The Floating Boat House and why CCB is being kicked out of Bridgeport Harbor

The first class ever taught in the Landfill- what a long strange trip is has been

When I walked in to the landfill in April 2011 everything looked ok except I noticed immediately, one of our generators was sitting out in the middle of the road. I quickly scanned the rest of the buildings and soon discovered, most, if not all of our tools were missing and distinct tracks from a truck lead away from the Storage container.

That was just one of the many events that colored our time in the landfill but that is when the idea of the floating boat house was born.

We needed a space that could hold our tools (when we rebought them), that could be an area of safety when the criminal element threatened, could serve as a classroom when we needed educational space and could serve to act as a workshop as we tried to rebuild our fleet of sail boats and create a fleet of row boats for the Pequonnock River.

Many who sailed with us in 2008-2010 remember the Hunter Fleet fondly. Unfortunately, the Hunters were 10 years old when we bought them, and almost as if they knew there time had come, one fall morning, every hull split right down the middle. The plastic had aged to a point where it could no longer hold together and the fleet went from our work horse to garbage in the blink of an eye. So we needed a new fleet- one that was fiberglass and could last 50 years. If we bought them, they were $5000 each, but if we built them, we could build a fleet of boats and the more we built the cheaper they got. And besides, if we could sell off a few boats that we built, we could have a revenue source to sustain our organization.

A Floating Boat House was just the ticket. That is until the "authorities" got wind of the project. At first they wondered what the hell we were building- it couldn't be legal right? Well if you look at State and Federal law, anyone can build a boat- and as long as you meet certain federal requirements, your golden. Just because our boat was made of concrete and had a remarkable resemblance to a house, didn't make it any less of a vessel. But they refused to believe that and besides, they had other reasons they wanted us gone.

(BTW- I'm not naming names here, but if you follow Connecticut State and Local politics, you can guess the names)

The Bridgeport Boat Basin just got very attractive this past year. With Bass Pro Shops slated to come into Bridgeport and the kick off a Water Taxi to Pleasure Beach (Why do I hear Bridge to nowhere here?), and a quiet land grab that is taking place all along the banks of the Pequonnock, as well as a plan to move the Bridgeport Port Jeff Ferry over to Steel Point, this is a VERY interesting time to be in Bridgeport Harbor. Especially if half of the pipe dreams that have been dreamed about the harbor come to be.

The Fall Seafood Boil- City official loved us when we were stuffing shrimp in their faces this past fall, but when he snows fell, that love quickly turned to "rancor" and they wanted us out of the Bridgeport Boat Basin

Unfortunately, I am of the opinion that something will happen, money will be spent, contracts will be signed, golden shovels will ceremoniously remove a ladle of PCB contaminated soil with newspaper reporters snapping photos and when the first flakes of snow fly in December, the excitement and grandiosity will come to a screeching halt and all will be for nothing. Just ask Donald Trump, Magic Johnson, Mr. Nichols and the McMahon heirs.  Pleasure Beach and Long Beach and quite frankly the management of Bridgeport Harbor have been bungled since 1887 when Mr Nichols bought a 25 acre tract of land in Stratford including the "the coveted point facing Bridgeport Harbor for the sum of $500".

And we are now smack dab in the center of the biggest redevelopment boondoggle to come to Bridgeport Harbor since the installation of I-95 and you wonder why Bridgeport wants us gone? Do you really think its because they object to a 40' floating boat house that is parked next to a 300-foot floating dry dock that has been abandoned in Bridgeport Harbor for the last 3 years? No- they want the runway clear to build whatever they want to build, without objection from the "hot-headed half-assed captain" who runs Connecticut Community Boating- and they will do whatever they have to to get it. Including write a few new imaginary laws, sick the Omnipotent DEEP after us and arrange to have a host of other unfortunate things go wrong.

I was told when building the BBB, by a source close to the history of Bridgeport Harbor, that we would never be allowed to stay in the Bridgeport Boat Basin- and sure enough today I will go to plead for our very existence at the DEEP. Funny how he called it over a year and half ago before we had even opened for business?

CCB may be kicked out of Bridgeport. We may be forced to tear down our boat house. We may even fail at creating a school ship aboard the Mystic. But we will not go away. Our boats will sail to harbors near and far. Our efforts to open the water to everyone will never stop. We will not go quietly into that good night and if today we are shut down, we will comply with their orders only to pop up again when wind and tides permit our return.

 See, we're not running for office. Our term never expires and we have no claim to political winds. We were here before the DEEP existed and will be here after the current administration starts running for US Senate.

WE are Bridgeport. I am the son of four generations of Bridgeporters and our members have all come and gone through Bridgeport for many years before and since. Our kids call Bridgeport home and the waters that run beneath the City bridges are theirs and theirs alone to inherit. You cant tell us we are not welcome in the Harbor and you cannot kick us off the water. We are the public and the it is the right of the public to use that water to our hearts extent. And so if you ORDER us to tear it down, we will, but we will do so with all the gusto of a man walking to the gallows who has nothing left to lose and only the image of his death to leave behind. Because this is America, but those waters belong to GOD alone. And in either case, it is not up to a few self-interested ne'er-do-well politrick-cians (as Sarge likes to call them) to tell us where we can sail to and how we might use the waters of Long Island Sound.

UPDATE 3:08PM 6/7/13

We met with DEEP officials today at 10AM. They were most cordial and seemed accommodating. They explained that it is not that Boat Houses or House Boats are illegal in Connecticut (in fact the USCG has no problem with them), but just the fact that if they say OK to us, then they will have to say OK to all of them and they do not want to see Long Island Sound with House Boats or Boat Houses.

They also said that they did not have a problem per se with us, but that Bridgeport's officials wanted us out of Bridgeport. We explained to DEEP that the Bridgeport Harbor Commission explained to us that the whole beef Bridgeport has with us is our non-compliance with DEEP and that if we could please DEEP then Bridgeport would abate on their persecution of us. Talk about nuggets and omelettes??

We agreed that we would leave Connecticut if they would allow us this summer to finish the Boat House. IF our State doesn't want us, will find a State that does. But we need to find a town that will allow us to tie up so that our volunteers may access the vessel. Private property may work as well- except- wait the Boat Basin IS Private property?HMMMM.

In any case, we have reached a tentative agreement if Bridgeport will capitulate and allow us this summer to finish our Boat House. But we need the DEEP and Bridgeport to work with us, and if history bears out any insight into this quandary,  that is not the most appealing of prospects. So we're looking for a town- unfortunately, it has to be a waterfront town contiguous with Long Island Sound, but up river in the Housatonic, Connecticut or Thames Rivers would be fine too. This will be the summer of adventure on the high seas as we make ready to put our Boat House to the test.  If you have any thoughts on the matter, feel free to let me know but be aware- I'm a journalist by trade and sick of keeping secrets- leave that to the NSA and Verizon.