Tensions remain as long-term docking of boats on North Shore continues
Walkers and runners call the boats an eyesore, marring one of the most beautiful views Pittsburgh has to offer.
Other boaters accuse them of bad etiquette and gaming the system. But the Sports and Exhibition Authority concedes it's powerless to make them move.
They dock in the early spring, set up their tents, chairs and grills. They stay until summer ends despite a rule that they have to vacate in 48 hours, drawing the wrath of pedestrians and fellow boaters who want them to clear out.
Problem boaters in Pittsburgh
The North Shore Riverfront Park offers strollers one of the most beautiful views in urban America. But some complain that it's marred by boats staying put for months on end, with all the amenities of home sprawling out on the public promenade.
"They're camping out here," boater Dom Busa said. "Just like some of the encampments that you see, just an encampment on the water."
In using this public stretch, the boats pay no fee and have drawn the contempt of other boaters who pay thousands of dollars to dock their boats at marinas up and down the Three Rivers and can't find a spot near North Shore Riverfront Park for a concert or a game.
"The boater etiquette is that you come down for an event, you stay for to the event, you leave," Busa said. "You go back to your home marina. But when you got people permanently staying here on the wall and never leaving, well, them boaters don't have access to the city no more."
Hearing the complaints of boaters, runners and strollers, the Sports and Exhibition Authority — which maintains the park — issued regulations last year, posting the promenade with signs detailing a 48-hour limit to docking.
But the signs are gone, the boats are still here, and SEA admits it does not have the power to make them move.
"You have a 48-hour rule, but that rule has no teeth," KDKA's Andy Sheehan asked.
"It does not," said Aaron Waller, executive director of the Sports and Exhibition Authority. "We do not have the authority to actually take or move people's property right now."
The authority and Pittsburgh police say they don't have the authority, while the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the United States Coast Guard cite jurisdictional problems.
The authority is looking to the state legislature for clarity, but the situation is as clear as mud.
"They're just working the system," Cynthia Hall of California said. "Something has to be done for them to leave."
However, until the agencies figure out who has the enforcement power, these boats will remain, as will the tension between them and other boaters and the general public.
