The Paper of South Texas

July 13, 2006

    Imagine the public outrage if the national news media suddenly reported that President Bush had signed off on a Congressional plan to sell property rights to Yellowstone National Park to private developers. Imagine the street riots if it were further discovered that those private developers were none other than former Enron executives.

    Isla Blanca Park at South Padre Island may not be Yellowstone, the Cameron County Commissioners Court isn’t Congress, and certainly County Judge Gilberto Hinojosa is no George Bush, but there are similarities between this imaginary scenario and what’s happening to public land on South Padre Island.

  As we reported in last week’s issue of

(please see “Stealing South Padre,” 7.5), the Cameron County Commissioners Court has apparently signed a contract to turn over control of Isla Blanca Park to private developers led by one Barry Keenan.

  Keenan has no relationship (that we know of) to Ken Lay’s cronies at Enron, but he has his own shady past, having served prison time for the kidnapping of Frank Sinatra Jr. in the 1960s and been involved in questionable land deals since.

  All that aside, this entire business of turning over any or all of Isla Blanca Park to private developers is nothing short of public theft. What’s even more troubling is that Cameron County commissioners have been negotiating away rights to this property in a less-than-transparent manner. 

  Dating back to 2004, county commissioners court meeting agendas have described the Laguna Madre Enhancement Group’s plan to lease Isla Blanca Park as a “concession agreement,” leading many to believe that negotiations involved nothing more than selecting a new nachos and soda vendor.

  But the Laguna Madre group has grandiose plans for Isla Blanca, including marinas, condos, casinos, movie theatres and more, while pushing out the RV park and many public access areas that local and visiting beach lovers have enjoyed for years at affordable prices.

 Since 1950, the Brownsville Navigation District has entrusted the 165-acre beachfront property to Cameron County, provided it uses the land as a public park.  And for 56 years the county has, until Keenan flashed a potential golden goose in commissioners’ faces. 

  Suddenly, commissioners managed to find loopholes in the agreement, allowing them to yank the park from the public and turn over this picturesque chunk of South Texas to private interests.

  But to whose benefit? Certainly not the public’s, and that’s who the county judge and commissioners are supposed to look out for and defend.

  Since this issue has gone public, a Save Isla Blanca Park group has been gathering momentum and now claims to have over 30,000 signatures on a petition opposing any development.

  Commissioners have taken notice and claim to hear the group’s pain, but to what avail?  Is an agreement between the county and Keenan’s group a done deal? What exactly does the deal stipulate? And is there a back-out clause in the agreement?

  Details of the deal are still vague, and that’s where Cameron County commissioners are doing a great disservice to the public. They should have stated their intentions and negotiations with developers in plain English from the very beginning.

  Instead, commissioners first claimed to have an agreement, then no agreement, and now a partial agreement. Which is it?

  Cameron County commissioners need to come clean with the pubic and if possible, drop this entire idea of selling out Isla Blanca Park. It’s a public quality-of-life issue versus millions in profits for private developers.

  Let those developers buy commercial property elsewhere on South Padre. Leave Isla Blanca where it belongs, with the people.