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The
Issue 579
Island Moon
The voice of The Island since 1996
May 21, 2015
Around The Island By Dale Rankin
editor@islandmoon.com Beach to Bay has left The Island and returned to the Bay. The high water table has left our beaches in a constant state of dampness that makes beach driving in some places bumpier than our streets, and folks that’s saying something. We are walking between the raindrops at the moment. The socalled 100-year rain event, the second highest flood of record, has let up but the city’s water capacity systemwide is at only 77.1%. The last time the Nueces River reached 7.5 feet or more at Calallen was 2002 when the Nueces River crested at 13 feet cutting off homes for weeks. We can only thank our lucky stars that the mosquito population hasn’t taken advantage of all the standing water.
Land grab on Whitecap On Tuesday the Corpus Christi City Council took the first step in what is expected to be a $1.3 billion plan to consolidate the city’s wastewater treatment system. The plan is to consolidate the current six treatment plants into one big plant over the course of the next two decades. The council voted on Tuesday to go out for Requests for Qualifications for contractors to do the job and the city staff said they expect to have a plan in place within three months. So what does that mean for The Island? Two things jump out of the plan with regards to The Island. First, the city plans to finance some of the plan by selling off the land under existing treatment plants; one of which is the plant at the end of Whitecap. The second; the plan presented to the council shows that the public comment section of the plan comes all the way at the end of the planning process. If you pay attention to how government works you know that when the public isn’t invited to weigh in until the very end of the planning process it is because by the time the public gets their chance to speak the plan is already done. The backers don’t really want public comment it’s just that to make a plan without it is, well, not really democracy is it, so the public is invited to speak only when it will do no good. The Whitecap Wastewater Treatment Plant was built in 1974 and expanded in 1992 and is way out of date. It has been cited 44 times by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality since 2010; making it the second most cited of the plants in the city behind only the Oso Plant which a city staffer told the Corpus Christi City Council on Tuesday “is literally being held together with tie-wraps.” Clearly, something must be done to bring the city’s wastewater treatment system up to date, the question for we Islanders is whether we are all right with having this prime piece of property at the intersection of the main canal and the Intracoastal pass forever into private hands. If so, then we can do nothing and that is what will happen, because as of right now that’s where things are headed. But if we think that the land should be kept in public hands, whether as a park, a marina site, or simply as open public space, now is the time to have that discussion. The process to sell the land is moving and if we don’t act within a few years that land will be forever in private hands. Maybe that’s not a bad thing, but to have it happen without input from Islanders is something the next generation may come to lay at our doorstep.
Memorable Weekend Tourist Season 2015 is upon us folks. Hit the grocery store on Thursday and hunker down. We’ll see you at the Ski Basin. In the meantime say hello if you see us Around The Island.
New Island Traffic Light to Get a Public Hearing By Dale Rankin A public hearing on the plan to install a traffic light at the Aquarius/ SPID intersection is set for the next meeting of the Island Strategic Action Committee on June 2. City engineers told the committee in early May they have requested more information from the developers who own adjacent property and are pushing for the light in conjunction with a commercial development and new hotel at the site. Originally traffic engineers hired by the developer counted cars entering SPID from Aquarius to determine if the traffic volume was heavy enough to warrant a light. The traffic count was done in November, a low traffic month, and met the minimum numbers to qualify for a light under standards set by the Texas Department of Transportation. However, ISAC members questioned whether a light at that location could cause a safety hazard for motorists coming off the JFK Causeway and additional research has been done since by the developer; that additional information will be presented at the June ISAC meeting. “We need to know what the city is planning to do and whether we have enough information to make an informed decision,” ISAC Chairman Greg Smith said. “And we need to tell the public what is being done so they understand what is being considered.” One question likely to come up is whether to wait on the light until a comprehensive traffic plan being done by the City of Corpus Christi in conjunction with the Metropolitan Planning Organization is complete. District 4 City Councilperson Colleen McIntyre said she expects that to be some time next year. The ISAC meeting is at 5:30 p.m. at Comfort Suites on Windward Drive. It is open to the public and Smith said there will be an opportunity for public comment once the new information is presented.
Time to Reason with Hurricane Season Light season predicted
The predictions for the 2015 Hurricane season are in and the various and numerous entities which issue independent predictions on the frequency and strength of storms between June 1 and November 30 are in general alignment that the season will be a relatively mild one. There have only been four below-normal seasons in the past 20 years but 2015 looks to add to that total. According to an initial forecast issued by Colorado State University (CSU) the 2015 Atlantic hurricane season may be one of the least active in decades, Their calls for seven named storms, including three hurricanes, one of which is predicted to attain major hurricane status (Category 3 or stronger on the SaffirSimpson Hurricane Wind Scale). This is well below the 30-year average of 12 named storms, six hurricanes, and three major hurricanes. The combined predictions of the National Hurricane Centers, AccuWeather, and the Weather Channel, and the call for 16 total storms, 8 to become named hurricanes, and 5 major storms of Category 3 or higher. The National Hurricane Center predicts the strongest storm will be the eight,
Hurricane continued on A5
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Work Continues to Repair Electrical Line to The Island The shallow water around the site where the power poles broke in last week’s high wind along the Intracoastal Canal in Corpus Christi Bay has necessitated the use of this airboat to complete repairs. The low-hanging lines blocked barge traffic through Corpus Christi Bay for almost twenty four hours.
This is One Bad Machine
Crews are in the process of digging out the fill inside the dolphin (the earthen structure which surrounds and supports the base of the wooden power poles) to remove the old poles, which snapped, and replace them with the metal poles you see here. Logs were cut and used to fill in the dolphin.
The airboat seen here is powered by four V-8 engines and four fans; or as our Spanishspeaking friends say Papalotes and was brought in specially for the repairs, which are expected to take about a week.
Into the Storm
Through the Eye of the Storm Aboard The Viking, Part II By Richard L. Watson and Betsy
A. Churgai
Editors Note: this is the second in a multi-part series by Dr. Richard Watson about sailing his boat through Tropical Storm Dottie.
Viking at Sea Betsy yelled from below “Hey, you guys; can the noise. I am listening to the weather on WWV down here The signal's weak and I need all the help I can get to hear the blasted thing. I wish they'd repeat their forecasts after they give them. It gives me the creeps to just barely hear half of what they’re saying and then have to worry about the rest!” With that, the crackling intensified, just as the far-away voice began to warn of storms at sea. The voice was grave as we all strained to hear, frowns of concern replacing our smiles “... a new tropical storm, named Dottie... formed in the Florida Keys ... is presently offshore of Ft. Lauderdale, FL and moving...” “Moving where?”
Watson continued on A4
A pod of dolphins celebrates the Viking's survival
A Little Island History
Why is the Choke Canyon Dam in the Wrong Place?
After a 100-year flood why are our city’s reservoirs only 77% full? By Dale Rankin At the turn of the 20th Century the water supply for Corpus Christi was in private hands. Then in 1929 the city took over the system and dedicated the La Fruita Dam near Mathis thirty-five miles up the Nueces River from the city. Lake Lovenskiold, named for the mayor, was supposed to be sufficient to provide the city with water at four times the population at that time. But it was a government job. Cost cutting on the construction caused the dam to fail during heavy rains in November 1930. It wouldn’t be the last time that government bungling led to a bad decision with regards to the city’s water supply.
Residential versus Industrial In the Depression the Reconstruction Finance Corporation
rebuilt the dam and the ongoing competition for water between residential and industrial users was on. By the late 1950s industry accounted for nearly 40% of water use and in 1948 the Wesley Seale Dam was built but the lake, first known as Release Gates At Choke Canyon Dam Lake Mathis and now as Lake Corpus Christi, alone could eight South Texas counties but not provide the city with enough the Good Old Boys at the Area water. The push was on to find a Development Committee didn’t more malleable long-term source like the plan. That committee, of water and the Federal Bureau dominated by the city’s old of Reclamation had established a comprehensive water system for History continued on A5