Page One

To the Editor: 

I am writing to you regarding a proposed new ordinance to prohibit parking on all marina streets 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. 

I believe this is not only a bad law, but also that the marina staff, specifically Cliff Marchett, the Marina manager, tried to sneak it in the back door because he feared it would be widely opposed by the public and Waterfront Commission. 

Normally, ordinances which primarily affect the marina are brought before the Waterfront Commission for public comment and the commission’s recommendations before being sent to the City Council for vote. 

This proposal was routed through the traffic department, directly to the council, without notice to the Commission, or the public, in a month when the commission was on recess, apparently in the hope council would pass the law before anyone had heard of it, and before any opposition could be organized. 

Marchetti’s motive for doing this was apparently to avoid the opposition the law will bring, because it will require installing dozens of signs, cluttering up the landscape on every street in the marina. Rather than following the normal “public participation” process, and taking a chance the public would resist the “visual clutter”, he snuck into the council agenda with the help of some other bureaucrats in traffic. 

I urge the council and public to reject unnecessary law, and unfair ploys, by city bureaucrats, and above all, reject uglification of our beautiful waterfront, and vote no on this ordinance. 

Steve White 

Berkeley