Hannig Dumps on Docktown

You heard it here first. The houseboats at Docktown sit on the mud twice a day, right next to feeding birds. The blurry pict is from Ted Hannig.

May 1, 2014 |

Poster's Note Below is the letter that Ted Hannig sent to the City Council in early 2014 when they were going to consider the Inner Harbor report, in which the Task Force recommended finding a way to keep Docktown, and a follow up note he send the city council later in the year. Hannig had only just acquired his condo across the creek from Docktown about a month before writing his first letter, and since he attended none of the 12 Inner Harbor meetings and workshops, he must had some other source for his spurious claims about State Lands. More telling was how he demonized Docktown with false claims about purported damage to the environment, which he continued to post on his Facebook page. All this was carried into his lawsuit without a challenge from the city, and used against us in the court of public opinion. In November of 2016 Redwood City finally published the results of a (required) study of contamination in the creek, giving us a clean bill of health. The authors of that study noted that the water here is clean enough to swim in, and that Docktown does not introduced contamination into the creek. You can find my response to his original letter here.

May 2014

Members of the City Council of Redwood City City Hall Redwood City, CA 94063 Re: Docktown Dear City Council Members:

I wanted to bring to your attention a matter of serious environmental concern as a constructive comment before the City and responsible parties face civil and potentially criminal liability should it fail to take corrective measures. It may well be that work is currently underway to stop pollution and contamination facilitated by the City's management of Docktown, however I am unaware of such efforts and my near daily observation for the past month has shown no change. By way of my background, I have undertaken a major marine environmental protection effort by personally purchasing and placing into preserve 100 acres of coral reefed property. I did so because the delicate coral reef`there faced damage in the event of potential development in that area. My actions speak of our family's long-time commitment to the marine environment. This is not a matter of passing interest to me, but rather goes to a matter of great personal commitment.

The situation at Docktown is a serious one, and for reasons in addition to its prior common reputation as "Poop Lagoon" due to frequent contamination odors that were previously a common experience. As the City is Well aware, the State has informed the City that it is in violation of state law and the City's obligation as Trustee in allowing live-aboard housing at Docktown. The issues came to attention from Ms. Madden's presentation to the State Lands Commission, asserting the novel concept that affordable live-aboard boat housing was an appropriate use, if not requirement, of the Public Trust Doctrine.

Specifically, the State rejected this view and has advised ". . . Docktown violates the terms of the City's granting statutes and is inconsistent with the Common Law Public Trust Doctrine." A copy of the State's letter is attached.

Below, I am again submitting to you photographs of the Docktown Marina (another photograph is contained in my March 23, 2014 letter to you). As you will note, houseboats and vessels rest completely within and on the mud, typically for two cycles a day (4 times rising or coming to rest on the Bay mud). The San Francisco Bay mud has been studied by the USGS since 1894, as it is an important environmental resource in our community.

Our Bay mud often contains very abrasive constituents, including oyster shell fractions, sand, gravel and debris. When boats come to rest on Bay mud the Bay mud acts as an aggressive sandpaper or worse. The abrasion process against the boats at Docktown (which are ñequently painted with toxic, anti-fowling "bottom paint" to prevent marine life from attaching to their vessel) releases those toxins along with other materials abraded from boat hulls rapidly into the marine environment, including directly to the Bay mud and water. In the picture provided, you can see the bird life eating creatures from the mud. The food cycle is clearly impacted.

When boats rest on the mud, they suffocate it and block the air-mud estuary environmental cycle.

There is an even greater threat to the water and environment. It has recently been documented and discovered that "microbeads", which are contained in a plethora of consumer products (from shampoo to toothpaste) threaten our marine environment. The boats, as they rest in the mud, are typically releasing all their drains other than the head (toilet) directly into the mud environment. Kindly see the attached article (Attachment 2).

Apparently, the beads act as toxic "magnets", attracting toxins before being consumed by small fish, which in turn are consumed by larger flsh. As you are aware, locally We have construction limits due to the breeding cycle in this area and I frequently see stingrays consuming crustaceans in this area.

This harm needs to stop. While there are a number of laws that come into play, including the Clean Water Act, I believe common sense and concern for our waterfront environment serves as an additional call to act. I encourage the City to do so immediately. I Will be out of the Country through May 2nd, but hope action will have been taken before my return. Very truly yours,

HANNIG LAW FIRM LLP DICTATED BUT NOT READ SENT TO AVOID DELAY Ted J. Hannig cc: City Attorney City Manager California State Lands Commission Again, here is a link to my reply. Lee Callister

By. then Hannig had filed a lawsuit against the city charging financial malfeasance by the city in the administration of Docktown, while repeating his bogus envrironmental complaints. The City Council's unanimous vote to settle the lawsuit brought the Inner Harbor planninig process to an untimely end and they instead adopted Docktown Plan to force the houseboats and floating homes out.