b'For thousands of Coastal Benders, as well as frequent visitors from all over Texas,product, compared to any other major destination in Texas, is wrong and short-sight-Bob Hall Pier on North Padre Island has stood as an institution for fishermen anded. The answer to long-term growth of tax revenue is to build more, not less.-women, sightseers and nature lovers, for generations. For some of us, our earliestThe restaurant and bar space that was successfully operated as Mikel Mays for sev-and most-fun memories as kids took place on Bob Hall Pier! eral years proved the commercial viability of Bob Hall Pier, beyond the $5 entry fee Since the pier first opened in 1950, it has been destroyed or seriously damaged andand beer, bait and ice. The plan that we heard for the past two years about the return rebuilt at least six times. The pier has ranged in length from 300-feet when it wasof the restaurant, plus the addition of hotel, retail and event space, energized and first built, to over 1,200-feet for the most recent version that was rebuilt with concreteencouraged anyone you asked on Padre Island.pilings in the early 1980s. To be clear, Bob Hall Pier was not destroyed by HurricaneLike so many great plans over the years, that vision may soon fail, and there is no Hanna in 2000. It was finished off by Hanna after Harvey weakened it in 2017, andexcuse from the Commissioners Court. (1) FIND THE MONEY! Stakeholders in Nueces County failed to fund its repair and reinforcement. the success of Bob Hall Pier include the City of Corpus Christi, the Flour Bluff ISD, Now, in the face of huge budget shortfalls that are the result of the countys well-paidTexas Parks & Wildlife, the Texas General Land Office, U.S. Fish & Game, NOAA, commissioners and county judges failure to audit and scrutinize revenue projectionsand if you allowed scientific equipment on the end, probably Texas A&M or U.T.coming from the tax assessor, an expected budget of over $27 million to rebuild (2) Create Public-Private Partnerships! As a matter of public record, Mikel Mays and expandBob Hall Pier is on the chopping block. was paying $10,000 per month in rent, and operated as a profitable business. There is Once again, just as is the case of the 1914 Nueces County Courthouse debacle ofthe little doubt that a good developer could secure $100,000 per month, or more, in ho-almost 50 years, the elected leaders of Nueces County are once again on the precipicetel and commercial rent on the pier. A million-bucks-a-year can pay sizable bond debt.of failureand our fair citizens and tourists will again pay the price. We Coastal Bend lifers are accustom to missed opportunities to grow, and that is why Coming off the best tourist season in the Coastal Bends history, when hotel occupan- we are so behind the rest of Texas. What another shame it would be to miss the chance cy grew while the rest of the state shrank, to reduce our already minuscule tourismto make Bob Hall Pier better than everfor our grandkids. Nueces County CitizenPAID PERSONAL OPINION FROM A COMMON NUECES COUNTY TAXPAYER'