The City of Sausalito’s recent withdrawal from the Richardson Bay Regional Agency (RBRA), after more than 30 years, has generated a lot of press coverage and speculation. What happens next will affect the floating homes community. Here at the Floating Times, we feel it’s important to shed light on the changes as they unfold.
UPDATE: the July 13 RBRA meeting has been cancelled for lack of quorum.
One change is that the location for the next RBRA meeting will shift from Sausalito City Council Chambers to the City of Belvedere. The meeting is scheduled for this coming Thursday, July 13 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.—view the RBRA agenda in advance—Belvedere City Hall, 450 San Rafael Ave, Belvedere.
Item #3 on the Agenda: Presentation regarding Community Efforts
10 Minutes allocated to Community Outreach Subcommittee report
10 Minutes allocated to presentation from representative of the Community
Attendance at these meetings is an opportunity to be informed on policy at the local level, though it’s not like a lot happens—these are government meetings, after all. One of us will go and we will report back to you—so watch this space. As we reported here previously: Sausalito Beefs Up Richardson Bay Enforcement and FHA Weighs in on Richardson’s Bay Management.
For more background, this July 5 post by Marin IJ’s Mark Prado—Sausalito sets new path for waterfront enforcement—is an excellent read. Prado covers the basics for Sausalito’s plan to implement a Marine Patrol, talking with Sausalito police Lt. Bill Fraass (who will head up the program). The article is particularly worthwhile for its inclusion of comments by 2 concerned citizens who’ve been active in the community: Rev. Paul Mowry of Sausalito Presbyterian Church and anchor-out Chad Carvey, and for Emily Turner’s video news coverage for KPIX Channel 5: Sausalito Makes Changes to Discourage Abandoned Boats from Anchor-Out Community.
It helps to remember we’re all in this together and that Sausalito is not trying to go it alone. Though clearly the City of Sausalito felt it was time to try a different tack, Sausalito will continue to liaise with the other communities, and to coordinate efforts. And it’s not like the $125,000 Sausalito had previously allocated to the RBRA (and that will now be used to fund their new program) has left a hole in the RBRA budget. Rather, the RBRA budget percentages were reconfigured (asking more from each of the remaining RBRA member communities) to make up the difference. You might say we’re already ahead with more resources this year than last.