This past week both John Crosby (chair of Harbor Management Committee, HMC) and Jim McKenna (Town Manager) got together for a meeting of the minds. The first being the rumours of a Ferry Service.
It’s been confirmed, a federal grant was awarded to Winthrop for this service. The papers were handed over to John and the HMC will be looking them over at their next meeting. I’m sure a discussion will take place, then a subcommittee will be formed to look into the matter further.
Next, Jim mentioned he wants a Shellfish Constable here in Winthrop. The HMC already has a subcommittee discussing this and reviewing qualifications. But, now with Jim’s blessing, this group can dig deeper. Then, get back to him with their findings and recommendations.
Last topic of note was how does this committee get informed about things happening on the waterfront. Hopefully, with the new Town Council starting in January and the Town Manager on board, these transitions will go a bit smoother.
A contract was awarded to Schofield to put the beams on top of the pilings to prepare the platform for the new building. By having this done now under the current contract, the committee was able to reduce the number of pilings being used and reduce costs.
Bids for the new harbormaster building will be going out on December 19, 2009 and due back to be opened on January 19, 2010. If a bid is accepted this time around, the work for the building will begin in April 2010.
A new gangway will be built for commercial use on the waterside opposite the current gangway. This is to help the commercial fishermen use the crane easier.
Talk about a Shellfish Constable continued and will be looked into further for state requirements and qualifications.
Discussions also continued about the Harbor Enterprise Fund.
The meeting open with discussions regarding the construction at the Public Landing. Agregate Paving will be there on Wednesday to start the fine grading. A binder course 2 1/2″ thick and a top of 1″ will start either Thursday or Friday.
The piles for the new building has been added to the current contractor Argus who will subcontract to SeaShore. This should start possibly the end of this week and be done before paving starts.
New curbing will be started end of November after the binder is set. A binder will definitely be down before winter.
The big piles of dirt will be used to fill in some of the loom rather than having the expense of carting the piles away.
New benches and Seagull proof trash cans will be installed in the Spring.
All light bases have been installed except behind the loom pile.
There’s only 1 storm ceptor on the west side near the Winthrop Yacht Club. It has both an oil and water separator.
The new parking lot plans will include 35 – 40 more spots.
Progress is being made with the last of the electrical lines installed and gas company ready to go.
Possibly binder will be down by Bob DeLeo’s event, if not, soon. The finish coat will be started prior to winter season.
Argus has agreed to drive the piles and install grey beams for the new building before paving is done.
All trees were transplanted and Norm Siefert’s trees will be saved.
The new building desing has finally been settled upon and waiting for David Vine to finish the bid documents. Then the plans and specifications will go out to bid from the town. The bidding on the building is from slab, underground, etc.
The silk granite will be reused for the new curbing.
Dick Lawton met at the landing with both David Vine and Argus. It was agreed that Michelle Karas would send out communications through the town’s website to let people know what’s happening with the construction, etc at landing.
Paul Marks will be onsite from a technical standpoint and harbormasters will be responsible for daily events at the marina.
Dick was reminded that access has to be maintained to both the ramp and pier.
The parking lot will be dug up first, then the utility work will be done before the asphault. The binder will be in place by Thanksgiving.
The building was discussed and decided it was best to have the piling bottom done under this current contract. Also to change style of building from the railroad look to cut costs. It was re-iterated that the money for this building is coming from grants, not the town.
A suggestion was made to bring landscaping in-house by locals and use that money for building.
A subcommittee had been formed to look into a Shellfish Constable.
The current bids for the new building came in 50% over budget from that of David Vine (Engineer). Dick Lawton and Paul Marks met with Town Manager to discuss the new building. When David Vine was asked why the bids came in so much higher, her really didn’t have an answer. A list of questions had been put together which the Town Manager will subsequently ask both Chuck Famolare and David Vine at their next meeting. Paul Marks is scheduled to be Clerk of Works for this project, hired by the town.
On Tuesday, August 25th, construction begins at the landing for a new pier addition, landscaping and services. Should be finished 3rd week of September. There are concerns that phase 1 of the project will be finished before the building, itself, gets started. Could cause problems with repaving.
A subcommittee was formed to oversee the Harbor Enterprise Fund. This group will be responsible for making recommendations to the Town Manager and the Town Council on expenditures from this fund.
Another subject discussed was that the town is looking to get involved in winter storage of boats.
Last subject discussed was the need for a Shellfish Constable. Tink mentioned there was a lot to being a Shellfish Constable, and the group agreed to look into this further.
July 4 - every boat slip at the town marina was occupied for the 4th to enjoy the Horribles Parade, cookouts, great friends and the fireworks. (photos: http://tiny.cc/Jk4LS) In fact, some stayed an extra day due to the lousy weather. Unfortunately, there was one mishap during the spectacular fireworks where a boat was taken over by the wind and blown over to Coughlin Park where the fireworks were being set off.
July 8 – Tall Ships arrived in Boston and many spectators watched from the many great spots from Winthrop Beach, Deer Island, Landing and Cottage Park Yacht Club (CPYC). Four ships were supposed to come into CPYC, however, as we stood on the docks waiting, the Rachel B Jackson went straight into Fan Pier where a spot had opened up. The schooner, Maine, ended up in Boston as well and the other two Norse Viking and The Lark, never made it to Boston.
July 11 – Members from Winthrop Yacht Club and Mass Bay Sailing Club headed out for the weekend. First to Scituate for an overnight, then back to Spectacle Island for another overnight so they’d be ready to see the Tall Ships leaving.
July 13 – A great day was had by anyone who was either at Deer Island or lucky enough to be on the Harbor to watch as the following Tall Ships left Boston: Maine (Essex MA), Etoile (France), Sagres (Portugal), Pride of Baltimore II (USA), Coast Guard Bargue Eagle (USA), Europe (Netherlands), Cisne Branco (Brazil), Kruzenshtern (Russia), Capitan Miranda (Uruguay) and Libertad (Argentina) went out at sunset. photos http://tiny.cc/tallships. A special thank you to assistant harbormasters Chuck Evans and Roger for taking me out for the day to get some wonderful photographs. Read the rest of this entry »
On June 30th, NE Charter Boat Association in conjunction with Bob Baptista (co-ordinator for underpriviledged children), Sean Canty (Special Olympic kids), John Hoffman (Boston’s Fishing Academny) and Pat Gately (Boston Harbor Shipyard) held their third summer kickoff with these inner city children. Twenty-two vessels donated their time, boats, crew, equipment, bait, etc for over 100 children between the ages of 8 – 14 spend the morning out fishing when they normally wouldn’t get a chance to. William McBrine from DCR was available to talk about training for boating, canoeing, etc. Lots of bass and flounder were caught that day. The event ended with a bar-be-que at Boston Harbor Shipyard’s marina and prizes.
NE Charter Boat Association meets the third Tuesday every month at Orient Heights Yacht Club at 7:30pm. They are currently expanding their membership and looking for boat Captains, divers, surveyors, etc and/or associate members. For more information check out: http://www.necharterboats.com/about_us/mission_history.htm
May 1st – Winthrop’s landing and marina officially opened for the season. New signs have been posted and DCR/Environmental Police is watching.
June 10th – UN Oceans World Day was celebrated in Winthrop as well as around the world. At the landing, the harbormaster’s office and DPW work crew got together to clean up the harbor and brought in broken down floats, etc. http://winthropbytheseaonline.com/MarinerNews/?p=75
June – aside from the nasty rains, fishing has been great, slips were being rented out, the ramps were worked on, summer rentals for July were coming in and accepted, pumpout boat was busy, parking lot has been full and 3 young adults from Parks and Recreation were hired to pick up trash and other odd jobs.
DCR/Environmental Police have been showing up off and on, checking out the boats as they go out and especially when they return. If you’re out fishing, they want to see what you caught. If you’re just out for the day, make sure you have an appropriate amount of lifejackets for everybody on board, etc. For a refresher in boat safety, go to: www.thenauticallifestyle.com/TransientTalk there’s six weeks worth of boat safety class notes there.
According to wikipedia, World Oceans Day was officially declared by the United Nations as June 8th each year beginning in 2009. Canada proposed this concept on June 8, 1992 during the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and until now, it had been unofficially celebrated every year since then as World Ocean Day. This year’s theme is: “Our Oceans, Our Responsibility”.
To do their part, Winthrop’s Harbormasters and DPW got together to clean up Winthrop waters. They brought in: old abandoned, derelick floats, pilings and boats that had been accumulating in Winthrop waters for many years along the seawalls of many homes, on the beaches and marinas. All items had floated in or broken over the years from storms.
DPW guys – Aaron Armitstead, Rob Ford, Steve Calla (head chief – operations manager), Jack Powell, Bobby Hodgkins and Jake Vasel.
Harbormasters – Chuck Famolare, John Crosby, Joe Montaldo, Tiger
The launch ramp was extremely busy as boaters took full advantage of the perfect weather.