Letters to the Editor
Is Wimberley a Lost Cause?
Many in the town have lived in Wimberley longer than my own 25 years here, particularly within the incorporated city limits. Looking through my property tax records, I have seen a 5 fold increase in property values so far, just for the land. I’m sure those that have been here longer and those with more land, particularly those with holdings along the major thoroughfares, have seen larger cumulative increases - valuable investments for themselves and their families.
Like a ripening peach hanging on the bough, Wimberley is ripe for the picking. Burgeoning on the horizon, the Austin/San Antonio metropolitan area swells, belches, and gobbles up more of the countryside. Consuming and digesting the towns between, Bee Cave and more, the urban beast reaches its tentacles toward Wimberley. A good time to be here for those wishing to profit from what urbanization brings.
What do the citizens that live here want? Hard to say, since so few people bother to vote, and since the city limits don’t really represent the interests of all who live within the general area. Of those who have voted, the majority have recently installed a city government that represents a mirror image of the national political situation - a situation favoring unbridled corporate interests. That isn’t hard to decipher, given the enormous campaign signs for the recent victors that were installed upon prime development lands. It isn’t hard to decipher, when the new council favors giving up our soul to the much hated Aqua America Corporation and it’s desire to see more development and more customers. One can only wonder how this will all play out with regional water wars coming into play.
Seeing the resemblance of our local government to the national scene, I reflect upon what the latter represents - ego and power, and doing the bidding of those pulling the strings behind the scenes. Ego and power trump honesty, the rule of law, financial responsibility and fairness, and no matter how much our spiritual traditions may promote the Golden Rule and its variations, nothing can get in the way of personal gains and pride. After all, a lie is just a small thing, such as the one claiming Cypress Creek is not polluted, such as the one claiming the losing candidates are pro-discharge of pollutants into the river, and such as using incorrect math to promote an agenda. Science and accuracy can be so irrelevant when one has an agenda. A few sloppy mistakes, such as unnecessarily wasting $1.1 million of city funds (and counting!) don’t matter when one has an agenda.
One has to reflect upon what unbridled corporate interests (whether locally or nationally) represent, as well as how people can be manipulated with emotion, so I consulted my dictionary for a few pointers, The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. Here we go.
Fascism - A philosophy or system of government that advocates or exercises a dictatorship of the extreme right, typically through the merging of state and business leadership, together with an ideology of belligerent nationalism.
Thomas E. Manes
An Open Letter to
Wimberley’s Mayor
Dear Mayor Jaggers:
By now, you must be well aware that your actions in regard to Aqua Texas are the key piece that will determine how your mayorship and the current council are remembered.
If you go with the AT option, you will be known as the city government that thwarted the will of the majority and ruined Wimberley irreparably by prolonging the pollution of Cypress Creek, costing the city millions of dollars, placing a disreputable outside corporation in charge of our sewage treatment, and opening the valley to uncontrolled development..
During the election previous to yours, candidates promoting AT were defeated by a significant margin. You won your election with the promise that AT was off the table. At the only meetings since then where public comment has been allowed, an overwhelming number of citizens have expressed opposition to AT, by 9/10ths and 3/4ths.
As the engineer with many years experience in multi-million dollar construction projects cautioned you at the council meeting last Thursday, June 21st, to make a U-turn in the currently planned city construction project will bring disaster.
No one can predict precisely what the financial and social fallout of such an unwise move would be, but we know it will cost the city millions of dollars and further deepen divisions among the citizens.
If instead, you drop the deeply unpopular and obviously unwise option of going with AT, your legacy can be one of lasting benefit to the community, and genuine protection of the beautiful natural environment where we live.
I do understand you are still in the process of learning what is actually involved in the situation, but many of us have been observing this process closely all along, and it’s clear that if you go with Aqua Texas, you will be remembered as the mayor and council that ruined Wimberley forever.
Thank you for your attention.
Sincerely,
Bruce P. Grether
Blue Hole should do it themselves
Friends, I am so happy you are getting this out to all that may really be upset .....Now YOU all can take over the operations of Blue Hole Park...Bring the sewer line across the road from the new school on Winders Mill Parkway....that effluent will be Type !.......Our city then will be able to focus ALL resources getting itself out of debt due to the Friends and all others that want something for nothing. There is a big debt with this project...All I hear is”do it” ........... from the “Friends of Blue Hole” I am so happy that you seen willing to step up and take over. After all you seem to easily raise money and could have long ago had Type I for your trees had you spent some 400,000.00 and used the effluent from the plant now on site. Now is your chance to make the world see just what great heros you really are!!! You know well petitions mean little... those that get them still MUST do something. Now its your turn with ALL be hind you to become a positive force... stop your complaining and go to work.
Then Wimberley will be able to be more proactive without the Blue Hole Park annual debt of $360,000.
Thank you......
Lila McCall
Response to
Mayor’s Corner
In her “Mayor’s Corner” column in The View last week, Mayor Susan Jaggers expressed some concerns about the Central Wimberley Wastewater Project. Here are some of them, with my reply to each:
1. Mayor: “I am concerned about the project cost.” Hopson: The cost of the project HAS risen from initial cost projections, but that is largely due to delays willfully caused by some Council members who are still on the Council. Prices escalate as Council dilly-dallies. Yet both TWDB and TCEQ are confident that the City can repay the loan.
2. Mayor: “I am concerned about sufficient funding....” (a) Mayor identifies $8 million in sources of funding. Hopson: $8 million is more than is needed. (b) Mayor says, “On a worst case basis, additional taxing revenue would be needed (i.e. - property taxes) -- or major cuts to City’s budgeted spending.” Hopson: Mayor Jaggers never fails to put before us the dread specter of property taxes, even though she knows full well that, by terms of the TWDB loan, an ad valorem property tax is not on the table. Not even near the table.
3. Mayor: “I am concerned about the financial burden placed on the affected property owners....” The mayor laments that the City will not be paying the line connection fee for users. Hopson: Neither will Aqua Texas. But City will allow users to pay the fee over 8 years. Will Aqua do that?
4. Mayor Jaggers is concerned that the Project will not ensure No Discharge. Hopson: Under the City plan a 500,000-gallon storage tank will store up to 20 days’ production of wastewater. If the tank should become full, trucks will empty the tank. No discharge can escape from the tank, as it could from a pond in time of torrential or prolonged rain, or during a flood.
5. The mayor believes “a complete and accurate picture” of the wastewater plan is needed. Hopson: That picture is precisely what the previous Council has already presented to the public and passed in an open vote. The current Council is now stalling, trying to delay or derail the wastewater Project.
Sincerely,
Barbara Hopson