One reason some people give for opposing paid parking along Galveston’s Seawall Boulevard is sign clutter. But note this: There is an entirely sensible way to put in pay kiosks every 200 feet (as proposed) and still reduce the total number of signs along the Seawall.
It’s simple: Get rid of the scores of totally useless signs along that thoroughfare today.
For example, did you know that there are 150 or so signs (yep, I counted them) that bear the inscription “Caution – Drop Off.” That’s a little like putting a sign on the Grand Canyon that says, “Don’t fall in!”
Maybe due to past accidents and potential lawsuits, or in spite of having paid somebody’s cousin to install the signs, maybe you really do need to actually tell people there’s a drop-off.
But 150 times? Really?
And even if you do, couldn’t that message be installed on the kiosks themselves?
Think, Galveston. Because somebody thought it was a good idea in the dim past, it may not be a good idea in the 21st Century.
As a resident and taxpayer, I want the chance to re-evaluate parking policies along the seawall at least once more. What can that hurt? Should Galveston put the issue to a vote?
This is someone else’s idea, but it sounds like a winner to me. My friend suggests Galveston should respond to all the panicky Houston TV talk about oil on our beaches with a satiric promotion.
“Folks, help us find the missing tar balls! Here in Galveston, we’ve been searching for all that oil that’s supposed to be washing up on our beaches, but we can’t find it. We’ve looked from Bolivar Roads to the San Luis Pass Bridge, and we can’t find any sign of the stuff.
“Instead, the beaches are open, people are swimming, puppies are romping in the surf and the sun is shining. This is a real dilemma.
“So come down and join the search. Whoever finds the most tar balls gets two nights free at the hotel of your choice.”
Here’s a prediction: In its quest for a perfect noise ordinance, the Galveston City Council will waste weeks or months, create an unwinnable argument and unwieldy law, hand the police a job they cannot and should not do, and, finally, accomplish nothing.
If this sounds a lot like the long, futile argument over a smoking ordinance to you, well, you’re right. The two issues have much in common.
Galveston’s do-gooders are once again launching a campaign to create an island nirvana. They will be shocked to learn that perfection is in the eye of the beholder. And even some of us who don’t like noise will dislike even more the idea of cops snooping around businesses with noise-measuring equipment and smoke detectors.
Here’s a suggestion for the city council: Go ahead and put the noise ordinance on your to-do list, but put a few things on the list ahead of it. Such as:
• Reverse the island’s precipitous population decline (15-20 percent since the year 2000).
• Cure the perennial complaints about the difficulty of getting building permits and planning approval in Galveston.
• Clean up the city: Remove the 1,000-plus abandoned buildings that mark the city as dying.
• Enforce building codes on derelict homes and businesses still in use.
• Do something — finally, after 100 years — to provide amenities and generate revenue from the city’s most important tourist attraction, the Seawall.
• Fix the freaking potholes and synchronize the traffic lights.
• And once you’ve done all that, lower the dramatic, soaring cost of government permanently — and lower the property tax rate.
Council members, when you get all that done, please feel free to take up a noise ordinance or build a bullet train to Timbuktu. I don’t care. But it sure as hell appears that launching a debate now over an unenforceable noise ordinance will be nothing but a distraction from the truly important work ahead of you.
Why not establish some meaningful priorities and stick to them?
It’s worse than that. To me, the most interesting thing about the story was what it did not way, which is this:
Since 2000, Galveston’s population had declined by 8.8 percent, roughly 5,000 people, before hurricane Ike. The population declined by another 4,000 since Hurricane Ike.
So if that 48,000 figure holds up, the total population decline since the year 2000 is not 9 percent — it’s nearly 16 percent. If the population figure for 2010 is less than 48,000, well, it’s not good.
Researchers from Texas A&M University estimated that when Ike struck on Sept. 13, 2008, the city’s population was then down to between 52,000 and 53,000. That’s down 5,000 from 2000, when the census reported the island was home to more than 57,000.
Think of that. In a decade, the city has lost close to a fifth of its population, and not all that loss — in fact, not even most of it — can be attributed to the storm. Sadly, most of that population loss is among the middle class.
Immediately following Hurricane Ike, this newspaper suggested the way forward was to do everything possible to make Galveston Island once again a place where middle-class families would choose to live.
That ongoing and increasing loss of middle-class families will have a huge impact on the city’s economy, on public services, on our schools (already has), on public safety, on medical care — everything.
So let’s talk about it.
Why are people leaving Galveston?
Is Galveston destined to become a smaller, less important resort community, or are there steps to turn things around?
Editor's Note: Blog updated to include minor additions from a June 3 newspaper column on the same topic.
Every year about this time, people write weighty speeches for graduates. The message, more often than not, is high minded, profound and profoundly boring.
So, instead of writing about meeting the challenges of tomorrow with clear eyes and courage, I thought it might be a good thing to tell graduates a few things they really, truly need to know. Things like:
• Never buy the most expensive house on the street.
• If you’re a man speaking to a woman, never ever comment upon her pregnancy unless you actually see the baby emerging into the world at that moment. (I stole this from someone, but I can’t remember who.)
• There’s really only one answer when your wife asks, “Do these shorts make my butt look big?”
• On appliances that cost less than $1,000, never buy the long-term service warranty. Yeah, yeah, yeah ... I know other people will advise you differently. I think I’m right on this one, though.
Now it’s your turn. If you could impart a single piece of undeniable and rarely mentioned wisdom to a young person, what would it be? This may make a column for the paper, by the way. Please help.
Prior to the May 8 elections, The Daily News conducted polls on two ballot propositions. This practice is new for us, and we learned a lot. However, our admittedly unscientific poll results came out pretty close to the reality of what voters did in the polls on May 8.
Both polls correctly predicted the outcome of the elections, and the stadium poll was within 3 percentage points of the real outcome. The city charter poll on League City was within 6 percentage points of being accurate.
We don’t pretend they are as scientifically accurate as professional polls. However, most so-called professional polls have an admitted margin of error of 3-5 percent, sometimes more.
Also, readers seemed to like the idea of such polling. As school board member Norman Pappous wrote in a blog comment: “We are in the information age. As long as the information is properly qualified, as you did, it is a very useful exercise ... ”
Our plan is to do a bit more online polling and continue to refine the process as we go. Hope you agree.
About Dolph Tillotson
Dolph Tillotson, a native of Tuscaloosa, Ala., has been president and publisher of The Daily News since 1987.
He's a former president of Texas Daily Newspaper Association and the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association, and he has served on the boards of numerous Galveston County charities and economic development groups.
Tillotson and his wife, Teri, live in Galveston. He has two grown children, Katherine and Jay, and five grandchildren. Hobbies include reading, running, mountain climbing and writing.
