Just doesn't pass the smell test!
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Texas International Boat Show
(click on pic for larger view)
The Texas International Boat Show is under way right now in and along the city marina. Huge, expensive yachts are among the craft on display along with other craft.
The event means that many boat stall renters have been displaced while the show is going on. Now this was no surprise, this was included in the contract the stall renters signed.
Also much of Shoreline drive and some sections of adjacent streets are closed during the show.
Basically the average citizen will be inconvenienced by this event for billionaire boat sellers and millionaire customers.
It's all done to attract dollars and to create an image.
The question is, does it benefit the city as a whole?
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Ghost Of Councils Past
The proposal by City Councilman Michael McCutchon to ban vehicular traffic from the 4,200 foot stretch of beach in front of the sea wall on Padre Island is reminiscent of the original proposal introduced in 2005 by then Councilman Mark Scott.
If Scott had been satisfied with the original proposal it likely would have passed the City Council then.
But, as locals know, Scott got greedy and tacked on an additional 3,600 feet and most of the local population was outraged. The measure was forced to a vote by a referendum and the proposal went down in flames.
In addition a requirement was voted in place which would require another referendum before any section of the beach within the city limits could be closed to vehicular access.
Now the proposal from Councilman McCutchon is likely to be met with a big dose of healthy skepticism. The best outcome would be for this measure to die in the City Council. There is no need for a repeat of the heated controversy engendered by the first attempt to, in effect, close large sections of the beach to public access.
The proposal by City Councilman Michael McCutchon to ban vehicular traffic from the 4,200 foot stretch of beach in front of the sea wall on Padre Island is reminiscent of the original proposal introduced in 2005 by then Councilman Mark Scott.
If Scott had been satisfied with the original proposal it likely would have passed the City Council then.
But, as locals know, Scott got greedy and tacked on an additional 3,600 feet and most of the local population was outraged. The measure was forced to a vote by a referendum and the proposal went down in flames.
In addition a requirement was voted in place which would require another referendum before any section of the beach within the city limits could be closed to vehicular access.
Now the proposal from Councilman McCutchon is likely to be met with a big dose of healthy skepticism. The best outcome would be for this measure to die in the City Council. There is no need for a repeat of the heated controversy engendered by the first attempt to, in effect, close large sections of the beach to public access.
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Monday, March 03, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Friday, February 22, 2008
Friday, February 15, 2008
Saturday, February 09, 2008
Tortuga Dunes Project; Bad For Turtles, Bad For Dunes!!
Tortuga Dunes Project Destroys Sand Dunes
A new development has begun on Padre Island and it is off to a bad start.
The project has actively destroyed many sand dunes on the development property. According to news reports they have permits to do so but this seems directly in contradiction to the Dunes Protection Act.
The project director Barrett Allison says they are not destroying the dunes but “restoring them.” A rather dubious claim. This is a poor practice to allow. If every developer in the future has the ability to destroy sand dunes and then “restore” them it will mean the destruction of the natural habitat and the sand dunes. This will lead to increased beach erosion and more rapid dune deplenishment.
The $200 million resort, Tortuga Dunes, is being created near Zahn Road on the island.
This is planned as a high end (which means no po’ folks wanted) resort and an exclusive gated community.
This is the kind of thing that makes mayors and other elected officials plumb giddy! They see money, money, money and they hope some of it will find its way into the city or county coffers. They often imply that property taxes will go down and local school boards will have all of their money problems taken care of because of the new taxable properties.
It doesn’t always work out that way though. Sometimes so many tax abatements and TIF designations and other breaks are showered on such a project that these benefits for local taxing entities may never materialize to the point projected.
The developer is a company by the name of Forestar Real Estate Group, which is part of Temple Inland Company.
Temple Inland is a Fortune 400 company which specializes in forestry, banks and investments, and real estate development.
According to the company’s profile, Forestar spun off from Temple-Inland in 2006 and became one of the largest publicly-traded development companies in the country. (source: Wikipedia)
Below: Wikipedia entry for Forestar and associated companies
Temple-Inland, Inc. NYSE: TIN is an American paper, building products and financial services company based in Austin, Texas. It has approximately 19,500 employees. Its paper group operates under the name Inland Paperboard and Packaging Group, its building products group under the name Temple-Inland Forest Products, and its financial services group under the name Guaranty Financial Services.
Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have identified Temple–Inland as the 24th-largest corporate producer of air pollution in the United States.[1] Major pollutants reported by the study included acrolein, manganese compounds, sulfuric acid, formaldehyde, and acetaldehyde.[2]
Here is a report from Bill Churchwell, aired on local Channel 3 KIII-TV News
$200-million development planned for The Island
Gated community along Zahn Road to be the first new beachfront construction on North Padre in two decades
February 8, 2008
There's been some new developments in the aftermath of a story you saw here earlier this week on Tortuga Dunes, a 200 million dollar resort project going up. Island residents are concerned about crews cutting into the vegetation and several dunes. We checked it out for ourselves and it's clear to see construction crews going right up to the vegetation line. County regulations are supposed to keep the project from building any homes or condos 350 feet from the line. So whats going on? Project manager Barrett Allison says what people are seeing is not the destruction of the dunes, but the restoration of them. The project manager says when they are done, the dunes will be 20-30 feet high and new vegetation will be added. Allison says, "I think once people see it and realize the extent we've gone to protect the environment and the beach setting, its probably going to become a standard in the regulatory for folks minds down there in Nueces County and the city of Corpus on how to do it right."
It will take crews three months to finish the restoration of the dunes. Construction on Tortuga Dunes is expected to begin this summer.
Below is info from a web site for Forestar.
http://www.tortugadunes.com/news_releases.php

A publicly-traded real estate development company has announced plans to build a 146-acre gated community on Zahn Road near the north Packery jetty with landscape work set to begin in early 2008, construction set to begin in the summer of 2008 and completion in the spring of 2009.
The project will be named Tortuga Dunes and will include 139 villa home sties and approximately 97 luxury townhomes and condos. It will also include a pool and clubhouse, 37,000 square feet of retail space, and a walkover to take residents from the development over the dunes to the beach.
The total acreage of the tract is 146 acres with development on only 30 acres. The remainder of the acreage will be preserved as a wetland area with conservation and education programs.
The development is being done by the Forestar Real Estate Group which is a Temple Inland Company. Temple Inland is a Fortune 400 company which specializes in forestry, banks and investments, and real estate development.
According to the company’s profile, Forestar spun off from Temple-Inland in 2006 and became one of the largest publicly-traded development companies in the country. It trades on the NYSE under the symbol FOR. According to the NYSE website the company’s stock has traded between $20-$25 for the past year.
Forestar currently has one-hundred development projects located in twelve markets spread across nine states. They currently have large holdings around Atlanta as well as projects in Austin and Houston.
Plans call for the architecture in the Tortuga Dunes project to feature a theme derived from Caribbean and West Indies designs. Roofs will be of hipped or gabled varieties with cantilevered balconies and enclosed side yards.
Streets will be designed to be pedestrian friendly with view corridors. There will also be parks embedded in the design. Lot sizes will vary between fifty and sixty feet in width.
The company estimates the development will bring more than $200 million in added tax base and infrastructure to the Island economy.
Once the development is complete and all the units are sold the estimated annual tax revenue to local entities is $4.5 million with the bulk of that, $10.6 million going to the Flour Bluff ISD, $5.6 to the city of Corpus Christi and $3.5 to Nueces County.
The development was done without tax incentives from any of the taxing entities involved and is not expected to effect vehicular passage along the beach.
According to documents supplied by Forestar the company picked North Padre for the development after looking at coastal property from Galveston to South Padre.
Other partners in the project include: Watermark Land from Houston, Environmental and Planning Associates of Austin, land planning by Bosse & Turner of Austin, engineering by Naismith Engineering of Corpus Christi, Landscaping by Keith Morrow at Wilson Miller of Naples, Florida, and sales by Kuper Sotheby’s of San Antonio.
The site is located across Zahn Road from the recently constructed boat ramp and the planned city park. A welcome center is currently located at the site.
###
A Sizzling Market on America's 'Third Coast'
The Wall Street Journal
By Julie Bennett
October 10th 2007
"We've designed a high-end coastal community surrounded by a lagoon system. You can walk out your back door, get into your boat, and zip straight into the Gulf of Mexico."
Second-home buyers priced out of the East and West Coast housing markets are discovering an affordable "Third Coast," the 367-mile Texas coastline on the Gulf of Mexico.
The area is so hot that buyers are snapping up condos and single-family lots on the state's barrier islands and near it's fishing villages long before the units are built or the lots are available.
Dr. James Gaines, research economist at the Real Estate Center of Texas A&M University in College Station, says the state's evolving popularity reminds him of the Georgia and South Carolina coastlines in the 1970s, "when buying there was still affordable." Today, he says, you have to pay over $1 million for a seaside cottage there and $2 million to $3 million for oceanfront property in Florida or California. In Texas, you can still buy a lot or a condo on the water for around $300,000. If you can find them, that is.
Tortuga Dunes Project Destroys Sand Dunes
A new development has begun on Padre Island and it is off to a bad start.
The project has actively destroyed many sand dunes on the development property. According to news reports they have permits to do so but this seems directly in contradiction to the Dunes Protection Act.
The project director Barrett Allison says they are not destroying the dunes but “restoring them.” A rather dubious claim. This is a poor practice to allow. If every developer in the future has the ability to destroy sand dunes and then “restore” them it will mean the destruction of the natural habitat and the sand dunes. This will lead to increased beach erosion and more rapid dune deplenishment.
The $200 million resort, Tortuga Dunes, is being created near Zahn Road on the island.
This is planned as a high end (which means no po’ folks wanted) resort and an exclusive gated community.
This is the kind of thing that makes mayors and other elected officials plumb giddy! They see money, money, money and they hope some of it will find its way into the city or county coffers. They often imply that property taxes will go down and local school boards will have all of their money problems taken care of because of the new taxable properties.
It doesn’t always work out that way though. Sometimes so many tax abatements and TIF designations and other breaks are showered on such a project that these benefits for local taxing entities may never materialize to the point projected.
The developer is a company by the name of Forestar Real Estate Group, which is part of Temple Inland Company.
Temple Inland is a Fortune 400 company which specializes in forestry, banks and investments, and real estate development.
According to the company’s profile, Forestar spun off from Temple-Inland in 2006 and became one of the largest publicly-traded development companies in the country. (source: Wikipedia)
Below: Wikipedia entry for Forestar and associated companies
Temple-Inland, Inc. NYSE: TIN is an American paper, building products and financial services company based in Austin, Texas. It has approximately 19,500 employees. Its paper group operates under the name Inland Paperboard and Packaging Group, its building products group under the name Temple-Inland Forest Products, and its financial services group under the name Guaranty Financial Services.
Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have identified Temple–Inland as the 24th-largest corporate producer of air pollution in the United States.[1] Major pollutants reported by the study included acrolein, manganese compounds, sulfuric acid, formaldehyde, and acetaldehyde.[2]
Here is a report from Bill Churchwell, aired on local Channel 3 KIII-TV News
$200-million development planned for The Island
Gated community along Zahn Road to be the first new beachfront construction on North Padre in two decades
February 8, 2008
There's been some new developments in the aftermath of a story you saw here earlier this week on Tortuga Dunes, a 200 million dollar resort project going up. Island residents are concerned about crews cutting into the vegetation and several dunes. We checked it out for ourselves and it's clear to see construction crews going right up to the vegetation line. County regulations are supposed to keep the project from building any homes or condos 350 feet from the line. So whats going on? Project manager Barrett Allison says what people are seeing is not the destruction of the dunes, but the restoration of them. The project manager says when they are done, the dunes will be 20-30 feet high and new vegetation will be added. Allison says, "I think once people see it and realize the extent we've gone to protect the environment and the beach setting, its probably going to become a standard in the regulatory for folks minds down there in Nueces County and the city of Corpus on how to do it right."
It will take crews three months to finish the restoration of the dunes. Construction on Tortuga Dunes is expected to begin this summer.
Below is info from a web site for Forestar.
http://www.tortugadunes.com/news_releases.php

A publicly-traded real estate development company has announced plans to build a 146-acre gated community on Zahn Road near the north Packery jetty with landscape work set to begin in early 2008, construction set to begin in the summer of 2008 and completion in the spring of 2009.
The project will be named Tortuga Dunes and will include 139 villa home sties and approximately 97 luxury townhomes and condos. It will also include a pool and clubhouse, 37,000 square feet of retail space, and a walkover to take residents from the development over the dunes to the beach.
The total acreage of the tract is 146 acres with development on only 30 acres. The remainder of the acreage will be preserved as a wetland area with conservation and education programs.
The development is being done by the Forestar Real Estate Group which is a Temple Inland Company. Temple Inland is a Fortune 400 company which specializes in forestry, banks and investments, and real estate development.
According to the company’s profile, Forestar spun off from Temple-Inland in 2006 and became one of the largest publicly-traded development companies in the country. It trades on the NYSE under the symbol FOR. According to the NYSE website the company’s stock has traded between $20-$25 for the past year.
Forestar currently has one-hundred development projects located in twelve markets spread across nine states. They currently have large holdings around Atlanta as well as projects in Austin and Houston.
Plans call for the architecture in the Tortuga Dunes project to feature a theme derived from Caribbean and West Indies designs. Roofs will be of hipped or gabled varieties with cantilevered balconies and enclosed side yards.
Streets will be designed to be pedestrian friendly with view corridors. There will also be parks embedded in the design. Lot sizes will vary between fifty and sixty feet in width.
The company estimates the development will bring more than $200 million in added tax base and infrastructure to the Island economy.
Once the development is complete and all the units are sold the estimated annual tax revenue to local entities is $4.5 million with the bulk of that, $10.6 million going to the Flour Bluff ISD, $5.6 to the city of Corpus Christi and $3.5 to Nueces County.
The development was done without tax incentives from any of the taxing entities involved and is not expected to effect vehicular passage along the beach.
According to documents supplied by Forestar the company picked North Padre for the development after looking at coastal property from Galveston to South Padre.
Other partners in the project include: Watermark Land from Houston, Environmental and Planning Associates of Austin, land planning by Bosse & Turner of Austin, engineering by Naismith Engineering of Corpus Christi, Landscaping by Keith Morrow at Wilson Miller of Naples, Florida, and sales by Kuper Sotheby’s of San Antonio.
The site is located across Zahn Road from the recently constructed boat ramp and the planned city park. A welcome center is currently located at the site.
###
A Sizzling Market on America's 'Third Coast'
The Wall Street Journal
By Julie Bennett
October 10th 2007
"We've designed a high-end coastal community surrounded by a lagoon system. You can walk out your back door, get into your boat, and zip straight into the Gulf of Mexico."
Second-home buyers priced out of the East and West Coast housing markets are discovering an affordable "Third Coast," the 367-mile Texas coastline on the Gulf of Mexico.
The area is so hot that buyers are snapping up condos and single-family lots on the state's barrier islands and near it's fishing villages long before the units are built or the lots are available.
Dr. James Gaines, research economist at the Real Estate Center of Texas A&M University in College Station, says the state's evolving popularity reminds him of the Georgia and South Carolina coastlines in the 1970s, "when buying there was still affordable." Today, he says, you have to pay over $1 million for a seaside cottage there and $2 million to $3 million for oceanfront property in Florida or California. In Texas, you can still buy a lot or a condo on the water for around $300,000. If you can find them, that is.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Paul Schexnailder Has A New Plan For Corpus Christi Beaches!!
(pic) Wolf in sheep's clothing!
Schexy…He’s Baaaack!
Austin developer Paul Schexnailder is back in the news in Corpus Christi once again and with a new coastal development scheme.
Schexnailder once said he would sell off his holdings in small parcels following the defeat in 2006 of his attempt to close of part of the public beach to traffic for the benefit of a grandiose development he wanted to place on Padre Island.
According to an article in today’s Corpus Christi Caller/Times Schexnailder has hired a consulting company, I.d.e.a.s., to help him make his plans more palatable to local voters who rejected his project two years ago.
This process has a long way to go but some local politicos are bound to be ready to jump on such a project.
According to today’s article Corpus Christi Mayor Henry Garrett is eager to look into this.
"I'd like to see something like we talked about before, a resort-type project," Garrett said as quoted in the story.
"We'd still protect the beaches, of course, but any type of development that would help us with our tax base would be more than welcome."
According to the newspaper story the group will be meeting with people selected by Schexnailder to represent the “community.“
This will be, according to the story, “…people who have something at stake in the project, either emotionally or financially.”
Hold on to your hats folks!
(pic) Wolf in sheep's clothing!
Schexy…He’s Baaaack!
Austin developer Paul Schexnailder is back in the news in Corpus Christi once again and with a new coastal development scheme.
Schexnailder once said he would sell off his holdings in small parcels following the defeat in 2006 of his attempt to close of part of the public beach to traffic for the benefit of a grandiose development he wanted to place on Padre Island.
According to an article in today’s Corpus Christi Caller/Times Schexnailder has hired a consulting company, I.d.e.a.s., to help him make his plans more palatable to local voters who rejected his project two years ago.
This process has a long way to go but some local politicos are bound to be ready to jump on such a project.
According to today’s article Corpus Christi Mayor Henry Garrett is eager to look into this.
"I'd like to see something like we talked about before, a resort-type project," Garrett said as quoted in the story.
"We'd still protect the beaches, of course, but any type of development that would help us with our tax base would be more than welcome."
According to the newspaper story the group will be meeting with people selected by Schexnailder to represent the “community.“
This will be, according to the story, “…people who have something at stake in the project, either emotionally or financially.”
Hold on to your hats folks!
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Perry, GOP Has Big Plans For Texans; Toll Roads!
(click on pic for larger image)
Governor Rick Perry and his cohorts in the legislature are proceeding full speed ahead with their plans to cram toll roads down our throats!
It is time now for Texans to make their voices heard and send a message, loud and clear, about how you feel about creating a toll road system across Texas, the so-called Trans Texas Corridor. In reality it should be called the Rick Perry, G. W. Bush, Karl Rove, GOP Rip Off Roadway!
Texans must resist such a blatant scheme to hand over our roads to private companies.
How would you feel if the principle of eminent domain was used to take your property which would then be handed over to a giant corporation to build roads on which you would have to pay to drive upon?
How will you feel if state owned lands are given up to this massive boondoggle?
All of this to be financed with taxpayer money!
Texans, don't let this happen!
For up to date toll road and other info check this link:
http://salcostello.blogspot.com/
(click on pic for larger image)
Governor Rick Perry and his cohorts in the legislature are proceeding full speed ahead with their plans to cram toll roads down our throats!
It is time now for Texans to make their voices heard and send a message, loud and clear, about how you feel about creating a toll road system across Texas, the so-called Trans Texas Corridor. In reality it should be called the Rick Perry, G. W. Bush, Karl Rove, GOP Rip Off Roadway!
Texans must resist such a blatant scheme to hand over our roads to private companies.
How would you feel if the principle of eminent domain was used to take your property which would then be handed over to a giant corporation to build roads on which you would have to pay to drive upon?
How will you feel if state owned lands are given up to this massive boondoggle?
All of this to be financed with taxpayer money!
Texans, don't let this happen!
For up to date toll road and other info check this link:
http://salcostello.blogspot.com/
Friday, December 28, 2007
Local Developers, Caller/Times Deplore Community "Divisiveness!"
Above: Early opposition to coastal "development!"
Lately op ed pieces and letters to the editor have been appearing in our local daily, the Caller/Times, decrying what they call the "divisiveness" they say is prevalent in our community and is inhibiting our "progress."
Frankly, that is their opinion, it is not necessarily a matter of fact.
This idea of a lack of progress is expressed by those who have supported many grandiose development projects which have drawn opposition from within the community.
These developmental hand wringers whine that if we can't stop this so called divisiveness we are doomed as a successful city.
That's a bunch of baloney! In the first place Corpus Christi is a city of over 400,000 inhabitants. The surrounding communities add many more to the regional population numbers. The notion that everyone is going to agree on anything is ludicrous! The problem has been that big time, usually out of town and often foreign, investors have tried to shove some of these failed plans down our throats. If you happen not to like some of these ideas you are immediately chastised by the local media and the development uber alles crowd as an "aginner" or worse!
There have been no attempts at consensus building or consideration given to the desires of the community at large.
Back to consensus building for a moment. You will never get a half a million people in a diverse community to agree on much of anything. Many are now very much alert and on guard against new development that may conflict with their perceived interests.
What is needed now is a timeout period. It is time for our elected leaders to get out among the people to try to get a view of the public pulse. It is also time for local government to stick to roads and drains, in other words; fix the infrastructure! Politicans often don't like to be concerned with the mundane items in running a city, they tend to love the headline grabbing, big ticket items which make a splash. It would go a long way if these politicians would take care of infrastructure and public safety first and possibly restore some trust in local government.
Above: Early opposition to coastal "development!"
Lately op ed pieces and letters to the editor have been appearing in our local daily, the Caller/Times, decrying what they call the "divisiveness" they say is prevalent in our community and is inhibiting our "progress."
Frankly, that is their opinion, it is not necessarily a matter of fact.
This idea of a lack of progress is expressed by those who have supported many grandiose development projects which have drawn opposition from within the community.
These developmental hand wringers whine that if we can't stop this so called divisiveness we are doomed as a successful city.
That's a bunch of baloney! In the first place Corpus Christi is a city of over 400,000 inhabitants. The surrounding communities add many more to the regional population numbers. The notion that everyone is going to agree on anything is ludicrous! The problem has been that big time, usually out of town and often foreign, investors have tried to shove some of these failed plans down our throats. If you happen not to like some of these ideas you are immediately chastised by the local media and the development uber alles crowd as an "aginner" or worse!
There have been no attempts at consensus building or consideration given to the desires of the community at large.
Back to consensus building for a moment. You will never get a half a million people in a diverse community to agree on much of anything. Many are now very much alert and on guard against new development that may conflict with their perceived interests.
What is needed now is a timeout period. It is time for our elected leaders to get out among the people to try to get a view of the public pulse. It is also time for local government to stick to roads and drains, in other words; fix the infrastructure! Politicans often don't like to be concerned with the mundane items in running a city, they tend to love the headline grabbing, big ticket items which make a splash. It would go a long way if these politicians would take care of infrastructure and public safety first and possibly restore some trust in local government.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)