The thing that is most troubling is that as the marinas deteriorate and generate less and less revenue, it will take a lot more money to revitalize them (if it will happen at all.) It is sad to see what happened to the marina at Antelope Island. Now, I have removed my boat from the Great Salt Lake (GSL) marina. The marinas on the Great Salt Lake are an important and unique part of this State. Thoreau said "A lake is the landscape's most beautiful and expressive feature. It is the earth's eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature." Nothing captures that like the GSL. The Great Salt Lake is like a small Pacific and the Pacific is like a big Great Salt Lake. Shall we neglect the beaches too? The marina is too shallow because the government proves itself to be too shallow. Not that government is bad, but it seems that people continue to raise standards and expectations for everyone else while lowering their own standards. "I came into this world, not chiefly to make this a good place to live in, but to live in it, be it good or bad. A man has not everything to do, but something; and because he cannot do everything, it is not necessary that he should do something wrong. It is not my business to be petitioning the Governor or the Legislature any more than it is theirs to petition me; and if they should not hear my petition, what should I do then?", Thoreau states. So we stand still, like the stagnant water that will become of the GSL and Antelope Island Marina, because we recede just as fast on one side as we gain on the other. We acquire new arts but lose old instincts. We might have a fine Swiss watch, but utterly fail in the skill to tell the time by the sun. It doesn't matter if the money is there or not there. We can explain to our kids that the great Salt Lake Marina and Antelope Island Marina used to be an Exceptional place to go but "the finest qualities of our nature, like the bloom on fruits, can be preserved only by the most delicate handling." We can let them know that we did not treat ourselves "nor one another thus tenderly," as so eloquently written by Thoreau. The point is: we don't need to explain the usefulness of the Great Salt Lake and the access to it. It should be self-evident. If the marina residents are failing to do what is expected of them to preserve it, then the State must hold itself to a lower standard than the people it pretends to govern. If we have to petition the legislature to do something as simple and basic as take care of the marinas in the state: what's next? Those of you that tried to save the Antelope Island Marina and now try to save the great Salt Lake Marina, (if it is in vain) then it is not you who has failed. Just my humble opinion. Austin B.
On Mar 2, 2015, at 10:24 PM, "Fred Austin" <fmaustin@comcast.net> wrote:
Mr. Hays,
Thank you for your email. I certainly hope you can find the funds necessary to do the right thing, which is to dredge the Great Salt Lake Marina. I also hope that you and your staff have impressed upon the powers that be that the State of Utah has a very large liability exposure relative to providing rescue resources on the Great Salt Lake.
Even if the marina is closed, which it seems will be the likely outcome, there will still be many users on the lake. For example, swimmers, rowers, SUP users, swing keel sailboats, dinghy’s, duck hunters, brine shrimpers and the occasional airplane crash that will require rescue resources. Further the Great Salt Lake is in the flight path of commercial and military aircraft. Heaven forbid one of them might crash into the lake, but it is very possible and would require a massive response from the Great Salt Lake Marina (not the Utah Lake Marina).
What will be your position when there is a fatality on the lake due to the fact that Utah was unable to provide rescue services because the rescue boat as well as other rescue resources were unable to leave the marina and access the lake. It will happen.
I sincerely hope you and your staff have planned for the worst case scenario. It is much more than just sailing on the Great Salt Lake.
Fred Austin
From: Fred Hayes [mailto:fredhayes@utah.gov] Sent: Monday, March 02, 2015 1:09 PM To: GSLsailor@aol.com; gonzofun.dg@gmail.com; natasha.Hardman@zionsbancorp.com; fmaustin@comcast.net; tsowles@fierofp.com; lgoldner@sage-env.com; henry.boland@gmail.com; jakeut@comcast.net; Dennis Hartley Subject: Dredging
Hello folks;
Over the course of the past week or so, I have heard from each of you about the current situation regarding the dredging of the Great Salt Lake Marina. I wanted to provide you an update on our ongoing efforts. Please understand that we are sympathetic to your concerns and are trying to find resources to address the need.
We have continued to work with legislators in an attempt to find additional money to facilitate the dredging of the GSL marina. Whether or not those efforts will bear fruit will play out over the course of the next 10 days as the 2015 Legislature winds to a close. I trust that each of you have visited with you own elected Representatives and Senators in a similar effort. I know that some of you have visited with Governor Gary Herbert's office, as have we, in an effort to gain their support for additional appropriations. I know from my own conversations with Governor Herbert's staff that the Governor is concerned about the situation. Unfortunately, the decision is out of his hands as the Legislature is the body that has the ultimate authority to establish the state's budget.
In the event that language in the appropriations bill is not modified to identify funding to go to GSL, the much discussed $1.5M will be used as proscribed in the appropriations bill to dredge the Utah Lake Marina. However, I have our construction and maintenance coordinator, our financial manager, and our senior staff looking at every pot of money that we have access to in an effort to identify funding in our current appropriation that might be redirected to the GSL marina. I am hopeful that these folks will be able to find enough that we can at least do some dredging at GSL to help alleviate some of the low water problems there. With tight budgets, however, coming up with extra cash is a pretty tall order, and the likelihood of finding the full $1.2M is pretty slim.
Please continue to work with your legislators. Impressive and amazing things can happen during the waning days of the session. Personal contacts generally work better than group emails. If you are uncertain as to who your elected Senators and Representatives are, you can find that information at www.le.utah.gov
Fred
-- Fred M. Hayes Director Utah Division of Parks and Recreation 1594 West North Temple Salt Lake City, Utah 84114 801-538-7336 (Office) 801-699-0811 (cell) _______________________________________________ GSL-Marina mailing list GSL-Marina@mailman.xmission.com https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gsl-marina