Inside the Moon
Barefoot Mardis Gras A2
Panama A7
P.I.B.A. Luncheon A2
The
Issue 670
Island Moon
The voice of The Island since 1996
February 16, 2017
Around The Island
By Dale Rankin By Dale Rankin
Spring Break 2017 is but a mere four weeks away and as things now stand the new traffic light at Aquarius/ SPID will be in full bloom, the new Beach Access Road 3A at the end of Windward will be finished, and our drinking water will taste a lot like our swimming pool water. The city Water Wonks announced this week that starting March 6 they are going to “allow for a new supplemental disinfectant called Chloride Dioxide to be added to the water treatment process, which will provide an additional on-going layer of disinfectant protection. Customers may notice a strong chlorine odor during the temporary change in disinfectant. Drinking water can be aerated (shaken) or refrigerated to reduce the taste or odor of chlorine.” The program, designed to “flush” the city’s water system and its 1900 dead-end water mains, will replace the current chloramine with “free chlorine” will last from six to eight weeks. However, a city staffer told the council Tuesday that consumers may taste heightened levels of chlorine for as long as 80 days. City staff said at no time will chlorine levels exceed the state-allowed maximum. But we can’t help but wonder, if you shake up the water or put it in the fridge before you drink it isn’t the stuff that was already in there still there? Somebody call a chemist. Or look at it this way; shaking your water before you drink it could be a great workout!
Catch-22 The move is the latest to counter decades of neglect in the city’s water department, which hired a new director this week. Information presented Tuesday showed that in 1951 when the city’s population was 110,000 there were 216 employees in the water department, now with a population of 330,000 there are 208 employees. To combat what is described as a “stale water problem” for several years the city has been releasing about 30 million gallons of treated water per month from fire hydrants across the city, including several million gallons on The Island from hydrants and from the Island’s water tower. In layman’s terms when the water stays too long in the mains the chlorine is leeched out by “plating” in the lines. The problem of the dead-end mains was compounded when city water users were asked to conserve water beginning in 2015 which cut down on water usage leaving water even longer in the mains causing “stale’ water to get even staler and leaving brown yards around the city. But the Law of Unintended Consequences meant that the lower usage cut down on city water revenue causing reduced waves of cash flow to splash against the hard rocks of debt service on the water system putting upward pressure on water rates.
Common sense solution City Councilman Joe McComb offered a solution on Tuesday by suggesting to city staff that rather than vent water out of fire hydrants, where it simply runs unused into storm drains, that consumers be offered a monthly credit to encourage them to help drain the system by applying the water to their lawns; thereby collectively solving the problems of stale water and dead yards in the coming summer months. The city said they would take his suggestion under advisement. Residents faced three boil-water notices in a 10-month period between July 2015 and May 2016 and then in December of last year, when residents of went four days without
Around cont. on A4
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FREE ...And the City said, “Let There be a Light!”
Aquarius/SPID traffic light fires up on Tuesday!
Dale Rankin
After more than two decades of discussion the City of Corpus Christi announced this week that the newly installed traffic light at the Aquarius/ SPID intersection will be activated starting Tuesday, February 21st. The project was given the green light at City Hall over a year ago to facilitate development on six commercial lots on the east side of the roadway along with a 105room hotel. The original cost of the project was estimated at $635,000, with the developer, San Antonio based Turner Busby Development, LLC, paying $420,000 for the cost of the installation of the light and the reconfiguring of the intersection. However, since the project’s genesis the cost increased to $1.2 million, according to reports to the Island Strategic Action Committee, with the city paying the balance. The original pitch by the developer to the ISAC in 2015 stated that the light was necessary for the building of the hotel. However, a company spokesperson said in late 2016 that
Mark Scott’s candidacy throws term limits into turmoil When a new Corpus Christi Mayor and possible At-Large City Council member take office later this year they will be serving terms which do not count against the term limit provisons under the City Charter.
the hotel had been removed from the development plans and the lots at the location will be reconfigured into five larger plats from the existing six. Calls to representatives this week were not returned by press time. ISAC members in late 2016 reiterated their early stance that the city should not permit the activation
Mannequin, McDonald's sign, a bullet, and 800 pounds of tires, furniture among the flotsam and jetsam
Padre Island National Seashore - 170 volunteers - 7,250 pounds of trash from 7 miles Packery Flats - 59 volunteers 2,750 pounds of trash from 3 miles Port Aransas - 61 volunteers - 900 pounds of trash from 3 miles San Jose Island - 9 volunteers 1,060 pounds of trash from 2 miles RGV/South Padre Island - 721 volunteers - 54,075 pounds of trash from 5 miles (all-time record!) Aransas Pass - 34 volunteers 1,760 pounds of trash from 1.5 miles Cole Park - 75 volunteers - 636 pounds of trash from 4 miles North Beach Corpus Christi - 317 volunteers - 4,000 pounds of trash
New Mayor Will Serve a Term That Doesn’t Count
By Dale Rankin
Volunteers Collect Five Tons of Trash from Island Beaches
About 300 volunteers picked up more than five tons of trash – 10,960 pounds - off 15 miles of Island beaches last weekend as part of the 2017 Adopt-A-Beach Winter Cleanup. Across the state 1451 volunteers collected 72,481 pounds of trash in the event sponsored by the Texas General Land Office. The largest turnout was in the Rio Grande Valley where 721 volunteers collected 54,075 pounds of trash from 5 miles of beach setting an all-time record.
Photo by Steve Coons
from 9 miles Rockport - 5 volunteers - 50 pounds of trash from 1 mile
Since the program began in 1986, more than 505,000 volunteers have removed more than 9,400 tons of trash from Texas beaches. With each cleanup, plenty of odd and unusual items inevitably are reported. Odd and unusual items removed during the two cleanups included a mannequin, trash can full of cement, bag of Christmas lights, a McDonald's sign, a bullet, a large inter tube, various plastic toys, a coconut, a wood pallet, 800 pounds of tires, furniture, and a luggage strap. The Texas General Land Office Adopt-A-Beach program is an allvolunteer effort to remove trash from Texas' shores. Coastal cleanups are held three times each year. The next coastwide cleanup will be the Spring Adopt-A-Beach effort scheduled for Saturday, April 22, 2017. The Texas General Land Office's Adopt-A-Beach program is funded primarily by private contributions. To help out, or for more information, call the Adopt-A-Beach program at 1-877-TXCOAST or visit our website at TexasAdoptABeach. org.
of the light until warning signs were placed on the approach to the apex of the JFK Causeway from the Flour Bluff side warning drivers there might be stopped traffic ahead. The ISAC move came after, according to city staff at the ISAC meeting, the bank would not release development
Light cont. on A4
Vessel Turn-In Program nets 69 Boats
The five-day Vessel Turn-In program to dispose of decrepit boats and trailers in Flour Bluff ended Saturday was a great success with a total of 69 boats and 26 trailers turned in for disposal by the City of Corpus Christi which hosted the event along with s in partnership with the Texas General Land Office and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
The statewide program is being done through a partnership with the Texas General Land Office, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and cities including Corpus Christi.
Looking for Local Fun? Check out our Special Winter Texan Round-up on page A14
The Corpus Christi City Council voted on Tuesday to set a Special Election for Mayor on May 6 with Early Voting running from April 24 -May 2. The seat came open when former Mayor Dan McQueen quit the office after only thirty one days. If current At-Large Council Member Joe McComb wins the Special Election the council would appoint his successor. According to a legal opinion submitted by City Attorney Miles Risley, a term only falls under the term limit qualifications if it is “two years” meaning that the one and a half-year term served by Scott and several other council members, including former Mayor Nelda Martinez, served shortened when the city elections moved from May to November that did not count under limits. “We’ve got a problem here,” Mayor Pro-Tem Carolyn Vaughn said Tuesday, “That’s a squirrelly rule. We’re going to have a Mayor who is going to sit up here and be serving a term that does not count.” The City Charter reads: “(d) No person shall serve more than four two-year terms consecutively as a council member, or four two-year terms consecutively as mayor, or six two-year terms consecutively in any combination of such offices. A person who has reached the limitation on terms provided in this section shall not be eligible for election or appointment to the city council until three consecutive terms of office for the council have expired.” While several city council members voiced frustration at Scott’s ability to circumvent the term limits in the charter they have no legal option since by law the charter can only be amended every two years, meaning the soonest it could be changed is November, 2018; not in time to effect the current election. While the city council on Tuesday did not announce all voting sites the staff indicated that they will be similar to those in previous elections, meaning Early Voting on The Island will be at the Schlitterbahn waterpark.
Mayor cont. on A4
A little Island history
1950 – The Bridge to “Treasure Island”
The causeway and Swing Bridge make the Island accessible Editor’s note: As Spring Break 2017 once again brings matters of traffic to our collective Island conscience we take the opportunity to remember a time when the first “real” bridge connected our Island to the rest of the vast world OTB. The new bridge became necessary with the dredging of the Intracoastal Waterway which made driving across the Laguna Madre impossible. By Mary Craft Before 1927 getting from Flour Bluff to The Island was an adventure in itself. The Don Patricio wooden bridge causeway was built that year then and blown away by a hurricane in 1933.
The shallow Laguna could still be transversed by horseback or burro and cattle could still be driven across it, especially in the winter months when the wind-blown tides meant shallow water at the natural crossing which began at the end of what is now Whitecap Drive.
Genesis in ‘49 There were cars then that would drive across on a sandbar but often they got stuck and had to be pulled out by burros. Some car owners took their vehicles across with hand drawn ferries. That all changed in
History cont. on A4
The Don Paricio Causeway was the first vehicle bridge to The Island. It was built in 1927 and named after Island rancher Patrick Dunn.