BENICIA KITEBOARDERS....ALERT!

[sloughslut]

Thanks for info tony, I wonder if someone could ask the city to see the permit? Just not me

[Tony Soprano]

Thanks for info tony, I wonder if someone could ask the city to see the permit? Just not me

The first thing is for a local to politely talk to the parks department manager. Explain the problem on the location of the new bench and ask for it to be moved and suggest where to move it. Hold off on any mention of permets, etc.

The SFBA or locals need establish a repore with the parks deparment and attend there meetings in the future.

[Col.kiteman]

We have. Very informative discussion, however, little resolve. I adressed our concerns from a safety standpoint as well as explaining the simple fact that we dont have alternative locations to launch (seriously!, due to obstructions, wind shadows, shorline accessibility, second chance washdown beach, etc.). My intent here is to communicate the citys standpoint, no matter how much bullshit i may think it is; in attempt to help out the local kiters of the next city that falls victim to restricted accessibility.
The parks director says nothing can be done, because when the park was designed and built, a development plan was implemented, yes 33 year old design plan. In this plan, the park was given a designation as a picnicing/fishing/gen use park. Kitesurfing is not included in the plan, therefore, any relocation or removal of the bench is out of the question because there isnt any conflict with intended usage. I continued,(and i want to reiterate, in a calm and professional manner) to explain rigging/launch procedure, and the concerns that arrise from the new bench, explaining wind direction, shadows, line length which require this exact location of the bench to be clear of obstruction, and he immediately countered with "well sounds like you are taking up all of the grass and thats not okay", and "what if other people are using park and something happens". We all know the park is policed by us locals, and there hasnt been any conflict to my knowlege with any other visitors. There is an allure to this sport, and the ocassional visitors are always warmly greeted, and accomodating when the hazards are communicated to them (simply stay upwind of kite when a launch is going on ( a 10 step upwind shuffle for the 20 seconds it takes to lauch a kite is painless). I asked if there had been any formal complaints filed with the city and to his knowlege there hadnt been. The city is understandibly very gun shy to awknolege the sport, because the liability that follows suit with an activities recognition. This is fine by me, hovever, i can see this going a step further, and discussions of "are we even going to allow this sport in our park"? Stay tuned. Continue to play well in sandbox together, even though sometimes it doesnt help. I also explained how limited we are in water accessibility, indicating alameda and sherman are our closest spots to go to, (a little truth stretching, yes), and he asked what those facilities implent for policy. That is a question maybe someone could answer. As much as i oppose any regulations, which often are necesary due to the small number of idiots and assholes, this may be the direction this situation is heading. I think our conversation was all in all not bad, i almost feel that the city will be taking a blind eye to kiting.............for now. Protect your local launches. I can report, i was able to kite for 3+ hours today, launched my 6, 7.5, and 12 without too much difficulty, due to the southerly conditions :-)

[Tony Soprano]

Good write up Col.kiteman and thank you for your time and effort.

Please stand by everyone.

Statigy and action plan being formulated by the SFBA.

[Tony Soprano]

Hello, this is Jim McGrath’s SFBA Vice President analysis of the situation. I wish I had better news.

There is a new master plan dated in july 2014 , but it does not include the Mathew turner 12th street park.http://www.ci.benicia.ca.us/index.asp?T ... 7B4696AC7}
http://www.ci.benicia.ca.us/vertical/si ... Plan.pdf
Look at the diagram for Mathew Turner Park , It identifies improvements, including providing a ramp access to the water. Nothing specific about kiting in anything I could find in the Master Plan or City planning documents--but they were all prepared before kite boarding (and SUP use) really took off.

Next I looked at BCDC's adopted Bay Plan. Peter Thorner and I spent some time the last time BCDC updated this plan making sure that it identified, and included protection language, for all the launch sites that we knew about. Again, this one hadn't been used and is not identified. BCDC's interest at that time was largely in redevelopment of the marina, and in the commercial port parts of the waterfront. They adopted a specific plan for Benicia, but it is ancient by now, and makes no mention of the little parklets along the bay here.

So the locals can argue that placement of the bench is contradictory to the adopted plan for Matthew Turner Park because it makes it unsafe to use the launch ramp. But that is a relatively weak argument--parks are intended to be for everybody, and at the time of adoption this was a small scale launch for windsurfers, and it is hard to say that a bench conflicts with that use.

The best prospects for improvement are probably recruiting one or more of the City Councilmembers. That would take a resident of Benicia that is willing to get involved politically--go to City Council meetings, recruit local businesses that might make money from kiting, work on campaigns, etc, and see if they can encourage the Parks director to move the bench.

[le noun]

Can't 1 of us move it if we get agreement from the city?
I'll be more than happy to provide muscles to move the damn thing and beers for anybody else involved in the project...
That way the city doesn't spend a dime to move it and we get our launch.

[sloughslut]

Thanks again for help tony, Bench is on a concrete pad with a brass plaque must weigh over a 1000 lbs so i don't think its getting moved.Funny thing is there used to be one of those park BBQs on a pole there in the way also. But it mysteriously disappeared years ago

[kitecrazy]

Sounds like another mistery disappearance is in order.