Nick Jimenez

Sunday, January 16, 2000

It's a sick city, with more flu than revenue

If one were looking for positives, this week wasn't the week to be looking at Corpus Christi.
   Another plan to save the courthouse died almost as quickly as it had sprung up, only to revive once again, sort of.
   The "repo man" is after the Columbus ships, and the trench warfare on the Corpus Christi school board continued. And at Del Mar College, the impasse over naming a building deepened, making me think that perhaps they've secretly been holding joint meetings with the CCISD board.
   We'd all care a lot about all this display of ineptness and obstinacy if we weren't all sick with the flu. You either have the flu, have had the flu or about to get the flu. What this town needs is a big bowl of chicken soup.
   A bowl of chicken soup certainly might rank ahead of a transportation museum at the moment. The museum is the chief come-on for snaring a big federal grant that would restore the old county courthouse. The grant hopes are still alive, even though County Judge Richard Borchard had earlier declared the latest effort to save the courthouse dead.
   Why a transportation museum, you ask? Well, the money would come from federal transportation funds and a transportation museum would rate high in the eyes of folks who have the yea or nay. If they want a transportation museum, we'll give them a transportation museum.
   If Dusty Durrill goes to the dog track, he must back nothing but long shots. Durrill is the main cog behind the plan to restore the courthouse, and the chief guarantor, through the foundation he controls, of the loans for the Columbus ships. This week he slapped a lien on the ships as a demand for the money owed the foundation. If all goes badly, we might have a chance to go to a public auction and bid on a couple of confiscated stolen bicycles, a used sheriff's car or two and three wooden ships, barely used.
   For its part, the Del Mar board of regents is split between naming its new classroom building for Carlos Truan, the state senator, or Solomon Coles, the pioneer black educator. Pick your poison: tee off a powerful legislator or the black community. Without some graceful resolution, the board is on track to honor someone by a vote of 5 to 4.
   But on rancor, the CCISD board is still champ. The Israelis and the Syrians are now on better speaking terms with each other than the two factions on the board. With the court of inquiry ahead, for all intents and purposes, this is a caretaker board. No matter which comes first, indictments or the May elections, any big controversial issues are beyond the ability of this board to tackle and resolve.
   But it can't and won't last forever. The district faces some tough issues, some as near as a few months. The biggest of these is the matter of a fifth high school.
   The results of a facilities study are due to come before the board soon. Authorized by the board some time ago, the study takes a look at the population trends, the state of the present facilities and some options for the years ahead.
   The money needed to fund the facilities recommendations will mean a bond election. It will mean discussing the possible redrawing of attendance boundaries. It will mean the closing of several elementary schools. These will be tough issues that will draw fire.
   A cohesive and unified board that can discuss issues, resolve differences, and move on will be critical. A board and a superintendent that have the credibility to go before the public and ask them to vote millions of dollars in bonds will be vital.
   There are other issues, too. The district has benefited greatly because of its ability to win millions of dollars in grants. The grants have been key to successful initiatives, such as at Miller High School. The ability to renew those grants and win new grants depends on a large extent on intangibles, such as political stability.
   The negatives have had the upper hand for now. But the positives must start turning up soon.
  
  

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