Last week's Water Ways was barely in print before I was being asked by a reader what I meant when writing that the state's Division of Boating and Ocean Resources' failings often were inherent in a bureaucratically run operation.

From her question I learned at least two things: She hadn't lived in Hawaii very long, nor had she been reading my column for any period of time.

The Legislature transferred responsibility for Hawaii's recreational small boat harbors from the Department of Transportation to the Department of Land and Natural Resources in 1993, and the abilities and inabilities of DOBOR have been analyzed ever since by legislators, the state auditor, the boaters themselves and the media.

The Legislature was holding hearings on two bills as early as 1994 to restructure Hawaii's recreational boating program. One bill under discussion would have established a “;Unified Port District”; to replace the newly created DOBOR, and another was proposed to establish a more independent, decentralized operation of the small boat harbors.

In both cases, the creation of the bills indicated some recognition of problems within the DOBOR's administrative procedures and a desire to resolve them, although neither passed into law.

In a Water Ways column that year, I wrote that the biggest hurdles facing Hawaii's recreational boaters were that they were comparatively small in numbers and short on political clout, two factors that caused elected officials to turn their attention to the demands of others.

I also noted that elsewhere in the U.S., the majority of publicly owned marinas, whether on city, county or state land, were leased and operated by the private sector.

  That is, the marinas were run as private business ventures. It was the governmental landlord's responsibility to provide for public utilities and safety, and to collect whatever rent it deemed proper.

The marinas, as profit-motivated businesses, tended to provide all of the amenities needed to be competitive and attract customers, with state-of-the-art docking facilities that included hookups for water, electricity, telephones and even cable TV. Clean bathroom facilities, 24-hour security and free parking were also provided.

Having marinas operated by the private sector also tended to eliminate politics from its policies. The business operators created the rules they needed for a smooth, safe operation, but were free of the political micromanaging often seen in Hawaii.

Our state Legislature, as recently as 2007, considered a bill introduced by Sen. Fred Hemmings (R, Lanikai-Waimanalo) that would have established statewide maritime industry enterprise zones that were intended to “;revitalize our recreational boating industry.”;

Hemmings proposed in his opening day speech that Hawaii has fewer available boat moorings than any other state often because maritime industries have been hindered by government-induced red tape, time, money and taxes.

His bill, as with all bills dealing with creating public/private partnerships for the state's marina management over the past 14 years, did not become law.

Still, the 2009 legislative session is just a month away. Maybe this will be the year?