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While Californians turned to the sky to watch the solar eclipse, on Monday (Apr 8), they might have missed the precarious journey of the two-storey houseboat from the Redwood City marina to the city of San Rafael.
Earlier this week, the residents of San Francisco, California were met with a usual sight, when a massive two-storey houseboat with a white picket fence and all was seen being towed across the bay.
This came after the residents of one of the biggest houseboats were among those who lost a years-long legal battle against Redwood City, a suburb south of San Francisco.
Rare sighting
While Californians turned to the sky to watch the solar eclipse, on Monday (Apr 8), they might have missed the precarious journey of the two-storey houseboat from the Redwood City marina to the city of San Rafael.
The shingled home reportedly took two days as it was being towed away by a much smaller boat at a glacial pace.
(Photo: @hampyhamp/X)
(Photo: TikTok/KennyKaz)
(Photo: @patrickc/X)
“It’s precarious,” Edward Stancil, who said he was the last remaining resident of Docktown Marina in Redwood City, told the San Francisco Standard.
Speaking about the two-storey houseboat, he added, “The thing’s ready to sink. That was the biggest houseboat they had in Redwood City.”
About the situation in Redwood City
The surreal sighting is the result of a years-long legal battle between the houseboat residents and the government of Redwood City, home to around 80,000 people.
According to local media reports, the city council had asked the residents of the houseboats in the Docktown Marina as they were blocking public access to a state waterway.
The two-storey houseboat was among the dozens of others who had been asked to move their homes away.
The situation stems from a 2015 case when homeowners near Docktown filed a lawsuit with the city claiming the marina was illegal. The Redwood City marina was once home to more than 100 people, according to the media reports.
After nearly a decade of legal battles, the city decided that the residents in the marina had been living there illegally.
This prompted Docktown residents to file lawsuits against the city, hoping to dodge evictions. However, it did not work and as a part of the ongoing legal battle, the city council offered compensation to the residents for the move.
The report by The San Francisco Standard citing the boat’s owner, who declined to give his full name, said that the vessel was expected to reach San Rafael by Monday afternoon.
The United States Coast Guard confirmed to SFGATE that the boat was still in transit on Monday afternoon.
(With inputs from agencies)
