This is just another case of someone trying to push around someone else. It's bullshiat of the highest order. As long as they pay their taxes it shouldn't be anyone else's business.

I could see this idea being pushed onto RVers a well.

Not happy about it and I don't even own a floating home or an RV.

"Proposed legislation leaves houseboat dwellers without a port to piss in"

fixed

penthesilea: I could see the government requiring the floating houses to install a tank to capture sewage & gray water.

Wouldn't that solve the problem they're trying to address more directly? It would leave the investment in the homes/slips alone, not drive up the rental prices dramatically and not create a shortage of slips for the homes.

Yeah, that sounds like the real issue. They don't want all those people crapping in the water.

mfsteve: I could see this idea being pushed onto RVers a well.

Not happy about it and I don't even own a floating home or an RV.

Dave Matthews won't like this one bit.

We lived on Lake Union for awhile.
This is going to piss.people.off.

They can't dump sewage into the water, only gray water.

FTA:
Although there's no provision for gray water, sewage must be pumped out of a holding tank and can't be discarded into the water.

She says she paid $300,000 in 2007, during the housing boom, for a 550-square-foot house barge with an upper loft for a bedroom.

coughcoughstupidcough

LoadShark: This is just another case of someone trying to push around someone else. It's bullshiat of the highest order. As long as they pay their taxes it shouldn't be anyone else's business.

Speaking as someone who regularly alters course in order to dump the holding tank in Canadian waters (because I can), I say bullshiat on your bullshiat. There isn't enough water movement to wash away all the "negative externalities" being generated by these liveaboards.

IoSaturnalia: LoadShark: This is just another case of someone trying to push around someone else. It's bullshiat of the highest order. As long as they pay their taxes it shouldn't be anyone else's business.

Speaking as someone who regularly alters course in order to dump the holding tank in Canadian waters (because I can), I say bullshiat on your bullshiat. There isn't enough water movement to wash away all the "negative externalities" being generated by these liveaboards.

True. If most people knew how much crap was in the water, they'd never get in it.

pedrop357: They can't dump sewage into the water, only gray water.

FTA:
Although there's no provision for gray water, sewage must be pumped out of a holding tank and can't be discarded into the water.

LOL.

LoadShark: This is just another case of someone trying to push around someone else. It's bullshiat of the highest order. As long as they pay their taxes it shouldn't be anyone else's business.

Actually this appears to be a case of someone trying to solve a potential problem by drafting regulations that don't.

penthesilea: I could see the government requiring the floating houses to install a tank to capture sewage & gray water.

Wouldn't that solve the problem they're trying to address more directly? It would leave the investment in the homes/slips alone, not drive up the rental prices dramatically and not create a shortage of slips for the homes.

I'm sorry, reasonable solutions have no place in discussions where politics are involved. Only lose-lose or win-lose solutions will be considered. Win-win outcomes are completely off the table.

pedrop357: They can't dump sewage into the water, only gray water.

FTA:
Although there's no provision for gray water, sewage must be pumped out of a holding tank and can't be discarded into the water.

So it would seem that the proposed legislation should limit the houseboats to 25% of the slips, UNLESS hook-ups exist to dispose of the gray water. That would be a great work around.

Of course, that will increase expenses for the marina owners who will pass those expenses onto the houseboat owners. Clearly, the real issue is the houseboat owners don't want to have to pay to make sure their gray water doesn't pollute the harbor. So in their mind it is OK for them to pollute the harbor so they don't have to incur the added expense.

I suspect the houseboat people would have a problem if a factory was dumping their gray water into the same harbor. In fact, I suspect they would demand that it stop, even if the factory had to incur additional costs to ensure the harbor remain healthy.

LoadShark: This is just another case of someone trying to push around someone else. It's bullshiat of the highest order. As long as they pay their taxes it shouldn't be anyone else's business.

You hit the problem on the head. These people arent paying out the ass for property taxes. Their boat is small, doesnt use much electricity, so even if they are connected to the grid their bill, and their taxes on that bill, are small. They arent hooked into the local water and sewer lines, so less taxes collected there-not to mention that most of those utilities are owned by the government. Like it or not, this is America. You live in the manner the government prescribes. Period. Do people think this is the land of the free or something?

Here in Portland, the homeless buy boats and live in them, along the Willamette River. They are not functioning boats, but rather seaworthy enough to float. The law only says they have to move once every 30 days, so they move the boat 10 feet. They shiat on the side of the river and dump garbage overboard. It's very Portland.

"Let's say you are in a disagreement with a marina owner. It really gives them absolute power. They can raise your rent unreasonably," said Patti Bishop, owner of a software-design firm who has lived in a Fremont houseboat (as house-barge owners prefer to call their residences) for six years.

"You can't move somewhere else unless that place is under 25 percent. And there won't be a place like that on the lake anymore."

This is obviously extortion on existing agreements. But, I'm Californian, and a dumb bad guy. So, take my opinion with a grain of dried blueberries.

What kind of fool decides to live on a houseboat? This law is doing a favor by reducing the number of hipsters and douches.

If I had one of those houseboats and they tried to tax me, I'd just haul up the anchor.

Almost all of the houseboats and live-aboard barges in Seattle are on freshwater Lake Union, which is fairly enclosed and really has only one narrow outlet to saltwater Puget Sound via the Lake Washington Ship Canal and the locks at Ballard. If all the floating houseboat owners used it as their own private sewer, it would get extremely nasty fairly quickly.

RandomExcess: "What kind of fool decides to live on a houseboat? This law is doing a favor by reducing the number of hipsters and douches."

Um, as someone who lives in Seattle, my impression of the people who live on houseboats (a misnomer; most of them are more properly called "floating homes", not "boats") is that most of them are older, well-off, sorta rich types.

Seattle house"boats":

RandomExcess: What kind of fool decides to live on a houseboat? This law is doing a favor by reducing the number of hipsters and douches.

Tony Rome and Travis McGee frown at your characterization

RandomExcess: What kind of fool decides to live on a houseboat? This law is doing a favor by reducing the number of hipsters and douches.

AbbeySomeone: IoSaturnalia: LoadShark: This is just another case of someone trying to push around someone else. It's bullshiat of the highest order. As long as they pay their taxes it shouldn't be anyone else's business.

Speaking as someone who regularly alters course in order to dump the holding tank in Canadian waters (because I can), I say bullshiat on your bullshiat. There isn't enough water movement to wash away all the "negative externalities" being generated by these liveaboards.

True. If most people knew how much crap was in the water, they'd never get in it.

pedrop357: They can't dump sewage into the water, only gray water.

FTA:
Although there's no provision for gray water, sewage must be pumped out of a holding tank and can't be discarded into the water.

LOL.

As a teenager, I thought it was pretty biatchin' to be able to dive off the "back porch" into lake Union..... but it did get waaaay cold at times. Now that I work for a company that provides technology for testing water content.... yeah, I'm getting a kick.

HalfPiper: Seattle house"boats":

Ahhh...so they're like boats in the sense that mobile homes are "mobile." Something about setup that seems rather crazy to me. You live in a boat, but that boat needs a boat so you can actually, like, GO BOATING. If their boat's boat also had a smaller boat attached to it, I think my head would assplode.

/it's been a long day