San Antonio Express News?

[question everything]

Had a very dumb editorial today. Clearly not knowing what they are talking about. Is this the normal course for them?

[WolverineDG]

1. yes.

they endorsed shrubbie for re-election & then have spent the past year crabbing about his policies.... :eyes:

dg

[Gman]

2. Pretty much business as usual

What was the editorial you didn't like?

[question everything]

3. About the Ingleside Naval Station

At some point the editorial looked at the reuse of the former Marine Base at El Toro in Orange County, CA.

It said that: "The Navy ended up selling most of the land in 2002 to a Florida developer, and the community lost control of how the land was used."

The battle of El Toro lasted more than 10 years and it was between powerful and rich Republicans of Newport Beach who wanted to build a mega airport on the base, in the middle of a densely populated area, and between the adjacent communities that said: Hell, No.

There were four ballot measures and the final one, in 2002, overturned the one from 1994, that started it all, zoning the area for a commercial airport. George Argyros, who was rewarded by Bush and became an ambassador to Spain only to be kicked out last year, put more than $3 million of his own money to push for an airport.

In all closed bases, the land was given for free to the communities. But here, former Congressman and now SEC chairman Christopher Cox, got the navy to auction the land to the highest bidder, while following the spirit of the wish of the community that there would be no airport there, but rather a park.

More than 80% of the more than 4,000 acres will remain open space including private golf courses. The land is part of the City of Irvine and Irvine zoning laws do apply there. Thus, the community, namely, the City of Irvine, certainly will have control on how the land will be used.

See also http://www.ocgp.org/

[Gman]

4. Actually, the problem in Corpus is that

nobody can agree on what to do with Home Port. Fortunately, Kay Baily Hutchinson did insert the language into that bill that took care of who would own the land. The division down there on what to do has been pretty bad ever since it was announced that Home Port would be BRAC'd. Corpus, Nueces and Aransas Counties never got their acts together even up to the hearing. They never spoke with one voice, never had everyone pulling in one direction. The result ended up being that they got a polite hearing and were promptly announced for closing.

So the editorial is really pretty much on the point in that they need to get their act together down there because they've got a real gold mine that's been handed to them, but they can't agree on what to do with it. This has been a big disappointment for a lot of us here in South Texas as we all pulled together way back when to get Ingleside the Home Port. There's also a lot of us that are pretty pissed that they let it go without a good fight.

But that's the history of Corpus. I've said for years that Corpus could have been the Miami Beach of the West if it had wanted to be. But over the years, it's been things like this that have held Corpus back. A couple of months ago, the city council in Corpus passed an ordinance banning driving on certain stretches of the beach behind some hotels on the pretense of safety. Keep in mind that the right to drive on the beach in Texas is considered sacred. Council's ordinance was a thinly veiled way to provide developers private beaches, which are outlawed in Texas. So its controversy and underhanded type stuff that often holds Corpus back.

[question everything]

5. How did Corpus fare during the hurricanes?

I think that Miami and Florida have lost some of their appeals to retirees and to snow birds, so if Corpus can provide an attractive alternative it could benefit from the soon to retire baby boomers. That is, if it is interested.

We lived on the West Coast of Florida for a couple of years. Long Boat Key was really trying to hide any access to public beaches, to prevent "regular" folks mingling with the gated communities and hotels dwellers.

The key to the north, however, Ana Maria, prohibits any part of the beach from being fenced or gated. It also prohibits (or prohibited) any building to be more than three stories tall. Thus, you can walk on the beach and come on the back yard of some fancy private homes.

So perhaps the editorial knows what it is talking about your area, but it used the wrong example of El Toro in Orange County.

This is one of the more expensive real estate regions in the country. When it was on BRAC list back in 1993, the communities around it immediately formed the LRA - Local Reuse Authority as mandated by BRAC rules. But the rich folks of Newport Beach that always hated the John Wayne Airport in their midst, but liked the convenience of its proximity, immediately decided to hijack the process and to get a ballot measure that won by the slimmest of majority. It had a lot of money, and power, and political savvy behind it, and also built on the then recession that resulted from the contraction of the aerospace industry after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

And, as I said - once the voters repealed that original ballot measure, the City of Irvine annexed the land and it certainly has a control over its use. Just like every other land that the city sells to developers to develop under its zoning laws.

[Gman]

6. Agreed that

the editorial should have at the very least clarified the facts behind the El Toro situation and probably not even used it at all as an example. I wasn't aware of the El Toro details so thanks for the information. That type of misleading information is standard for the E-N. I seriously doubt they are even aware of the facts you outlined.

Corpus fared fine during the hurricanes. The only real scare was Rita in September. We have a house there in Corpus and ended up evacuating as there was a county wide evacuation order. At that time, Rita was about 450 miles out, 175 mph winds and projected to make landfall at Port Lavaca about 70 miles north of Corpus. We figured with Rita that far out, a couple degrees variation would bring her right into Corpus so we got out. As it turned out, Rita went in just across the Louisiana border from Texas and the only effect in Corpus was some high tides.