BALTIMORE — You can't tell the story of Baltimore without talking about the harbor.
WATCH: Meet Baltimore’s new Harbormaster
That's a fact Mike McGeady is taking to heart, as he takes the position of Harbormaster of the City of Baltimore, after the office was shuttered for six years.
"This was a port before it was a city. The water is an integral part of who we are, it's our front door," McGeady said in an interview with WMAR-2 News on Monday.
McGeady operates out of an office in a building shared with the Rusty Scupper, just off Key Highway on the southern banks of the Inner Harbor. He brings experience in, among other things, maritime construction and the nonprofit world.
“The first thing you see on Monday Night Football is this great aerial," McGeady pointed out, "But who’s taking care of that infrastructure?”
"Not many people know the federal channel ends right by Domino Sugar. So all that waterway, all the way in here to the west wall, is city responsibility, for dredging, for a lot of different things," McGeady noted.
McGeady's duties include managing docking operations, collecting fees through a newly-launched online reservation system called DOCKWA, and addressing safety concerns. McGeady will also coordinate with organizations like the Waterfront Partnership and Baltimore Development Corporation.
McGeady will oversee 5,000 linear feet of municipally-owned docking area; his harbor-side office allows him to monitor vessel traffic, and even track VHF radio communications using an AI software to convert the audio to text.
The facility also includes amenities for sailors such as laundry facilities, restrooms and a lounge.
The city announced it was reinstating the office last June. In a news release that month, the Baltimore City Department of Transportation states that the office's return will "significantly enhance safe access" to the harbor.
According to the DOT, the office also "advocates for the state of good repair of maritime infrastructure, coordinates water logistics for maritime events and monitors wharfage and lease agreements impacting equal access to the waterfront."
Looking ahead, McGeady plans to expand docking options and is preparing for next summer's "Sail 250" vessel and aircraft event, working toward a promising future for the historic waterway.
"Very few cities have this kind of, right-downtown access to a very walkable, historic city," McGeady concluded.
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