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R E K

"A community of people living on boats in San Francisco Bay is being unlawfully evicted, and their boats are being destroyed. Local governments and agencies have been trying to remove the anchor-outs for decades, and are making the final push now.
As the remaining live-aboards weigh their options, they recount some of their struggles in this video."

youtube.com/watch?v=L_4o2DIl7T

5 November at 17:28 | Open on merveilles.town
9 comments
R E K

It really breaks my heart to see this, because it's happening everywhere.

Cities in the Salish Sea are using these same tactics. "They're dumping sewage in the water!" Nevermind that the city of Victoria only stopped dumping raw sewage in the Juan de Fuca strait in *drum roll*... 2021, and that urban runoff continues to pollute waterways.

Also saying "We're concerned about wildlife!" while building private docks, extensive waterfront properties(often second, third homes), and expanding marinas everywhere. While preserving wildlife is a valid concern, many people who use this argument have ulterior motives and really don't give a shit about wildlife, they just want the boats to 'go away'.

It really breaks my heart to see this, because it's happening everywhere.

Cities in the Salish Sea are using these same tactics. "They're dumping sewage in the water!" Nevermind that the city of Victoria only stopped dumping raw sewage in the Juan de Fuca strait in *drum roll*... 2021, and that urban runoff continues to pollute waterways.

5 November at 20:12 | Open on merveilles.town
Apostolis

@rek The last of the hippies of San Francisco are in sailboats? Here on the north of Crete, tourism has been based on alternative culture and now they try to ban camping, because they believe they will get more money this way through renting. Also they want oil refineries and oil/gas extraction.

5 November at 20:29 | Open on social.coop
Ruben

@rek is, "keeping my fingers crossed for the Greenland shelf slipping and sinking all the coastal wealth" evil?

5 November at 21:10 | Open on mastodon.sdf.org
Artsun

@rek Wow. Thanks for sharing. Here at Frioul island's harbour there's a similar vibe going on. We were the home port for sailing teams that trained from the end of 2023 till the Olympics last summer. As usual in this kind of situations, they took the opportunity to put pressure on the most fragile residents of the marina.

I personally got sued by the city (without previous notice) for "breaking public good" when the wind caused the catway where I was tied up to break. Many boats were removed.

It's the cheapest port in the region, maybe even on the whole French Mediterranean coast. Lots of people are living aboard, they don't own much but their boat...

@rek Wow. Thanks for sharing. Here at Frioul island's harbour there's a similar vibe going on. We were the home port for sailing teams that trained from the end of 2023 till the Olympics last summer. As usual in this kind of situations, they took the opportunity to put pressure on the most fragile residents of the marina.

5 November at 21:32 | Open on merveilles.town
R E K

@artsun so strange that they would sue you for that... esp if the facilities are old(why else would it fail?), were you not meant to be tied there in such weather? How did that get resolved? Did you have to pay anything?

6 November at 1:02 | Open on merveilles.town
Artsun

@rek Long story! They played on two specifically points of the rules.

The first thing is that we're not supposed to be firmly moored to the catway, you're only allowed to use a loose hawser for safety. It's only the mooring lines at bow (les pendilles - how do you say that?) and the mooring at the dock that are supposed to hold the boat.

Being at the end of the dock, with one of the two bow mooring lines plunging vertically instead of going towards the mother chain, I had no choice but to tie up firmly to the catway.

Which brings us to point 2: I discovered that maintaining one of the mooring line was legally my responsibility, something I hadn't been aware of until then. I consulted a marine expert who told me he'd never seen such a regulation. I tried to point out my good faith and the opacity of the regulations to the municipality (which manages the port), but it didn't affect their determination at suing me. Read the small lines, friends.

That was a year and a half ago. I kind of hassled them to get another spot in the port, which I ended up getting (this is the good point of the whole story).

No news from the legal action. Insurance won't cover everything so I'm waiting to see as I'm supposed to get a fine for this. The insurance lawyer told me recently she thought the municipality had dropped the matter, but I have no way of really knowing (and I obviously don't wanna remind them of the whole thing).

Just another day in Absurdia...

@rek Long story! They played on two specifically points of the rules.

The first thing is that we're not supposed to be firmly moored to the catway, you're only allowed to use a loose hawser for safety. It's only the mooring lines at bow (les pendilles - how do you say that?) and the mooring at the dock that are supposed to hold the boat.
6 November at 8:06 | Open on merveilles.town
Kira, feral fox 🦊 🏳️‍⚧️

@rek It's so fucking heart-breaking, and pisses me off. These people are just trying to live.

And like, these accusations of environmental harm are so bogus: let's check out one of the big homes in Sausilito (a super wealthy town) and see what THEIR environmental impact is. *scoffs*

6 November at 1:20 | Open on sunbeam.city
R E K

@tty yea, it's all pretend, they'll say anything to justify kicking them out :/. It's the same in B.C, they use the same kind of smear tactics in the news. The sad thing is that it works, it makes the community hate people who live at anchor.

6 November at 2:27 | Open on merveilles.town
Kira, feral fox 🦊 🏳️‍⚧️

@rek Water folx are so vulnerable to this kind of thing. Big institutions like marinas and "modern" houses are not allowed to receive the same kind of blame, because that would throw everything into question. :/

6 November at 3:38 | Open on sunbeam.city
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