A Letter To City Councilman Mike McCutchon

This is a picture from today, 4-14-08, showing the beach after the scraping. Is that really any better looking than before the scraping?


Dear Councilman McCutchon,
I read in the North Padre Moon today that you are planning to place an item on the city agenda to call for another referendum to be held concerning the closing of the beach in front of the seawall on Padre Island.
I am absolutely opposed to this idea. The reason the beach has eroded there is precisely because of the sea wall and the buildings which are built too close to the beach.
The best solution in my opinion would be the destruction of the sea wall and those buildings. I know that is unlikely but as long as these structures are where they are the beach in that area will continue to erode with more rapidity than elsewhere along the beach.
If you doubt this there are many studies from over the years which demonstrate how and why this occurs.
There are also studies, one done by the GLO about 15 years ago, which demonstrates how building on the beach side of the dune line interferes with the natural sand flow cycles from currents, waves and wind which build the dunes and the beaches.
It would be very wrong to award the Holiday Inn and the other places there what would in effect be a private beach, especially when it is the location of these buildings causing the problem.
Such a traffic ban will be in opposition to the spirit and the letter of the beach access law.
It might have been possible to close that section of beach without much public outcry before the beach closure flap of 2005 but now I, and I feel much of the public, doesn’t have much trust in the city government to do the right thing by it’s citizens. The current City Council is a step in the right direction but I feel y’all have a long way to go to revive public confidence in local government. Reviving the beach fight, at this time particularly, would be a great mistake and would once again fan the flames of public distrust and would not accomplish anything of any public benefit.
I went to the beach today and a lot of folks were out there all up and down the beach. Few were in the area in front of the sea wall and frankly, I don’t think there is a big problem there.
Why pick a fight for no good reason? I voted for you because you opposed the beach traffic closure. If you propose such a thing as this I will definitely find some one else to support.
Sincerely,
Dicky Neely

PS: Another subject, forgive me! The method the city uses to scrape up the Sargassum sea weed is also a disaster for the beach. You are scraping up far too much sand for a cosmetic reason.
The Sargassum is another natural building block of the beach and not only does the scraping remove a lot of sand but it hinders the beach building process. Far better to just leave it alone. It will be gone by summer.
Also the dumping of the scrapings in front of the dunes is not a good idea either. Instead of building the dunes this creates a wall which actually hinders dune development. Take a drive down Padre Island sometime past the line into Kleberg county and take a look at the beach and sand dunes in their natural state. It is an eye opener and I firmly believe as much of the beach area on both Padre Island and Mustang Island should left alone as possible. Natural beaches are a draw and an asset, much more so than over developed and damaged beaches!