Councilmembers dispute ordinances' impact
BY MICHAEL HAYS
Monday, September 4, 2006 11:37 PM MDT
One member of City Council said new guidelines restricting mooring in Bridgewater Channel would hurt small businesses, while another said low sales can be attributed to “allowing the Village to go to rot and ruin.”
“One of our small business owners at the village is going to be hurt by the new ordinance passed by the city council,” Councilwoman Margaret Nyberg wrote in an Aug. 30 e-mail.
On Aug. 29, Council introduced an ordinance to prohibit any watercraft not tied to a mooring post from mooring, parking, anchoring or standing within 25 feet of the channel's east side.
“Maryanne Sabo owns the ice shop at the village and will be losing customers from the cut back in the mooring in the channel,” Nyberg wrote.
Nyberg went on to encourage residents to support the ice cream shop over Labor Day weekend.
Councilman Allan Sturtevant attributed any small business slump in the village to “the grossly unfortunate loss of the village to Read [owner] due to the referendum.”
By referendum vote in May, Lake Havasu City voters defeated council's bid to purchase a portion of the English Village.
Sturtevant questioned Nyberg's political motivations for making such a claim. She is up for re-election this month.
“Snowcone sales (have) nothing to do with any council action. You are intentionally misleading the public for your own political concerns.
“I ask you for decency's sake and for truth in government to stop circulating such lies,” Sturtevant wrote.
The mooring ordinance requires both another vote by council to adopt it and a 30-day “waiting period” before it becomes enforceable.
Despite this, city workers installed signs along the channel days before Labor Day weekend: “Mooring at tie downs only. One vessel per tie down.”
Nyberg favors letting the police, “do their jobs in the channel” and revisiting the issue in six months to see if any changes need to be made.
“We are rushing through these ordinances and not taking proper time to analyze the information needed to make better decisions,” Nyberg wrote.
Councilman Bruce Hinman, who also is seeking re-election, released a statement on Friday on the subject of tourism and channel ordinances.
“Local residents and businesses should not be overly fearful of losing visitors to the Channel area due to efforts by the City Council to make the channel a safer destination for visitors to our lake,” Hinman wrote.
“If a community says it's going to support public safety, then one might expect those words to be backed up with actual support.”
He then warned against making “irresponsible over exaggerations” regarding tourism effects resulting from new laws.
“Years of positive public relations can be quickly dashed by irresponsible, sometimes politically motivated, false information being released,” he wrote.
As for the London Bridge Ice Cream Parlor, Sabo, the shop's owner, said it is difficult to get an accurate feel for the mooring restriction's economic impact because of two Channel closures over Labor Day Weekend.
Late afternoon Saturday and early Sunday evening, Lake Havasu City Police enacted the temporary closures because of carbon monoxide gas buildup, which can be fatal.
Sabo said Fourth of July weekend was “probably twice as good,” sales wise compared to Labor Day. She added that future weekend trends would provide a better picture of mooring changes' potential for business harm.