I know I read somewhere that Forever Resorts has been promised the same thing in as they evict more concessionares, they will be given that property to run. This is going to hurt the area so much. Competition has been good up there, and kept prices reasonable, but if all this happens, I fear that there will no longer be a place to take my kids. This place is special to me b/c I enjoyed boating up there since I was a little one w/ my father, who enjoyed it w/ his father. Now, I am enjoying it w/ my children, and we love it...
BRA

[Heatseeker]

I feel the same way you do. My family has had 4 generations on Don Pedro! It's getting to where the family is talking about moving the houseboat to another lake! Total BS.
I know Forver has done this same thing at many lakes around the country. They make a sweetheart deal with the agency in charge and then squeeze the independents out for a total monopoly! I'm pretty sure Parker (at least the houseboat rentals) was one of Forever's early conquests.
Did I mention the guy that started Forever is the same guy that started the Co. building the houseboats Forever rents out? He made his first fortune in mining Utah's basalt. I read an expose on him a while back.
This battle is a two front assault, one by the government we employ to keep our best interests in mind and second by the corporate interests that use thier influence ($$$) to smash small businesses and squeeze out every last dime from the working people of this country. Somehow, things got way out of hand here!!!

[058]

OK, Now I'll add a little fuel to the fire. The Supreme Court just ruled today in a 5 to 4 decision that a local government can now confiscate thru eminite [sp] domaine private property for PRIVATE development, not for public use such as road expansion, public buildings etc. That opens the door for hundreds of people to lose their houses so that a developer can build a hotel, shopping center and supporting business in New London, Conneticut. Now nobody's property is safe anymore because some smuck with bucks can now kick you out of your house just because he likes your property and convinces the powers-that-be he can make the city or county more tax revenue by building a bigger tax generator than your house. If someone told me 20 years ago that this was going to happen in this once great country I would have told him to go home and sober up.

[abraman1326]

Land Rights Network
American Land Rights Association
PO Box 400 – Battle Ground, WA 98604
Phone: 360-687-3087 – Fax: 360-687-2973
E-mail: alra@landrights.org or alra@governance.net
Web Address: http://www.landrights.org
Legislative Office: 507 Seward Square SE – Washington, DC 2000
Stop Closures At Lake Berryessa -- Call Your Congressman today!
Your Congressman listed below can help save Lake Berryessa motorized watercraft, family recreation and public access.
Will He? – You Can Make The Difference. Make your call today!
Problem:
The Bureau of Reclamation is largely closing down what may be the best water skiing and recreation lake in Northern California. The Bush Administration is allowing a Clinton Era plan to go forward even though it guts family recreation, cuts boats from over 3000 to just 700, gets rid of most motorized watercraft, cuts tent camping in half, cuts docks from 1,400 to 600 and eliminates all 1347 mobile homes and trailers, reduces the resorts, shackling those that are left and generally reduces camping, family and public access. The Sierra Club and BOR claim the resorts reduce public access. The resorts only affect 12 miles out of the 170 miles of the lake edge. It is BOR that is eliminating public use and access.
Solution:
Call your Congressman listed below. Ask him to require the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) to meet with him and the Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo to discuss the BOR Plan calling for the reduction of public access, family recreation and motorized watercraft. BOR is refusing to meet. There is an urgent need for you to make this call. Get a commitment from your Congressman that he’ll follow through and ask the staff person you talk to for a follow-up call to you.
The Bureau of Reclamation is trying to do the Sierra Club bidding and take Lake Berryessa back to a more Wilderness like experience. Of course, Lake Berryessa never was a Wilderness lake, it is man made.
Are you a user at Lake Berryesssa? This is a fight about your future and the future of family recreation across America. This is a fight for private property and free enterprise. The BOR wants Lake Berryessa to go to a big government solution where they get rid of the resorts funded by long-term users and instead have the government pick up all the costs. Never mind that the long-term users subsidize your use and many services. It’s your tax dollars they don’t have to spend.
If you are not a user at Lake Berryessa, this is still your fight. Taking private property, putting people out of business, social engineering and Wilderness are all goals of environmental groups. If you don’t want access to your Federal areas limited to the young and healthy, then this is your fight. If you want to be able to take a car and camp at Federal land areas and parks, this is your fight. If you believe the family recreation is desirable, then this is your fight.
Frankly, by standing up for the users of Lake Berryessa today, they will be there to help you when you are threatened sometime in the future. And you WILL BE threatened some time down the line. The government has too many bureaucrats, land grabbers, and planners for you not to be on their target list eventually. They must find something to do. Even if it destroys your private property.
Here’s what you can do to help:
Call your Congressional Representative listed below. Every Congressman can be reached at (202) 225-3121.
-----!. Call, fax and e-mail Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA). Lake Berryessa is in his district. You need to also ask him to request Chairman Richard Pombo of the Resources Committee to hold hearings on Lake Berryessa and the BOR.
Phone: (202) 225-3311. FAX: (202) 225-4335. You can send him an e-mail message by going to his website at http://www.mikethompson.house.gov
-----2. Contact Chairman Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA) of the Resources Committee. This is the kind of issue he has concerns about. Let him know you support taking direct action. Ask for Congressional hearings on Lake Berryessa. Ask him to request the BOR come in for a meeting. Call (202) 225-2761 -- FAX: (202) 225-5929 – http://resourcescommittee.house.gov
-----3. Rep. Wally Herger (R-CA), (202) 225-3076 – FAX (202) 226-0852 – www.house.gov/herger/ The Herger, Lundgren and Doolittle districts are close to Lake Berryessa. They must be called faxed and e-mailed by constituents to urge them to ask Chairman Pombo to hold hearings and the BOR to meet with Pombo and the Resources Committee staff.
-----4. Rep. Dan Lundgren (R-CA) (202) 225-5716 – FAX (202) 226-1298 --
www.house.gov/lundren/
-----5. Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA) (202) 225-2511 – FAX (202) 225-5444 –- www.house.gov/lundgren/
-----6. Go to www.landrights.org and print out one of the Lake Berryessa Testimony Questionnaires. Use it when you make your call. Fax it to your Congressman and also fax it back to American Land Rights at (360) 687-2973.
We will hand deliver it to their Washington, DC office.
You can also help by contacting the Interior Department:
AA. Call, Fax and E-mail -- Secretary of Interior Gale Norton
(202) 208-7351 – FAX: (202) 219-2100 - gale_norton@ios.doi.gov
BB. Call, Fax and E-mail – Deputy Lynn Scarlett (202) 208-4203 -- FAX: (202) 208-1873 – lynn_scarlett@ios.doi.gov
CC. Call, Fax and E-mail Commissioner of Bureau of Reclamation – John Keyes. (202) 513-0501 – FAX: (202) 513-0309 – jkeys@usbr.gov
DD. Call, fax and e-mail Mark Limbaugh – Deputy Commissioner of Reclamation (202) 513-0540 – FAX: (202) 513-0309 – mlimbaugh@usbr.gov
***Here is what you should say:
-----Insist that your Congressman call both BOR and Chairman Pombo of the Resources Committee to urge that a meeting take place as soon as possible.
-----Ask your Congressman to request hearings into the BOR plan to drastically cut back public use and access at Lake Berryessa.
-----BOR must throw out the present plan to cut down or eliminate public use and access by the general public, long-term site permittees, boaters, and dock owners.
-----BOR must stop the removal of long-term tenants.
-----BOR must stop the discrimination against long-term users and
motorized watercraft.
-----No private property should be taken without compensation.
-----Bush Administration officials must require the Bureau of Reclamation be good neighbors at Lake Berryessa.
Please forward this message as widely as possible.

[abraman1326]

TO OUR DEDICATED LAKE BERRYESSA SUPPORTERS
ONE LAST PUSH TO
“SAVE THE LAKE”
July 12, 2005
We are in the final stages of our five year struggle with the Bureau of Reclamation over what is best for Lake Berryessa. Nothing the BOR has proposed would be better for the lake and all its users than the Resort Owners Plan (ROP), which would significantly improve all seven resorts, both for long term and short term use. It would cost the Federal Government nothing, it would add revenues for Napa County, there would be no environmental devastation, and almost everyone would be happy - what an accomplishment!
We are receiving hopeful news from our consultants on our efforts in Washington D.C. But we need to keep the pressure on our elected representatives - when we let down, their attention tends to wander. We believe your representative would be receptive to a common sense approach to bringing this process to a close.
So please call or visit your congressman/woman's office. Ask to speak with the congressman's staff person on the list we are providing. Please do it within the next two weeks, since congress is in recess during the month of August. Here is a sample conversation to use as a guideline:
My name is _________, I am a constituent of Congressman/woman ________________, and I am calling in regard to the Bureau of Reclamations' plan for Lake Berryessa. My family and I are very concerned about what they intend to do to the lake and we want you to have the congressman contact Chairman Richard Pombo of the Resources Committee and have him look into this for us. Our reasons are:
o The Bureau of Reclamation's plan is not economically responsible.
o It will be an ongoing drain on the United States Treasury.
o It will seriously limit the public's use of the lake, because it reduces facilities and restricts boating activities.
There is an alternate plan proposed by the resort owners that would accomplish all of the BOR's objectives and will cost the taxpayer's nothing. We want to make sure this plan will be considered.
The person answering your call may ask if you represent a group. You can say you are a concerned citizen or that you are a member of Task Force 7 at Lake Berryessa or Citizens to Protect Lake Berryessa. You can tell them you have a vacation home at the lake if you wish. You can also add more information such as:
Our group had a team of economists do a peer review of the BOR's plan and it showed so many flaws that the public comment period was re-opened for 45 days. But we cannot get anyone from the BOR to recognize the economic folly of the preferred alternative and instead, they are ignoring the facts. All we are asking is a straight forward conversation with the Washington decision makers to make sure they understand what is at stake. And timing is critical, since the final record of decision is due by September 30, 2005.
Here is the list of the key congressional members with the names and phone numbers of their staff people. Note: the numbers are for the offices in Washington D.C. You can also call your local office -
that number is in your phone book. Your personal call could be the difference between success and failure - please make it soon.
Thank you,
Pat and Peter
Anna Eshoo 14th District Steve Keenan (202)225-8104
Dan Lungren 3rd District Sandra Wiseman (202)225-5716
John Doolittle 4th District Evan Goitein (202)225-2511
Tom Lantos 12th District Ron Grimes (202)225-3531
Ellen Tauscher 10th District Paul Kidwell (202)225-1880
Wally Herger 2nd District Alex Oehler (202)225-3076
George Radanovich 19th District Tricia Geringer (202)225-4540
Richard Pombo 11th District Kiel Weaver (202)225-1947
Pete Stark 13th District Elizabeth Sandbothe (202)225-5065
Mike Thompson 1st District Jonathan Birdsong (202)225-3311
Doris Matsui 5th District Peter Cashman (202)225-7163
Lynn Woolsey 6th District Maggie Gumbinner (202)225-5161
George Miller 7th District Ben Miller (202)225-2095
Nancy Pelosi 8th District Lara Levison (202)225-4965
Barbara Lee 9th District Christos Tsentas (202)225-2661
Michael Honda 15th District Eric Werwa (202)225-2631
Zoe Lofgren 16th District David Carreiro (202)225-3072
If you have any questions, please call Pat Monaghan (707)944-8286
patpcpta@aol.com or Peter Kilkus (415)307-6906 pkilkus@aol.com.

[Thunderbutt]

Clinton had nothing to do with it. It's been going on for 15 or 20 years. Good old Clinton the wiping boy, The Republicans will let go through then blame it on the Dem's

[abraman1326]

TO EVERYONE MAKING CALLS TO THEIR CONGRESSMAN;
Marc Kelley, our lobbyist, will be in Washington, D.C. for 10 days starting Monday, July 18. He will be able to make appointments to meet with either the staff aide or even the congressman/woman of your district - on your behalf - if you grant him permission. He will have a complete set of documents supporting our position with him for their immediate use.
Here is how it will work:
#1 - Make your call. Be specific about your name, your address, and that you
are a constituent. Ask for their name, and note the date and time of the
call. Remember the three hour difference and call early.
#2 - E-mail Marc at policy@marckelley.com immediately with that
information. Indicate you wish him to contact your representative on your
behalf. Be sure you give him your name, address and representative's
name.
#3 - Pray! If even several of the congressmen follow thru by asking Richard
Pombo to investigate the matter, it should set a Resources Committee
hearing in motion. It would be - beyond a doubt - the most effective
means of exposing what the Bureau of Reclamation is proposing to
do to Lake Berryessa and, at last, our viewpoint would finally be heard.
#4 - HURRY! Time is running out. We will miss this opportunity if we
don't act quickly. Congress begins its recess in August, they will
reconvene to a busy schedule in September and the BOR is breathing
down our necks to close the process. It's now or never!
Remember, the more calls, the better - so don't assume someone else will do it.
Thank you,
Pat and Peter
Pat Monaghan (707)966-3510 patpcpta@aol.com
Peter Kilkus (415)307-6906 pkilkus@aol.com

[272 LS]

I am new to the forums but not new to berryessa. I live at the lake and have been a long time napa county resident. The biggest thing you can do to help your cause is to encourage the slummy resorts such as putah and spanish flat to be resposible. those two resorts put a huge strain on local law enforcement which is what truly generated this entire debockle not revenue. I agree if the BOR took over the whole lake would look like oak shores and Capell cove(the free launch).
If putah creek, the worst resort of all, changed its management and was more like Rancho, Steele park or Berryessa Marina the taskforce6 would have a much better chance.
But when the front page of the Napa paper reads, "Deputies take rocks and bottles at Putah creek resort", then nobody is going to support the resorts. Plus who wants to take their kids and family to that dump. I think Steele park is the nicest resort at the lake but they don't offer tent camping which I really enjoy only RV camping.
I personally haven't heard anything about the BOR restricting boat usage on the lake. it may be a ploy by the resorts to get more support the biggest change is none of the trailers will be there and it will be strickly a short term camping and day use lake (oak shores). I hate oak shores so i hope this doesn't happen.
Moral of the story is Berryessa is one of the best family recreation lakes in the area. The best thing we can do to preserve it is to boycott the bogus resorts (Putah Creek, Spanish Flat) and really get behind the guys doin it right, Steele park, Berryessa marina, Ranho monticello, Markley, and Pleasure Cove. Make it a family place not a ghetto ass gangster haven!

[abraman1326]

I've just been repeating what I've heard. I really can't believe that this hasn't generated more interest. Just an FYI, the Napa Sheriff will either be closing the parking lot at the bridge, or using it as their comand post for Labor Day weekend. Let's hope it keeps out the thugs that always end up on shore and start crap and stab eachother. I don't want to see anything happen to Berryessa. You are right about Putah Creek being kind of a dump, but I have still taken the kids to camp there. It could definitley use some cleaning up. I can understand wanting to restrict the permanent trailers up there, but get rid of them all, to me that doesn't make sense. Berryessa is a great destination, and keeping a place up there is incredible for the few that do it. I can see cleaning up some of the older trashier places, but having those places up there is a great idea in it's a great vacation, and second home.Now, I really hope they don't turn the entire lake into Oak Shores. That's a good place for some people, but those of us who have boats and watercraft aren't into it. Desides, that place get's pretty trashed on the weekends from folks that dump on it. There has to be a happy medium here. I can understand cleaning things up, but don't take away the great place we have. I've been going up there since I was a baby, as did my father, well, he wasn't a baby, but a young boy, and now I've been taking my 1 y/o old son up there since he was in his mommys belly. I love this place. I grew up in Napa as well, and thought having such a great lake so close was an honor. I do think think they couls clean it up, but restricting the camping and boating on the lake is not a good thing for all involved. I really hope that Greenpeice and the Sierra Club don't win, and get rid of all the fun that can be had up there. Sorry for the rant, had to get it out. Thanks for reading.