To the editor:
A boat tour of Mannion Bay was in order last Thursday to take photographs of some of our most recently abandoned derelicts, which as fate would have it was PURRfect timing.
Thanks to the wonderful front page “cat boat” article in last Friday’s Undercurrent, I like to think of that Friday the 13th as “cat day in the bay”, as there is no way the joint BIM/Friends of Mannion Bay remediation efforts will allow the bay to “go to the dogs”, as some irresponsible/uncaring boat owners would have it if they had their way and were permitted to continue their disregard, unchecked, for this iconic public area.
This “boat problem” is a community problem, not just one that directly affects and infuriates Mannion Bay property owners.
The substantial waste of BIM’s staff and council’s time; the complex challenges with which staff must deal; the enormous investment of volunteer Bay watchers’ time and the monumental expenditure/waste of taxpayers’ money affect the entire community.
To coin a phrase, Rome, or in this case Mannion Bay, is burning, but we are not just going to sit back to watch and wait for the pile of ashes.
And speaking of Rome, “it was not built in a day”, nor is anything on Bowen. Patience is a virtue which we have lots of so, thank heavens for our collective and persistent efforts.
It is important and timely to inform and ensure both the public and the offending boat owners the situation is not being ignored, it is under constant surveillance. While the road to a solution is long and has its share of bumps and potholes, it will be travelled by “the team” in order to achieve our objective, being a bay that is free of problem boats which is pleasant to the eye, is not an environmental time bomb and is an area that is safe and enjoyable for everyone to use. Tax monies should be utilized in a much more productive and universally rewarding manner.
Bruce Russell
Friends of Mannion Bay
