Help US help Washington Scuba Alliance!

[lavachickie]

Oregon Scuba Club is gathering donations for a second buoy as part of Washington Scuba Alliance's buoy initiative. Last year a club member donated one buoy in our name, and challenged us to raise money for a second. That was a tall order as our active but informal group has never raised money like that before!

Some of our generous friends have helped out by donating some awesome prizes that we are going to give away to selected winners drawn from the people that donate. AWESOME things like Puget Sound BOAT DIVES, framed art, and PADI Enriched Air training!

Donate as little as $10 to win!

See our donations page for full information and quick ways to help!

http://www.oregonscuba.com/2012/meet/ws ... gathering/

Your help is sincerely appreciated. Your information will NOT be sold/shared, and ALL will be informed of drawings and winnings after they occur.

(I cleared posting this concept with a NWDC Administrator before doing so!)

EDIT: Our first buoy is Sunrise II, and we've chosen Arrowhead as the 2nd buoy.

[BillZ]

$30 sent your way. Thanks for doing this, the WSA buoys are a great asset for our dive community.

Are the donations going to buoys placed at a specific divesite?

[LowDrag]

That is in the process of being figured out right now Billz. We have been working on getting a site to place the buoy but I guess it is a process. You can always stop by our Facebook page and check in on the progress. We are getting closer and closer each day to our goal. We also have a Buoy Fund page on our website that you can watch as well. Thank you for your donation, the Oregon Scuba Club really appreciates your help.

LowDrag
A.K.A. Dave
Oregon Scuba Club Technologies Officer

Oregon Scuba Club on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/oregons ... p_activity

Oregon Scuba Club website: http://www.oregonscuba.com/2012/

[lavachickie]

THANK YOU, BILLZ. Your donation is appreciated.

The original location chosen was Arrowhead. But... at that time, Jefferson County initially wanted an additional $497 for permitting fees. Fees that all other counties had waived, completely. But we thought we'd swing it somehow.

Apparently when Jim Trask when to finalize, Jefferson County says, "Oh, wait, we were wrong." The permitting and fees were raised to over $1200, AND the county actually was going to charge a consulting fee of $75/hr for talking about the project.

??

The cost just kept going up and up.

A number of people in the county went to work to try to obtain a full or partial exemption to the fees, but were unsuccessful. When I followed up with a kind but blunt email with a final plea for a partial exemption to take us back down to the initially quoted fee... I didn't get the courtesy of a response, despite emailing a handful of people involved in the Jefferson County offices.

DIDN'T EVEN GET A RESPONSE. WTH? I'd be fired from my job if that's how I did things. Adding to the oddity, was that the offices had been closed for part of the week before for "customer service training". I don't think it worked.

ANYWAY... whatever. Talking with Jim, the remaining buoy location was Dalco Wall. (There had been the option of a 2nd buoy at Flagpole, but people in the know in the area weighed in stating it wasn't needed, so that option was retired.)

SO -- we are getting there! At our April club meeting we had Dr. Enoch Huang speak, he's a diver and hyperbaric medicine specialist, and medical director at a facility in Portland. We gathered a few more donations, and here's my latest update just made to Facebook:

We are thrilled that 18 people have donated $775 to propel our group to the current balance of $2286 of the $3200 goal for a 2nd buoy in the club name through Washington Scuba Alliance's Buoy Project.

Way to go, and thank you!

But... we have 300 people in our mailing list. And 400 people in this [Facebook] group.

Won't you join us, and donate as little as $10 so we can reach our goal? The initial buoy was placed in the club's name last year when a single member donated the entire $3200 to the project, and then challenged us to raise money to match it with a second one.

Please be inspired by that generosity to help out with a donation of your own -- and for as little as $10, you could win a fantastic prize!

Donating is easy, via PayPal from our donations page!

http://www.oregonscuba.com/2012/meet/ws ... gathering/

I remain confident we'll meet the goal, but we're getting down to the point where I'm going to have to go all OPB Fund Drive on people, annoying night and day with passive aggressive and emotionally manipulative ploys.

[PapaZ]

The Yakima Dive Club, which funded the KVI Tower buoy has just prepared a letter of support to send to the Jefferson County Commissioners.
Would it be beneficial to do so still?

PapaZ

[lavachickie]

I believe the window of opportunity has passed, but it couldn't hurt for them to know what they are missing. *shrug* Thank you!

[don]

Papa Z .... PLEASE sent the letter. Jefferson County needs to understand the opportunity they've missed and the potential impact of their decision on local business all along Hood Canal. I'm not happy with my county officials. Before I start stomping my feet and lighting my hair on fire I need to calm down and find a reasonable strategy. A flood of letters and comments to county officials would make a statement, even if it's too late for this project. If anyone needs contact info, please let me know.

Jefferson County Dept. of Community Development has basically said that income from permit fees (to support their department) has priority over economic development, environmental protection, and providing access to our resources. This is a short sighted business strategy, in my opinion. We should be finding ways to attract business, not finding ways to charge more for admission. I can't help but wonder how much was invested in the 6 days of staff training to improve DCD "customer service" skills.

..........I don't mean to hi-jack this thread. The Oregon Dive Club membership and officers are great and I appreciate their efforts. Having said that, I'm a very frustrated and angry small business owner/resident in South Jefferson County.
don

[PapaZ]

Letter was sent (email) yesterday.
We used the basic form posted and modified it.
Here is a copy of what we sent:
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
April 13, 2014
Jefferson County Commissioners
jaustin@co.jefferson.wa.us

Jefferson County Administrator
pmorley@co.jefferson.wa.us
Jefferson County DCD
csmith@co.jefferson.wa.us

Dear Jefferson County Commissioners,

The Yakima Dive Club’s members enjoy diving the waters of the Pacific Northwest including the Hood Canal year round. It is a four hour or more drive to get to Hood Canal, and typically includes an overnight stay or two, as well as meals while there.
EXEMPTION FOR MOORING BUOY $1000 FEE REQUESTED
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Our Scuba Club in Yakima, Washington has raised funds to install a buoy in the past through Washington Scuba Alliance's (WSA) Mooring Buoy placement project. The cost to install a buoy is $3200 which is obtained by donations, fund raising and a lot of work.
We have been informed that the planned buoy installation cost for Arrowhead, is going to increase dramatically because Jefferson County is charging $1000 for the permit to put in a mooring buoy within the county boundaries.
The dive communities have already installed (through WSA) multiple mooring buoys throughout Hood Canal and Puget Sound, including our own at the KVI Tower dive site off Vashon Island. Jefferson County is the ONLY county in Washington State who is charging these astronomical permit fees!
We're not talking about building along the shoreline, or installing a dock extending from the shoreline. We are talking about a simple mooring buoy for a dive site that sits offshore.
The benefits of mooring buoys are:
• Environmentally responsible installation
• Safer conditions for divers
• Allow use and enjoyment of natural resources with minimal impact to marine habitat
• Eliminate any impact to shoreline access of dive site - all access is done via boat
• Encourage tourism and economic growth in Jefferson County
• Prevent damage to bottom habitat due to anchors
• Mooring buoys are part of best practices for good environmentally-friendly recreational opportunity management.

Please grant WSA an exception to this permitting fee and allow the buoys to be installed.
Sincerely,
Yakima Dive Club Members
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

[lavachickie]

UPDATE: We're getting close!

Shazaam! We are almost there: the buoy fund currently sits at $2808 thanks to the generosity of our friends and members.

BUT WE AREN'T DONE YET. We must reach $3200.

The group must write a check for this amount to Washington Scuba Alliance at the end of next week. This means we still have yet to raise just under $400 in order to meet our challenge goal.

IF YOU HAVEN'T DONATED, I BEG YOU TO DO SO NOW. $10. $20. $50. $100. Every little bit counts! Hit the link to donate -- it's easy!

http://www.oregonscuba.com/2012/meet/ws ... gathering/

Oregon Scuba Club and Washington Scuba Alliance thank you!