36 THE COASTAL BEND MAGAZINE • Fall 2018 TheCoastalBend.com ix years ago, one of the most successful developers in Texas threw a lifeline to homeowners who reside on the abandoned and dilapidated Pharaoh Valley Golf Course—to buy the over- grown and vagrant-friendly 42 acres and build a magnificent, mixed-use village that includes a new, 9-hole golf course. The Italian-themed Barisi Village amounted to an investment of some $300 million and would mark a significant step forward in the long-term growth of the Coastal Bend. A no-brainer, right? In just about every corner of the Earth, yes, it is a no-brainer. Who would turn down such an opportunity? In our January/February 2018 edition [Symptom of a Greater Disease: The Barisi Village Challenge] we analyzed the resistance to improving Pharaoh Valley from a bird’s eye perspective, in the context of a long, painful list of missed development opportuni- ties in the Coastal Bend over the past 30 years or so. We also attempted to quantify the cost to our community of resisting the kinds of development that have fueled the historic growth of our two biggest northern neighbors, San Antonio and Austin. As we make plans to visit or receive our kids and grandkids this holiday season, either here or “up there,” let us be reminded of the price we pay for the Coastal Bend having so much less to offer than the bigger Texas cities. For those of us who are not of the Ocean Drive class, per se, the mystery prevails of “who” and “how” the conspiracies come together that target eager “outside” investors in Corpus Christi (specifically), with the sole purpose of wearing them out and running them off. And most of the time it works. The entrenched, old money Corpitos grew up at the end of an era when all aspi- rants to the city’s owners’ club passed only through their gates, and typically through their hands onto which a little piece of the action would be smeared—or there would be no action. Billionaire entrepreneur Tilman Fertitta, chairman of Landry’s, Inc., stood firm in his negotiations with then-Mayor Loyd Neal to development the Corpus Christi Marina into an at- traction similar to the Kemah Boardwalk, by resisting the City’s insistence that he employ a local contractor. Neal killed the deal and Fertitta took his $100 million to San Antonio. Just before the collapse of North Padre Island real estate val- S