12/20/08 We were just informed of a mandatory inspection by the port of Los Angeles for all live a board residents. NOT ALL BOATERS! I believe this violation of my privacy is extended only to live aboards because the port officials need to pick on someone that they are not afraid of. We could change that if we actually had a live aboard association to defend our rights. Please feel free to email me if you are interested in protecting our right to live in our property (of which we pay property taxes) at l auri.hamilton@ebfin.com

Submitted by Herb S. on 6-7-2008 9:10 pm
I work hard every day, pay state and federal taxes and get through the week by dreaming about the day that I can retire and live on my bouat full time, and now I read this, the governments that I am supporting with my tax dollars wants to take my dream away? Yes, please count me among those who are against such interference. I not only endorse this pettition, I will also check this sight for names of polititians that are endorsing such interference with basic rights and suggustions for how to be sure that they are voted out of office.

Herb Saylor
Annapolis, Md

My husband and I live on house boat. We have for the last two years. We were forced to make this choice due to my husband becoming disabled and not being able to survive with the little income we had. We currently are having the worst time with the people living around us in homes and with the local police department. They have threated to take our boat, destroy it,fine us $10,0000.00 and so many other things even though we have paid in full 2 years worth of berth charges and maintain the property where we are staying. We are quiet, nice, helpful, and generally good people but we have been through so very much with living on our boat. Things are hard enough for us but to have people take the very last thing we own and dictate to us that we have no right is nothing short of intolorable. I continue to fight each day and will not give in because we do in fact have rights and I will do what ever it takes to make my rights be heard just as loud as the one who keeps calling the police each and every day. I support this cause and think that we all should get together and make our voice heard to all that are available to us. Good Luck to all and be safe on the water...

Shelley Mythen
Bethel Island , CA

I would suggest to all sailors and sea men and women to organize in association. As municipalities governments and agencies are organized. As we can together protect the environment, help to improve systems, and educate others about a close to extinct way of life.

I for one am sick and tired of the government telling us what to do and how to do it. Walk, don't run. Free speach in designated areas only. Gun control. Seat belt laws. Our freedom is being whittled away every day while our polititions who are waging useless wars under the guise of that very freedom they are taking away.

I support liveaboards to the same regulations as other boaters

The USA is (was) perceived by the world as the country of freedom and democracy. Leave it to legislature to restrict anybodies live. My parents sailed/lived on their boat for 30+- years traveling 2.5 times around the world and enjoying a fulfilled live that will be hard to copy. Knowing the sailing community well myself - what a group of interesting and real people (wityh some exception - like in any group) - many of them are floating ambassadors to our nation and deserve the dream that they were able to create - Please give them some respect and dignity without gauging them out of their boats!

I'm all for live aboard freedom, I have in the past and do plan in the future to spend much of the rest of my life living aboard and traveling around the world on my sailboat. I think there should be regulations, but no special regulations that only apply to live aboard situations. I would like to know more details before I sign something though. Jon Held

The U S A turns into a fascist government under ADOLF BUSH!! Get rid of this criminal and things might change. God help us all with this monster.

A Boat owner should have the right to live aboard his boat, since he provides money to the marina, buys fuel, and shopes both in boating stores and supermarkets which provide taxes for local goverment. Some people just like to cruise and enjoy the life most people will never experence. Having a seperate home and a both is something some people can't afford.
Al Franco

This is supposed to be the Country of Freedom. The purpose of restrictions and the real positive and/or necessary effects of planned restrictions must be weighed against the value of citizen freedom.

The old saying "you can't fight city hall" really applies to liveaboards. It applies because we have no united voice to describe what being a liveaboard is all about. Most politicians don't have a clue about how the the legislation they pass affects liveaboard boaters. It's time for those of us who do liveaboard to form into a united voice which can carry the only kind of weight a politician understands, a group voice. We live in the delta area of california (near Rio Vista) and would love to organize as many bay area and delta area liveaboards as possible into a coherent group capable of representing ourselves (liveaboards) when various local and state laws and regulations are being proposed. Anyone interested in joining together to present "our" side of the story to these politicals, please email Bay Area/Delta Liveaboards at Cebax@ earthlink.net and let us know. Thanks, Glen and Catherine Baxter, liveaboards at Owl Harbor Marina

You Can Do IT When You GoodLanguage IT._ GoodLanguage/OK.

I live on a mooring in San Diego, that I pay a nominal fee for. I would rather be able to pull up in an anchorage and save some kitty for that long trip out. Up until recently there was a free anchorage in San Diego, federal tidelands no less, that the port believes they have authority over and has since closed it down. That was the last free anchorage south of San Francisco that provided any good shelter at all and has displaced several people whom would otherwise be homeless. Not to say that I don't believe in boat standards, as some of the long term residents boats were nowhere near being sea worthy. The only difference between those boats and a lot of boats in the marinas is that the marina boats have shore power to keep their pumps running all of the time and their owners can afford several hundred dollars a month to keep them on life support. I think our legislators have made a fine mess of trying to regulate who gets to live on the water. Even in China, there are literally floating towns that don't get nearly the hassle that we do in the US. AND THEY'RE COMMUNISTS. Maybe it's not such a bad idea after all. In any event, this boat is getting sold and traded in for a more ocean going boat. South bound we go. Z-town bound.

As a former liveaboard, I know first hand the intrusive, choking nature of all of the regulations imposed upon you. Most of the time the regulations are put forth by knuckleheads who have no clue, and are acting as parrots. Or they are put forth because someone did something stupid and ruined it for the rest of us. In any event, self regulation always works better than government intervention.
IMHO, the government should be like the family dog that needs to be fed and nurtured, and knows it's place in the pack. It should NOT be the big brother everybody thinks they need to have around to solve the problems they create.

total support

Totally Support, im a dislocated Sailor from the UK, been sailing all my life, and would be sailing now, but for Children, and New Wife :) (ill get her sailing soon though) do they hassle the various nomadic tribes that live throughout the US? do they penalize the Native Americans, no. so, why then should they penalize the same type of people that founded the USA to begin with. if it werent for sailors, we would all be living on the same old island wherever we all originally came from.

Can we list more specific information about who, what, where, and why? It would make it easier to take more personal action. Of course, we have seen this kind of legislation before, and we just left the country. There were the rules that we had to wear life jacket all of the time. That could ruin your love life.

The people who don't like us liveaboards may be thinking we aren't paying our fair share in taxes. In my case, I lost my homestead exemption and now pay triple the property taxes. They may be thinking we are doing environmental damage to the waterways when actually we are greener than any communter watering fertilizer into his lawn. Or they may simply think, why should anyone get anything for free? If they could meter oxygen, they would.

strongly7 support

This is a very basic right as an U.S. born person....While I am now house tied with kids..some day I hope to return to boat living...many fond and peaceful memories from my live-a-board days.

Every U.S. municipality located next to a navigable waterway should have a designated anchorage area for boaters and liveaboards just like they have highway vehicle rest stops and permitted campgrounds for RV's.

When municipalities main area of concern is "liveaboards"..... they need to take a better look into their own town or city for much more serious problems.

JUST THINK OF THE PERCENTAGE OF BOATS GOING UNUSED, JUST SITTING AT THEIR SLIP OR MOORING,VACANT,ALONE, ROTTING, THE BEST YEARS OF THERE LIVES SPENT WAITNG FOR THE FAIR WEATHER SAILER TO SHOW UP. THE LIVE ABOARD IS THE ONLY WAY. I NEED THIS TO BE THERE WHEN I HAVE THE CHANCE.

I lived "off the grid" for a few years on San Francisco Bay. I understand the necessity for security and sanitation issues as well as the burden placed on the homeowner by state and municipal officials to generate income. I happily comply with holding tank and other waste issues, and am equally happy to comply with US Coast Guard regulations. I live (or should I say, have lived) on a seaworthy and capable vessel which is anything but an eyesore. I will defend my right to anchor my vessel in any area marked as an anchorage without intimidation by municipalities.

I want to be able to cruise and hangout at will along the waterway. However, consider this scenario; folks in an RV decide to stop right outside my property line and "hangout" at their leisure, dumping their holding tanks and being "right at home" for as long as they please. Their are issues here, both private property and societal. There must be community sponsored mooring areas as well as conveniently located pumpout stations in order to handle at least some of these sensitive issues.

Have you checked out your home sewage bill recently? Mine has a charge called "EPA Consent Decree Surcharge" $13.90. The sewage bill is $4.40 but the EPA wants $13.90.

I agree about equal rights, but stop and think about how many liveaboards there are in so many marinas without pump-out facilitiies or with inoperable facilities. It is A problem, but not THE problem. If holding tanks must be required onboard, then shore based disposal facilities should be required also.