Carlos Valdez Says City Can Ignore Court

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Perry Says Oil Spill May Be "Act Of God!"

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From Politico:
Perry warned against a 'a knee-jerk reaction' to the spill and said the government doesn’t know what caused the leak.
AP
Texas Gov. Rick Perry Monday offered a stern warning against halting oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of a massive oil leak, and he raised the question of whether the explosion was an “act of God.”
The Republican governor, speaking at the Chamber of Commerce in Washington, warned against a “a knee-jerk reaction” to the spill and said the government doesn’t know what caused the leak, which took 11 lives and threatens the Gulf coast’s vast fishing industry.
“We don’t know what the event that has allowed for this massive oil to be released,” Perry said alongside several other governors on a panel Monday. “And until we know that, I hope we don’t see a knee-jerk reaction across this country that says we’re going to shut down drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, because the
cost to this country will be staggering.”
Perry questioned whether the spill was “just an act of God that occurred” and said that any “politically driven” decisions could put the U.S. in further economic peril.
“From time to time there are going to be things that occur that are acts of God
that cannot be prevented,” Perry said.
His line of thinking offers a foil to liberal groups and lawmakers who are calling for an immediate halting in off-shore drilling, something that the Obama administration has championed. MoveOn called for President Barack Obama to reinstate the ban on off-shore drilling Monday.

Perry Plugs Pesky Coyote!

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Texas Governor Rick Perry recently reported that he shot and killed, with one shot he claimed, a coyote who threatened his pet dog as he was jogging in his gated community Austin neighborhood.
It is illegal to fire a gun within the city limits but Gov. Perry, who has a concealed carry permit, claimed he fired in defense of his pet which is legally permissible.

Two Guys Named Joe Make A Deal!

So these two guys named Joe can speak for everyone in the community? Really?

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Tea Bagger Blake Farenthold To Be Next Challenger To Solomom Ortiz

As Corpus Christi Turns! ...And The Wheel Goes 'Round And 'Round...

Carlos Valdez

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Anna Jimenez

Well, where do we start? Carlos Valdez, longtime County DA retires and is immediately hired by Corpus Chrsit City Manager Angel Escobar. with no preliimnary searches or other candidates even considered, to be the new city attorney. This is approved by a vote on the city council and is done in record time.
Then Governor Rick Perry appoints Republican Anna Jimenez to fill Valdez' former position on an interim basis until the next elections when the position will be voted on by the public.
Jimenez immediately shakes up the DA's office, demoting some longtime staff attorneys, like Mark Skurka, who has worked in the department for 23 years, thus causing them to take large salary cuts. She also hired a private attorney to become her assistant and promoted other staff members within the department. Two former prosecutors resigned rather than take the pay cuts or the reassignment.
Jimenez has worked there for 4 years.
County Judge Loyd Neal allowed Jimenez to do this without advertising the jobs for seven days, which the county requires, under an exemption rule which allows the County Judge to give verbal approval for such changes.
The question is, does an interim appointment, with much less tenure or experience, have the authority and know how to so drastically overturn this department?.



Mark Skurka

Corpus Christi Church Celebrates Easter With $2 MIllion Giveaway!

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A local church plans to give away cars, including a BMW, and other items totalling $2 million. Must be sweeps week for local churches.

Battle For Ingleside Naval Station!

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Texas Health Insurance Nazis!

                                                 

Texas Governor Rick Perry and State Attorney General Gregg Abott have declared they would challenge the just  passed national health care reform in Texas courts.

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Corpus Christi Mayor Mired In Conflicts Of Interest

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Go Away Kid! You Bother Me!

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Mayor Adame Always has tax breaks for big companies such as Las Brisas, refineries, developers and others but doesn't mind if this shuts out money for school districts.

Little Nell Goes To School In Texas

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County Needs To Change Election Method

Change Needed In County Elections

The current system for the elections of county officials is flawed. Currently we have a partisan primary election with the winners facing off in a November election.
In the recent primary election many ran unopposed in their primary and some offices had primary races for one party but none in any other. Therefore if a candidate wins his primary and there was no primary in other parties then that person has won the seat.
This is basically unfair. This means that all voters who are independents or belong to opposing parties get no say in the election for that position.
Partisan politics should have no place in the election of County Commissioners or in judicial races.
Just as the City Council elections do not indulge in party politics, the County should follow suit.
In the past primary the Commissioner for Precinct 4 had a primary opponent and he lost. Since there was no Democrat running the winner of the Republican primary will be the next commissioner for that seat.
It is a certainty that there are many people in Nueces County who are not Republicans would vote for the incumbent but will not get that chance, they will have no one to cast their vote for.
This is wrong and should be changed.
Ideally a number of candidates for an office should be able to file and have themselves presented to the voters. If none of that group obtains 50% or more of the vote then the two top vote getters would have a runoff.
This way all of the voters would get their say, that’s the fair way to do it.
To change this would require an amemmndement to the State Constitution. That is a tall order but every general election in Texas finds amendments on the ballot. This is one that should be proposed.

Growth! Growth! We Need More Growth!

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In the recent local primary elections all those running for office echoed calls for more growth. Growth, mindless growth, never mind that our streets, sewers, drainage systems and other parts of the infrastructure are hopelessly inadequate for our present occupants.

Ah yes, 'infrastructure!" Another word that candidates like to bandy around, even if it may sometimes seem that some of them haven't the foggiest idea of exactly what that word means!

Perry Wins Big! Appoints Self As Governor For Life!

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Flush with a big victory on primary election night Texas Governor Rick Perry exuberantly declares if he wins the race over Bill White he will appoint himself Governor For Life!

Today Is Texas Independence Day

On this day in 1836 Texas declared independence from Mexico.
Texas independence is still a dream for some it seems.
Texas Governor Perry is in a primary race for an unprecedented fourth term. During the campaign he suggested Texas might consider secession from the union and he palled around with members of a state secessionist group.
I suppose Perry fantasizes about himself at the helm of the New Texas Republic.

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Joe's New Plans For Corpus Christi

Big ideas, same old problems!

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City Council Votes To Demolish Coliseum!



The Corpus Christi city council voted yesterday to demolish the Memorial Coliseum.
What to do with the coliseum has been an issue for years, ever since it has been allowed to deteriorate following the opening of the ABC Bank Center which now hosts the events the coliseum used to book.
It has been a highly contentious issue and probably will continue to be so.
 At present there are no plans as to what the site will become. You can bet the prevailing attitude on the city council will be to once again to solicit more over the top and over reaching projects. Sadly these developers and pro-development types just cannot abide empty space, especially on a waterfront property! All they see is money money money there.

Pic: One proposal that was turned down.  Click on pic for larger image

Mayor Joe Adame And Corpus Christi City Council Considering
School Crossing Guard Pay And Benefit Cuts!

Mayor Adame and the Corpus Christi City Council are considering cutting pay and benefits of the school crossing guards to cut expenses. School crossing guards are among the lowest paid, with the least benefits, of all city employees. What a courageous idea. It is time to put a new mayor and a new city council in place. The current group has lost its credibility and ability to make decisions.
If they have so little regard for these important employees they should consider going to old style, low tech as shown in the lower pic!

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I Voted Early Today!

Fat Cats In Port Board Of Commisioners Need To Cut Budget...

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City Of Corpus Christi To Consider "Privatization" Of Many City Services

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City Budget Ax Wielded By Unsteady Hands!

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Responding to the impending city budget shortfall the Corpus Christi City Council announced a series of draconian budget cuts reducing money for road repairs(what a joke considering the condition of our city's roads!)ending city park maintenance on already neglected city parks, cutting city jobs, cutting city employee pay, that is abysmally low already, by requiring employees to pay a higher percentage of their health insurance premiums,ending the city re-cycling program and other items.
Needless to say there was a loud, negative response.
Senior citizens ambushed Mayor Joe Adame and other city council members and made known their opposition to losing their senior centers and school children protested the closing of the re-cycling program.
The council quickly back tracked on some of these items but it is extremely telling of the priorities of this council and this mayor.
An article in the Caller/Times recently mentioned a $30 million plus "slush" fund being held back to pay out to companies in the hope of creating jobs. Many of these proposals were highly dubious and the idea of giving hundreds of thousands of dollars of city money to wealthy developers and businesses while cutting employees pay and benefits and closing and reducing vital services is embarrassing at the least.
The Port of Corpus Christi has been handing out their commissioners hefty pay raises and bonuses. Maybe some of that money should go to the City of Corpus Christi, the counties of Nueces and San Patricio for rent payment since the port is so profitable. Presently the Port is running an expensive propaganda TV ad campaign to try to improve their tawdry image.
As usual, something smells in city government.

City Backs Down As Seniors Hit The Streets!

Don't throw out grandma!

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The City Council and the Mayor have been talking making up budget shortfalls caused by lower sales tax revenues due to the poor economy. They are ready to cut jobs, close some parks, pick up garbage once a week and other cuts.
Angered by the idea of their center closing a large group of senior citizens "ambushed" Mayor Joe Adame and some city council members recently outside the entrance to city hall. As a result plans to close at least one senior center were dropped!
An article in today's Caller/Times indicates the city has a fund of over $30 million accumulating since 2002 which was intended to be spread out to various businesses and other projects to help boost the local economy. Something seems very wrong with this picture.

Bill White For Texas Guv

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Bill White has a contest going on to design his campaign poster. This is mine, a tongue-in-cheek effort to be sure.
I do plan on casting my vote for him most enthusiastically!

SUV'S Rolling Over In The News Today!


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Once again the local noon news featured two stories about SUV's rolling over in accidents. This is a nearly everyday occurrence. The widespread use of SUV's as family cars and high center of gravity station wagons is a disgrace. These vehicles are dangerous if people insist on driving them as a sports car or drag racer! They turn over much more easily than a normal passenger vehicle or truck.
SUV's are fuel inefficient and don't meet safety standards required on normal passenger vehicles.
Where is Ralph Nader when we need him?

That's My Port!


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Port of Corpus Christi Executive Board Members Get Obscene Raises, Bonuses!!

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Today's edition of the Corpus Christi Caller/Times carried a story that can only serve to outrage the people who work hard for a living and struggle in today's economy to keep their jobs, much less feed and clothe their families, on the normal working wages paid here in this city. This story outlined the outrageous, obscene bonuses and pay raises given to some on the executive board of the Port of Corpus Christi.
This arrogant, insensitive action comes on the heels of the naming of former CITGO plant manager Bob Kostelnik as Port Commissioner when he was apparently not in compliance with legal residency requirements, that is being a legal resident, registered to vote in the county for at least six months before he could be appointed.
These episodes smack of the smell of the continuation of "the good ole boy" system wherein the insiders of local industry take care of themselves and their friends at the expense of public interests.
Below is an excerpt from the article:

Port executives get raises, bonuses

The top three executives at the Port of Corpus Christi will get
hearty pay raises after port commissioners narrowly approved pay hikes and bonuses totaling nearly $235,000.
For Executive Director John LaRue, it’s the second raise and bonus this year. His 12.6 percent raise Tuesday brings his base salary to $310,000. He also was awarded a $75,000 bonus.
Frank Brogan, the deputy port director of engineering, finance and administration, and Maynard “Sandy” Sanders, the deputy port director of operations and business development, each received 7 percent raises and $50,000 bonuses.
Port commissioners voted 4-3 to approve La-Rue’s raise, with chairman Ruben Bonilla and Commissioners Kenneth Berry, Francis Gandy and Robert Gonzalez in favor and Commissioners Richard Borchard, Mike Carrell and Judy Hawley against.
While Borchard and Carrell voted against all three raises, Hawley joined the other four commissioners and voted for the two deputy port directors’ raises.
There wasn’t public discussion about the raises, which came after an executive session in which commissioners evaluated job performance.
“I don’t believe in giving raises twice in one year,” Borchard said after the meeting. “The amount of the increase, considering the state of the economy, is not right.”
LaRue received a 7 percent raise and $60,000 bonus in March, but that was based on his 2008 job performance, Berry said. Commissioners conducted his 2009 evaluation in December instead of the spring so that Bonilla, whose term expires in January, could weigh in on the staff’s job performance.
Berry said it was essential to pay port staff well to keep them in Corpus Christi. He pointed out that the Port of Houston recently hired a new director with less experience than LaRue and will pay him $325,000.
“How do you let your employees know they are doing a good job?” he said. “A pat on the back is great, but give them a wage increase and a bonus, and they understand.”
Berry said the port has done well during the poor economy,which should be rewarded.
“It’s not the commissioners out there doing the good work,” he said. “It’s port staff.”
By the numbers:
John LaRue Executive director
Old salary: $275,267
New salary: $310,000
Bonus: $75,000
Frank Brogan
Deputy port director: engineering, finance and administration
Old salary: $180,315
New salary:$192,937
Bonus: $50,000
Maynard “Sandy” Sanders
Deputy port director: operations and business development
Old salary: $180,315
New salary:$192,937
Bonus: $50,000

Notice the article said there was no public discussion and was enacted by a vote of the commissioners after an "executive session." This is so over the top of any sense of fairness or reality. It clearly demonstrates that this board needs to be reconstituted and stripped of the power to vote themselves such rich compensation which places these commissioners, supposedly public officials, into the ranks of the most wealthy percentile in the country. And this is in addition to the high paying positions they already hold!
The city and county governments, who are responsible for selecting the members of the Port commissioners, needs to step in and put a stop to this and possibly legislation should be enacted in the state legislature to regulate the pay and terms of service of such boards.
There have been many examples in the past when high powered executives performed governmental leadership roles for the sum of one dollar a year. Such a magnanimous gesture is woefully absent from the Port of Corpus Christi.

Adame Administration Adrift

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Neanderthal Rick Perry Opposes Climate Bill

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Texas Governor Rick Perry is now ready to mortgage the future of coming generations and the environment they will live in to further his own political aspirations. The following is an illuminating story from AP.

Perry leads Texas fight against climate bill
By JOHN McFARLAND
Associated Press
Nov. 26, 2009, 7:23PMShare Print Share Del.icio.usDiggTwitterYahoo! BuzzFacebookStumbleUponDALLAS — While the U.S. Senate considers a climate bill aiming to dramatically slash air pollution linked to global warming, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and other Republican leaders in the state that leads the nation in greenhouse gas production are watching closely — and objecting loudly.
Perry, backed by powerful business and industry groups, for months has been denouncing the measure, saying it would cripple the vibrant Texas economy and the heavy-polluting oil, gas and chemical industries it depends on. The governor plans to keep up his campaign against legislation he claims would lead to massive job cuts, industries fleeing overseas and more expensive energy for everyone.
“The bill does not help the environment,” Perry said in an interview with The Associated Press. “It seems like it's more about controlling than it is on having a real impact on the environment.”
The U.S. House narrowly passed the measure in June, with the Texas delegation voting against it 23-9, and a similar version is facing a tough fight in the Senate. Each bill would cut emissions significantly by 2020, with a “cap and trade” system allowing companies to buy and sell permits to release limited amounts of heat-trapping gases.
Most of the nation's 22 Republican governors oppose the measure — including Mississippi's Haley Barbour and Louisiana's Bobby Jindal — but Perry is one of the most vocal. He recently railed against it after being named the head of an oil group that includes elected officials from more than 30 states, and he says he'll use that position and the “bully pulpit” of his office to attack legislation he's called draconian, disastrous and onerous.
Environmental groups and Texans who support the bill say Perry is ignoring the legislation's economic benefits in order to help powerful polluters that support him.
“In short, we can ensure the people of Texas have the responsible and clean energy policies they deserve and that Texas remains at the forefront of the energy field, or we can get left behind,” said state Sen. Rodney Ellis, a Democrat who traveled to Washington with state leaders this year to work with the White House on clean energy legislation. “We can't continue fossilized thinking, pretend there is no problem, and resist innovative thinking.”
Texas leads the nation in industrial pollution and has more oil refineries, chemical manufacturing plants and coal-fired power plants than any other state. The massive oil and chemical plants employ nearly 270,000 people and pay billions in state and local taxes. Texas provides about 20 percent of the nation's oil production, one-third of the natural gas, 25 percent of refining and 60 percent of chemical manufacturing.
Carbon emissions in Texas have dropped in recent years, and Perry says that's happened while those industries have helped build a strong economy that attracts about 1,000 people a day to the state.
“We've been able to reduce emissions and have a growing population and a growing economy, and we didn't do it through regulations and taxes. We did it through incentives,” Perry said. “Put the cap and trade legislation in place, and those businesses at some point will pick up and move offshore. They just can't stay in business.”
Jim Marston, director of the Texas office of the Environmental Defense Fund, doubts that claim. He says Texas companies can be at the forefront of a new green economy and that Perry's employing the same scare tactics used when the 1990 Clean Air Act was considered.
“This is just not credible,” Marston said. “Rick Perry gets extra campaign contributions from industry folks or these people he spends time with at the country club and he's going to say what they want him to say.”
Perry, locked in a tough primary re-election fight with U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison — who also opposes the measure — has been traveling around the state discussing the bill and the predicted consequences for Texas should it pass.
Environmentalists do agree with Perry on one point: his pushing of alternative energy.
Texas tops the country in wind energy, plans to expand a south Texas nuclear plant into the nation's largest and offers incentives for energy efficiency and solar-power use. In fact, Perry's usual speech calls for Washington to follow Texas' lead by offering incentives to cut emissions while promoting all sorts of alternative energy.
“This isn't just the governor of Texas standing up and saying no. I'm an all-of-the-above guy,” Perry said.
But it's his ties to the notoriously polluting big oil and chemical industries that rankle environmentalists. That, and the fact that Perry is skeptical of the science linking climate change and carbon emissions — a stance shared by the three commissioners he appointed to lead the Texas environmental agency.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality contends that capping emissions will not affect global warming, and it would be bad for Texas.
“Due to the significant petroleum and petrochemical industry base of Texas that supplies the rest of the nation with fuel and other commodities, it is certain that cap and trade legislation being discussed will disproportionately affect both citizens and industry of Texas,” spokesman Terry Clawson said.
Environmentalists say Texas needs to quit clinging to the past.
“I would say they are protecting the status quo — or even worse, protecting the status quo of the 1950s,” Marston said. “It's playing to the stereotype that we're yahoos, and we're not.”

Kay Bailey And Governor Rick Continue Race To The Right
Each Lines Up Endorsement Of Right Wing Heavy Hitters


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Kay Bailey Hutchison may be demonstrating feet of clay as she decides not to resign from the U.S. Senate before the Texas GOP gubernatorial primary next year.

Texas GOP Selects Nutcase As State Chair!

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Texas Republicans recently selected a bona fide nut job as state chair. Cathie Adams resigned from the Texas Eagle forum in order to take the position. Adams has a history of false, misleading and insulting statements against President Barak Obama and on many issues. She can only help push the Texas GOP even farther to the right than it was already!
Below read some of her more noted quotes:(from The Texas Observer)
- Earlier this month, she compared President Obama to Adolf Hitler, suggesting that his speech to American students was “eerily like Hitler’s youth movement.”

- In an e-mail to far-right activists in 2008, Ms. Adams viciously attacked the faith of then-candidate Barack Obama:

“While many question Barak Hussein Obama’s ‘religion’…, the more important question is whether he has a ‘relationship’ with Jesus Christ because that is the only HOPE that any of us have to obtain eternal life. I personally see NO evidence that Obama has that kind of ‘saving faith.’”

- Two years ago Ms. Adams opposed a ballot measure providing $300 million annually over 10 years for cancer research. Voters approved the measure, which had the support of Gov. Perry and then-President George Bush. But Adams didn’t, falsely claiming that the money would be used in embryonic stem cell research and suggesting that medical researchers are amoral monsters:

“Scientists are on the verge of cloning humans, injecting them with diseases and studying them, then killing them.”

- Defending the dominance of failed abstinence-only programs in Texas schools recently, Ms. Adams blamed the state’s sky-high rates of teen births and sexually transmitted diseases on the supposedly inferior morals of Mexican immigrants:

“If mom had a baby at age 15, are her morals going to be setting different standards than someone who has grown up in the American culture where that is not typical? As a matter of fact, we would look at someone impregnating a 15-year-old as child abuse.”

- She opposes the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which gives children of the working poor access to health care:

“Now illegal aliens will be able to purchase cheap insurance for their children. This is an incentive for them to come here.”

- In May she attacked legislation by fellow Republicans (and signed into law by Gov. Perry) to aid the study of how mental health services might be used in treating patients with other health conditions. Such a thing, she said,

“is now more dangerous than ever with the federal government taking up nationalized/rationed health care. Texans must not surrender our mental and physical health to a socialist State that President Obama is striving toward.”

Power Lines Went Down As Storm Hits Yesterday



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The storm was like a hurricane with winds clocked over 81 mph and driving rain. It was quite something!
Power lines along the access road near my house were blown down. The fallen power lines trapped motorists in their cars until power was turned off. Power was out at my house from 12:30 pm till 1:30 am.

A very Strong Storm Wreaked Havoc At My House!

A limb hit my car on the roof as I drove into my parking spot
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Big Storm Blew Through Yesterday!

Photo: Todd Yates CC Caller/times

Photo: Rachel Denny Clow CC Caller/Times

Photo: Rachel Denny Clow CC Caller/Times




Storm winds up to 81 mph were recorded at the Naval Air Station nearby my home as the storm toppled a series of power lines just down the street from me along the SPID acces road.

Today I Voted FOR Proposition 9!

City Guv Plans City Pride Campaign To Clean Up City Yet Plans Still In Place For Once A Week Garbage Pickup

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A new logo was released today to promote a city wide cleanup effort.
This is part of an effort to instill civic pride and decrease litter and trash. A noble idea to be sure.
Mayor Adame formed the Advisory Committee on Community Pride composed of 11 "young professionals" (as described in a Caller/Times story this morning) who worked on his election campaign to lead in this effort.
The logo was created by the company headed by comittee chairwoman Monica Mcleod Sawyer.
The Advisory Committee on Community Pride, the mayor and members of the city council plan to take up trash bags and go to yet to be designated areas of the city to pick up trash on November 14.
It is a good thing to promote city pride and clean streets but this "Pride" campagin sure seems at odds with the notion of going to once a week trash pickup.
Mayor Joe Adame and the Corpus Christi City Council have once again demonstrated they put more store in PR stunts than the public interest.

Red Tide Affects Local Beaches





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