Dear Members, Advisors, and Boaters:

The Punta Gorda Charlotte Harbor Boaters Alliance is a dynamic and diverse organization and I am honored to again serve as president. Our organization was founded in 2004 to assist recreational boating, the Marine industry, and the City of Punta Gorda recover from Hurricane Charlie. The Boaters Alliance is an organization which focus is to promote recreational boating and the marine industry in the Charlotte Harbor Area. Our purpose and mission have not changed since we were formed after Charlie.

With the leadership of Bob Hickey, The Boaters Alliance had a very busy and successful 2022. Example of the good work The Alliance continues to engage in include: Successfully installing the second on the water weather station on the Peace River; The Dock Match program was once again established to assist boaters in the repair and replacement of seawalls and docks after hurricane Ian; and thanks to our members who volunteered to assist the City the Boaters Alliance helped identify submerged objects in our canals after the hurricane.

We continue to have a strong and positive relationship with The City of Punta Gorda and have built a solid relationship with Charlotte County. Bob Hickey is the Boaters Alliance representative to The Marine Advisory Committee for Charlotte County and I am the representative to the MAC for the City of Punta Gorda. The City Police department was able to get funding to purchase a new volunteer canal patrol boat through a MAC Grant and the pump out boat (which the boaters alliance secured through a MAC grant) received operational funding as well as funding for a new motor for the boat.

The coming year offers additional opportunities and challenges for our organization and we need all of our members and advisors to partner with us to take advantage of opportunities and confront the challenges of the boating community in Punta Gorda and Charlotte Harbor. Please plan on attending our monthly meetings at The Punta Gorda Isles Civic association on the third Thursday of each month (except for our summer hiatus) at 9 a.m.

The Boater’s Alliance is a vital organization for recreational boating and the marine industry. We are a strong and loud voice which represents thousands of our partner organizations members. We are in touch and in communication with The City and The County regarding marine matters and we have connections to the state through a lobbyist of one of our member organizations. We are a conduit for vital information both to our members and to the City, County, and State.

I look forward to seeing you at our monthly meetings and your involvement in the upcoming projects.

Sincerely,
John Welsh
President
Punta Gorda/Charlotte Harbor Boaters Alliance