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Opinion

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

It is with a sad heart that I first learned of the terrible accident that befell my friend Marilee Wood and then went on to take her life. You have no further to look than to the late 90’s in local history to the year 2000 when Wimberley became Incorporated, Marilee was a leader in Wimberley becoming an organized community in more ways than I can or could ever list here. She earned her place in our history and then continued to solidify it in every way possible.

Community needs to keep KAPS

The board of trustees for Katherine Anne Porter School seems prepared to turn the KAP School into Premier Wimberley. This is a tragedy and a gift of a very valuable piece of real estate to a charter management company with no history of supporting the cultural arts curriculum. They have no plan to provide anything that Katherine Anne Porter stood for. It would be spitting in her face after de cades of sacrifice and commitment.

WISD lacking leadership, COVID-19 protocols

Eight days. Eight days is all it took for our 7-year-old to contract Covid after being back in Wimberley, TX public school system. 7 Days is all it took for our 9-year-old to be exposed to Covid not once, not twice, but three times since being back in Wimberley, TX elementary school. Now they will both be out of school recovering and quarantining longer than they were even in.

Speaking up about voting rights

I occasionally get angry enough to call my Texas Senators. The most recent occasion concerned voting rights legislation. I know, what’s the use, right? Nevertheless, I think it’s important to let both John Cornyn and Ted Cruz know they are on the wrong side of democracy, regardless of claims of state’s rights. I mean, in the United States did we ever believe we would have to call our senators and beg for democracy?

Being a better loser and winner

Most of us learned from Little League that sometimes you lose. When you do you must act like a gentleman (or lady), shake hands with your opponent and go on about your business. That is how Whitehead, Scheel, Eskelund and their supporters should now behave. Likewise, the winner must be gracious and respectful.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

There is wisdom in evaluating one’s relationships by paying attention to whether the intention of an individual or entity is to “use” you or to “care” about you. This is what I tell my children. For instance, when I presented my plan to the city council to turn the ugly retaining wall on RR12 by the Community Center into a faux rock mural similar to rock buildings around town, it wasn’t about me. It was about Wimberley. The late Bill & MF Johnson, historically our oldest citizens, were at the meeting ready to protest a possibly egocentric artwork—but then became the first to approve. I painted in the July heat with wonderful support, as citizens cheered me on.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Will Wimberley recognize and welcome a sustainable, conservation-oriented village and natural area proposal? Or is the tendency to lump all development into the category of ‘evil & greedy’ just too strong? I am the developer and architect behind the Citaspel proposal that has been discussed in recent Letters to the Editor of the Wimberley View. Both in those letters, in discussions on social media, and in the public meetings we have held to pitch the proposal to neighbors and solicit feedback, we (my team and I) have met with oppoosition from some neighbors. I would like to respond to those opponents.

Growth doesn’t have to be inevitable

On December 2nd, I attended the community meeting about a potential of a new development at RR12 and 1492. Mr. Connely and the developer made several arguments that I believe are lazy arguments intended to scare the community into allowing them to profit off something that belongs to all of us. They said things like, development is inevitable, this is not nearly as bad as it could be, someone is going to come in and clear cut this area - at least we aren’t going to do that, and my least favorite - if you don’t do this, rich developers will take over the city council and get what they want, we are the good guys. If we put these boogyman arguments into a bit of historical context, we see can see that developers who intend to profit off of things that belong to the collective have long employed these types of bullying scare tactics. In the 1950s and 1960s, damming of the Grand Canyon seemed inevitable. The wheels of the government had already started moving and massive political and financial interest were riding on the damming project. Indeed, many suggested that it was unstoppable. David Brower, Martin Litton, and a band of other people who did not buy the inevitability argument, and were not scared by powerful bullies, launched an assault on the plans of the powerful Floyd Dominy and his branch of the federal government. Today, 60 years later the inevitable dam has still not been built. We can stand at the rim of Marble Canyon and enjoy the untarnished views of the Grand Canyon. We owe that opportunity to people who refused to believe that development was inevitable. Why should we think that our town is any less saveable from strip malls and housing developments?

Issues abound with potential development

A developer team, including Jack Eure, the principal, and Will Conley, our own, gave a presentation at the Community Center last week. They plan to develop 54 acres at 1492 and RR 12--calling it Tierra de Piedra. In their introduction, I was warmed by their use of “conservation,” “sustainable,” “nature preserve,” “needs of the community,” and “dark skies.” By the end, I was chilled to the bone by their violation of them all.

Letters to the Editor

Do we want urbanization in Wimberley? Do we want to endorse high density development even if it is packaged as something that is supposed to benefit us? High density development means many people living closely together in a small area. Is that why you live in the Wimberley community? It has been represented that Citaspel will be an urban development project being promoted for 54 acres on the south side of Wimberley by Jack Eure with the help of Will Conley. Citaspel will consist of 75,000 square feet of commercial/retail space fronting on Ranch Road 12 and houses, apartments and studios at the rear of the property on approximately nine acres of land. As it has been presented to the surrounding property owners, the plan calls for 34 buildings to house as many as 150 people on nine acres of the property. Several of the residential units will be sold to investors for use as VRBO and Air B&B units.

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Wimberley View

P.O. Box 49
Wimberley, TX 78676
Phone: 512-847-2202
Fax: 512-847-9054