Harborwalk ordinance goes to two committees

Well this - not the regionalized health services - was the hot ticket on the City Council's agenda tonight.

The general government and public safety committees will mull over the ordinance, which I've already described here.

Although the vote tonight was only about which committee(s) to send the ordinance to, Barry Connell, Greg Earls and Tom Jones sneaked in some editorial comments.

Question from Mr. Earls: Is it even legal to confiscate someone's fishing gear?

Resident Dick Monahan (yes, our Dick Monahan) spoke during comment, saying that he agreed with the previous commenter, Jerry Mullins, about the rule concerning the hours the boardwalk will be "open" (dawn to dusk) and that he thinks it's kind of fun to talk to people who are fishing.

As I said previously, I agree totally. But apparently the safety of the people in the condos there (the ones with the private marina) may be in jeopardy from flying flies with deadly hooks, said harbor commissioner and city council candidate Bob Cronin.

He actually did not saying anything about deadly hooks, but since I just bought a fly from that kid at the farmers' market yesterday, nasty-looking hooks are in my head. Cronin added that the ordinance would not "preclude any fishing where people typically fish at Cashman Park."

I'm not sure where that would be. Doesn't the harborwalk begin at Cashman Park? "Westerly terminus at Cashman Park," it says. That, I guess, could mean the terminus is at the easterly edge of the park.

So .... the city is building a harborwalk that only runs in front of those condos? I think there's already a walk in front of those condos so I guess I'm confused.

From the DN (Oct. 1, 2008):

The new 335-foot-long and 8-foot-wide boardwalk will run from Newburyport's North End neighborhood at Cashman Park, past the River's Edge Condominiums and underneath Route 1 bridge to the area known as Waterside West, beginning at Michael's Harborside restaurant.