Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - Nueces residents reject bond proposal

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Sunday, June 13, 1999

Nueces residents reject bond proposal
Supporters are dismayed over results
By Jennifer Stump
Caller-Times

They chose nothing.
   A $90 million plan that aimed to link residents of the Gulf of Mexico beach and inland failed at the polls Saturday as county voters rejected an all-or-nothing $38.5 million bond package.
   The plan to raise the JFK Causeway, dredge a boat pass through Packery Channel and build a 200-acre county fairground in Robstown was defeated, 53 percent to 47 percent.
   According to complete but unofficial results, 14,742 people voted against the bond issue and 12,865 people voted in favor. About 15 percent of Nueces County's 188,804 registered voters turned out at the polls.
   County Judge Richard Borchard, who designed the bond package, said he did not understand the lack of community support but would accept it.
   "I think we need to regroup and say, 'What is happening with our community? Why do we have this lack of communication and lack of trust?' " Borchard said. "We need to find out what that is and build that trust with the public.
   "I have to respect the opinion of the public. They spoke."
   Opponents fought the bond issue with a budget that was low, but an anthem that seemed to resonate with many voters: No choice, no bonds.
   Joe O'Brien, a member of the Corpus Christi Taxpayers Association, said he thought the county bond issue included good projects but that officials erred in lumping the proposals together.
   "It's just that the people didn't buy what they were selling," O'Brien said.
   Results 'depressing'
   People who supported the bond projects simply shook their heads at the election results posted and updated on a wall on the second floor of the county courthouse.
   "Depressing," said Ernest Garza, a past president of the Robstown Area Development Commission. "I don't know what it takes to get a project done."
   About $1 million in public and private money was spent in pursuit of the bond election. The county spent $700,000 for a feasibility study of Packery Channel and the fairgrounds, it cost $90,000 to hold the election and a group supporting the bond sale raised about $175,000 to push the issue.
   Bob Bezdek, political science professor at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, said the election results show that Corpus Christi officials should be cautious if they decide to go forward with a spring 2000 bond election.
   "If there was something that had a good chance to pass, I thought this was it," Bezdek said.
   Longtime issues
   The three projects included in the bond issue for years have continually eluded public officials, who faltered each time they went looking for financing.
   County officials designed the bond package to appeal to different parts of the county, linking groups that have traditionally clashed when it comes to civic planning.
   The island and the northwest portion of the county united in overwhelming support of the projects, although it was not enough to overcome opposition from the southern portion of Corpus Christi, Flour Bluff and Port Aransas.
   Padre Island voters hit the ballot boxes en masse: 48 percent of registered voters turned out, with 88 percent voting in favor of the bond package.
   Robstown had a 14 percent voter turnout, with 89 percent of its voters in favor of the bond sale.
   About 20 percent of Calallen voters cast ballots, with 63 percent supporting the bond. Calallen residents did not have a project on the ballot, but would have benefited if the bond had passed because highway money would have been diverted to road improvements on Farm-to-Market Road 624 in their area.
   However, 79 percent of voters in Port Aransas opposed the issue. The city has traditionally supported the elevation of the JFK Causeway, but vehemently opposed the Packery Channel project because it would likely divert economic development further south on the island.
   Flour Bluff voters also opposed the projects: 55 percent voted against the bond sale.
   Hispanic vs. Anglo
   Bezdek said predominantly Hispanic precincts supported the bond issue, while predominantly Anglo districts - other than the island and Calallen - opposed the bond. However, three times as many voters in the predominantly Anglo districts turned out to vote.
   "If the Hispanic precincts in Robstown had turned out, it would have passed," Bezdek said.
   The Citizens for Nueces County's Future, a group supporting the bond issue, raised at least $175,000 - or $13.60 for every "yes" vote - to fund a massive marketing plan to push the bond package. They blanketed the county with yard signs and worked phone banks to telemarket the bond to likely voters.
   Supporters also walked door-to-door, often enlisting Borchard, the mayor and other political personalities to help them advertise. Spanish language radio ads encouraged voters to get to the polls and direct mail fliers targeted different areas of the county.
   About 30 volunteers have worked the campaign daily, said John Trice, a member of Citizens for Nueces County's Future.
   "It's not a dead issue," Trice said. "We will come back with another plan. I owe it to my son. He's 13. We are not going to let this community be held hostage by these people."
   On Saturday, they positioned their conspicuous red and blue signs near polling places. One group of diehards gathered on the top of a moving van parked on the side of the JFK Causeway, waving to passing cars and holding signs asking people to vote "yes."
   Opponents outspent
   Opponents of the bond package were massively outspent by the supporters.
   They spent about $3,500 for T-shirts, signs and ads imploring voters to cast ballots against the bond issue, according to campaign finance reports.
   "We spent 30 cents per vote," said Pat Suter, a member of Citizens Against Blackmail, a group that opposed the bonds. "If it costs so much to get people to vote in favor of it, there must be a problem with the issue."
   Nueces County Commissioner Joe McComb, who has been one of the champions of the bond package and has supported the Packery Channel project for years, said county officials and volunteers had made their best effort to get the bond proposal approved.
   "We have nothing to be ashamed about," McComb said. "We've been up front and honest with the folks. We'll do our best to run the county efficiently. The world won't come to an end. It will get a little bit slower around here.
   "It's a community decision. That's why it's up for a vote."
   The fairgrounds would have been open within three years, while Packery Channel and the elevation of the JFK Causeway would have taken between four and five years to complete, officials said.
   A tax hike of 1 cent per $100 property valuation would have raised the $38.5 million in local money needed for the projects.
   Specifics of the plan
   The county's plan would have worked like this:

$10 million of local money would be matched by $30 million in state money to raise the JFK Causeway.

$10.5 million of local money would be matched with $19.5 million in federal money to dredge Packery Channel. The Army Corps of Engineers has determined there is a federal interest in reopening the channel because it may provide environmental and navigational benefits and reduce storm damage to the area.

$18 million in local money and $2 million in state grants would pay for a county fairground in Robstown. A 5,000-seat main arena on a 200-acre piece of property would allow the county to hold a large fair with a livestock show and rodeo each year. Nueces County is currently the largest metropolitan area in the state without a county fair.

$4 million from the Metropolitan Planning Organization would pay for widening FM 624 from five to seven lanes. The money was pledged earlier to help raise the JFK Causeway, but could be diverted to this project because the county has taken responsibility for the local match for JFK.
   Now the planning organization will keep the $4 million earmarked for the JFK Causeway.
   Although the county sponsored the bond election, elevating the causeway and dredging Packery Channel meant that $70 million would have been spent inside the Corpus Christi city limits.
   "We haven't invested in our community in a long time," Mayor Loyd Neal said.
   City election next
   A city bond election will likely be the next on the ballot for voters.
   The city will likely hold an election next spring to deal with street repairs, street lights, parks and the seawall, which engineers have said will cost $36 million to strengthen enough to withstand a major hurricane's storm surge.
   "As we develop the city budget, I hope that we will show people we are fiscally responsible," Neal said.
   Corpus Christi voters have been willing to approve other bond elections in the past four years, but all of those were for education.
   Commissioner Oscar Ortiz said officials will deal with working out the county's proposed 1999-2000 budget, leaving out the 1-cent addition to the county's 33-cent tax rate.
   "I guess people are saying the want basic services and low economic development," he said.



Staff writer Jennifer Stump can be reached at 886-3778 or by e-mail at stumpj@caller.com

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