Mr. Mayor, Mr. Councilman, and others,
I have a really simple question that hopefully one of y’all can answer.
Where does that money we pay for Beach Parking Permits go? I’ve called the “If you have any questions, please feel free to call…826-3469” number numerous times, but each time my phone call goes unanswered. I find it odd that w/ today’s technology that there wasn’t even a voicemail option. The phone just kept ringing and ringing.
I grew up in Corpus, more specifically Flour Bluff & Padre Island, moved away for several years and have recently moved back. While I was living here I had the privilege to work as a Beach Lifeguard on Padre Island for several summers. I was actually working as a Nueces County Lifeguard when former Commissioner Carol Karter, I believe, implemented the notorious Beach Parking Permits. At that time all sorts of things were promised to make the beach nicer by adding various facilities.
Fast forward a decade or so...other than the new Parks Building behind Bob Hall Pier, which is already decaying, the ‘new’ bathroom facilities at Padre Balli Park, which looks like they just tore down the old cinderblock and built new cinderblock facilities that are, in essence, exactly the same, and the fact that there are now significantly FEWER lifeguards patrolling the beach, and for a shorter time-span, I don’t see where much has changed.
What I do see are things that have stayed the same as long as I can remember.
--Bob Hall Pier parking lot crumbling and washing away after each storm season, yet they continue to repave it with asphalt and the same exact thing keeps happening. I think the definition of ‘insanity’ is continually doing the same thing but expecting a different outcome. I’ve noticed, however, that any attempts to repair the parking lot have been halted for the past year or so.
--Fix the problem instead of constantly making repairs; Concrete instead of asphalt.
--The roads into Padre Balli Park & Whitecap where the asphalt meets the sand is like driving off a cliff sometimes.
--Again, instead of putting a band-aid on a broken arm, why not fix the problem. Idea: at the edge of the asphalt make an angled concrete “boat ramp” type transition from the road to the sand. If you make the “boat ramp transition” deeper than the average sand level then when the sand fluctuates we wont be left with trying to traverse craters to access the beach; we’ll have a smooth ramp-type transition.
--Access Road 3A (adjacent to El Constante Condos at the N. end of the seawall) and Zahn Road have to be two of the worst “roads” in Corpus, and that says a lot. I put “roads” in quotes because I’ve driven on dirt roads that are in better condition than these two “roads”. Aside from the fact that Tortuga Dunes is raping the natural landscape of the island by destroying the dunes, their heavy equipment also seems to be destroying Zahn Road faster than ever; not that Zahn was much of a road to begin with anyway.
The aforementioned items are existing, visible problems that seem to be getting absolutely no attention whatsoever yet we are still required to pay for a beach parking permit. Last summer, when approached on the beach by a CC Parks worker ‘asking’ me if I wanted to buy a parking permit, I asked him what the money I’m spending is being used for. His response was, “To clean the beach and to dredge Packery Channel.” As I looked around at the seaweed, soft, barely navigable sand, lack of trash receptacles, no shower, no lifeguards, and at Packery Channel, I thought sarcastically to myself, “Money well spent.”
I don’t’ have a problem with the seaweed, just a problem with raking the beach w/ a front-end loader and dumping the seaweed onto the dunes. Seaweed is Mother Nature’s way of replenishing the beach. Leave it, that’s fine. And I’m not 100% sure, but I’m fairly sure that the beach parking permits have nothing to do with the dredging of Packery Channel.
My problem lies with what is being done with the $12/annum I’m paying, along with tens-of-thousands of others to keep the beaches clean and updated with new facilities. I have no idea how many beach parking permits are sold each year, but if 50,000 people buy a permit at $12, where is the $600,000 going? Does Judge Banales or someone else need another office?
I drive to Kingsville every day and along the way I watch the farmers tiling and ‘disc-ing’ the soil. Instead of scraping the sand and seaweed, why not try what the farmers do and till the seaweed back into the sand in which it lays?
I’m including a page from the Ocean City, Maryland’s Public Works Beach Division for your viewing.
http://town.ocean-city.md.us/pwmaint/beachdivision.html
Again, to summarize my concern…Where does the money go? What’s it being spent on?
Sincerely,
Peter Gibbons
I have a really simple question that hopefully one of y’all can answer.
Where does that money we pay for Beach Parking Permits go? I’ve called the “If you have any questions, please feel free to call…826-3469” number numerous times, but each time my phone call goes unanswered. I find it odd that w/ today’s technology that there wasn’t even a voicemail option. The phone just kept ringing and ringing.
I grew up in Corpus, more specifically Flour Bluff & Padre Island, moved away for several years and have recently moved back. While I was living here I had the privilege to work as a Beach Lifeguard on Padre Island for several summers. I was actually working as a Nueces County Lifeguard when former Commissioner Carol Karter, I believe, implemented the notorious Beach Parking Permits. At that time all sorts of things were promised to make the beach nicer by adding various facilities.
Fast forward a decade or so...other than the new Parks Building behind Bob Hall Pier, which is already decaying, the ‘new’ bathroom facilities at Padre Balli Park, which looks like they just tore down the old cinderblock and built new cinderblock facilities that are, in essence, exactly the same, and the fact that there are now significantly FEWER lifeguards patrolling the beach, and for a shorter time-span, I don’t see where much has changed.
What I do see are things that have stayed the same as long as I can remember.
--Bob Hall Pier parking lot crumbling and washing away after each storm season, yet they continue to repave it with asphalt and the same exact thing keeps happening. I think the definition of ‘insanity’ is continually doing the same thing but expecting a different outcome. I’ve noticed, however, that any attempts to repair the parking lot have been halted for the past year or so.
--Fix the problem instead of constantly making repairs; Concrete instead of asphalt.
--The roads into Padre Balli Park & Whitecap where the asphalt meets the sand is like driving off a cliff sometimes.
--Again, instead of putting a band-aid on a broken arm, why not fix the problem. Idea: at the edge of the asphalt make an angled concrete “boat ramp” type transition from the road to the sand. If you make the “boat ramp transition” deeper than the average sand level then when the sand fluctuates we wont be left with trying to traverse craters to access the beach; we’ll have a smooth ramp-type transition.
--Access Road 3A (adjacent to El Constante Condos at the N. end of the seawall) and Zahn Road have to be two of the worst “roads” in Corpus, and that says a lot. I put “roads” in quotes because I’ve driven on dirt roads that are in better condition than these two “roads”. Aside from the fact that Tortuga Dunes is raping the natural landscape of the island by destroying the dunes, their heavy equipment also seems to be destroying Zahn Road faster than ever; not that Zahn was much of a road to begin with anyway.
The aforementioned items are existing, visible problems that seem to be getting absolutely no attention whatsoever yet we are still required to pay for a beach parking permit. Last summer, when approached on the beach by a CC Parks worker ‘asking’ me if I wanted to buy a parking permit, I asked him what the money I’m spending is being used for. His response was, “To clean the beach and to dredge Packery Channel.” As I looked around at the seaweed, soft, barely navigable sand, lack of trash receptacles, no shower, no lifeguards, and at Packery Channel, I thought sarcastically to myself, “Money well spent.”
I don’t’ have a problem with the seaweed, just a problem with raking the beach w/ a front-end loader and dumping the seaweed onto the dunes. Seaweed is Mother Nature’s way of replenishing the beach. Leave it, that’s fine. And I’m not 100% sure, but I’m fairly sure that the beach parking permits have nothing to do with the dredging of Packery Channel.
My problem lies with what is being done with the $12/annum I’m paying, along with tens-of-thousands of others to keep the beaches clean and updated with new facilities. I have no idea how many beach parking permits are sold each year, but if 50,000 people buy a permit at $12, where is the $600,000 going? Does Judge Banales or someone else need another office?
I drive to Kingsville every day and along the way I watch the farmers tiling and ‘disc-ing’ the soil. Instead of scraping the sand and seaweed, why not try what the farmers do and till the seaweed back into the sand in which it lays?
I’m including a page from the Ocean City, Maryland’s Public Works Beach Division for your viewing.
http://town.ocean-city.md.us/pwmaint/beachdivision.html
Again, to summarize my concern…Where does the money go? What’s it being spent on?
Sincerely,
Peter Gibbons
