Letter to the Caller/Times, Oct. 30, 2005

Letter to the Editor, Corpus Christi Caller/Times
Sunday, October 30, 2005

Dear Editor,
This morning’s lead in-house editorial (Sunday, Oct. 30) calls into question the right of the people to call for a referendum.
Calling this right of the people “Government by Petition” The Caller/Times says, “It’s time for a re-think.”
Of course this particular editorial concerns the recent closing of the 4,200-foot section of public beach by the city council. The Caller/Times has editorially supported this taking of public property and limiting of public beach access.
The editorial states “We think that having a beach where families can let kids run loose without worrying about passing traffic would be an attraction…”
Do any of you people ever go to the beaches around here? There are plenty of places that don’t allow driving right on the beach but still allow vehicular traffic to pass safely past the barriers which separate the driving lanes from the biggest part of the beach, as in Port Aransas, or provides near beach parking, with no traffic by the water, such as by Bob Hall and Horace Caldwell piers.
The referendum is necessary when elected officials fail to listen to the public and the outcry on this issue is such as it should be difficult to ignore. You people are messing around with something that is a local tradition around here and seen as a right, that no city council has the authority to take away with a vote in council.
The idea of limiting the right of referendum is abhorrent. It is un-democratic and elitist.
Sincerely,
Dicky Neely