b'In the middle of the hot summer of 2023, possibly after reading an extensive andUrban Engineering and others to formulate a very specific plan to build a mile-long, detailed news story about Corpus Christis need for a convention center hotel, a con- navigable canal on North Beach that would solve the chronic flooding problem on tingent of Council members put together Proposition A for the November, off-yearthe peninsula, while creating an entertainment and hospitality zone akin to the San election ballot. Prop A called for the use of 1/8 cent in City sales tax to attract a con- Antonio Riverwalk, complete with hotels, restaurants, event space, and marinas. vention center hotel developer, among other improvements. While the propositionAttached to the project, and spearheaded by the Ed Rachal Foundation, was the cre-was hastily thrown together with little detail, within just a few months of the elec- ation of eleven spoil islands using dredge material from the canal that would act as a tion, and while everyone seems to agree on the need to expand the citys tourism andbreakwater for the beach, where erosion costs $500,000+ a year to mitigate. With the convention business, the reason it failed by a 70/30 margin with voters came downnew Harbor Bridge coming, along with a deeper ship channel with bigger ships, the to a single issuethey did not trust the City of Corpus Christi to use the money aserosion problem is only going to get worse. The spoil island proposal is a genius solu-intendedand their concern was well-grounded, based on years of experience. tion for the erosion, but the big opportunity rests in Henry Cisneros observation that Mayor Paulette Guajardo defeated Joe McComb in the 2020 runoff election on oneCorpus Christi should become a national center for marine science education and issue, which she made the centerpiece of her case against him in the televised debateresearch, the foundation of which already exists with the Harte Research Institute at before the runoffand that was his acceptance of a $65,000 donation to his politicalTAMUCC, the University of Texas at Austin Marine Science Institute in Port Aransas, action committee from Fulton Construction, whose offices were raided by the FBI,and the Texas State Aquarium, which just opened a $20 million rescue facility.along with the home of CCISD trustee John Longoria, a week after the general elec- Marine science departments at universities across the country would clamor at the tion. Guajardos criticism was McCombs alleged intention to funnel a $250 millionchance to custom-develop islands of marine ecosystemthe ultimate living marine contract to Fulton for the construction of a desalinization water plant. Paulette de- laboratoriesand there is a high chance that many of the big industrial and energy feated Joe in the runoff decided by less than 18,000 motivated voters and may be on her way to a third term. Of course, the issue of a desal plant is far from deadin fact,conglomerates that operate in the Coastal Bend would be happy to help fund the Mayor Guajardos plan is to spend $750 million on two desal plants! Just as disappoint- effort, as mitigation for what they take from the environment. With the North Beach ing is that City Councils most vocal watchdog of the past several years, our early-yearsspoil islands would also come new markets for educational and eco-tourismbut Henry Cisneros if you will, District 5 member Gil Hernandez, abstained from the votehave we heard a single City leader broach the subject?that approved the project. This is the vacuum of leadership from which Corpus ChristiIn fact, after months of public debate in 2019, which included hundreds of Corpus suffers most. Eventually, they all fall in line with what the power-brokers want. Christians turning out to voice their support for the North Beach plan, Council ap-At the request of the City of Corpus Christi, which formed a task force on the re- proved $42.5 million to build the canal designed by Urban Engineering by a vote of development of North Beach in 2018, Dallas developer Jeff Blackard worked with9-0, including the current mayor. After the 2020 election, that vote was completely 50THE COASTAL BEND MAGAZINE TheCoastalBend.com'