Harbor master launches 2nd retirement

AARON LEO
Article Last Updated: 07/19/2008 11:56:11 PM EDT

BRIDGEPORT — For the second time in his life, Joseph Savino Jr. is retiring.

After 18 years working as the city's harbor master, which included drafting plans about waterfront development and, more recently, homeland security issues, Savino has one thing in mind for his retirement, effective June 27.

"I retired to play golf," he said earlier this month, seated in the Bridgeport Port Authority conference room overlooking Bridgeport Harbor.

"It was a great education. I learned a lot," added the father of two: a son, a city police lieutenant, and a daughter, a registered nurse.

Savino's path to harbor master started in 1969.

He was born in the city in 1942 and served in the U.S. Air Force after high school, becoming an electrical technician after leaving the service in 1966. But then he became a police officer in 1969, about 20 years into his career and joined the police Marine Unit, which he commanded as a sergeant.

Savino was no stranger to water. He used to go boating with his father, who worked on lobster boats as a teenager.

"I always liked the water," Savino said.

About 1990, the city disbanded the Marine Unit. But he was then asked to be the harbor master, a volunteer job at the time, in addition to the department.

For a while, he put in 20 extra hours a week.

"I didn't get paid for the first few years," he said. "We established the first harbor management plan for the city of Bridgeport," Savino added. The plan regulated everything from coastal development to mooring. It also opened up the harbor to more recreational boaters.

He also assisted in rescuing boaters and windsurfers during his tenure.

Before he took over, the harbor master's duty primarily covered the city's bridges, Savino said.

But in 1992 and 1995, he worked with the city's Harbor Commission to update the plan. He also worked on the most recent update, recently approved by the state. The City Council must review it next.

Savino became the full-time harbor master in 1996, after retiring as a lieutenant from the police department. The state selects harbor masters for three year terms, and he was re-appointed three more times.

Police Lt. James Viadero, department spokesman, said Savino served the department well.

"He was a good asset. He was instrumental" to the Marine Unit, Viadero said.

He was a helpful ally as a harbor master, Viadero added.

During the years without the Marine Unit, Savino hired part-time help for the busy season, but successfully argued for the restoration of the unit in 2003.

A major achievement was the construction of the Port Authority building by the Long Island Ferry dock. The project turned around a rundown dock with limited parking and safety issues, Savino said.

"We fixed this whole dock up," he said.

With the 9/11 terrorist attacks came grant money that Savino used to buy side-scan sonar units, called "fish," a remote submarine with two cameras and radar and bomb-material detecting devices.

He and the police department also built up the fleet to five crafts: one 42 feet, one 27 feet, a 30-foot aluminum boat, a 17-foot boat for shallow water and a personal watercraft.

Savino admits he didn't get his own personal boat until the mid-1980s.

But the late 1980s and early 1990s also saw a boom of inexperienced people buying large boats.

"The biggest change in boating is that they became affordable to the masses," he said. "More people were buying boats in the 30- to 40-foot range."

"People were buying them and had no knowledge of what boating was about," he added. "There's a lot of potential for disaster."

That has changed since the state required boating certificates, which are like driver's licenses.

Having improved boating safety in the harbor, he wants to see the city reclaim the coastline and lease it out, to put it on the city tax rolls again.

"The Port Authority is trying to acquire properties," he said.

Joseph Riccio, the Authority's executive director, credited Savino with setting the tone for the harbor master's job.

"He certainly brought the role of harbor master to another level. A very professional, learned man," Riccio said.

With his knowledge of port security and land use, "he's a well-rounded individual," Riccio added.

For now, Savino's duties are being divided up until his replacement is appointed, Riccio said.

But he'll always remember working with the city's second harbor master.

"There's a very nice synergy between the two offices," Riccio said. "You won't find a harbor master like that in the state."