Boaters Afraid That Tide's Against Them
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
18 July 2010
By Brian O'Neill
It's true some nomads have it worse, but having been bounced up and
down the Allegheny River for 20 years, nobody can blame the Murphys for
craving a secure harbor.
On a recent sunny Saturday I joined Patrick and Mari on their pontoon
boat, Murphy's Law, at the Allegheny Marina. That's near the city side
of the 62nd Street Bridge. Their untrimmed poodles, Shadow and
Midnight, greeted me, too, and we took off downriver.
"To really understand the story of the wandering tribe,'' Mr. Murphy
told me, "you have to start at the beginning.''
When we neared the yellow triplet bridges that span the river, they
pointed out what had been their best spot, Dave's Marina, which had
been just east of the Rachel Carson (Ninth Street) Bridge.
They moored there from 1990 to 1996. For the first few years, their bow
faced an illegal gambling tugboat whose jukebox seemed to play nothing
but "New York, New York'' -- until some anonymous patriot tossed it
into the river. The police shut down the gamblers early in 1993.
That spot, where the Lincoln Apartments are now, was prime for watching
fireworks and riverfront construction. But Dave's Marina got the
heave-ho in 1996 to make way for the apartments that opened in 1997.
So Murphy's Law was one of nearly 100 boats that followed Dave Weaver
when he set up new slips upriver beneath the Cork Factory and called it
South Shore Marina. That spot would provide some memories, too.
The Murphys live in the East Carnegie neighborhood and don't often
spend the night on the boat, but they were asleep on it one night when,
about 3 a.m., Mrs. Murphy heard a big splash. She ran out to see two
red lights sticking out of the water. Then a white light went on below
the surface and a man bobbed up from below "like a sea monster.''
Seems those lights belonged to a car. The driver had miscalculated the
end of the parking lot, informing her he'd come from "up there.''
Rescue workers drove him home.
Back in the '90s, the old Armstrong Cork Factory had stood empty for
decades and Mrs. Murphy would think, "Gee, I hope someday they restore
that."
"Well, they did and kicked us out.''
The Cork Factory would become a plush apartment complex that includes a
smaller marina, but there was an interim season when no slips were
available, so their tenure there lasted from 1996 to 2005.
In 2006, the Murphys and their friends moved their boats to the
Allegheny Marina -- "We're like little gypsies trying to stick
together,'' she says -- and now the city has more grand plans for
riverfront development. They don't expect the plans include little
folks like them.
The city and the Buncher Co. announced intentions in March to redevelop
80 acres of riverfront land from the Strip District to Lawrenceville,
including the former Tippins International site at 62nd Street that
includes the Allegheny Marina.
A spokeswoman for the Urban Redevelopment Authority said last week,
"There are currently no development plans or a timeline for the
Allegheny Marina site," but that sounds fishy to Mrs. Murphy.
Lawrenceville's community plan is for an expanded Allegheny Marina that
includes a public boat launch, a boathouse and trailer parking. Earl
Faust, the marina's owner, still a water skier at 84, has been on a
year-to-year lease since the URA bought the property a couple of years
ago. He hopes the city accepts his plans for a more modern, "greener''
marina.
The URA and Riverlife point out that the city has added slips in recent
decades. The city supported construction of the marina at Washington's
Landing, with both money and land. It's doing the same on the
Monongahela River at South Shore Riverfront Park, where the city is
working with David Maxwell, owner of Fox Chapel Marina, to build about
320 slips.
The Murphys can't help but notice that the thrust of most riverfront
plans seems to be toward landlubbers getting to green space along the
river. There seems relatively little thought for boaters already on the
water. Allegheny Riverfront Vision was a 12-month planning project that
ended in April, and its preliminary vision plan said nothing about
marinas.
Maybe the Murphys missed the boat by not speaking out during that
process, but Mrs. Murphy would like to see a permanent liaison between
boaters and the URA.
"Nothing about boating in Pittsburgh is easy,'' she said.
Brian O'Neill: boneill@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1947.