Had another meeting January 15.

Mostly organizational. The "Giant Committee" will be broken down into 5 major areas or working groups with further division into sub-committees related to the major area of responsibility. Meeting dates were set to solicit input, concerns & ideas from the community. I believe "the community" is not limited to only Galveston Residents.

A-Housing & Community Character

1-Housing
2-Neighborhood Development
3-Historic Preservation
4-Cultural Resources
5-Parks & Recreation

B-Economic Development

1-Business Development
2-Job Creation & Retention
3-Sustainable Growth
4-Tax Base
5-Port / Tourism / UTMB

C-Environmental & Coastal Issues

1-Coastal Hazard Mitigation
2-Natural Resources Preservation
3-Sustainability

D-Human Services

1-Education
2-Health Care
3-Public Safety
4-Sustainability

E-Transportation & Infrastructure

1-Public Transit Systems
2-utilities

My feelings, as to "how it went"--I feel sort of "bi-polar".

At times I am encouraged to see so many people showing up and committing to so much time-weekly meetings plus the community meetings, sub-committee meetings, and probably more. I believe there is a real possibility that some positive things can come from the effort.

Then, other times, I remember this is Galveston we are talking about. Where there is always an abundance of people against everything. That some people are talking about "building us back the way we were" instead of seeing this as a great opportunity to be something better.

Galveston has great potential but how you go about unlocking it, solving the problems which prevent reaching that potential--I don't know.

Galveston = Aggie Football.

(bad spelling edit)

[This message has been edited by IslandAg76 (edited 1/18/2009 11:17a).]

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Galveston = Aggie Football.

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Don't say that man. Galveston has a chance to be great.

helping and doing something decent for the Bolivar Peninsula would improve their image 100x over.

I have thought about that since it was first mentioned. I forwarded that idea to "the committee" for consideration.

The problem I keep bumping into is that Galveston isn't River Oaks or Highland Park.
The city is already laying people off and the remaining city workers have all taken a pay cut.

The financial picture is bleak--sales tax revenue & hotel tax revenue are both in the dumper. Property tax will take a hit in the coming year.

Galveston doesn't have enough money to take care of Galveston problems. I know there are occasionally things you can do which don't cost anything but usually it comes down to money.

Bolivar needs to bother the County.

You have any specific ideas?

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helping and doing something decent for the Bolivar Peninsula would improve their image 100x over.

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I believe that is only true from a Bolivar point of view. Galveston doesn't have the means to take care of anything more than itself, it doesn't even do that well.

it is from a Bolivar point of view. The peninsula is a huge property tax cow for galv. county to get no more than we do for our tax $. If the city of Galveston stepped up and took the lead to help the peninsula, I cant see where they would do nothing but benefit from it.But, it is more of a galv. county issue than the city itself.

The west end of Galveston has a similar problem--not as much now but we used to be pretty much ignored by the city.

My subdivision bought all the materials to get our road paved and the city provided the labor.
The west end is starting to become more of a squeaky wheel because the amount of property tax they pay has greatly increased as a percent of the total.

Bolivar & Crystal Beach people have to start showing up at the County Commissioner's meetings in large numbers--let them know you aren't happy.
Get your representatives on speed dial.