Galveston After Hurricane Ike

[TheNiche]

That's certainly not true. Whoever said the place looked that good lied to you.... blatantly.

About Benno's or oysters?

I've been to Benno's. They took no damage and the food is as good as ever. They could have opened up on the first day after the storm had there been power.

[crunchtastic]

It's a shame about the oyster situation. It really has dried up. Went to Goode Co Seafood last weekend, and they said they're off the menu indefinitely. Same at Danton's. Guess I'll have to go to New Orleans soon and get an oyster fix. I wonder if prices in LA are going up becasue there's no supply coming out of Galveston Bay?

For Galveston restaurant / history buffs, the latest Gourmet magazine had Gaido's in a feature on really, really old restaurants across the country. The issue came in my mail just a few days post-Ike. I sent an e-mail and story link to the editor telling them how Gaidos put out a spread in the parking lot for first responders after the storm, who knows, maybe they'll mention it and drive a little extra PR for the island.

[Timnwendy]

I was trading emails with some of my contacts, and realized something more to share about UTMB's grim situation.

The media keeps citing 12,000 employes at UTMB, with the possibility of layoffs to 4000 of those people. What they have failed to report is that about 3500 of those jobs are in the TDCJ facilities around the state (UTMB does the payroll for much of TDCJ). So in reality, there are only about 8000 UTMB jobs on the island. It's fairly certain that 95% of the layoffs will affect the jobs on the island, so that means every other employee working at UTMB on Galveston island may lose their job.

We can only imagine the impact (and ripple effect) to Galveston's recovery if 50% of the people making the commute to work at UTMB each weekday suddenly disappeared.

[sifuwong]

How come Galveston is opening up the beaches and then tell about warnings about the danger? They should close the beaches until all the debris underwater is removed. They should play it safe. Someone is gonna get hurt.

[foxmulder]

Someone asked about the utilties.

There are(as of last sun) places closing early. Wal-Mart,Randalls closed at 5 or 6 The Office Depot is now open but only from 9-4 as a temp setup. There are numerous damaged lights west of the San Luis Hotel. I blew threw a few lights without realizing it when i was there(west of the ship terminal)

[Disastro]

Someone asked about the utilties.

There are(as of last sun) places closing early. Wal-Mart,Randalls closed at 5 or 6 The Office Depot is now open but only from 9-4 as a temp setup. There are numerous damaged lights west of the San Luis Hotel. I blew threw a few lights without realizing it when i was there(west of the ship terminal)

What did Ike do to the Bolivar lighthouse? I've hear stories that it was untouched...and others that say the top of it was blown off by the high winds.

Can anyone clarify?

Muchas grassy-ass!

Dis

[Reefmonkey]

Does anyone know the current power/water/other utilities status on the island? I got an e-mail from the tourism board and it makes things sound like they're OK.

West End of the Island (around 12 Mile Road) just got power back late last week. We've now got airconditioning helping to dry out any residual moisture in our walls at my bay house there. We've torn all the sheetrock on the east side of the house out and will wait two weeks before installing new stuff.

I was at a business meeting at the San Luis on Thursday and Friday - it's pretty much back to business as usual. I was trapped into eating Landry's next door - they are still on a reduced menu because of Ike

[ricco67]

Well, FYI: A french reporter was in town covering Galveston and the "disaster" as well as political piece. When she started asking my opinion on the people that are missing, I said that they were idiots to have stayed on the island.

She was dumbfounded and asked me to clarify and quickly brought out her notebook.

I said that if you stayed on an island with the threat of a big storm coming out, you left. period.

her response was, "I was told it wasn't that easy to get off the island."

"No, there were ways to get off the island if you wanted to, but if they waited too long, that was too bad. They had several days warning"

I doubt if she will use my little quote or whatever, but it should be on on BFN of whatever new news network they have there tonight (right now?)

[Vertigo58]

Well, FYI: A french reporter was in town covering Galveston and the "disaster" as well as political piece. When she started asking my opinion on the people that are missing, I said that they were idiots to have stayed on the island.

She was dumbfounded and asked me to clarify and quickly brought out her notebook.

I said that if you stayed on an island with the threat of a big storm coming out, you left. period.

her response was, "I was told it wasn't that easy to get off the island."

"No, there were ways to get off the island if you wanted to, but if they waited too long, that was too bad. They had several days warning"

I doubt if she will use my little quote or whatever, but it should be on on BFN of whatever new news network they have there tonight (right now?)

Someone needs to dig up the recent news alerts that the Mayor of Galvez had with the media during that crucial time it was approaching. She clearly stated on air, quote unquote:

"We are not asking the people of Galveston to vacate at this time" That could be the worse thing we could possibly do right now". I repeat, I am not ordering any mandatory evacuation at this time"

Talk about putting your foot in your mouth. I clearly recall watching (jaw dropped) that she was not telling them to leave ....like now. She will have to live with that now.

[Disastro]

Again...for the love of Petey...

What happened to the bloody lighthouse?

Enquiring minds want to know!

Thanks...you've been very hepful...

Dis

PS: Bolivar wouldnae be the same without the lighthouse!

[rsb320]

Again...for the love of Petey...

What happened to the bloody lighthouse?

Enquiring minds want to know!

Thanks...you've been very hepful...

Dis

PS: Bolivar wouldnae be the same without the lighthouse!

I think the lighthouse did fine. Bolivar will not, however, be the same. Some parts are just wiped clean (like my beach house).

[Disastro]

I think the lighthouse did fine. Bolivar will not, however, be the same. Some parts are just wiped clean (like my beach house).

I'm very sorry to hear about that, RSB...my heart goes out to you and all those who lost property!

[Timnwendy]

Well, as suspected, now that the election is over the powers-that-be wasted little time in confirming the layoffs at UTMB.

Regents OK plan to cut 3,800 UTMB jobs

EL PASO

[beachwatcher]

Does anyone have any thoughts on Diamond Beach? I've head some pretty strange stories about Randall Davis Properties' behavior. There was tons of erosion and the end of the seawall collapsed in front of it.

Also, the storm dug a channel very close to the building - after about 4 weeks it was filled up with sand.

The property doesn't look level anymore.

There are "people working" there, but it looks like its only a skeleton crew - no real big work seems to be done.

I wonder if they will be able to finance the next phase of construction?

I heard that they sent out letters and an "update" 6 weeks after Ike asking people who had put down deposits for an additional 5% payment. The letters were sent around ten days before the end of the month, and they demanded payment by the end of the month (October)! There was no notice prior to this.

Then, only three weeks after the first payment letter went out, they sent another certified letter to people who'd put down a deposit demanding payment again.

Randall Davis Properties seem to have lost their sense of reality.

I should clarify that the channel dug by Ike next to Diamond Beach was filled in by bulldozer, rather than nature.

[memebag]

More about the UTMB layoffs today:

Lawsuit says UTMB secret meeting was illegal

[marmer]

I went to the Historic Homes Tour this weekend. I was apprehensive because some of my earlier visits to Galveston since Ike were somewhat heartbreaking, and I was very pleasantly surprised. The most obvious casualties now in the residential neighborhoods are the oak trees. Some medium-sized ones are coming back, and the locals said that had happened in the last two weeks. But probably 90%, and all of the big ones, are completely bare. Arborists from the Forest Service and A&M are pessimistic, but every local I talked to wants to believe they will survive. Palm trees and oleanders look fine, and many people have replanted and relandscaped their yards. There were lots of flowers and lots of green. Most of the East End houses are occupied and repaired. There's still a lot of hammering and sawing to be heard and plenty of pickup trucks hauling trailers, but the streets are mostly free of debris. Not all of the houses are at home tour standards, but one of them that got three feet of water was on the tour and looked great. Most of the other tour houses had raised basements and got little or no water inside although their basements, garages, and A/C and electrical were damaged or ruined. Several of the locals got water (largely sewage, unfortunately) in their houses but they were all upbeat and cheerful and felt like they had been treated well by their insurance companies. Of course, those who didn't probably wouldn't be volunteering on this tour!

The big surprise was the Strand. I was expecting a wasteland, but what I found was free parking and place jammed with lots of people. Especially families with kids. There was a cruise ship about to depart and lots (not all by a long shot, but lots) of stores and restaurants were open. Unfortunately, three of my favorites were not open: La Kings (stripped to the studs but planning to reopen) Peanut Butter Warehouse (stripped to the studs, electrical permit posted) and Col. Bubbies. That last may have been due to the death of Col. Bubbie himself this past week. The Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory was overwhelmed trying to pick up all the La Kings business. Thank goodness I got my fudge before the junior high band came in! The Galveston Bookshop was open and having a booksigning! They got eight feet of water and they were open! One of the tour docents had written a walking tour guide to Galveston, so I bought it and got her to sign it. It's not as complete as the Architecture Guide, but homier and with a lot of BOI color. They're in a cool MCM building with decorative colored tile, I think on 23rd Street.

After seeing the houses and being repeatedly thanked by the docents for coming to G-town (many people did, btw, the crowds were rather larger than previous years) I went to the Original Mexican Cafe at 14th and Market, which was open, looked undamaged, and was as good as ever. There's a boat graveyard on the west side of the highway as you come over the causeway, and a lot of the worst structures have been torn down (John's Oyster Resort, for example) but I feel a lot more optimistic about Galveston than I did. If they can get through a couple of years without getting clobbered by another hurricane, they might very well be back.