Hornblower Yachts’ upstream battle to land the lucrative Alcatraz ferry contract just got tougher. Labor groups have already mounted legal challenges against Hornblower’s service agreement with the National Park Service, which is slated to take effect Sept. 25. Now, waterfront activists have jumped into the fray.
By JB Powell
Published: September, 2006
Hornblower Yachts’ upstream battle to land the lucrative Alcatraz ferry contract just got tougher. Labor groups have already mounted legal challenges against Hornblower’s service agreement with the National Park Service, which is slated to take effect Sept. 25. Now, waterfront activists have jumped into the fray.
Citizens to Save the Waterfront, a group that calls itself a coalition of neighbors, environmentalists, and locally-owned businesses, filed suit on July 31 to block the new ferry service from setting sail for The Rock. Since the island opened to the public in 1973, boats to Alcatraz have departed from the Fisherman’s Wharf area, about a half-mile north of Hornblower’s proposed launching site at Pier 31½.
By operating out of Pier 31½, the suit alleges Hornblower would exacerbate already snarled traffic along the Embarcadero and send throngs of tourists, vendors, street performers, and even unsavory characters, including pickpockets and … ticket scalpers to that relatively underdeveloped portion of the waterfront.
Currently, Hornblower serves fewer than 100-thousand passengers a year from Pier 31½, mostly for dinner and sightseeing cruises. If it takes over the Alcatraz contract, an estimated 1.3 million riders will descend on the area.
Even on the busiest day of the year for Hornblower, now, [their passenger load] is a far cry from just an average summer day of Alcatraz service, said Jon Golinger, project director for Citizens to Save the Waterfront.
As a part of its agreement with the National Park Service, Hornblower must remodel its dockside facilities to handle this influx of new passengers.
Parking is almost nonexistent in the area, and Pier 31½ does not have public restrooms at this time. But, according to the suit, Hornblower has not sought approval for its planned renovations from the proper regulatory agencies.
In March, it did submit applications to its landlord, the San Francisco Port Commission, to install portable toilets and complete some minor paving improvements. The Port denied Hornblower’s request, however, and directed it to apply for permits from the San Francisco Planning Department.
To date, the suit contends, Hornblower has not contacted the Planning Department or the Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC), for any building permits or environmental review.
Hornblower and its client, the National Park Service, insist they are ready to commence service on Sept. 25. To handle the increased foot traffic from Fisherman’s Wharf, the company intends to run shuttles to and from Pier 31½.
At a Port Commission meeting on June 13, Terry MacRae, president of Hornblower, tried to reassure the Commissioners that his company would work to minimize congestion and streamline the conversion of their facilities.
Citing experts who have studied the potential effects of switching the Alcatraz departure site, MacRae told the Commissioners that the new Alcatraz service should not have significant impact on the Embarcadero with regard to pedestrian, automobile and transit modes. He also insisted that, in the course of renovations, the company will seek and obtain all necessary permits.
But at the same meeting, Paul Scott of Citizens to Save the Waterfront argued that the company must obtain those permits before they can begin service.
The hearing to resolve the issue is scheduled for Sept. 6 in San Francisco Superior Court.
Photo by Francisco Arreola
