July 4, 2004

Dear Representative Schakowsky,

Congratulations from the Citizens for Lakefront Preservation and the 49th Ward Beaches and Parks Advisory Committee, on the important “Water for the World Resolution” (H. Con. Res. 468) that you have introduced in Congress. We share your passion for “Thinking Globally and Acting Locally”. We assume that your critical leadership on the issue of the impending global water crisis will mean that you will protect Lake Michigan, the fifth largest body of fresh water in the world, with equal vigor. The proposed marina in Evanston would be environmentally damaging to the quality of water in the lake that we all drink from, it would be a misuse of federal funds and it would be in direct contradiction to the intent of your bill before Congress.

As you stated, “Three of our fastest growing states – California, Texas, and Florida – have limited fresh water supplies” and is it a coincidence that they also have the highest concentration of marinas?

In the latest news from the Marina Operators Association of America (MOAA) on their website they state “Recently, Derrick Crandall, President of the American Recreational Coalition (ARC), MOAA Executive Director James Frye and MOAA President Bill Anderson briefed Representative James Hansen (R-UT) on the ’Ranger for a Day’ initiative”. You are no doubt familiar with James Hansen’s environmental record, as Carl Pope, Executive Director of the Sierra Club, has said in his book Strategic Ignorance , “Jim Hansen had completed many items from his checklist as congress went home at the end of 2003. The Roadless Rule had been abandoned, Yellowstone opened briefly to snowmobiles, mining companies were freed of their obligation to keep toxic mining spoils off the public lands, and the Interior Department and Forest Service were excused from public scrutiny of their faithfulness to the ecological charters given to them by Congress.” Bill Anderson, President of Westrec Marina and member of ARC, is a major player in the privatization of America’s national parks and public waterways. Citizens for Lakefront Preservation and the 49th Ward Beaches and Parks Advisory Committee are fighting in Evanston for our stretch of lake but it is crystal clear that the proposed marina is part of something larger: the economic exploitation of our heritage. We need your help. Don’t go back to Congress and ask for more funds to study this misguided project. Walk the talk, in your own backyard.

As you have eloquently expressed: “Water is a finite resource that is essential to all forms of life. We will face major difficulties unless we take action immediately,”

We look forward to the successful passage of the World Water Resolution and the assurance that no marina in Evanston will foul the waters of Lake Michigan.

Thank You,

CLP & the 49th Ward