Howdy, just a note, when you go to Tall Stacks you'll see the cargo ship, the LST 325, that is from Evansville, IN. Now, that is what the boats like the Natchez size, Queen series, Belle sizes have as an option to dock up against. Of course, we have two boat ramps......minus a way to tie up boats as of yet. Plus a private marina, the Nu Plaza Yacht Club, at marker 797 that is awesome for a city our size. The staff and owner are top notch, upper scale, and accommodates the boats the best around. I will be asing him first for docking needs, then the LST 325 as a last resort. I have to listen to my customers and they have concerns in boarding there.
The main problem I have heard to tie up against the LST 325, is the night time. Folks don't like walking across a boat in the dark without proper lighting. Well, when the Natchez came, that boat was only there one month and we got the Natchez docked by the skin of everyone's teeth. I was told that boats couldn't dock there til the spring of the following year and the CVB Executive Director got us in there. She knows it is important to get boats in when we can. And, being a municipal dock, the docking has to be a legal docking. Not tied to a government entity all by itself. By law, and my lawyer told me, that being a municipal dock anyone has the right to ask to dock. Now, whether the boat fits there or not is another matter. But legally, anyone has the right to ask to dock. I currently dock at private docks and if I have to ask to use the new municipal dock, the Federal lawyer told me to always use a lawyer from now on to make sure our city follows legal ways to dock folks. It is a municipal dock and the cowboys and indians are going to try and dock folks any way they can, legally or not. But, the Federal lawyer seems to think that if I just use a lawyer from now on it, I should be okay.
I still ask the private docks in our city first as I'm gun shy. Til we have a change in city administration or I know that a lawyer does the deed, I'll always wince til the docking process is done. You just have to keep going forward. We'll eventually get the boats in here, but legal rangling will take place as it is, again, with cowboys and indians. Our public likes the boats, but not all folks, even those associated with the river, don't want the boats to come here. It shows how little/small the docking area actually is. (That scares them, I'm sure.) So, you just have to keep plowing forward. It will get settled as the public will keep demanding it more. Our elections this year are already considerered quite tense. Wait until next year. Oh, the public will be riled up even more. Geez. (get past it)
Our local weatherman on one station shows any steamboats/river boats he can catch on the river cam. All of the stations have river cams but one station is really into boats. So, we see the Queen series passing by every so often now. In time, it will be a river boat cam show. Next year, more of the stations will show boats, too. It takes time to build Rome. Yes, we've had several mentions of Tall Stacks in our city by the media. So, if every river town in the area mentions it then there would be a lot of folks to visit, I'm sure. Our media will help out. The newspaper here is starting to get into it. Couldn't get too much coverage on boats the past two years, but they are starting to be of service. When the Natchez and the Delta Queen came there were large color photos on front pages. Very nice. I'm surprised they did it, but glad as they should have. It is a different newspaper than what it use to be. Same editor, but different, now. The editor is great. The staff or underlings changed????
Well, have a great day. Make it a great day. Just wanted to let you all see what larger boats have an option to dock against if they visit Evansville, IN, besides using boat ramps. One ramp is steep and the other is slightly inclined. I asked with over 400 phone calls to politicians, city department heads, others in the county and city to look at our dock more and expand it to fit all types of boats as it was being built. No one listened. No one. They got bad information from some ding dong. (who likes to bad mouth those of us who like riverboats here.) Now, in time, Henderson, Ky, and Owensboro, Ky, are going to beat us bad and I'm hooking up with them to dock what I can in the region with several cities until Evansville, IN, gets it going right. We can still dock in the Queen series as in the light of day folks can walk across the LST 325 easier and can see. At night, folks just feel scared and very concerned in walking over a boat that has tie downs for vehicles to transport. Well, time will tell if the cowboys and indians give a darn (did I say darn) about someone's safety. I doubt it. (another city administration or two)
Our local CVB gives a darn. They've got the right idea about it all, its that it is easier to work with the region folks better til the CVB can do their job as they can. They rock. We've just got some bad cowboys and indians here. Little boys. In the past two years I've had to squash more bad mouthing than in the past thirty years of community service work that I've buillt, sponsored, or helped with. And, in thirty years you collect a lot of......junk. (Trash is what I usually say.)
Geez, for the love of the water.
And the steamboats, river boats, and yachts.
Have a great one today----send me information if another boat is for sale. We have until mid October 2006 to see if the other folks got their financing done or not. UGH. So, close, yet, so far. We need a boat in this region. Mary
