NYCkayaker boathouses on the Hudson river in NYC

[Gordon, Peter]

I think that Nancy's points are well taken and we all applaud the public kayaking program that DTBH runs. I'm sure Mike didn't mean to sound pejorative about the people who run it.  But, most people who are kayakers don't really want to limit themselves to queuing up on a Saturday to paddle around in a tub.  Most of us want something a bit sleeker and given the risks of closed cockpit kayaks, they are unlikely to be made available to the general public, so private kayaks are necessary.  Obviously there are options for storing kayaks in the city, but storage often ends up being more expensive than the kayak itself over a couple of years.  I know we New Yorkers are expected to shell out for everything, but many people cannot afford to pay out quite as much cash as is required by the storage facilities available.  I think Mike's point is that since most of us don't have storage space in our homes, and many don't have cars, the situation is a bit different from other parts of the country where these issues don't arise, and a reasonably priced boat storage facility within the city would be a great help for people who are or want to be kayakers.  Perhaps the analogy should be that the city does provide bike racks where bikes can be stored -- and many would argue that there should be more.  I don't think that we should feel bad because people's private bikes are chained up on public property.   Perhaps a kayak is more like a bike than a car.
 
Peter Gordon

________________________________

From: nyckayaker-bounces at rockandwater.net on behalf of Nancy Brous
Sent: Tue 10/31/2006 10:44 AM
To: mpidel at optonline.net
Cc: nyckayaker at rockandwater.net
Subject: Re: NYCkayaker boathouses on the Hudson river in NYC


mike, as i tried to point out, the dtbh was the sole respodent to the very public rfp put out by hudson river park for the boathouse they operate at pier 96 at 56th street.  i'm not sure how you see this as translating to a monopoly. 

neither the dtbh nor floating the apple provides private boat storage.  the park dictates what type of activities are acceptable at public boathouses built on public land with public funds, and they insist, for good reason, that these facilities are open to the public for a certain number of hours during certain times of year free or at a very low cost.  so in effect the dtbh does provide public kayak storage--for kayaks to be used by the public, for free. 

it seems that there is often confusion on this list about public storage versus private storage of kayaks.  private storage is when you, as a kayak owner, rent a spot for your personal kayak (which is not used by the public), sort of like renting a parking spot for your car.  public storage would be storage of kayaks used by the public on public land or in public facilities, much as there are public tennis courts and parks which can be used by the public.  i doubt anyone wonders why they cant park their private cars in central park or build a private storage shed on NYCs public tennis courts or ball fields.  i cant fathom why anyone would expect (or want) a public park to encourage use of its space for private kayak (or any other) storage. 

that said, hudson river park will consider a response to the rfp for one of the new boathouses which includes private kayak storage as part of a proposal for the operating and programming of the public boathouse, provided that the proposal  satisfies the public use elements as well.  

if it is storage rather than monopolies which you are most concerned about, there is currently a group of independent kayakers working to ensure that we maintain adequate private kayak storage in hudson river park, particularly at the pier 63 maritime barge when it relocates to pier 66a next season.  we stand to lose approximately 70 private kayak slots if the DEC permits issued to the barge's owner are not ammended.  
ithis effort has been mentioned on this and several other lists.  at at least 2 recent park and community board meetings there was a great showing of paddlers who were willing to take their time to come out in support of such storage and show the strength of the numbers in the paddling community. 
this loose affiliation of independent kayakers (some who need the storage and some who just support the cause) welcomes anyone with ideas and energy to work for this common goal.
a yahoo group called HRPAccess has been set up for anyone interested in helping. 

there are other groups working toward getting public launches and boathouses set up eventually on the east river in manhattan, in queens, brooklyn, staten island, hoboken, governor's island, on the harlem river, etc.  i'm sure that if you want to become involved in a constructive way you can find more information online or i may be able to help point you in the direction of a few  of these groups. 

in the interim, as i mentioned, there is NYC parks dept-run kayak storage at the 79th street boat basin, private storage at pier 40 at new york kayak company, and you might want to contact the inwood canoe club as well to see what their policies are. 

so there is storage on the hudson in nyc now, and if we want to keep it and hopefully add more, we will have to work for it rather than bemoaning its lack and waiting for the kayak storage fairy to pay NYC a visit. 


On 10/30/06, mike pidel <mpidel at optonline.net > wrote: 

	There can be a  problem with when one organization with a different mission than other local paddlers monopolizes the available boathouses.

	D TBH does not offer public storage of kayaks.  Many paddlers want public storage of kayaks without having to volunteer their lives away.

	If there was more public storage of kayaks, there would be a larger kayaking community. Many new and seasoned paddlers don't further their involvement with kayaking due to no place to keep a kayak in Manhattan

	 


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