Around the island By Dale Rankin It’s hard to say which was scarier thinkk, all the ghosts and goblins making the rounds for Halloween or the My Hair Is On Fire atmosphere of the Election Season. But now the Walking Dead have returned to their subterranean realms, and the Trick or Treaters have gone home too so maybe things can get back to what passes for normal on our little sandbar. The rough offshore waters have kept the boating crowd within eyeshot of land lately and some of our more dedicated fisherperson are showing signs of cabin fever. It happens about this time every year but fear not fellow Islanders, this too shall pass. Artwalk The Fourth Annual Padre Island Art Walk sponsored by the POA drew a great crowd at Billish Park on Saturday. A big thank you to the Smiths for taking on the project and making it a great addition to the annual Island calendar. JoAnn reports that the surprise this year was the number of folks who attended from OTB. Sooner or later we’re going to need a bigger bridge. Island communication One of the facts of Island life that becomes more readily apparent each day is the need for better communication between the two ends of The Island. The issue is that is bringing things into sharp focus is traffic. As the Texas Department of Transportation moves forward with plans to widen SH 361 on the south end of Port Aransas the Island Strategic Action Committee in its next meeting on December 2 will hear a presentation on plans to place a traffic light on SPID at its intersection with Aquarius at the base of the JFK Causeway. While these two projects, and other traffic plans at each end of The Island, may not seem related, to planners both in Port Aransas and on Padre it is obvious that they are. Anything done on either end of our Island has a direct impact on traffic and business at the other end. When heavy traffic on the beach North of Packery caused a massive traffic snarl during Spring Break two years ago restaurants in Port Aransas ended up with too much food stock on hand because it was too difficult for visitors to get up the 18-mile runway. Then the next year when overcrowding on the same North Packery beaches led to them being closed to more visitors the rush was on to Port Aransas. In neither case were the folks in Port Aransas aware what was coming at them due to actions on the Padre end which they knew nothing about. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Lines at the ferry landings in Port Aransas impact the number of cars going over the JFK; the timing of the traffic light at Commodores and SPID effects traffic all the way up SH 361 to Port Aransas; a traffic accident on the highway inside the Corpus Christi City Limits impacts the traffic operations of Port Aransas Police. If we think of the road, and other infrastructure, from the ferry landings to the base of the JFK Causeway as one continuous creature, which it is, then the need for good communication between the two ends of The Island is obvious. Then there is the housing market, the tourist industry, the needs for the handling of more airport traffic, the list goes on. The point is that there is currently no forum for direct communication between businesses and governments in Padre Island and Port Aransas. Here is suggesting a monthly luncheon that alternates between Padre and Port Aransas to facilitate communication and planning. We will help get it organized. It seems like an idea whose time has come. Communication is never a bad thing. La Posada It may now seem like it as we sit here in the balmy climes of early November, at least as of this writing, but the La Posada season is just around the corner. We are including coverage of the events in this issue and will have more in the coming weeks. The folks over at the Padre Island Yacht Club have a full slate of events on tap beginning with the kickoff party at Scuttlebutt’s. We’ll see you there, in the meantime say hello if you see us Around The Island
Posted on: Sat, 08 Nov 2014 02:38:08 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015