Raina Rose Returns April 25 - Mark Your Calendar

Raina Rose - singer/songwriter extraordinaire - returns to the SandBox Inn (117 E. Saturn St.) the evening of April 25, 2008. One never needs an excuse to bring great music to the island, but if one did, one might use Alderwoman JoAnn Evans're-election campaign as that excuse, and so I shall.

The concert in the shady backyard sandbox will be open to the public - bring a chair or a blanket, a snack and/or a beverage to share if you like. We will pass the hat around at least twice - once for the musician and once for the candidate. We need JoAnn back on the BOA and we need entertainment like Raina to come back to SPI over and over. After Raina performs, you can get some face-time with JoAnn and give her a chance to win your vote.

More details to follow!

The Candidate Posts - Pt VI

Re: Am I That Candidate?

Well, no.

Honestly, I don’t feel I have the knowledge or experience to do the job justice. I think I could learn what I need to if I really threw myself into it, but being a single, self-employed person who has to travel a fair amount to earn a decent living, I simply can’t afford to commit to three years for the going rate of $3.

Furthermore, Wednesday is ukulele night here at the Sandbox Inn.
;-)

I appreciate the calls of support I received - had there been a few more of them I might have been persuaded to see it through - but today is the last day to pull out gracefully and I have no wish to be the spoiler in a 3-way race. Therefore, I have withdrawn my name from the ballot.


Thank you for your kind attention.

The Candidate Posts - Part V

Here on South Padre Island, there is core of smart, like-minded people who are interested in the issues facing our town, who keep themselves informed of developments and are articulate enough to persuade others that they know what they are talking about. I would call this group the island “Brain Trust” and while the individual members don’t always agree on everything, I do believe they can -- with spirited discussion -- come to something close to agreement about what is annoying and what is pleasant and how we should prioritize methods for decreasing the former and increasing the later. I know this because I encounter it day after day - in email, on the SPI Forum, at an end-of-the-road beach party, in the check out line at the Blue Marlin or sitting around the table at a CPAC meeting. The Brain Trust draws on the individual strengths of its members, reasonable people can be expected to listen to reason and eventually - in even the most diverse of groups - consensus can be reached. And that’s when things get done.

An effective alderman needs to pay close attention to the Brain Trust. S/he needs to initiate discussions and explain how and why s/he’s voting and not just allow the voters to see the decision-making process but encourage them to take an active part in it by participating in the Brain Trust Forum.

What would this forum look like? Well, it would bear more than a passing resemblance to spiforum.org. This forum and I have enjoyed a love/hate relationship, but Jason has come closer to getting it right than anyone -- a thankless job to be sure -- and some good things have come from it. As I see it, the main problem is the bullying. Some posters have a nasty tendency to ridicule, gang up on and shout down anyone who doesn’t agree with them. The result is that a lot of people who read the forum refuse to post anything, and that is unfortunate.

If I were an alderman, I would set up a new forum (or work with Jason to create a new “room” in his existing forum) that would be much like what he already has done -- with the following important differences:

1. While the forum would be open to everyone to read, I would not allow anyone to post who is not signed in with his/her real name and a fully-developed profile identifying the poster’s relationship to the island (i.e. full-time resident; business owner; 3-times yearly visitor; property owner; P&Z member, etc.) This would help make the forum more like an actual meeting where flesh & blood people talk face to face and know exactly who they are dealing with. I believe such a system would encourage and reward civil discourse - because expressing contempt for your opponent is not a terribly effective way to win him over to your way of thinking.
2. But if/when discussion does get too heated, posters who cannot disagree amicably would be bounced out (i.e. banned from posting) for a “time-out” period of a week or two. I know this puts a lot of pressure on the moderator(s) who must decide when someone has crossed the line, but there is no way around it. Respect and courtesy for opposing viewpoints is the only way you are gong to get the participation of everyone who has an opinion.

To take this idea even further, I think it is absolutely essential that we no longer allow candidates for office the luxury of public silence. You don’t like SPIRIT? Can’t stand the SPI Forum? Then brother you better get busy and set up a forum that you _do like because an office-holder who cannot or will not explain and defend his/her stances on the issues in a public forum is disrespecting the people who voted him/her in. I don’t agree with Mayor Bob on everything, but I am impressed that he takes the time to address the public at large using his real name, and that is why he will likely get my vote. (JoAnn Evans has participated on the forum as well as her opponent Mary Phillips -- who did not deserve the reception she got there and I don’t blame her for not coming back.)

A candidate for office who wants my vote would agree to let me in on his/her thought processes and s/he would be willing to do so in a totally public place (i.e. online forum) so that I know s/he is saying the same thing to me as to everyone else.

Next: Am I that Candidate?

The Candidate Posts - Pt IV

A government’s one and only function is to make the lives of the governed more pleasant. Its only reason for being is to remove the things that annoy us and increase the things that please us. It is there to enhance not just the lives of the few but of the many. And government becomes dysfunctional when it doesn’t know or care what the majority of its constituents really want.

Some would argue quite convincingly that the SPI town government at this time is borderline dysfunctional and that it is crucial that new, more responsive board members be elected in May. Candidates who limit their communications to pachangas and other small groups of like-minded friends are suspect - fairly or not - of telling those small groups whatever it takes to get votes.

The town council form of government has been around for a long time. Community members elect their representatives and then hope for the best. Accountability shows up 2 or 3 years later in the form of another election. Like the electoral college, this system is a hold-over from the days when most of the “common folk” had no or only limited access to breaking news or detailed position statements from the candidates. These constituents had little opportunity to interact directly with the government and had to trust their elected representatives to speak up for their interests.

The ubiquitousness of the internet has changed everything, of course. Now news and opinions can be posted nearly instantaneously in a place where almost everyone can read and respond. This is a marvelous tool for a true democracy to have and I for one can’t wait to see how local government will evolve as a result.

Clearly the effects are already being felt: Witness exhibit A -- the SPI Forum, imperfect as it may be. (More on that in the next installment!) I understand that the new BOA Boardroom is chock full of gadgets that will allow meetings to be recorded and broadcast on the internet and/or TV. I think it is past time to insist that this system be put into action, giving all SPI stake-holders near and far an opportunity to see our elected officials in action.

Then, once we get the meetings truly open to all, we need to fire up the Brain Trust Forum.

We have a lot of very smart people in this town: Folks who know a lot about building codes, who understand parking issues, who have developed a real appreciation for local flora & fauna and how to best protect it; people who have great ideas for marketing the island; people who understand municipal finance way better than I do (quite a lot of those, probably) and people who know a lot about beach erosion or traffic patterns or sand and sand sculpture contests (that would be me!) These smart people can’t all be alderpersons, because they also have to make a living or spend time with their families or go fishing. However, we are crazy stupid if we do not figure out a way to tap into all that knowledge and experience by making it easy as pie for those smart people to spill the beans.

Next: How I Would Do It

The Candidate Posts - Part III

What I Want...

is a say in what SPI will look like in 5-10-25 years... because I plan on being here at least that long! I want this bad enough that I was willing to give up almost every Tuesday night for nearly two years to go duke it out with the other members of the Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee.

CPAC was a really interesting experience. I have to hand it to the board that created us -- I think they did an amazing job of deciding who should serve on this committee by handpicking a group seemingly chosen for the amount of suspicion and hostility to which we were likely to be predisposed for one another. The first meeting was in many ways a disaster. (In fact, the committee collectively requested that a photo shot that night be struck from the final document -- the memory was just that unpleasant.) Several members quit fairly early on -- I very nearly did but am glad I did not because I was able to witness an amazing transformation first hand. This group of people with completely different agendas sat down face to face on a weekly basis. We interrupted and we rolled our eyes and we threw up our hands and buried our faces, but we also took turns telling our small stories and describing the SPI of our dreams and at some point we started listening -- really listening -- to one another. And we were able to reach consensus and complete our assignment. Our last meeting was the antitheses of our first: a purely social potluck with spouses at Clayton’s amazing beach home where a good time was had by all.

(Of course it’s not all unicorns and rainbows and feel-good Obama stuff. Writing by committee is my idea of hell. There is stuff in that plan that makes me wince -- but hey, nobody wins every fight. The key of course is picking your battles carefully; knowing when to say, “I will not vote for something that weakens this statement” and when to say “all right, whatever, let’s move on.”)

I really wouldn’t have believed it possible had I not witnessed it for myself. And that makes me think that what worked in the microcosm of CPAC could work towards uniting the various factions at odds in the town.

While it is not practical to propose that the whole town gather weekly for a cozy little boardoom chat to discuss our real feelings, there are ways we can use the internet and new city hall’s fancy high-tech gadgetry to open the lines of communication.

Next: Harnessing the Power of the Island Brain Trust

Who I Am and What I Want

(The Candidates Posts Pt II)

Most of you know me. I have earned a modest amount of fame as a sand sculptor and I really love teaching others how to build better sandcastles here on beautiful South Padre Island. I write books and blogs, design & host websites and I own and operate the Sandbox Inn. This is my 27th spring break. Google has decided that I am a trusted authority on two subjects: sand sculpture and South Padre Island. I attend more meetings than I want to, but not as many as I should. I was for five years the significant other of former SPI Alderman Fred Mallett, which makes me at least as qualified as Hillary.

If you want to learn more about me, please look at sandyfeet.com. Read my blog. My life is an open book with no hidden agenda or mysterious financial backers. Not all of my income is locally generated, but enough of it is that I have a vested interest in a happy business climate fed by a steady flow of tourists. I live here because I love the climate, I love my job, and I love the people this place attracts. (Most of them, anyway.) I think this place - just as it is - is pretty swell, which is not the same thing as saying it always needs to stay the way it is right now, or that it couldn’t be even more swell in the future.

So that - in a nutshell - is who I am. I also said I was going to tell you what I want. But I think it might be easier to start by telling you what I don’t want.

Your money - I am not for sale (unless you are looking for a kick-ass sand sculptor, in which case, I’m your woman.)

SPI Politics as Usual: I hate the us vs. them mindset. Let’s start from the premise that we all love the island and we all care about the local economy, our town’s appearance, and our neighbors -- even if they do let that dog bark until all hours.

Pigeon-holing: All retirees want to kill spring break; business owners only care about the bottom line; developers want to tear down houses, pave paradise and cover the island with high-rises and casinos; longtime residents are just a bunch of cannabis-smoking hippies who were lucky enough to get in while land was still cheap and don’t have the good grace to grow up or move on; environmentalists are nutcases who won’t be happy until our yards are all overrun with weeds and our houses with vermin; people who oppose raising taxes are all CAVEmen; anyone who stays in the same room with Clayton Brashear for more than five minutes falls under his spell and must be deprogrammed, etc. etc.

Sound familiar? The people who live and work here are not two-dimensional cut-outs. I am a resident who wants to preserve the local flora and fauna first, a business-owner who wants to earn a living second, a non-rich person who worries about taxes going up third and an aging progressive (don’t call me hippy) who used to frolic naked in the dunes north of town (and might have time to do that again some day, who knows?) fourth.

The last thing I don’t want is to devote more of my hard-earned leisure time to sitting in meetings.
(More on that in the next installment.)

The Candidate Posts - Part I

Note: I have indeed filed for the position of Alderman of South Padre Island, Postion #4

How I Got Here

So there I am, minding my own business enjoying the enchiladas and a (Blue Moon) draft at Dorados with Nancy Marsden and Lori Wells when the call comes in from a prefers-to-be-anonymous friend in city hall. The time for filing is running out and the voters’ options are looking mighty limited. Would I consider tossing my pith helmet into the ring?

What a funny thought.

Another Blue Moon with the Brain Trust (that would be Lori & Nancy, with a few words of wisdom from our hostess, Leah) and the thought is growing less funny and more interesting. Calls are made. It appears that Candidate A is running unopposed. No wait. It appears that candidate A has in fact filed for candidate B’s position, ostensibly to enable candidate C to run unopposed in candidate A’s former position.

We swing by city hall to pick up a filing packet -- just for grins. Candidate D is hangin’ in the lobby and turns a whiter shade of pale upon learning of my possible candidacy. And suddenly the latest word is that candidate A is rushing back from the airport to change filing positions again due to a silly mistake having to do with not knowing which position said candidate is currently the incumbent of. Or so it is explained to me by Candidate D, with what is obviously a mighty attempt at a straight face. (Candidate D is a lousy liar -- which is maybe a good trait for an elected official to possess, no?)

So the brain trust (“Champagne Manager” and “Keeper of the Booty” soon joined by Diane “Vender Queen” Hofmeister) and I are filling out forms and discussing platforms and issues and bumper stickers and foot-shaped cookies as the phones ring on and it turns out that Candidate A has made it back from the airport in time to successfully change filing positions; candidate C has also pulled the expected switcheroo and candidate E is waiting in the wings to ride in on a white charger at the last possible moment -- so as not to tip the old hand too soon, one might assume.

If this story doesn’t make your head spin then it is because you are already well inoculated to politics as usual on South Padre Island -- this new “places” twist to the aldermen race has just added to the intrigue. The town is divided and the candidates are already employing deception and subterfuge while busily gaming the system to get their shot at this dollar a year position. In the meantime, plenty of voters are feeling that at least some of their elected officials don’t listen or - even worse - are only listening to people who have money and/or who are part of some powerful inner circle.

So how do we break out of the “SPI politics as usual” mindset? Is it possible? Or even desirable?

I don’t know. But I do have some ideas that I would like to present for your consideration, if you will bear with me.

Update 3/13: I have been assured by "Candidate D" that the candidate switcheroo detailed in the above narrative was in fact attributable to an honest mistake, and I am willing to concede this as a possibility. The place system is brand shiny new and it does not seem unreasonable that confusion could reign. The timing of all of it still seems a bit suspicious, but I am willing to give everyone involved the benefit of the doubt and report that it could very well have all happened just the way Candidate D said it did.


Next: Who I am and What I Want

The Last CPAC "Meeting"

Members of the SPI Comprehensive Advisory Committee gathered one last time at member Clayton Brashear's home to celebrate the completion of our report -- nearly two years after we started work on it. Members were joined by their spouses, staff members Cate Ball (+ baby Tony) and Jason Moody and alderpersons Kirk Mills and Tara Rios Ybarra.

Any time you put this many diverse personalities and visions of what the future of South Padre Island ought to look like together, you are going to get a --- certain amount of conflict. Over the past two years I have learned a lot about city planning, about designing buildings and pedestrian-friendly walkways and running a restaurant and legal jargon and native plants and etc. and etc. But more importantly, I learned that even in this group consensus could be reached when people were willing to listen and respond to each other's concerns with respect and courtesy. (Something I wish those people over on the SPI forum would get around to figuring out.)

Thanks to Clayton for hosting this gathering in his lovely home. Thanks to Cate and Jason for sticking with us through the whole process and being so giving of their evenings. And finally, thanks to all my fellow committee members for their time, their expertise and their willingness to listen. I really feel like we have established something of a bond over the past two years...

I only hope the town's residents will approach this document with an open mind.

Up Next: "Terrorists are Congregating on SPI!"....?!?

The anonymous spooks who frequent the SPI Forum appear to be tireless in their efforts to destroy the tourism industry here. First it was “look how ugly we are! We need a color palette!” Now it is “look how dangerous our streets are! We need a curfew!”

Bullshit. All bullshit. If Jason Y. really loved the island he would shut that forum down; it is destructive and divisive and making us look bad to the online world.

Despair

That is what I feel when I read SPIForum these days.
The most articulate, forceful town voices (to the point of shouting down anyone who does not agree with them) are trying to turn this town into someplace I would neither recognize nor want to visit or inhabit. Every time I read the term “color palette” I wonder who these people are and why they ended up here. They have nothing but contempt for the people who love to spend their vacations here - the same people who line up to have their pictures taken in the giant shark’s maw -- but they yearn to be loved by the rich island-hoppers who can so easily afford to patronize more exotic beaches. They think our main street is ugly, and keep saying it over and over again -- as if that will somehow magically make us lovelier instead of merely convincing the rest of the on-line world that SPI is some kind of hideous toad. But these same folks are frightened - positively terrified - of public art: the disappearing murals and non-existent sculpture that have the power to separate us from the bland ideal of a beach town they worship in their own minds.

We cannot be everyone’s cup of tea, so let’s be who we want to be....where we want to be. (Hey -- sounds like an ad campaign!) The people who like us will find us and keep coming back. The people who find us and don’t like us can take their business elsewhere. It’s okay -- because there will always be a crowd of people looking for a place just like this.

Negative Negative Negative!

The current hot topic on the South Padre Island Forum (SPIF) regarding the Comprehensive Plan Advisory committee - of which I am a member - is good for a few laughs. The Nattering Nabobs of Negativity are already attempting to poison the baby before they throw her out with the bath water by moaning about how the committee failed to use the vaguely-worded, silly vision statement they were handed some 1.5 years ago. Nevermind that the bulk of the document -- and it is indeed bulky -- fully supports and enhances the earlier work completed on this project by the focus groups in which many of the members of CPAC participated.

What they won’t tell you is that the two loudest voices on that thread belong to members of the BOA that appointed the members of CPAC. If they don’t like what we are doing, they - as much as anyone - are to blame. But since neither one of them has been to a meeting in a very long time -- if ever -- I think they have a lot of gall attacking us and the work we have done. (One of them [“Islander”] has even gone so far as to say in anther thread that residents’ opinions about town policies don’t count. Perhaps he thinks that tourists should be writing our Comprehensive Plan for us as well?!?)

I am also disheartened by the threats of certain CPAC members to quit before the job is done. Some are unhappy with the work of our newly-hired facilitator though we have had only one session with him. The chapter we are currently working on - Land Use - is maybe the most important one in the plan and we really need the input of all the members as well as the community at large on this one. It is o so easy to spend your Tues. evenings in front of the boob tube while complaining about the crappy job we are doing, isn’t it? And I sure can think of things I’d rather be doing as well but we are close to the end on this thing so let’s just stick to it and get it done, hey?

For the record, I like the idea of letting the voters approve or disapprove the plan by putting it on May’s ballot. Good idea, Lori!

p.s. Sam has written a pretty funny post on this subject that you should also read if you haven't already.

Parking Up the Wrong Tree

What follows is an open letter to Alderpersons Rios, Mills and Money:

First of all, I would like to thank you all for devoting so much time to the affairs of our town. Having spent much time in the company of a former alderman, I know this is a thankless job for which you receive much grief, some of which I suppose I am about to dish out.

There is still time to change your vote before the second reading of the parking changes ordinance, and I am asking for just a moment of your time to consider the attached photo. It was shot this morning - a Wednesday in July - at about 7:30 AM at beach access #15 - the one immediately adjacent to Las Dunas. This is a newer complex that was built when the ordinance required 2 parking spaces per unit.

You will note that there is not a single available parking space. You will have to take my word for the fact that there were no day-trippers lounging on the beach at that hour. Clearly, this public beach access parking area is being utilized by the guests and residents of Las Dunas. This is not at all unusual - I walk through this access almost every single morning with my dog and I can tell you that during the summer it is almost always completely filled with Las Dunas vehicles. Now just imagine if this complex had created only 1.5 spaces for its residents -- their cars would undoubtedly be packed into the few remaining spaces along Gulf Blvd, leaving no room for anyone else who might want to actually access the beach from here.

As a person who does not live on the beach and must utilize the public beach accesses; as a person who makes her living on the beach utilizing the public parking; as a person who (long ago) lived up the valley but escaped to the island every opportunity she had where she gratefully utilized public parking areas before and after spending money at local businesses -- I am begging you to reconsider your vote on this matter. You can still prove that you are not in the pocket of Big Development; you can still redeem yourself.

Sincerely,
Lucinda “sandy feet” Wierenga

Update: I have been notified that the cars parked in access #15 most likely belong to the guests and residents of Seabreeze, the complex on the other side of the beach access. My apologies for casting aspersions on Las Dunas. Either way, there still isn't enough parking spots.

Carving the Sandcastle Days Budget

Well, nobody asked my opinion on this subject, but I am happy to give it nonetheless.

The event has continued to evolve since the SoB’s were summarily ejected from its planning meetings, and that is as it should be. I like that it is becoming less of a contest and more of an exhibition and would like to see it trend even more that way. How about letting sculptors choose their own hours to work? Some prefer to work early early morning or evening hours instead of the heat of the day. I don’t think you would see any loss of quality in the final products and might even see better sculptures as a result of giving the artists a chance to create on their own timetables. Spreading out the works hours would have the additional benefit of spreading out the crowds more evenly, helping to alleviate parking and other crowd issues.

Carl Phillip’s article about the proposed budget cuts was a bit vague but implies that the biggest cuts could be made to the “Sandsculptors of the Future” program, which makes sense to me. As one of several island sand sculptors who offer lessons year round, I can’t help but resent the town’s funding my competitor’s offering of free lessons the whole week of the event. Furthermore, the format of the lessons - building on top of big trash barrels - does not translate back into better beach experiences for the students (how many people carry big trash barrels with them to the beach?) The town could get a bigger bang for less money with an experienced instructor sitting down by the water and showing folks how to create structures with the items they already commonly bring with them to the beach. Better yet, require each of the competing masters to conduct an hour-long workshop - open to the public - on certain aspects of sandsculpture that would expose interested folks to lots of different sandsculpting techniques. A program like this would definitely make SPI’s event stand out in an increasingly-crowded field.

I believe it is possible to reduce the budget for this event and still put on an amazing show -- Amazin’ and I did it for years on a shoestring. I am not suggesting we should go back to those days, but I do have lots of ideas on how to do more with less and would be happy to share them with the Sandcastle Days Board if they are interested in drawing upon my two decades of experience in competing in world-class sand sculpture events.

Selling off our public property little by little

Why?
Is the town of South Padre Island so poor that we can no longer afford our bayfront access points? How much maintenance do they actually require? And how are island residents and guests supposed to launch their kayaks, etc. when there is no more public access to the bay?

I cannot imagine why our town leaders would think this to be a good idea. In fact, it seems utterly insane to me.

So what else is new....

Bird Center Disinformation Campaign

There has been a flurry of email flying around the island about a supposed attempt by three aldermen to “kill” the new Birding Center. I was aware that there was some consternation expressed - and not just among alderpeople - regarding the 6.5 million dollar price tag to build what some might consider to be an overly-grandiose structure -- but I had not heard of anyone wanting to kill the project altogether. So I went directly to one of the alleged birdhouse murderers - alderman Kirk Mills - and asked him pointblank if he intended to throttle the birding center and why would he want to do such a thing...

This was his response:

Everyone wants a birding center including me - I maybe more than most as I have a bird book and mark it regularly with sightings of birds. I am interested in seeing something along the lines of the Port Aransas project - ie. not an enormous building and parking lot but rather a modest building with lots of habitat mixed with boardwalks and bird blinds. Something that would promote wildlife, visitors, and not cost in excess of 6.5 million dollars. Why do I object to the 6.5 plus million dollars? Because - the EDC was set up as an agency to promote toruism including to protect our number one attraction/asset: the beach. The current scheme would obligate the income from the edc sales tax through the year 2031 - allocating about $500,000 plus to the bird house and approximately $100,000 per year to the beach. This doesn't make sense to me. It should be the other way around - concentrate on the beach and then the bird center. Additionally I have concerns at the amount of money the EDC spends on it's 50% share of the lobbiest costs (approximately $100,000) and who might be benefitting from it....

It seems to me that these are fair questions for our city officials to be asking and they do not sound like the words of someone who is bound and determined to throw the baby out with the bath-water. Rather, this appears to be an honest attempt to define the priorities of this town and open up discussion as to how to best use our limited resources -- and I think it extremely disingenuous of certain parties to claim the three alderpersons want to kill the project completely.

Engraved Invitation to Destruction '07

It’s that time of year again when city officials flood the news media with hurricane preparedness features. I’m not going to bother going into the whole tired, fear-mongering “if you are planning on staying on the Island during a storm ... you might as well buy yourself a toe tag so we can identify your crab-eaten body when it washes up on the shore,” crap that they trot out every year, because Sam Wells has already done a brilliant job of skewering that thang to the wall in his blog.

No, I’ll content myself with harping on the “How the hell does the city have the nerve to lecture me about hurricane preparedness when they persist in scraping a canal at the end of my street to ensure that even a mild storm surge will have no problem finding its way to my front door” crap.

Yeah, I’m tired of it too but I am even more tired of the officials’ empty promises that something is going to be done about it. Yet another year has come and gone since I last complained about this and the city is still blithely knocking down the best protection my neighbors and I might have from the upcoming storm season. I guess they are too busy trying to scare the hell out of us to actually take steps to protect us from the bad situation their folly has created.

To quote my May 29, 2006 blog entry:

This is not just my problem. The town is endangering the property of everyone who lives (close to Saturn or Venus) and I am surprised - after witnessing how the town handled the storm surges from Rita (in 2005) - that more people are not up in arms about this. Just to refresh your memory, city workers pushed up a loose sand berm at access #16 at least three different times during this surge, which had the unintended consequence of dispersing huge amounts of sand onto Gulf Blvd. and fouling up the sewer system in the process -- but did not seem to slow the surge down any; surf trash was deposited halfway up East Saturn.

Access #16 is not the only weak spot in the chain, but it is the one that I care most deeply about for admittedly selfish reasons. And I think the BOA needs to give serious thought to the possibility that the town could in fact be held liable for damages to private property if they are found to be a result of the town’s negligence in this matter.

Feel free to wrap your newly-purchased toe tag around that bit of fear-mongering.

Even if you have to crawl....

I returned home from British Columbia Monday night and have finally gotten around to catching up on all the newspapers, minutes of meetings I missed, etc. and if a concentrated diet of published vitriol and sheer lunacy does not make you want to cry and crawl in a hole somewhere then you are perhaps too heavily armored, brothers and sisters.

Hey - let the developers have their way! Who are we to stop them? Let them build their 8-story condos in your neighborhood! Forget any hopes you might have had of insisting that the southside problems not be replicated as SPI grows north because this town lacks the will to deny any little thing the developers ask for. Want to know why Sand Blasters 2008 won’t come to SPI? (I got the inside scoop last week): 1) We don’t have a town beach where crowds can easily gather, and 2) the consulting sculptor had a really bad experience with one of our town officials during a recent Sandcastle Days contest, leading to the conclusion that we are difficult to deal with.

Yes, it could have been so easy for me to fall into the depths of despair this week, but for one thing:

Turtle Days!!!!

I can’t wait to see all the painted fans at today’s Turtle Tea!

Friday night’s Lighting of the Tiki Torches is going to be a gas and the Saturn Street Strummers have a brand new song to unleash upon the unsuspecting public. You’d better be at Palm St. Pier by 7 PM or you are going to be in the unenviable position of having to listen over and over again to multiple and detailed reports of all the sublimely silly stuff you missed.

Saturday morning you really need to show up at Beach Access #1 (Harbor st.) as we unlitter the fore-dunes and recreate the Arribada with sandturtles - my goal is 100 or more and I will really need some help - no artistic talent required.

Last but not least is Saturday night’s Turtle Ball. Music by The Agency and every penny of the $25 ticket fee goes to Sea Turtle Inc. We hear tell that a sweet blue seahorse is picking up the entertainment tab out of her own pocket so that we can all get dressed up in silly/lovely costumes, flutter our fans and dance the night away -- just for fun!

I’ll tell you, it is enough to make me (almost) forget the election ugliness and the shortsightedness of our leaders and believe that there are still enough good people here to give me hope for our town’s future.

I’m heading to the Turtle Ball --
Hope to see you there.
(Get your tickets at Zeste -- I’ll be the one leaving a trail of sand in my wake....)

'Tis the season

for mud to fly and accusations to hurl... for ugly signs to spring up like pimples and trashy campaign cards to be hung indiscriminately on doors that are rarely opened and almost never darkened by registered SPI voters. (I wonder how many of them will end up as trash in the yards and streets? Most, I would wager.) Alas, I am on my way out of town to the Tournament of Champions - had to exercise my franchise during early voting - and will miss the frenzied peak of margarita-fueled campaigning.

O darn.

So I went to the chamber forum and came away mostly convinced that every one of the candidates is qualified, dedicated and capable. So how to choose?

It seems to me the main issue in this year’s election is trust. You vote for someone you hope will make the same decisions you would if you had the time and energy to research all the issues the BOA will face in the next two years. Elections are expensive and it is simply not practical to poll the voters on every issue that comes up, so you elect someone whom you hope will take the time to do the research and make informed decisions.

However, some issues - like big bond issues for big municipal projects - are deemed big enough and important enough to be decided by popular vote. Blue ribbon committees are appointed to advise the aldermen and it is the responsibility of the elected officials to listen to those committee reports and pay close attention to the wishes of the voters. Or ignore them, I guess.

Of course things are never as clear cut or black and white as we might hope. Perhaps proceeding with the municipal building that the town staff and BOA really wanted as opposed to the building that the voters and blue ribbon panel were willing to bless was in fact the wisest and most efficient course of action. I am willing to concede that possibility. But even so, it is also fair to pose the question: Why put the issue up to vote in the first place? Why waste the time of the citizen’s committee if the BOA was going to basically ignore its report? Why allow us to feel like we have a say in how our tax money is spent if we really don’t?

Perhaps the voters in the upcoming election will trust that the aldermommies and alderdaddies they elect really do know what is best -- public sentiment be hanged.

On the other hand, maybe the voters will show that they are fed up with officials on all levels of government who turn a tone-deaf ear to the will of the people.

Either way, the results of this election will reveal a lot about the community in which we live.

The second thing we do, let's kill spring break

Right after we kill all the lawyers, and just before we kill the goose that laid the golden eggs -- right?

Spring Break Myth # 53 -- ”Hardly anyone makes money off of spring break.“

According to an article in today’s Monitor, spring breakers are pumping roughly $20 million into town and state coffers.” Do you really believe “hardly anyone” would notice if spring break didn’t happen? Or that the nice families you hope to attract instead are going to pay $300/night during Texas week? Or that huge chunks of the money made from spring break don’t - in large part - stay right here on South Padre Island?

I don’t tend bar or operate a tattoo/piercing business but I can tell you that my rental unit made my April mortgage payment in a single week. And the kids didn’t trash the place and even got most of their hefty damage deposit back. Advertisers on my spring break website paid the rest of my bills for that month. Other business owners who made money during spring break can now afford to pay me to update their websites. And so on and so forth. The only people who are not profiting from spring break - either directly or indirectly - are those who simply don’t have to work for a living, period. And they still benefit from additional services the town is able to offer because of the money those kids spend here. You people can certainly afford to leave town for a week or two -- why not pick Texas week?

I find it really really difficult to understand the energy being wasted attacking spring break when our two most precious resources - the bay and the beach - are in mortal danger. Get a grip, folks: Spring break has been whittled down to essentially ONE WEEK OUT OF THE YEAR! When the beach has eroded out from underneath us, wet t-shirt contests will be the very least of our worries. When the bay is killed and the fishing, ecotourism and watersport industries go belly up, we will all look back on the good ol’ days when traffic occasionally came to a standstill.

I can’t tell you how many of the parental units of the families to whom I give sandcastle lessons tell me that they came here for spring break x number of years ago and the fond memories of the fun they had here caused them to return with their own kids. But it’s a lot. Many people would not even know South Padre Island exists were it not for spring break.

So here are some questions for you: Are you really going to tell a large contingent of paying customers - “do not come here“? Do you really think the majority of the island’s residents would support this stance? Are you really all that eager to pass a bunch of restrictive new ”no fun allowed here“ laws that will have an equally negative effect on attracting new residents as well as the ”good“ tourists?

And where did that goose run off to, anyway?

Save the Bay - Updates

Things are starting to happen.
1. Visit the new website at savethelagunamadre.com
2. Plan to attend the "Save Laguna Madre" kick-off meeting -- read on for details (thanks, Sam!)

SAVE LAGUNA MADRE
Kick-Off Meeting
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Club Padre, South Padre Island



SAVE LAGUNA MADRE will hold a meeting regarding protection of the Lower Laguna Madre (LLM) on Wednesday March 28, 2007 at 6:30 p.m. at Club Padre on South Padre Island. This is an informal kick-off meeting to share information about concerns such as oil and gas development in our bays and the public is welcome to attend. This is not an official Town function and our group has no political or activist affiliation.

THE MEETING is being organized to help consolidate information about the current seismic survey of the LLM, which has literally generated a lot of noise. The concern is that after the survey is completed, the bay and wetlands could be drilled in what is considered an extremely fragile and pristine environment. The group is not opposed to expanding the State’s energy resources but may oppose further oil & gas development if it impacts the ecosystem and tourism economy significantly and adversely.

THE AGENDA will contain updates from Town staff as well as some presentations from some knowledgeable sources as well as other activity and environmental groups. Email and Internet resources will be shared. Discussion will follow as to the possibility of selecting a standing committee. Participants are asked to not engage in bashing any particular person, agency, or corporation. Meeting notes will be taken and shared with all those who sign up for email distribution.

PLEASE ATTEND our meeting of March 28 if you are concerned about recent activity in the Laguna Madre and what kinds of things can be considered to help protect it.

SOU

"I messed up pretty bad... but NOW I know what I am doing. Please give my new policies a chance to succeed."

It is time for the adults to take Iraq away from Mr. Bush, to curtail his gifts to big business and rescind the powers he usurped from the other branches of government. Past time. WAY past time.

I must admit however that I find his health insurance proposal interesting. As a self-employed person I pay my own way. My coverage isn't great but I hope that it is enough to keep me from becoming a burden on my family or anyone else should catastrophic illness be my fate. Seems like the responsible thing to do and a bit of a tax break would encourage me to continue making those payments even in months like this - when it is cold and rainy and no one is thinking about sand castles.

Cruising, Revisited

I can tell you exactly how to get rid of cruising and it is very simple: give these kids something else to do! Like it or not, spring break on SPI is a teen magnet. As I see it, we can alienate and attempt to intimidate these kids with more laws, more cops and a stronger hand -- or we can convince them that SPI is a cool, happy place that welcomes them here now and will welcome them back someday when they get older and have more disposable income.

There are two indisputable truths here, sez I:

1. You cannot legally prevent underage valley kids from coming to SPI any time they have hankering to.

2. They are going to have some serious hankerings during spring break, due to the fact that there are massive numbers of young, pretty people of both genders on the island at that time - a time when they are likely on break themselves with nothing better to do than cruise out to the island.

If private enterprise cannot see a need/opportunity here then perhaps it is in the town's best interest to start a program of its own. If cruising really is such a horrendous problem, it would be worth throwing some money at giving underage kids an activity of their own, right? A facility or even just a parking lot where they can "hang out", buy refreshments, listen to music/dance, etc. The law can have a presence without becoming overly-obnoxious if these kids are mostly gathered in one spot.

If there is any doubt as to whether or not the valley kids would participate in such a plan -- well shoot, has anyone even thought to ask them?

I just returned from a week-long stay on the island of Vieques. Esperanza's "main drag" features a lighted, tree-shaded malecon -- a wide, pleasant walkway that extends almost the entire length of the town's waterfront. (O that our town's founders had shown similar foresight along the bay!) Street venders set up in the evening. Lots of benches exist for anyone wishing to sit and the area is easily patrolled by the local officials.

This is how I would describe the weekend scene: At one end is a bar that blasts great music - music that makes your butt start twitching of its own accord. Both residents and tourists of all ages are purchasing drinks at something like 4-5 waterfront establishments and either dancing or watching others on the dance-floor (and man o man is it fun watching the locals dance!) All along the colored light-festooned malecon kids of all ages are strutting their stuff, dancing, leaning against the railing talking, or smooching on benches. The only people "cruising" in vehicles are the cops and car-bound folks looking for a place to park.

As long as cruising is the most entertaining activity open to people of a certain age group, fighting it is going to be a losing proposition. Like I said in my first post on this subject, we are talking less than a dozen nights/year when this is a problem. How many deaths? How many lives ruined? Just how serious is this problem? Where are the stats to back up these assertions?

This is a town full of self-proclaimed conservatives who want more laws and bigger government to solve a problem that barely exists. Disappearing beaches, ugly beach access parks, cold turtles and preservation of native flora & fauna -- these are the issues upon which we should be lavishing our energies.

And yes, I am grumpy. I got sick sitting on the tarmac while attempting to leave a tropical paradise for this cold miserable excuse for winter on South Padre Island this week. When is the sun supposed to come back out,anyway???!

The Median Project - Former Alderman Kirk Mills Weighs In

(Posted with the permission of the author)

I was one of the most vocal opponents of the Padre Blvd. median project. When it was first voted on by the voters, the sales tax proposition was to "beautify" and improve access to Padre Blvd. Great --- who wouldn't want to improve the looks of Padre Blvd.! But, along the way we found out that Txdot would only participate with funding for the project if the project was for safety. Therefore, the project became all about safety. We weren't told we were voting in favor of medians when we voted on the temporary sales tax increase to beautify Padre Blvd. We were told it wouldn't cost the city anything at the time because the revenue generated by an increased sales tax would cover the costs of the project. As it turned out, the cost of the project has far exceeded the tax revenue generated by the temporary sales tax increase.

I met with the Texdot officials many times at public meetings and asked how could this project increase safety by putting palm trees in the field of vision of traffic on Padre Blvd. I was told that wouldn't increase safety but that they could put some small areas of low growing ground cover type of plants to get the effect of green space. I love green space as much as anyone, perhaps more than most. Upon studying the plans and sketches provided by Txdot. I concluded that this project was a bad idea. It appeared to me as though the sea of concrete and pavers would be greatly exaggerated by being raised and surrounded by a curb. I thought it would make much more sense to concentrate on the sides of Padre Blvd. and use the monies collected to improve drainage, sidewalks, and landscaping. While I was on the BOA I voted against the medians for these reasons.

People only heard what they wanted to hear and didn't take the time to study the drawings, because what we are getting is just what we were sold by Txdot, the mayor, and three boa members who voted in favor of the project (Ridolfi, Hoff, and Evans). Aldermen Tara Rios and Phillip Money voted against the final version which included a substantial cost overrun (about a half million dollars more than the sales tax collected). In our May 2007 elections we may have the opportunity to hold those responsible for the medians accountable , including Rick Ridolfi and Jim Hoff.

Kirk Mills

I have to admit that I was one who did not look closely at the renderings. I was never enthused about the plan but took city officials at their word that the median would make Padre Blvd. both safer and more attractive. Seeing what is happening out there is making me think that we were in fact mislead. It is butt-ugly and what person in their right mind would think that losing a whole lane of traffic wouldn't make the Sunchase bottleneck even worse than it already was?

I am trying hard to keep an open mind and not judge until the thing is done but geez that is a lot of pavers....

The Gift That Keeps on Giving

From this morning's e-mail box:

Happy birthday, Sandy. And it looks at this point that Democrats may pull off the Senate as well as the House -- A birthday present?

-C

It's just what I wanted!
Dem. control goes with everything in my closet!
And it's something I can use every day for the next two years...
(... when I will be turning 51 and expecting an even better present:
a Democrat in the White House.)

SPI weighs in on the Saddam Death Verdict

"Great Question with a great legal insight"
South Padre Island's own Charlie Fincher is a lawyer who cartoons -- or a cartoonist who litigates. Yesterday he got South Padre Island mentioned on the Washington Post website... and was paid a nice compliment as well.

Link