Chicago Scene Boat Party May Be Sunk Due to Permit Issues

Meh. I never had interest in the CSBP, but unless there is a viable safety concern, then why tell others what they can or can't do?

I'll admit I'm not into the heavy drinking/debauchery scene of the bars and clubs, but I'm a tiny minority in a mass that packs clubs and watering holes every week.

This move is probably the city looking to milk money and some trying to stop the cultural push trying to make Chicago into another Miami or Vegas.

CS should simply throw a massive beach party and be done with it. Permits won't stop Jersey Shore wannabes from being who they are.

This is a shout out to all the Have Nots and those that dont understand that the City of Chicago does not have the right to regulate or require Chicago Scene or Ted W. to get a permit for a silly party). And the guy that thinks he is the smartest sailor in the world (ReverendSlappy)...eat my wake!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Wow . . . didn't see that link coming B0at_Lover. I expected to find it far earlier in your posts. I hope you enjoy your weekend in Hammond. Make sure you sign up for other great "boating" events in Indiana, like the Gary Harbor Boat Parade or the Horeshoe Casino's Great Tan-Off. You better get on it because I'm sure spots will fill up fast. 
 Yours Truly,Humble Have Not

"Smartest sailor in the world"? No. A smarter boater than the average motorboat driver? Yes, although that's not saying much.

To everyone else, two things: 1) "B0at_L0ver" says that the city doesn't have the right to regulate things on the water, so... that settles that! Thank God we've got him around to decide matters of such complexity. 2) Anybody involved in boating who plays that song when it's not, you know, last year is a poseur and a loser and precisely the kind of person I've been talking about. On behalf of the rest of us, who aren't douches, I'm sorry you have to put up with their ilk.

Ted W seems like a bigger douchebag than Billy Dec, which I didn't think was possible. At least Dec is charitable to a fault.

Is there any chance that Chicago Scene Magazine could also leave for Hammond and become Northwest Indiana Scene Magazine?

it's actually "pump fists, not gas" because it's illegal to pump your own gas in new jersey. 

the more you know

I think we're all missing the point here. There is more than one woman in that video wearing suspenders with a bikini.

SUSPENDERS WITH A BIKINI.

That's their form of birth control.

God I WISH they wouldn't reproduce.  But that would be giving them too much credit.

This has obviously become an argument of the Have's and Have Not's! What I'm trying to say is that freedom to enjoy the federal water way should be everyone's (including hippies' that hug trees, don't shave, smoke a lot of weed(which is still illegal but they do in Hammond too) and complain about fuel consumption. Btw sailboats have engines too, hypocrite). Chicago has no authority to charge for permits on the water. The sign argument is crazy because they have signs on buses and they don't distract people (unless your high). The city charges boat owners enough yet hate them. Its apparent by eliminating Venetian Night, 4th of July Fireworks, and now a silly annual boat party that doesn't bother anyone. People need to wake up and see what's going on here, the only reason this party is not allowed and permits are needed is because the city believes that it doesn't make revenue off of it...but it does. The CPD Marine Unit, Coast Guard and Conservation Police have come out in full force years prior, not to gaze at half naked girls, but to issue fines to boaters (some as much as $500 a ticket). Where is all this money going? It will be going to Hammond this year!
This argument, is like arguing with my walls in my house....going nowhere! Except I bet my walls look better. So have fun sailing or talking about thing you don't know first hand, only have heard of or seen in pictures and videos, and go live under rocks while these politicians and people at city hall steal all the city's money while your talking about a fun boat party that only takes place once a year (sadly)!

So long Have Not's! (from the Hangover! -I replaced Have Not's to be nice)

You're comical!

Sigh... Where to begin? How about this: I'll make my points, one by one, and use small words so you can understand.

1) It has nothing to do with "haves" vs. "have nots". What it does have to do with is entitled douchebags, and your "Look at me! I have a boat! Look how rich I'd like you to believe I am!" idiocy demonstrates my point quite nicely. And yes, most sailboats do have engines, though we don't burn anywhere close as much fuel (which enables us to get more boat with the savings. Not that you'd understand.) But even that's not my point in mentioning "diesel burners"... burn all the fuel you want, I don't care. There's no hypocrisy there. My point was that whereas sailing takes a modicum of knowledge and skill, "insert key, push throttle" does not. Consequently...

2) Many motorboaters -- particularly the half-soused morons that helm boats at the Scene party -- are vastly more incompetent than even average sailors. This is something that anyone would find to be immediately obvious in watching the hilarity of heavily-oiled, frosted-tip idiots try to anchor and raft their boats at the Scene party. I have seen it, so I'm not sure what lack of "first hand" knowledge you're referring to, but for those who haven't seen it, you've actually helped to prove my point. How? Well, for one thing, you clearly fail to understand the legal jurisdiction in which the party takes place. It's not a "federal" waterway, as evidenced by the fact that CPD and the Conservation Police show up "in full force", along with the Coast Guard. And speaking of those authorities, I wonder what, pray tell, they are handing out so many tickets for? Competent boaters don't commit safety violations that result in tickets, and from what I can tell from your barely comprehensible post (which perhaps counts as evidence itself), they typically hand them out like brochures at the Scene party. Interesting.

Finally, to those of you out there who may not be familiar, the people who typically resort to "LOOK AT ME! I HAVE A BOAT! LOOK HOW RICH I AM!" are clueless dilettantes who, upon receiving a 25ft pile of shit Larson from their parents, for some reason begin to think they're somehow hot shit. They most certainly are not. And I'd like to assure you all (along with the half-witted, marginally literate person above with whom we're unfortunately associated) the majority of people in the boating community, particularly us sailors, point at these people and most of the rest at the Chicago Scene party and laugh. And laugh and laugh.

"Have's and Have-nots"?  Not sure what that means, that footage just shows a bunch of embarrassing drunken goons trying to give "Jersey Shore" level cheesiness a run for its money.

Unless you guys are getting drunk and feeling up your drug-addled passed-out MTV wannabes 30 miles off-shore, you're in Illinois waters. There are no federal waters in the Great Lakes. It's Illinois right up until you get halfway to Michigan. And then it's Michigan. And Chicago has complete authority to regulate its harbors.

And if by "have not" you mean "I have not been accused of date rape," then I guess you're right, I haven't. Have fun in Indiana. I'll gladly sacrifice whatever revenue we lose to pass you on to the Hoosiers.

Actually, the US Constitution gives the federal government absolute authority over navigable waters (including the Great Lakes). The states hold title to the ground beneath the water (the lake bed). This wouldn't be resolved in time for this year's boat party, but I think most federal judges would agree that the city is vastly overstepping it's bounds in this case. I hope the fellow that puts this party on contacts the ACLU and takes Chicago to court. I'm pretty sure he could win, handily.

Link:  http://atg.wa.gov/AGOOpinions/...

It's Washington state rather than Illinois, but from the Federal side the same constitutional issues that affect King County, Washington affect Cook County, Illinois. State laws may vary, but according to this opinion, nothing in the constitution prevents King County from policing navigable waters within its boundaries.

True, representatives of the federal government have jurisdiction over all navigable waters. Navigable waters include inland bodies such as the Illinois River, which the Coast Guard can patrol. States also have jurisdiction over these waters within their boundaries. This has been established in precedent. Municipalities, meanwhile, have long had the right to regulate their own waters, though I've only observed this in practice and don't know the legalities. It depends largely on the state. Thus, Slick doesn't have a leg to float on.

Despite the fact that I'm a boater myself (although in owning a sailboat, I'm of a breed far superior to embarrassing and pathetic diesel burners like "B0at_L0ver" and his ilk), I'd not be the least bit bothered by this yearly douche fest's departure. The "Playpen" anchorage is a sometimes raucous but usually fun spot to spend an afternoon at anchor, an experience annually destroyed by the idiotic cacophony of competing fuckwads with far more stereo and exhaust noise than sense, taste, or boating acumen. So I say let them go to Hammond (I mean... it's Hammond after all) where they can feel comfortable among the rest of the petroleum products. 

Though I'll forthrightly make the the customary "broad brush" disclaimer, I think it suffices to say there's no love lost between most boaters and these Chicago Scene douches -- many of whom are forced to overcome their borderline illiteracy and post ads on Craigslist, pitifully, in order to fill their boats with similarly worthless, fake-tanned, vomiting morons of the fairer sex.

Now. That said, some of these regulatory efforts seem a bit ridiculous. The ban on signage along Lake Shore Drive does pretty obviously appear to play here; the fact that sponsors are willing to pay for these ads makes it pretty clear that drivers are the targets of the ads, and that's clearly prohibited. Ted can cry about the lost revenue if he'd like, but that one seems both reasonable and legally ironclad. But liquor licensing seems tougher to justify. Particularly if liquor isn't actually being sold, it doesn't seem to apply. I'm not sure if they sell tickets or something (mostly because I can't imagine that anyone would actually pay to be a part of such a waterborne goatfuck). But if they do, that could complicate matters somewhat, both with the city and other levels of government; the Coast Guard is generally pretty serious about for-hire activities on the water being conducted by people with proper commercial certification, and the fines for non-compliance are similarly pretty serious. But if it's a more loosely organized, less formally financed thing (and judging by the sheer magnitude of shitshow it is every single year, it certainly appears to be) I suspect that's largely irrelevant. Also, I find it difficult to understand what "street closures" would be necessary for something that occurs, you know, on the water. 

In general, the only problems arise from Mr. Widen and/or others apparently trying to make this a for profit event: I suspect that if he were to just try to throw a party for boaters, none of this would probably be an issue. But then I suppose somebody has to pay for all the diesel, hair gel, sun tan oil, and penicillin, so perhaps one can't blame them.

Edit: One admittedly pedantic issue I'll take with the article itself. This event is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a "regatta". While the incompetent throttle-pushers who helm these toys that most of them have likely purchased with debt do spend an extensive amount of time maneuvering their vessels in anchoring and rafting (something which would otherwise be a trivial exercise to anyone of any competence whatsoever), it is by no means anything even resembling a race. Competing in actual regattas requires skills far in excess of "turn key, push throttle, blast stereo", and it's abundantly obvious that there is where most of these peoples' abilities end.

Dont' hate the player hate the game! Fah_Q  guaranted you dont have enough money to fill a boat let alone buy one. When you do, then you realize how much money boat owners dump into the city couffers. Boaters should be able to party wherever they want as long as they dont disturb the public. As far as having a permit...last time I checked the City of Chicago doesnt own Lake Michigan, its a federal water way. Chicago just wants to make a buck. People need to wake up and ask where is all this money boat owners pay going? Soon it may go to Hammond, IN.

If I had enough money to fill a boat, I probably would have enough to buy one.

You've convinced me. Oh how I mourn the loss of douchebags with money.

Dont

Do

Where's a piranha infestation when ya need one?  j/k

Love the girl in the pink bikini plopped down eating a big bag of Doritos and clutching a giant, gas station size high fructose soda, and probably mixed with god knows what......

#america

lol, anyone see Piranha 3D? Yeah, this.

Wow. Drunken stupidity leaving Chicago and going to Hammond where the only thing more polluted than the morons at the party is the water itself. Let them go.