About the Election
by Bill AllingThe most important thing was that a lot of people voted. The electorate spoke and a collective decision on many issues was reached. This should be fine with us all. It is also interesting to note that our local politicians seem to believe in the democratic process particularly in this instance as it confirms the outcome they wanted and hoped for.
In Corpus Christi the economic tax failed. This is a blessing in disguise as it was ill defined and would only have given those who have overseen past failures in our city another opportunity. The city and the convention center promotion people (I am told number twenty seven full timers plus city people) are barely able to keep the local hotel occupancy rate above the bankruptcy level. Perhaps with a bit more money they could drive the occupancy levels down. No loss there.
As for the arena, who knows the right answer. It will be built and the hope is it won’t become part of a very fancy and expensive ghost town along with the Columbus Ships, the Lexington and the Aquarium. Then again it may be wildly successful and play an important part in bringing to Corpus Christi those things which we do not now have in abundance namely crime, pollution, traffic congestion, higher taxes and even more arrogant public officials. Unfortunately I have been there before in other cities I have lived in. I can say from experience that in 10 years time we will have anti-growth people running for elected offices to restore Corpus Christi to its former glory. You never know what you have until you lose it. By then, it is usually too late and is a bit like regaining a lost love – not easy at best.
The city cannot and should not be allowed to grow until something is done to correct the existing toxic and waste pollution problems. Nueces County is something like 20th worst in the nation in this category and like it or not we live in an area that could potentially be another "Love Canal". The elected officials act like deer caught in the headlights when confronted with these issues. A more natural growth scenario is called for which allows us some time to fix the underlying problems in our community before going forward.
The Packery Channel and Kennedy Causeway projects are crimes in the making. These projects
are rooted in corrupt politics more worthy of a South American dictatorship than our
system of government. The local politicians had to overturn the peoples vote on the
Kennedy causeway because there could be no Packery Channel without Kennedy and they wanted
Packery Channel at any cost. In spite of two previous no votes by the electorate, our
friendly dictators found a way to overturn the vote and proceed with their individual and
institutional greed at the expense of the people of Corpus Christi without regard to
environmental costs.
Within days after the election the Caller-Times disclosed the plan for Packery and North Padre - a $677 million resort area development, 3,000 hotel rooms, 642,000 visitors per years (most during spring break I’ll bet), 4,457 jobs splitting $51 million in payroll for a whopping $11,443 salary per year or about 6 bucks an hour before taxes. Can you imagine what damage it will do to the environment having an average of 1,750 visitors per day and 4,457 support people to service those 1,750 visitors. Apparently the City Council and Mayor knew of these detailed plans all along in what could be a violation of the Texas open meetings laws and common sense. More on this later as this is the subject of another article.
On the surface this project means at least ten thousand more vehicle trips per day most
of which will be in older more polluting type vehicles (I assume here that, at six bucks
an hour average wage according to the Caller-Times, these high paid workers won’t be
affording new energy efficient Cadillac’s anytime soon or for that matter even
Hugo’s). These cars and service vehicles will cause upwards of 2.5 million pounds to
3.0 Million pounds of C02 and other pollutants to be
discharged into the atmosphere and our local economy daily where none is being done so
now. Add to this pollution the infrastructure problems associated with water, sewage,
garbage and other municipal services and there could be a large tax on the environment. If
the Caller-Times is correct, our leaders are spearheading the development of approximately
twenty hotels the size of the existing Holiday Inn, parking for 7,000+ cars, boardwalks,
amusement and waterparks, marinas, a fisherman’s wharf – and what ever they can
dream up next to challenge the environment and people’s wallets. Some questions; will
all this development fit on the land allotted? What happens to these people during
hurricanes? Are the city fathers planning a southern crossing to link up with I37 in
Robstown to alleviate some of these potential problems? Who pays for the infrastructure
costs which can easily exceed ten times the development cost? Where is the water and water
pressure pumps and the like coming from to service these people? In a nutshell one has
ask: has the local leadership opened up Fiber’s closet without knowing what is
inside?
I hope people are not too discouraged by the vote and will embrace the results or at least
go along with them. The truth is that it takes about 3 to 4 dollars a vote (net
difference) to swing elections in these modern times. Forward Corpus Christi, the City of
Corpus Christi and the Caller-Times spent probably $20 a head in cash and soft money to
swing the election. This is an unfortunate fact of life and is wrong. There is no question
that some of the projects had value and should have been voted in but was the disclosure
adequate. I think not.
The root of many of our local problems is the arrogant mentality of our officials both
here and at the State and National levels. They are so used to corporate and government
welfare that they believe new business for Corpus Christi means getting more government
grants and handouts. Nothing is further than the truth. Getting these types of grant money
from the government is not efficient or productive and is the moral equivalent of giving
yourself a transfusion from one arm to the other and spilling most of the blood on the
floor. It is not real and sooner or later these grants, loans, and pork barrel money have
to be repaid by the hapless taxpayer. Guess who that is (you and your kids and grandkids).
Our elected Federal officials. work very hard getting grant money to us for pork barrel
projects such as Packery for which they are paid a kings ransom and yet the money does not
contribute to the underlying common good. This is the absolutely worse kind of clique and
is perpetual, self funding and enormously profitable for our Senators and Representatives.
For instance Kay Bailey will walk from the Senate with $6.5 million in her purse plus
whatever she can separate from her corporate supporters in the next 6 years. Nader had it
right - the problem is we don’t know how to stop this crime.
Speaking of Nader, locally Nader and the Greens pulled about the same as they did
elsewhere. Nader was in the 2.0%+ range (Nader/LaDuke was less than 3% overall,
Nationally), Sandage got 1.15%, Dugger and Mauch about 8 points apiece. The
winner was Ben Levy who polled about 10% for Texas Supreme Court. He was the
only one that did not campaign or did not get much help from any one else. Hmmmmm
maybe there is a lesson there. Vote for the guy that does not want to be elected? What a
novel theory.
Anyway, the Greens got enough of the vote to pre qualify in 2002 in Texas. Nader,
nationally, did not do anywhere near as well as expected which means the Greens will not
receive the 12.5 million dollars in 2004 they were expecting. I am not sure that is
all bad as none of the parties should receive tax monies until the entire campaign finance
issue is resolved. The independents thought they could pull another Perot and get
19% of the national vote. It is not likely to happen any time soon as the country
has changed a lot since 1992. For better or worse the country is composed mainly of
Republicrats and Democans from a policy point of view. Both are at the center of things.
Nader was right again when he said there is not much difference between the two parties.
My observation is that our culture has been largely homogenized over the past 11-20 years,
and, as a result, people really don’t have many differences geographically,
politically or otherwise. We all strive for the sameness. I hope my Republican and
Democratic friends will allow me this one observation.
It is sad that the Presidential race is so close and that both parties are squabbling. If
this squabbling discloses our nature to the world then perhaps we won't be taken as
seriously in the future.
One thing is certain. The environment did not make any gains in this election. Neither Bush, or Gore, is likely to do much for the environment. The prospect at the state and local level isn’t much brighter however we can put some pressure at the local levels that might get some things done. The Sierra Club came out for Gore after some rancorous debate. They defended Gore as being the lesser of two evils. Nader says when you choose the lesser of two evils you still have evil. I guess the only thing we can do is wait and see and try to make up for no action by the big-wigs at the local level.
I leave you with one last thought on the elections, as the Chinese curse says--"May you live in interesting times."
Bill Alling