La Posada Parade December 12-13
Issue 553
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The voice of The Island since 1996
The Island Moon
November 20, 2014
The Island Where Turtles Come to Warm Up!
Weekly
Around The Island By Dale Rankin
th
40
editor@islandmoon.com
Annual
There was a little frost on the pumpkin up Beeville way this week and they brought in the brass monkeys in Swinney Switch, here on The Island Old Man Winter blew in like a lion on Sunday but by midweek his purrings were reduced to a mere catcall as the sun shown through and the wind laid down and all is good on our little sandbar.
LA POSADA
Lighted Boat Parade
La Posada Begins December 2!
While we thin-blooded Islanders grouse about temps in the 50s our soon to be Winter Texan friends up north are digging out of an autumn snowstorm and wondering if the RV will fire up on first try. Hey, look on the bright side everybody, the cool weather eradicated the mosquito population; we’re not doing the Skeeter Dance anymore and that counts for something.
Full Schedule on A4 The big Leap. Photo by Jason Towns
Billish Park Makeover to Include Community Center By Dale Rankin
A 12,500 square-foot, $2.4 million community center at Billish Park will be finished and open for business by early 2016, according to current plans..
Something rotten on Whitecap Several businesses near the Whitecap/SPID intersection had to close their doors this week after sewer gas backing up from the pump station on Whitecap pushed odoriferously offensive odors back up the line and into their buildings. After years of smoke tests, recriminations, line testing, finger pointing, bureaucratic obfuscations, and shameful negligence our city continues to blame the problem on the victims. But this is the first time we know of that local businesses, four so far, have actually had to close their doors due to the stench emanating from city sewer lines. For the last four years Islanders have sought olfactory relief only to be told by city officials there is no problem with the pump station, even as we drive down Whitecap and must roll up our windows and hold our nose. But now the problem is affecting commerce. It’s time for a solution to the nose pollution.
Dearth of Retail Nary a week goes by here at the Word Factory that aspiring business owners don’t stop in with the same question/imperative demand; “We need more retail space! Why isn’t more being built?” A crucial question and a very good one. We know of half a dozen new retail businesses looking for Island space and another half dozen existing ones looking to expand/move. Good luck. As you know there has been no new retail space constructed on The Island for almost five years now, in spite of the steady demand for more. So what’s going on? A telling clue is in the common denominator of three new Island developments currently in the pipeline. That common denominator is a multi-level hotel. The pertinent question is not whether we need more hotels, a question for another day, but rather why the developers, after all looking at the same numbers all came to the same conclusion – without a hotel stand-alone, single-story retail space is too expensive to build. Why? Skyrocketing property evaluations compounded by leapfrogging taxes mean that financing costs and taxes combine for upside down numbers that rule out single-story retail development. Each of the three new development plans includes a hotel to bolster the retail numbers. The hotel is a means to capture the value of air space left unharvested by single-story retail development. The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg isn’t completely dead, at least not yet, but the ligature of taxation has him honking for air. If The Island ever gets a grocery store, look for it to be attached to a hotel.
La Posada Don’t forget that the La Posada Lighted Boat Parade is Friday, December 12 on the north end of The Island and Saturday, December 13 on the Main Canal. Things kick off at Scuttlebutt’s on Tuesday, December 2. For a complete list of La Posada events check the schedule in this issue. We’ll see you there, and in the meantime say hello if you see us Around The Island.
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After a public gathering last week of members of the Padre Island Property Owners Association, the association decided on construction of a completely new building rather than a design which would have incorporated the current POA building at Billish Park into the new facility. The new facility will included a meeting area, indoor and outdoor kitchens, offices, indoor and outdoor public restroom, and other amenities.
Cold Weather Means Stunned Turtles
“This will be a place for birthday parties, community gatherings, and other events for Islanders,” said MayBeth Christensen, Executive Director of the POA. “It will not cause an increase in POA fees or dues.” Final plans for the new facility are being done by Turner Ramirez Architects with construction by KJM Construction. Groundbreaking is expected in March, 2015 with a nine month construction time. The building will be funded with existing POA monies, either directly or through bank financing using the POA reserves as collateral.
Billish continued on A6
Inside the Moon
Numbers of cold stunned turtles found in Texas during each day of this event include:
November 16 – 0
November 15 – 31
November 14 – 85
November 13 - 2.
All were green turtles except for one loggerhead located alive on the first day of cold stunning. Area
Total
Galveston Area/ Inshore
3
Lavaca/San Antonio Bay
0
Mustang Island/Aransas Pass
1
Upper Laguna Madre & Corpus Christi Bay
50
Padre Island National Seashore Gulf Beach
0
Lower Laguna Madre
70
Boca Chica Beach
0
TOTAL
124
Condition
Total
Alive
122
Dead
2
TOTAL
124
More on A2
Airtales A4
Fishing with Farah A7
Turtles at the ARK with Amanda. Photo by Ronnie Narmour. If you find a turtle, call 361-949-8173 or 361442-7138
A Little Island History
Million Dollar Inn Becomes Braniff Place and Then Becomes Rubble
On the Rocks A7
By Mary Craft The Million Dollar Inn was a fixture on the seawall and was originally part of a larger plan to develop the Island into a Floridastyle destination resort area. By 1972 the original plans had evolved and the role of the hotel had evolved with it. The Million Dollar in was sold to Resort Enterprises which was made up of President Eric Labian and four other investors. The hotel was closed to upgrade the main building and expand the third floor over the portico. The hotel rooms were freshly painted.
Hornets in the Playoffs A8
The Padre Island Investment Corporation (PIIC) located on the third floor would occupy the expansion for more needed space. The corporation initially owned 4500 acres in the mid 1960s and was responsible for island development including infrastructure, including
History continued on A6
Live Music A16