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Jonestown Police Conversation (Read 5233 times)

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Jonestown Police Conversation
Aug 29^th, 2011 at 1:12pm

Last weekend I was in the back of Devil's Cove (very back, close to the pumpout bldg--my normal spot to avoid the traffic and knuckleheads) and flagged down the Jonestown police boat to complain about the lack of boat lanes to negotiate through all of the swimmers. WIth the new ordinance in affect and boats not being able to tie together in numbers greater than five it has really dispersed all of the boaters making thing much more unsafe in my opinion. He agreed and said he was not in favor of the new ordinances and said someone is going to get runover with the way things are now. Asked me to write the city council of Jonestown and express my concerns. ANyone else who thinks things are rediculously unsafe now should do so as well. And this is with all of the ramps closed! THings will really get crazy when the lake comes up.

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Captain YARRR Admin Offline Doing the rain dance Posts: 2587 Round Rock, TX Gender:	Re: Jonestown Police Conversation Reply #1 - Aug 29^th, 2011 at 1:34pm I absolutely agree, I was having so much trouble trying to find my way around without hitting someone. I was afraid that I'd miss seeing someone too. Is there an e-mail address for them?
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nathan Lake Admiral Offline Going Home !!!!! Posts: 2120 Leander, TX Soon Gender:	Re: Jonestown Police Conversation Reply #2 - Aug 29^th, 2011 at 5:11pm City Administrator Dan Dodson phone: 512-267-3243 fax: 512-267-4572 ddodson@jonestown.org
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Captain YARRR Admin Offline Doing the rain dance Posts: 2587 Round Rock, TX Gender:	Re: Jonestown Police Conversation Reply #3 - Aug 30^th, 2011 at 9:20pm Cool, I'll fire off an email while I'm chilling in a hotel tomorrow.
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nathan Lake Admiral Offline Going Home !!!!! Posts: 2120 Leander, TX Soon Gender:	Re: Jonestown Police Conversation Reply #4 - Aug 30^th, 2011 at 9:45pm the best and some times worst time to write an email . too much time to think about it. but good luck
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Re: Jonestown Police Conversation
Reply #5 - Aug 31^st, 2011 at 10:54am

my e-mail to him:

Dear Mr. Dodson,

I am an avid boater on Lake Travis and frequent Devil’s Hollow with my family as it is one of the largest, deepest, and safest coves on Lake Travis to anchor in and enjoy swimming. I say “safest” because it is a “no Wake” zoned cove and therefore you can anchor in relative safety from other running boats. I applauded some of your recent July regulations that made it unlawful to have the large party barges and houseboats from tying up to shore, and to have more than five boats tying up together. This, along with the 100 foot noise ordinance you enacted last year promised to really clean up the cove from the knuckleheads that normally fill it, and allow the use of the cove for everyone, especially families.

Unfortunately it has created a less safe environment. Last weekend as I tried to negotiate my 32 foot Cruiser towards the back where we can be on our own and get away from other boat traffic I had trouble finding an avenue that I could safely get through. This was around lunchtime this past Saturday and by no means the most crowded part of the day. However, the boaters are so dispersed and with people swimming all over it made our navigation untenable. I am really concerned that someone is going to get hurt. This unintended consequence should be addressed in my opinion and so I wanted to bring it to your attention before something tragic happens as a result.

I spoke to some of the Jonestown deputies who man your patrol boat about this situation and they completely agreed and suggested I write to the city council about this. As the city manager, I felt you should hear about this first and see if you are aware of the recent developments.

Feel free to contact me further about this and I would like to get your insight as to what can be done to make this safe and enjoyable for all.

Regards,

Dale Thompson
512-423-7873

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Re: Jonestown Police Conversation
Reply #6 - Aug 31^st, 2011 at 2:35pm

Thought his response was fair:

Mr. Thompson,

Thank you for your comments. The City is interested in everyone enjoying the Cove and it is not our desire to create a situation that places people in a dangerous situation. We have had some discussions regarding the best and safest way to allow boaters to tie their boats up and still allow egress and ingress through the cove. Before we place limits on the number of boats that could tie up, they would string them completely across the cove creating problems with that approach. We thought that the new restrictions would help alleviate that problem though evidently it is creating just as a difficult situation. Our main purpose of trying to regulate activity in the Cove is for the protection of our citizens and property owners as it relates to excessive noise and any damage to property. We are however interested in attempting to assist those that visit the cove to have a safe visit. Accordingly, we will be reviewing the situation before next spring to determine what will be the best and safest situation that we can afford to address in terms of navigation in the Cove. That is assuming there is any water in the lake.

Dan Dodson

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Nitro1 Austin Boater Offline Faster than you Posts: 244 Devil's Cove	Re: Jonestown Police Conversation Reply #7 - Aug 31^st, 2011 at 5:42pm I like that last sentence ha Seems like a reasonable guy trying to balance the views of all stakeholders.
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nathan Lake Admiral Offline Going Home !!!!! Posts: 2120 Leander, TX Soon Gender:	Re: Jonestown Police Conversation Reply #8 - Aug 31^st, 2011 at 7:09pm both the email and the responce were well worded. I still think that the best situation would be either a floating dock to tie to or simply a post for the orignal boat to tie to and an end post for the last. this way the boats fill in between the post when no more fit move to the next line.
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