I was born on Galveston Island, a quirky barrier island town that's just off of the coast of Texas, about fifty miles south of Houston, in 1940. Most of my adult life, until I moved to Dallas three years ago, was spent as the owner of a Galveston real estate company. Galvestonians will recognize my familiar logo to the left.
Even if you've never vacationed there, you are at least familiar with the name because from time to time a hurricane threatens it, and you see and hear about it on the nightly news.
For more than 100 years, Galveston's new developments have been small and rare. In fact, a huge number of the homes and buildings are at least 50 years old, and more than half of them, I would guess, are about a century old. That's what makes Galveston, Galveston. It's why islanders live there and it's one of the main reasons people go there to vacation.
During the past twenty years, by default that was caused by the deaths of other Galveston writers, Linda Macdonald and I have been Galveston's primary historians. Linda knows more about the famous 1900 Hurricane than anyone, for an example. And my speciality is writing and telling the personal stories of those who have lived there.
My book, "Bill Cherry's Galveston Memories" still sells well even though it was published in 2000. And I also wrote similar pieces for the Galveston paper in a weekly column for about ten years, and did on-camera, on location pieces for News-24 Houston.
Galveston has found itself in a rather weird position since mortgage money has become available in huge amounts, and there for the asking to almost anyone. It has allowed outside developers to buy up massive amounts of land and at last count, build and have some 6,500 condominiums either for sale, under construction, or recently sold. There is no way a reasonable attrition can use up this enormous overbuilding in a town that has a total population (every man, woman and child) of less than 60,000, a town whose general population and public school population have been diminishing for years.
If that isn't bad enough, now a monstrous tract of land, known in recent years as the Chapaton Ranch, but what old timers like me refer to as the Wayman Ranch, was sold to a group that goes under the name of Marquette. This land is not behind the city's famous seawall, but it is at sea level and where nature lives...birds, bugs, fireflies, snakes, lizards, fish, and exotic plants, and its the home of fish and shrimp spawning marshes. It's where people stroll the beaches for miles with few signs of modern man sharing it with them.
And at night it's where astronomy, earth and sea, a menage a trois, touch ever so lightly for a loving kiss.
Marquette's plan, quite naturally, is to remove a great portion of this natural beauty and the necessities of nature, so that they can build homes and hotels and condominiums and shopping centers and apartments and a golf course, boat slips and the like. Things that will complete a density that, at least in my view and the view of many others, is a totally inappropriate use -- a violation of the nature patterns of a barrier island.
So, those with whom I share a common view on this issue have started a web site, and on that web site is a petition that can be signed by Galveston residents who oppose this development. The petition will be presented to the City Council with the hopes that the council will not approve Marquette's permit.
If you are interested reading and perhaps adding your name to the petition, please click here: SIGN PETITION
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