Familiar sight’s sudden tilt alarms some, but boatyard owner says it’s just ‘settling’
By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter
What’s big and yellow and tilting above the platted underwater extension of West Second Street?
It’s an old steam crane that, along with the fishing boat known as the Red Baron, was the subject of a recent conflict between those who saw them as artistic subjects and others who called them polluting eyesores.
Benicia artists, those who come here to paint local scenes and other residents described the two vessels as picturesque and part of the city’s waterfront industrial heritage.
Others sided with the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, which views them as illegally placed fill and solid waste, and those who have called them junk that needs to be hauled out of the water and taken away.
Now the debate has been given new life after artists at the Plein Air Gallery said Tuesday they noticed the crane’s position changing almost two weeks ago.
In fact, the crane appears to be tipping over.
Not so, said Phil Joy, who owns a boatyard on West C Street west of First Street.
Joy said he, too, noticed that the angle of the crane began changing at least a week and a half ago.
Joy’s property gives him a good view of the crane, which is over city property, according to BCDC aerial photographs.
But the heavy construction machine is secured by heavy, metal supports, Joy said, and is in no danger of sliding off its platform into the water.
“It’s settling down,” he said.
But under the crane, he said, “there’s a monster steel framework.” He added that the area has been experiencing high tides lately, but said he wasn’t sure that’s what led to the change in the barge’s position.
Joy said the wooden platform on which the crane rests is one of two barges out in the water. One is a former Standard Oil barge with four compartments, but no oil containers.
The former owner of the boatyard, Joe Garske, who bought the site in 1958, had put an old house on the Standard barge, Joy said, but the city ordered the house demolished.
Garske, who built the boat yard on the site that has had industrial commerce since the late 1800s, saved the redwood from the home. Later, the reclaimed wood was used in centerpieces for his granddaughter’s wedding.
The other barge carries the yellow steam crane. Manuel Lopes, former owner of Benicia Antique Shop and property owner in the area, has said the old crane had been used during the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge, which was finished in 1937.
Joy said jacks could be used to straighten out the crane on the barge, which BCDC has considered illegal fill, but which Joy said serves as a breakwater that protects his boatyard.
In fact, Joy envisions incorporating the barge and crane in a type of replacement breakwater that regulatory agencies recommend for the area.
Brad McCrea, BCDC director of regulatory affairs, said last year that his agency “has always considered this site and the derelict vessels to be one of its most egregious legacy violations.” The agency has had an enforcement case concerning the boat yard cove since 1992.
Garske began the cleanup that was picked up more vigorously by Joy when he bought the property and business in 2005.
Joy said last year that all but a few pilings remain of the offending objects, and he may trim and clad them in metal to protect the water from any contamination.
Late last November, the city’s artist community staged a “paint-out” protest once they learned the crane and the Red Baron might be pulled from the water.
At the same time, BCDC had encouraged the city to apply for a CalRecycle grant that would have underwritten much of the cost to have the two vessels removed.
However, City Manager Brad Kilger said later that when the city and BCDC learned that CalRecycle had money available for the vessels’ removal, it hadn’t specified that there was a deadline.
Because of the strong opinions being expressed on both sides of the issue, city officials had sought out “a dialogue with our residents,” said Charlie Knox, who was Benicia’s director of Community Development at the time.
By Dec. 13, 2012, Knox realized the work couldn’t be completed before CalRecycle’s contract with a construction company expired.
Adrienne Klein, BCDC chief enforcement officer, said, “The city wanted a public process,” and eventually declined the money from CalRecycle.
“We support the removal (of the vessels),” she said. “We’d like to see this as soon as possible, and we encourage the city to apply for a grant.”
Kilger, who has taken over Knox’s duties since the Community Development director job was eliminated because of budget concerns, said he has reached out to Joy, among others. He said he has no time frame for any action on the barge.
“We are in regular contact with BCDC,” he said, “and are in the process of collecting the necessary information to submit for a grant.”
Dennis Asnicar says
I don’t have a dog in this fight…but I’ve operated cranes all of my working career, and even ‘monster’ steel frameworks fall victim to corrosion over long periods of time…especially those that have been submerged in water. That crane has been there for how many decades…and it is just settling now? If that were true, the whole barge would be settling…not just part of it. The area of the barge that is sinking into the water is broken. If I were a betting man, I would guess this rig will be on the bottom within six months…then the real fun will start trying to fish it out of the bay mud.
Elliott says
Phil Joy wants the Crane to be a break water for his property and when the Crane is removed he would have to put his own break water in. the rest of the community and most of the citizens of Benicia sees the crane as a terrible eye sore.
Benicia Kid says
The boat yard is such a great piece of old Benicia. What character!
zagfan says
That character is full of corrosion…slowly seeping into the bay.
Local Yokel says
Why is any of that rotting rusting mess allowed to stay in the water? Anywhere else and it would have been gone decades ago.
Because some people like the current owner, that’s why.
It’s really just emblematic of everything wrong with this town, corruption, nepotism and favoritism have run rampant for so long here that the city government will allow just about anything to happen as long as the actions are precipitated by one of it’s favorite sons or daughters.
If you have the right last name or connections you’re set here.
I’ve lived here for 24 years and have only seen this aspect of the town worsen in that time.
Mickey D says
It’s a shame Yokel isn’t a time honored name in Benicia. 😉