Dear Mr Mayor and City Council Representitives,
I wrote this letter back in May (Please see content below) and since I was not happy at the time decided not to send it to you, since then it felt pointless as anytime I spoke with someone at the Marina they really did not seem to care about this at all. Well, now it is a month later and we have enjoyed some pretty nice weather for the last 6-8 weeks and still the best they can say is maybe by the first of the June they will be in.... THIS WEEKEND IS A HOLLI DAY WEEKEND!!! I think people would like to be able to use the launch facilities! I have to wonder how much income has been lost not only from the parking revenue but also to local businesses by not having this available, this would include gas, and boating supplies, fishing gear, and also food and groceries for trips on the water. I myself have spent my dollars outside the city of Des Moines for these activities where possible. Please look into this and I would like to hear your thoughts on this matter. I would also be interested in seeing what the revenue really is for the launch facility on an average basis, the loss of parking revenue alone must be pretty big and I would think enough to maintain the docks.

Dear Sir,
Here we are at the end of April and next week is the first of a 2 day Shrimp season (5-3 and 5-11) in our area as well as Ling cod opening (5-1) not to mention that there have been Salmon opportunities until the end of this month and we have no docks at the Redondo Boat Launch.... AGAIN...making it unusable for most of us who launch there. For a city that celebrates it's relationship with the water it is unbelievable to me that the needs of local boaters can be so blatantly ignored. As a resident and frequent user of the Redondo facility I would like to see things handled differently concerning the timing of replacing the docks, I understand the problems with wintertime weather and the damage it can cause but to wait until the end of may to hopefully have them back in place in my opinion is not a wise use of our city's assets. As it stands since the closing of the sling launch at the marina there is nowhere for the public to launch a boat north of Tacoma or south of west Seattle The city has also stated (on the marina website) it was going to add more floating breakwater for several years now but has yet to add any at all. With all the money we spend not only on taxes but also at the Redondo facility for parking I really have to wonder what we get for our money?

Please look into this, it happens every year and it would be nice to be able to use the assets of the city in which we reside.

Thanks!
Ron Harris
253-347-7632