Keep The Watermen

Source: dailypress.com
June 25, 2008

I was gratified to read that Newport News City Council members unanimously supported the rebuilding of the historical Deep Creek pier, two preferring a pedestrian pier while four envision a mooring pier (“Deep Creek pier decision delayed,” June 11).

I am particularly encouraged by the votes of council members Bert Bateman, Madeline McMillan, Sharon Scott and Bill Haskins. My hope is that this project will not get tied up in red tape, that Mayor Joe Frank will make every effort to implement what the City Council has told him it wants, and that the watermen will soon be back in Deep Creek where they’ve been for decades and where they belong.

A solution must be found regarding the issue of insurance for the watermen. We have an example here of a council that has listened to its citizens, voted to meet their needs and publicly demonstrated their intent to do the right thing.

I’m looking forward to the day when we will once again see a pier at the end of Deep Creek Road, but it will be a travesty if the watermen are prevented from using that pier due to prohibitive insurance fees. I thank the entire City Council for this vote. Now let’s make it a reality.

Bonnie Melzer Atkins

Newport News

NN doesn’t need to rebuild pier

Source: dailypress.com

June 16, 2008

Why would the city of Newport News even be looking at putting the Deep Creek pier in again after months of previous debate that concluded it doesn’t have the money, land or support to do the project? (“Deep Creek pier decision delayed,” June 11) The pier was great when it was new and in good shape. Then, the watermen abused it to ruins.

Who paid for the removal of the sunken boat or the engine that was pulled out? Who paid for the damage when the watermen’s uninsured boats broke away in a storm and smashed into the private boats next door? Who’s paying for the new bulkhead across the creek? Who pays for the recovery of the sunken fishing boat that now sits right in the middle of the channel? Did it sink on its own or did it get help? If you let the watermen back in, does this mean the foul language, fighting and intimidation will return?

The James River Marina owners have greatly improved the area from what it once was. This means more tax revenue to the city. Now the city is once again trying to take personal property through eminent domain “for the good of the citizens.” Well, all the waterman who were there before will be more than happy to have a place to leave their dilapidated boats for free once again.

A walking pier? Come on. For the price, the public road goes down to the river, walk through the parking lot another 200 feet, and it will be the same thing.

Jeff Caplan
Newport News

Beautiful Swimmers

The following was excerpted form the obituary of a man who honored the profession of waterman.
********************

William W. Warner, whose first book, “Beautiful Swimmers: Watermen, Crabs and the Chesapeake Bay,” was a national bestseller and winner of the 1977 Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction, died April 18 of complications of Alzheimer’s disease at his home in Washington, D.C. He was 88.

“I just had this vague feeling that I’d like to do a little writing,” he told the New York Times in 1983. He soon realized, as he told the Times, that the “benign and beautiful waters” of the Chesapeake were his natural setting and the watermen were his natural heroes.

Praise for Warner and his work came from Morris Marsh, a Smith Island waterman profiled in “Beautiful Swimmers.” “I enjoyed him, really, and he mostly asked sensible questions,” Marsh told Tom Horton, who wrote an article for Washingtonian magazine in June 2007. “A lot says they want to go with you, but come 4 a.m., they’re not there. But he was always there, waiting to go.

Read his obituary in it’s entirety HERE.

Bad Summer Forecast for Bay

“A new report sounds more bad news for the Chesapeake Bay and the people who work and play on its waters.” Get the rest of the story HERE, or click on the Virginia Waterman’s Association link in the side bar to the right.

Shirley Jones Speaks At City Council Meeting

Shirley Jones was an informed and eloquent speaker at the City Council meeting on June 10, 2008. After cordially greeting council members, she spoke the following words.
*******************************************

I wish to encourage you to rebuild the Deep Creek pier as it was originally, along with the public access boat ramp. I understand that you are saying that there is no parking, but we had parking access there for years and years. What happened to it? What happened to the boat ramp that used to be there for all of us to use.

Council members, I understand that you are leasing nearly four acres of prime waterfront property, with three buildings on it, to Christopher Newport University – with piers for their eighteen sailboats. I think they have more than that but… I understand you’re leasing this property for a dollar a year. That doesn’t seem even reasonable to me. I can’t imagine it.

I also understand from the man who removed the pier at Deep Creek that only a small part of the pier was in poor condition. It could have been repaired very economically from what he said.

I think you’re putting an unnecessary burden on our watermen, and I don’t understand why. Our watermen are as much a part of our history, our Warwick history, as the Shipyard is of the Newport News history. And I think we have an obligation as citizens to respect that, and the gift from the Melzer family. I really would like to see you do something to support our history.

Thank you.

Deep Creek pier decision delayed

The city was leaning toward a mooring plan, but Mayor Joe Frank asked for more information.

By Sabine Hirschauer
June 11, 2008
Source: dailypress.com

NEWPORT NEWS – — So close. But not close enough.

Four Newport News City Council members said Tuesday they would support another mooring pier at the end of Deep Creek Road. Two council members, Vice Mayor Charles Allen and Councilman Joe Whitaker, backed a pedestrian pier with benches and rails.

But it was Mayor Joe S. Frank who sent city staff back to the drawing board on the pier issue.

“I don’t think I have enough information to decide one way or the other,” Frank said.

Since the city demolished the aging Deep Creek pier last year, a firestorm has ignited over whether or not to rebuild the 1940s-era local landmark.

A full-fledged, new 400-foot mooring pier including a costly parking lot, lights, water, restrooms and security cameras could cost between $600,000 to $900,000. By comparison, a 300-foot pedestrian pier with some amenities, where only children could fish, could cost around $300,000. But it was unclear if a parking lot with a price tag between $146,000 to $185,000 was needed for the shorter pedestrian dock. Restrooms would cost between $190,000 to $250,000.

The city attorney will research if by state law, Newport News can use eminent domain to acquire land for parking, something which might not be legal if the pier was used commercially by the watermen. The city will also check into whether or not the pedestrian pier would require parking at all.

Council members also discussed charging pier users for parking and mooring, and requiring watermen to insure their boats once the city rebuilds the pier.

Good news and bad news and a whole lot in between, C.W. Powell, a local waterman, said describing Tuesday’s work session debate about the pier.

And Carol Hogge, the wife of a Deep Creek waterman, said for the city requiring insurance and possibly charging for mooring wasn’t fair.

“They are running the watermen out,” she said.

How much will rebuilding Deep Creek pier cost?

City officials will hear various options today for replacing the iconic pier.

By Sabine Hirschauer
June 10, 2008
source: dailypress.com

NEWPORT NEWS – The Deep Creek pier might be gone, but the controversy surrounding its demolition last fall and the debate about rebuilding it is alive and well.

City officials will brief Newport News City Council members during a work session this afternoon on the different options for rebuilding the iconic pier, which sat at the end of Deep Creek Road for more than six decades.

Newport News began dismantling the pier in September because of safety and liability concerns. But the demolition, which cost $30,000, soon caused a rift between many Deep Creek residents and local watermen who wanted to keep the pier and City Council members, who said it was too costly to maintain.

“They need to replace it,” said 65-year-old waterman Jimmy Crewe, who’s been harvesting oysters at Deep Creek for nearly the last five decades. Crewe moors his commercial fishing boat at the Menchville Marina across from where the Deep Creek pier once stood.

During today’s work session, city officials are expected to present new estimates on how much it would cost to replace the pier.

One option includes replacing it with a similar 400-feet-long and 8-feet-wide full service mooring structure.

To build the new pier — pilings and wooden decking — would cost an estimated $146,000. But there would still be a parking problem because Newport News doesn’t own land for a parking lot at the Deep Creek pier.

“That’s just putting the mooring pier back on the end of Deep Creek Road,” said Michael Poplawski, director of the city’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism. “It’s the same if we would build the north Newport News recreation center without a parking lot. People would say ‘Wait a minute, how should I get there?’ It should be done right.”

According to city estimates, the cost of buying land for parking, restrooms, lights and other amenities could drive the price up to nearly $750,000.

“Given that such property is on the waterfront, it will be very expensive,” City Manager Randy Hildebrand wrote to the council last week.

Another option would be to build a 300-feet-long, 8-feet-wide pedestrian pier with handrails and benches, for about $133,000, but that would not include the cost of a parking lot and other amenities.

When the city began to raze the Deep Creek pier last year, most watermen moved across the water to the Menchville side of Deep Creek. On Friday, the city started to replace 735 feet of wooden bulkhead at the Menchville Marina. Additional work at the marina includes regrading the low area along the parking lot next to the bulkhead, which often floods.

Repair work at the marina is expected to be finished by Sept. 18 and will not include additional mooring piers or pilings — or repairing the piers and pilings currently in place between the docks used by Christopher Newport College and the existing boat ramp.

“There was no reason to tear down Deep Creek pier in the first place,” said Crewe, tying up his Bay Queen next to another commercial fishing boat. “We need all the space we can get.”