You can’t fault Port of Galveston leaders for chasing $500,000 a year in new revenue by creating a parking lot for cruise passengers willing to pay premium rates for spaces near the ships.
Achieving that might be harder than it looks, however.
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(4) comments
Every time a ship is in port I see dozens of 18 wheelers lined up .... off loading product such as food and janitorial supplies. I looked over the plan and did not see a location supporting the logistics of the operation.... how can any reasonable long term plan not address the cruise support functions? Maybe I missed that part of the plan but I did notice the VIP lot is on top of the current logistics support staging lot.
[thumbup]
The first thing to take note of in this situation is that the port director has (once again!) failed to read a contract for which compliance is his responsibility. Only this time around he has learned not to actually state that he did not read it to the reporter.
My prediction for the New Year: In 2020, Michael Smith is going to find himself using the terms "deeper than that" and "find a way to accommodate" for more issues than just this one, timely as it may be.
We are at a watershed moment in Galveston history. Decisions that have been made on autopilot, because "we've always done that", or because it's all about the dollars are going to be receiving more careful scrutiny about what is being done, why it's being done, and who it's being done for. The process needs to receive plenty of fresh air in the marketplace of ideas, not a cursory glance in passing and then leave it up to others to decide what's best.
Representative government is fundamentally participatory. We have an obligation to pay attention, learn the facts as best we can and then voice CONSTRUCTIVE criticism if warranted. To my mind, columns like this are a useful antidote to naive assumptions the experts have everything under control.
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