The Grinch that Stole Alameda

[windhorny]

Maybe you can get Hillary and Obama to back out as well. Small steps leo. There is more history for these 2 than is written on here. I am starting to think Charlie's STFU concept is going to be more effective than anything. it will happen again, count on it. The local politic needs a rest from our biased siding. As Greg says, perhaps the illusion is what's being defended.

Albeit, BAK loves drama as it is like a sotry we are all part of. But I think the healthiest thing to do at this point , given there is wind, is to go kite and enjoy this awesome sport. lets dig up drama for winter when we are all stuck indoors.

[Jeff Ruoss]

Regarding this previous post

As the owner of Kite Wind Surf I feel compelled to respond to the above. It is important to note that this response is only facts. There is no opinion, ideas, or speculation. Here are some of the facts. The East Bay Regional Parks Police are responding to Jane and Rebecca's calls. They have to as they are obligated to. This fact is in direct contrast to Jane's first paragraph and the followign quote "This is not an issue between Boardsports School and Jeff, it is an issue between Jeff and the East Bay Regional Park district. " The rest of the facts below may be very revealing for most.

I encourage the public to voice their opinion. Crown Beach is the public's and you have a right to be heard. http://www.ebparks.org/contactus

1) I have never taught lessons nor have been involved in commercial activity within Crown Beach Park. Due to numerous calls to EBRP police in 2003 through to 2005 in July of 2005 I was actually thrown in jail in my wetsuit. Alameda Superior Court decided I was Not Guilty as I was not on Parklands. (see next section) We were advised to stay 10 yards from the high tide mark.

2) The park property ends at the "mean higher tide" from just West of the shack all the way to the East the entire beach. See image below that was mailed to me by the Park District. The green line is supposed to depict the "mean higher tide". It needs to be updated due to beach erosion. Crab Cove to the West of the shack is water that is controlled by the Park District. KWS has never taught in these waters because of this.





3) In 2003 KWS was teaching in the shallow waters adjacent to the Park staying well clear from the Park and the "mean higher tide". In 2004 we decided to start using PWC's in our school. This allowed KWS to go where the wind is and not just in the shallow waters adjacent to the beach.

4) The shack is actually located on land titled to the State of California. The City of Alameda property starts at the corner of Shoreline and Westline or the "blinking yellow light". This is an important fact for the reason that State Code requires concessions on State Lands be offered for public bid every 10 years. This is part of the Public Resources Code specifically 5080.18. The original agreement was for 5 years with an option to extend for an additional 5 years. The option to extend the Concession Agreement was exercised in 2000 by Tom Lloyd the owner of Boardsports Inc. I was notified in a letter from the Park Districts Attorney that the option to extend was exercised again in 2005. That is 15 years of exclusive concession rights. As far as I am aware the Board of Directors has yet to approve this 2005 extension for an additional 5 years. This is relevant to the next part because if the Concessionaire Agreement was not ratified by the Board then there is no current Concessionaire Agreement.



5) In October of 2005 I was called by Tom Lloyd the owner of Boardsports Inc. Tom wanted to know if I would like to purchase the Concession Agreement. Tom sent me the inventory in the shack and we came to an agreement on a purchase price. The last item left to purchase the concession was for Tom Lloyd to notify the East Bay Regional Parks. Tom notified me in February that the EBRP would not allow him to sell the concession to KWS but rather to Jane and Rebecca.

6) As far as Jane's concern with a Domain name that is similar to one that she owns. On Thursday May 10, 2007 at 6pm I offered to assist her in acquiring that domain name. When I got home I realized that she had already posted on the internet some harming words. I realized at this point that every time I try to work with Jane and Rebecca I find myself and the company I own get harmed. I do know the owner of the domain. We are friends and we learned how to kiteboard together and he helps us with our website a few times a year. If they would like to purchase the domain they should contact the owner.

7) The Concession Agreement does not allow for selling of equipment out of the shack. This is expressly written as shown below from the actual Concession Agreement. Furthermore Exhibit "B" from the same document details exactly what is allowed to be sold and for how much.







Regarding being "committed to safety for kiteboarding" I have been for years trying to get the kiteboarding community stop launching so close to the road. Below is a picture of my proposal several years ago that Jane has been opposed too. I find it interesting that there is similar issues at the concession they run at Coyote Point



I encourage the public to voice their opinion. Crown Beach is the public's and you have a right to be heard. http://www.ebparks.org/contactus

[adamT]

Wow man, thanks for the info...

I am confused, if they can't sell stuff out of the shack why did they screw my friend out of a deal he was going to get on a Naish kite and offer to sell him a kite for more than he was quoted by another seller in the bay area?

[liv2kitesurf]

how about if north and jeff just went though the proper channles
in the frist place
just becuse jeff posted
dose not a permit make.
and iam missing your point
if jeff didnt push the line..

as far as CIVILITY
show me on the beach

spell check, spell check

[Greg]

Charley don't need no stink'n speel checker!!
G.

[CdoG]

funny thing is, he thinks
a spell checker gonna help....
FiX
whats ill N me...

[Greg]

Jeff,
WOW dude, that was heavy stuff!! Thank you for posting your side of this story (situation).
Man I'm bummed for both of you- I hope you can work it out somehow with the girls.. or the parks or the combo.. or something!
Somehow there has to be a happy medium..
Perhaps you could try a professional abortrator (SPELL CHECK),
worked pretty well when that guy filed that restraining order against me.
I'm DEAD SEROUS! (maybe I should stop using that term)
Anyway, Me and what's his face "almost" like each other now, it really worked! (We came to an agreement, wrote up some simple boundries that are enforceable by law, everyone knows where they stand, there is peace in the land)
Best wishes,
G.

[Loscocco]

Jeff,
WOW dude, that was heavy stuff!! Thank you for posting your side of this story (situation).
Man I'm bummed for both of you- I hope you can work it out somehow with the girls.. or the parks or the combo.. or something!
Somehow there has to be a happy medium..
Perhaps you could try a professional abortrator (SPELL CHECK),
worked pretty well when that guy filed that restraining order against me.
I'm DEAD SEROUS! (maybe I should stop using that term)
Anyway, Me and what's his face "almost" like each other now, it really worked! (We came to an agreement, wrote up some simple boundries that are enforceable by law, everyone knows where they stand, there is peace in the land)
Best wishes,
G.

Hey LMG.... I ran your post thru spell check for you.. and Charlie.. your just going to confuse the spelling/grammar checker so much its going to overload

Jeff,
WOW dude, that was heavy stuff!! Thank you for posting your side of this story (situation).
Man I'm bummed for both of you- I hope you can work it out somehow with the girls.. or the parks or the combo.. or something!
Somehow there has to be a happy medium..
Perhaps you could try a professional abortrator ARBITRATOR (SPELL CHECK),
worked pretty well when that guy filed that restraining order against me.
I'm DEAD SEROUS! SERIOUS (maybe I should stop using that term)
Anyway, Me and what's his face "almost" like each other now, it really worked! (We came to an agreement, wrote up some simple boundries BOUNDARIES that are enforceable by law, everyone knows where they stand, there is peace in the land)
Best wishes,
G

[gideonlow]

Jeff,

I've always thought that you can judge a party in a dispute by their methods/actions more than by their words. I see you kept silent through this thread and then presented a very well organized and documented statement of the facts without any mud-slinging. On the other side I see calls to the police, disrespect for a fellow business, and (apparently) some misrepresentations of the facts.

I'll also never forget the time back in 2001 when you saw me struggling on one of my first PL Arc sessions and then offered me some great advice & went up to your apartment and gave me two Arc bar/line setups without asking for anything or offering to sell anything. I still use one of those mountain-bike handlebars as part of my "Ghetto Bar" custom long-throw setup. These are the actions of a stand-up guy.

If the folks at the "Shack" had any real business sense, they would have long-since worked-out a model for you guys to cooperate or partner WITHOUT resorting to actions that give the sport a bad name and leave a bad taste in Alameda kiting community in general. The pie would be bigger, the community would be better served, and everybody could be happy. The powers-that-be would also notice such maturity and would take it into consideration when future official actions are required. Clearly, there isn't enough revenue in the business to pay for the legal fees needed to fight through all this in the courts, and everybody would lose except for some lawyers.

So how about it? Can the owners of The Shack rise above the huge pile of BS that is the history of this dispute? Why don't you guys break-out the peace pipe and go into business together? Sure, there are hard feelings on both side, but the current state of affairs is seriously detrimental to both business and the sport. Any rational analysis I can conceive of leads to the same or more revenue, and the intangibles are all positive. The only downside (and only to customers) might be less competition causing higher lesson costs, but I think the reality is that you all need to have a little more pricing power to succeed in such a tough business.

Cheers,

Gideon

[lmontejo]

I just finished reading Jeff's post. I've been away for a few days. Somehow I had thought that Yuri and Charlie had managed to stifle the thread, but I guess I was wrong!

I thank Jeff for his objective presentation, backed my many documents on the issues at Crown Beach. There is much for the WhoKiters to learn here. For those of you who have not read it in its entirety, I urge you to do so.

Someone has proposed an arbitrator. I think that is the wisest comment to come out of this Grinch posting.

My two cents on this issue is once again, that the pie can be made bigger if there is cooperation. I have much business experience, and if I were running the shack, I would have long ago charged KWS a fee (or a similar scheme) to teach there, but what have had them there every day, North Kites and all!

But who said anything about these being business differences?

Lastly, where can I demo the Rhino 08? On a jet ski? 10 yards out from the high tide mark?