EDITORIAL
THE
SAN RAFAEL CANAL is
an economic artery for Marin County, crucial to an estimated $10 million worth
of local commercial business every year.
Unfortunately, it’s now clogged
with mud.
The dredging of the canal,
which should be done every five years, was last done in 1992. While the canal
should have at least six feet of clearance during the average low tide, it now
has about a foot.
Businesses and residents are
joining forces with San Rafael City Hall to lobby for a U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers grant to complete the dredging.
It is unfortunate that the
corps has been unable to put the San Rafael Canal on some sort of regular
schedule.
But cutbacks in the corps’ maintenance
budget have left the San Rafael Canal on the proverbial budget bubble.
Other corps-endorsed
projects apparently
have more political prominence.
San Rafael Public Works Director David Bernardi said the city has to fight harder to win funding.
The city already has asked
Main’s federal lawmakers, Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma, and Sens. Barbara
Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, for their political help, which is critical.
At stake are the marinas,
boat sales and maintenance businesses and fishing boats that depend on the
canal.
Also at stake is a waterway
that is part of the city’s ambience and character.
San Rafael City Hall already
has committed $500,000 and secured a dredge spoils site for the project, which
is expected to cost $2.3 million.
The city isn’t turning its
back on its responsibility to get the San Rafael Canal dredged neither should
the federal government.