mukilteo again

[bigsky]

there are two mukilteo newspapers
the beacon
and the tribune
the tribune, volume 120 number 12 dated thursay, march 19 2009
had a front page article about banned diving by katie murdoch
paragraph 6 on the front page states
"...the next parks and arts commission meeting was origanally
scheduled fro april 12, but staff said last week that date is likely
to change..."
if any one can find out if it has been changed please let us know

paragraphs 17 through 22 are quotes from jennifer berner, mukilteos
recreation and cultural services manager.
"....said alot of circumstances were taken into consideration as
to why diving from the park did not make sense at that point in time.
berner said it the ban is reversed, staff will monitor activities
at the beach more closely.
berner said staff weighed the number of people using the park against
the types of activities taking place at the park and what made sense.
keeping safety as the main thing...makes sense. she said.
berner said it was considered unsafe to have alot of people at the beach
while divers and their equipment were there.
bernere said on a sunny day, parties of 50 to 150 people rent picnic shelters.
berner said the strong current underneath the boat ramp is crazy at times,
the boat launch is surrounded by activity, the city doesn't have marine patrol
and weight belts and oxygen tanks clutter the beach preventing people from
walking along the beach, posing the risk of someone tripping over the equipment"


even if you do not use this dive site, please take the time to email the mukilteo city council
the puget sound is not growing any new shore sites, and every one we lose is everybodys loss

i am trying to find an email for jennifer berner so we can correspong with her also.

[Burntchef]

good find dude, let us know when you get a email.

[bigsky]

did not find an email for berner

but found
parks phone numebr
425-355-2069
email
recreation@ci.mukilteo.wa.us

and the mission statement for mukilteo parks (read the last line)
MISSION STATEMENT
The mission of the Mukilteo
Recreation and Cultural Services
Division is to provide and
facilitate safe, quality leisure
services, programs, and facilities
while preserving and enhancing
natural resources and stimulating
the economic vitality of the
community.

[John Rawlings]

I've been told that the Parks committee will meet on April 2nd at 7:00 PM at Mukilteo City Hall. I intend to be there.

The City Council meeting is the following week on April 6th at 7:00 PM. Again, I intend to be there.

Come join me! Her comments cited in this article and others she has made in the past in response to e-mails have clearly identified her in my mind as our primary opponent in all this. We can't let her get away with this.

- John

[rjw]

I've been told that the Parks committee will meet on April 2nd at 7:00 PM at Mukilteo City Hall. I intend to be there.

The City Council meeting is the following week on April 6th at 7:00 PM. Again, I intend to be there.

Come join me! Her comments cited in this article and others she has made in the past in response to e-mails have clearly identified her in my mind as our primary opponent in all this. We can't let her get away with this.

- John

You got her to respond to emails? I have sent her repeated emails with no response.

[CaptnJack]

Her comments cited in this article and others she has made in the past in response to e-mails have clearly identified her in my mind as our primary opponent in all this.

I don't think you can sway her but at least she seems to be backpedalling from earlier statements. Her reasoning is certainly flawed and she obviously hasn't seen divers actually getting into the water there. Maybe someone should invite her out to see how divers use the park? (although I guess it is illegal right now)

Their biggest summertime conflict seems to be people hogging the boat ramp floats to deploy their crab pots/rings. The floats are basically unusable for boaters (the ones paying a really steep fee to use the ramp).

[Joshua Smith]

I've been told that the Parks committee will meet on April 2nd at 7:00 PM at Mukilteo City Hall. I intend to be there.

The City Council meeting is the following week on April 6th at 7:00 PM. Again, I intend to be there.

Come join me! Her comments cited in this article and others she has made in the past in response to e-mails have clearly identified her in my mind as our primary opponent in all this. We can't let her get away with this.

- John

You got her to respond to emails? I have sent her repeated emails with no reponse.

Ditto with phone calls. I'm starting to think her ex-husband must be a diver. Who left her for a younger woman he met on a dive trip.

[John Rawlings]

You got her to respond to emails? I have sent her repeated emails with no reponse.

No....I have never received an e-mail from her. However, she DID respond to one of our members when this shindig was first starting up. You can go back in the initial dive ban thread to see it.....basically the same stuff she says here in this article....divers hog the beach.....leave their equipment....not enough beach space....yadda yadd yadda.

- John

[rjw]

This is the email I used for Jennifer Berner. jberner@ci.mukilteo.wa.us
Came off the City of Mukilteo website.

[Nwbrewer]

I sent her e-mail, but never got a response.

Anybody who has been to Mukilteo at the silver cloud site on a weekend morning knows that it gets REALLY crowded. It's a small parking lot, and it's a training site. I've seen instructors set up 10x10 shelters on the sidewalk area in front of the seawall, and it's maybe the whole area is only maybe 30x15. Multiple OW classes with gear strewn everywhere basically make the area unusable for anyone else.

My impression is that she is basing her rules for the lighthouse park on what she sees at this site. Maybe not, but it certainly seems likely.

[John Rawlings]

I just looked back at the earlier thread. She responded to Scuba-911, the original poster of the thread, but apparently to absolutely no one else.

Here is what her response was to him:

"Our park rules were updated this past year and it is now stated that there is no shore diving from Lighthouse Park beach area. This is due to safety concerns regarding the boat launch area right there and all the equipment on the beach with the amount of users on the beach and at high tide, there is very little beach. Lighthouse Park just completed the first of 4 Phases of renovations. This first Phase created new picnic shelters, a playground for kids, restrooms, volleyball court, walkways,… which has generated even higher uses of the beach area. We are also now renting out the picnic shelters for large picnics and weddings which has increased the park use. Diving is allowed in the area at the Mukilteo Community Beach next to the Silver Cloud (796 Front Street).

Thank you
Jennifer Berner
Recreation Manager
City of Mukilteo"

[Paulicarp]

Back in August when they made this rule, the park was under renovation and the only beach access was from the area right next to the launch, and only a small strip of the actual beach was usuable space. Mabye it was a rule that made some sense at that time. I really don't know- I'm just trying to imagine why this was done. If it was the circumstance of the renovation in progress, then the fact that the renovation is complete might be a good argument in favor of reversing the rule now.

[nwscubamom]

So she called me the other day, and wanted to invite me to attend the Parks and Arts meeting on Thurs, Apr 2nd at 7pm. During our conversation, she stated that their staff had not understood how many divers there were and how much this site meant to divers - that they were very impressed with the showing last meeting.

Their concerns are from the mixed use perspective now - and insurance and liability standpoints.

I think the way to probably approach the issue is to show what other small cities have done to offset the liability - perhaps Sunnyside Beach/City of Steilacoom can be used as an example? I don't know anything about that place other than it exists, and is a small-town run park.

Anyway, she said if I could not attend the meeting, that she would be happy to pass on anything I email her to the Parks and Arts folks. And the email she gave me was: jberner@ci.mukilteo.wa.us

- Janna

[Tangfish]

We should work with the Council to figure out which meeting would be best for us to attend, then synchronize and show up in number (again) and be heard. I wasn't able to make the last one, but I hope to be able to join in on this one.

[Sounder]

Thank you to everyone for continuing with this. I am unable to make the next meeting, but know we'll be well represented. Thank you all again.

[John Rawlings]

We should work with the Council to figure out which meeting would be best for us to attend, then synchronize and show up in number (again) and be heard. I wasn't able to make the last one, but I hope to be able to join in on this one.

That's tough.....both are important.

The meeting at 7:00 PM on April 2nd is with the parks and recreation people - no city council members. Item # 3 on their agenda will be the dive ban. they will be discussing it in anticipation of giving the city council their "recommendations" the following week at the council meeting. Like Janna, I also received a call from Jennifer Brenner inviting me to the Parks meeting to participate in the discussion. Since they are so obviously ignorant as to what happens when diving at Lighthouse Park vs. the Silver Cloud site, I think that it would behoove us to have some folks there to explain it to them so that they understand. Otherwise, their "recommendations" to the city council probably won't be much different than it was before, and it WAS from them that the list of banned activities originated. Bluntly, I do not trust the people on the parks and recreation committee as far as I could throw an elephant! I think that if they can do so they will try to keep the ban in force, because we don't "fit" in what their vision for the park is.

The City Council meeting itself is on April 6th at 7:00 PM. At that meeting they will be discussing the Parks and Recreation committee's recommendations as well as other input and then voting on whether to rescind the diving ban. To not have a good showing at this meeting would, in my opinion, be tragic. We can still lose this!

If I were a diver having to choose between the two meetings, I guess I would choose the City Council meeting on the 6th as the best opportunity.

- John

[bigsky]

any jail house lawyers in the audience?
swimming is not banned at lighthouse, but the city is cleared from a liability
standpoint because they have signs posted stating 'no lifeguard on duty'
also states this on the parks department website

can they post a sign 'no dive instructor on duty' and clear their liability?

actually does not 'no life guard on duty' clear them from a liability standpoint
on ANY water sport? kayak, swim, wade, boat, or general wetness?

anybody know the rules on this?

[Nwbrewer]

Mike Racine had a white paper on sports liability at the last meeting. My understanding from what he said and reading it is that the city has no liability in this instance. I'll re-read it later and see if I can distill it down to the pertinent points.