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.

I want to live aboard but intrusion from local Gov makes it dam near imposable! I do not ask for special rights above other just to live the way I am happy

Who is government serving by all this intrusion into private life?

why not RVs then or even vacation homes before you know it your personal home could become subject to inspection by "central services". make sure to keep up the fight. hands off government ,democracy,bull****

As a future liveaboard, I feel that most boaters are environmentally concerned and do not need to be legislated anymore. We are regulated enough.

If citizens in other dwellings are not required to have periodic inspections of their homes, why should those who choose to live on the water? I don't see the "due process" being observed. This sounds nore like illegal search in the name of spurious taxes. You know if they want to inspect your plumbing, bilge, etc that they will not want you to have any firearms on board, either. Check out the reason that Kennesaw, GA has the lowest burglary and crime rate in the US. It's not because the local or state government messes in their business.

Brothers of the coast, unite!
Long live the Jolly Roger!!!

The government is out of control. The big money and big government will stop at nothing until all are subjugated to thier power. End of story.

I agree that boaters are being targeted for not only pollution inforcement, but also by local law enforcement. They are to trying to enforce local laws that conflict with Federal laws regarding anchoring and navigation. As boaters we also need to be more responsible and follow basic common sense rules when it comes to pollution.

With home prices so high, is this a way to stimulate the housing Market?

Not trying to be insensitive, but there's a whole world out there where governments don't try to claim fiduciary privileges to your 'personal' watercraft. I say, turn your back on the US and sail right out into the gorgeous bahamas, and way beyond, into freedom. Does it make sense to work your whole life to have to freedom of a boat, only to remain where you can't exercise that freedom?

I do not liveaboard but feel that they tend to be targeted from just about every direction available. The marina's increase there rates(in many cases astronomically) quoting additonal use of resources as a reason. The local goverments and municipalities regulate when, where, and how they may anchor and in many cases not allowing them to liveaboard at all(must not lose that property tax revenue). Property owners band togather to try to push them out(citing a loss of property value as a reason). There is throughout America today this envasive need of some to control the lives, thoughts and minds of others. The way liveaboards tend to be treated tends to illustrate just how far we as a whole have descended down that path. If Ma and Pa Kettle want to harbor hop up and down the eastern seaboard in there sailboat that is Ma and Pa Kettle's buisness and none of yours nor mine.

I absolutely agree that all boaters should treated equally. The majority of the pollution affecting our waterways and coastal regions is coming from municipal and industrial sources, not boaters. As someone else noted in a boater's forum recently,google any major coastal city before and right after a heavy rainstorm. You will see for yourselves the effluent from storm sewers and and overloaded sewage treatment plants spreading out into the adjacent coastal waters. It's far too easy to harass boaters than it is to force the city of Detroit, for instance, to change its ways.

Sorry, I disagree. I think cruisers/liveaboards do pollute more than their fair share. I keep my boat on Spa Creek in Annapolis, Maryland and during the fall season when all the "snow birds" are passing through I have a devil of a time keeping my boot top clean of oilly residue.Needless to say there is a strong correlation between the oil scum on my boat
and the influx of cruising boats that pass through town. The oil scum is clearly coming from cruisers pumping their bilges in my creek. And how many other creeks are affected by this?

Stop trying to pass the buck and own up to what is your contribution to the problem.
Sincerly,
Patrick Teeling pteeling@comcast.net

boot top clea

I vote for less government on anything and everything!

While the proponents of the rules, regulations, laws and other governmentally enforced restraints, constraints, invasions of privacy, trampling of rights to free movement and the pursuit of a lifestyle that may be "different", outside of the mainstream notions of "living large" in the U.S. are claimed (almost always)to be for the "public good", the roots of all the hub-bub are mainly nanny-statism, pure personal power politics, and last, but probably foremost, money interests.

While they ostensibly espouse "the good of all" almost to a man (and woman) these busybodies, do-gooders, and money-seekers from the pockets of others, generally actually mean. . . do as I say, for reasons you may not question, for ends which you have no right (or intelligence) to examine. This is unamerican in the original sense of the word and bespeaks of a trend that starts with an inherent distrust of their fellow citizens to live their own lives and conduct themselves privately in ways that do not intrude on or into the rights and privacy of others.

It all has a fascist feel and look about it that anyone of common sense and a suite of good old-fashioned American values can see through in a trice. Mind your own business and shame and disgrace to those who seek to use force backed by government to foster their own ends.

Protect the environment, yes, protect privacy (for all classes of citizens) of course, but stop making believe that the over-reaching trend toward goverment enforced intrusion on the traditional rights of others is anything but self seeking for most of the "guvvie" enthusiasts and their pals the lobbyists in the legislative halls.

I support this

The fact of the matter is its not the live aboards that are causing the problem. Its the runoff from farms, and the recreational boaters that go out for a few hours. But in the typical govt. reaction they go after the easy target so it appears they are doing something rather than actually fixing the root of the problem.

I support liveaboards held to the same regulations as other boaters

Help support us in Ga.... galiveaboards.org
/www.sailnet.com/forums/living-aboard/42 004-georgia-livaboards-org-2.html
http://www.livingaboard.c om/cgi-bin/ulti...

TIA for your support
Capt David ONeill
Savannah Ga

As a Liveaboard, I think we could all agree that our environmental footprint is probably 85% less than those who choose to live on land and at the sametime we are most likely to be 100% more proactive than those who choose to live on land

As with all environmental issues, it is easier to attack those with little support, than it is to go after the real problems, which start far inland of the marine environment.

Also, I pay 4200 per year in liveaboard fees, thats 400 less than the property tax I paid on a 3000sf track home

Leave me alone

I wish the Gov would decide if my yacht is a house or a car. I feel it is unfair to have to pay both sales tax and property tax. Please treat boaters fairly.

Where and how will we use this petition? I hope we have an effective plan.

hasent the enviromentalists fucked up enough / ask why your oil prices are so high when we have plenty of oil here in the USA

For many sailors cruising is a way of life. Some are getting away from the world while others enjoy the ability to live anywhere at anytime. This way of life is being targeted with increased fees and annual inspections as the Department of Environmental Protection, and others, crack down on environmental issues by placing the burden on liveaboards. This affects those in marinas, on moorings, or at anchor. This would not only affect permanent liveaboard residents but possibly transients who might only spend a few months a year in one location. Many cruisers budgets simply do not allow for expensive dock slips and targeted inspection just because they live on their boat or hang out for months.