" I for one, will be making an extra effort to visit the lake this summer, including its restaurants, shops and stores. This promises to be a year of fewer motor boats, sewage leaks, and weekend-long drinking parties. Sounds good to me! "

" Word - such a biased view of what the resorts contributed to the lake and the surrounding businesses. I'm sure your 'extra effort' will save them from financial ruin. You GO! "

" Wow, what color is the sky in this authors world? Did actually just read a citing of the Anti-Deficiency Act as an excuse for why the BOR can't get these resorts opened? Since when has our government not acted due to concern of promising to spend money it doesn’t have or can’t account for? That describes Obama's entire presidency to date! "

" WORD, I hope many others feel the same draw of the lake and it's businesses as you expressed. Regardless of resentments which are not likely to go away too soon, some stores and restaurants are open for business, the springtime flowers are blooming, trees are leafing out, and the wildlife hasn't yet heard about resort closures. The clear expanse of water and surrounding ridgelines are a sight to see this time of year! "

" I was on the lake at sunrise this morning until 10AM….did not see another boat in the narrows the entire time. Usually this time of the year I would have seen a couple dozen.

Most, if not all, the major issues that led to this mess were decided behind closed doors amongst the collaborative agencies, BOR, Quail Ridge WC, Land Trust, Sierra Club, UC Davis and to lesser extent Napa Country Board of Supervisors, California Fish & Game and BLM, before long before the public hearings. The overwhelming majority of those who spoke at the hearings said this was going to happen…and it didn’t take an Einstein to figure that out…remove half the income from the resorts and guess what? Half the income goes somewhere else….remaining income isn’t sufficient to sustain the business…duh.

So the did what they set out to do….a ghost recreation lake.…. "

" Irony here. Mr. Finnegan wants "to move forward constructively and get it done."

The VSP began in 2000, we all had knowledge of the expiration dates of each of the resorts and the Bureau of Reclamation was so focused on "exclusive use" terminology and ejecting each and every permitee that a plan was NOT put together.

A phased plan implementing change and measuring progess would of been the intelligent task at hand however the Bureau of Reclamation would prefer to devastate recreation and have more kayak "put - ins".

How's the former Boy Scout camp doing these days Messer's Finnegan, Lucero, Wadlington & Thompson? "

" It would behoove the editorial board to interview, business's, home owners, trailer owners, anglers and campers who have had a VESTED INTEREST at Lake for DECADES!
Then maybe then they would be able to cover this story accurately. "

" Sorry, I find the statement :'The obstinate opposition to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s positive and forward-looking plans for the lake" as offensive as many of the other misleading/lying statements made on our behalf.
The consensus was to improve the resorts and ammenities offered to the tax paying public that use this resource and none of us living here, working here or doing business here ever suggested leaving the area status quo. Quite contrary we reformed the Chamber of Commerce and the community banded together to voice our opinions on the possibilities going forward. The BOR had a different agenda and The obvious problem unfortunately for all concerned is the inability of the BOR to accomplish the task at hand in a tmely manner with minimal impact on the community and visiting public.
All the residents and business people involved that I ever talked with wanted was truth and fairness from officials, elected and otherwise.
Good common sense with upgrading while remaining accesible to visitors was a very important piece that was completely left out by the BOR despite the constant reassurances from the BOR stating otherwise.
I am disgusted with the BORs laundry list of excuses for their failure to perform and wish our supervisor/congressman/other elected officials would get some cajones and represent the needs of the people they are supposed to represent and get things moving quickly with Interim Contracts while the Bureaucrats hash out the details over the next several years.
The Scout Camp? Oakshores for camping? Time is waisting!! "

" i agree with "winelink" TICK TOCK the clock's ticking. Blink summer is here. what a WASTE! "

" It seems undeniable that the BOR has botched the letting of new resort contracts on a grand scale. Hopefully, the agency’s weaknesses with regard to the process will be seriously reviewed and corrected. We should encourage our elected officials to push for the needed improvements. Unfortunately, as with the Katrina case, there are victims in the local community that need to be considered.

But this is a separate issue from the revised plan for recreation at the lake. That planning process was followed as it should have been and was opened fully for years for public input and debate. Resort goers, owners, managers and their friends found through the process that their views and plans had no greater credence than those of any other citizen interested in the future of the lake. The lake, surrounding community, and public in general deserve a better future than the former resort interests envisioned. I’m encouraged to see their view lost out. There’s plenty of evidence that their performance as stewards of the lake over the past several decades was as poor, if not worse, than that of any government agency with responsibilities at the lake.

None of us can wave a magic wand to smooth over the impacts caused by public agency mistakes or general economic malaise to businesses near the lake. We CAN contribute to a solution though, by learning to appreciate the place more for its inherent values and offering some time and attention to members of the community there. It beats whining! "

" Sorry word, the BOR does not get off that easy. The BOR is the one dictating the way the resort owners operate, including the amount they will charge for launching and all other aspects of the way they run their businesses. Stay tuned for more drama, they didn't get it right before, I see no reason to expect them getting it right in the future, especially when they do their planning privately, behind closed doors with personal issues getting in the way of doing the job right, and ignore the public they should be serving. The BOR are just not business people and are out of touch with operating recreational land use. "

" It looks to me like BOR always getting off easy. The bureaucrats get to play it their own way.

Get on with the new recreation. Seems like wine-ing at Berryessa will never stop with some people. "

" You have got tho be kidding "forward thinking" did you look at the economy in the last year, this could have been done very easily if the BOR had thought at all no less looked forward Mike Finagan and his whole crew should be held responsible for what they have done,ARE congressman Thompson should be ashamed for the loss of jobs and tax revanue this has created, not bragging what he can do with the stimulus money that is realy just are money, boo to you Napa register for ever printing such crap "