So Ive moved from CC, but heard that they are NOT tearing it down and are going to try to make it really nice. How is the Corpus public taking this? I know that LOTS of people just wanted the to City to tear the damn thing down cuz it was an extreme eyesore to the city.

They have been planning on doing something "nice" with the old courthouse for 30 years. Looks nice doesn't it? The city council there could really care less about what the people think. The people didn't want the pipeline from Lake Texana but we still got it. The people didn't want the beach closed but that didn't deter the council. It took an election and just about an act of congress to keep the beach open and out of the hands of developers. The city can't hardly fix a pothole, much less turn the coliseum into something nice.

It is an eyesore because they shut it down in a foolish attempt to force the renters to go to the overpriced ABC. They have mostly bailed and I went to the gun show over in Robstown the other day---packed.

When they shut it down, they did not set aside any money to maintain it (sort of like they do the roads) and it has fell into a state of semi ruin.

Problem: it was built to last five hundred years and a hundred hurricanes, so tearing it down is very expensive, a lot more expensive than they have let on.

Lester Bedford told them he would book nationally televised boxing shows if they gave him the same rent as before (he doesn't want the ABC because you can't fill it for the tv screen like you can the coliseum) and the arts and crafts shows can't afford the ABC and the gun shows can't, etc.

The point: there is a ready supply of customers for the building who will not use the ABC. The developers, bankers, etc, who own the town government want to use it for something more showy.

They are happy about at least one thing: the new development will require rerouting Shoreline to the rear of the coliseum development, so the nice drive down along the bay will be disrupted. Add that to the fact that they are going to shut down the Shoreline drive to the north of I-37 and you have the nicest urban drive in Texas destroyed.

And then there are the new ethics rules they made for themselves so they can play within the rules and still loot the place for their own advantage.

They've been wanting to shut down Shoreline drive for years. They would give their first born child to do so. And noone knows why...

The coliuseum building itself might be able to withstand 100 hurricanes, but have you seen the roof? Aerial views that I have seen online show huge tears/holes in the roof.

That will happen if you intentionally ignore normal maintenance. Just like the streets.

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They are happy about at least one thing: the new development will require rerouting Shoreline to the rear of the coliseum development

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Or, there was a public vote to re route shoreline drive a while ago, before these plans were conceived.

But your narrative sounds a lot more interesting and conspiratorial.

it was voted to allow it; doesn;t mean they have to

man i hate the city council in that city, talk about the most worthless group of people, ever. The city looks terrible, everytime i go back it is exactly the same. Slow, non-moving, potholes everywhere, grafitti on every single fence in the damn town. The city just looks run down.

The city's tax base collapsed with the oil industry in the '80s and has not come back. All the Texas cities which have grown have either had major universities or are on the border. CC is not there.

The city does not have the money to keep up maintenance and the city staff runs around trying to patch over potential disasters. There has been a brain drain in the staff and a lot of flotsam is left and so the people who are competent have to rely on ones who are not to keep the wagon rolling. It is pretty sad.

They get no help from the council, which is even more than usually dominated by real estate interests, who know numbers but are shortsighted.

Example: they decided to put a lot of chips on tourism at about the time that tourism went into the tank. Building the ABC has turned into a disaster----the convention business peaked ten years ago nationally and has not returned. So we lose millions a year on the ABC and the coliseum, which could be used by smaller groups and entities was allowed to die so the events would go to the ABC---they haven't.

It is as if the town was run by people who play chess one move at a time.

"But...but...it's a memorial to our war veterans!" Where were these bafoons when it was rotting and sliding into decay?

TEAR IT DOWN, NOW!

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It is as if the town was run by people who play chess one move at a time.

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Dead-on-balls-accurate.

As long as I can remember, the city government is VERY reactive and has never been proactive. They've never planned for the future, nor, once a project is completed, do they have a plan for up-keep of said project. We have a new Mayor and City Council...the common denominator...City Manager Angel Escobar.