Canal Boat Subject of New Petition to Save It

The Georgetown C&O Canal boat is getting a fresh boost of support from a new petition posted to Citizinvestor, an online crowdfunding and civic engagement platform.
The new effort comes about a year after a group of citizens hosted a farewell party for the boat they had hoped to save. 

The boat is slated to be towed to Fletchers Boathouse and destroyed by the National Park Service, which cannot afford to repair the mule-drawn 1870's  replica vessel. 

While no exact figure was provided, the repairs were considered "cost prohibitive" NPS regional spokesperson John Noel previously told Patch. 

Noel also previously told Patch that NPS "hopes" to be able to have another canal boat in Georgetown "at some point," but that the agency does not currently have the money.

"Sign this petition if you like the historic charm The Georgetown brings to the C&O Canal and would like to see it bobbing up and down the Canal once more," the petition reads. 

The petition was posted last week and as of noon Tuesday, the petition had four signatures. It needs to reach 250 signatures to prompt the petition site, Citizinvestor, to take action.

"Our team will facilitate a meeting between the citizen who started the petition and our contacts at City Hall in the District of Columbia and at the National Parks Service to try to turn this idea into a reality," explained Citizinvestor Co-founder Jordan Raynor in an email to Patch.

You can read the full petition here: http://www.citizinvestor.com/petition/fix-the-co-canal-towpath-boat.