Quote:
Originally posted by "James"
Me thinks I will boycott all service providers from this pier.
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Bravo James!!! I am in my 4th year of a McDonalds boycott brought on by a bulldozer taking out a huge 300 year old Live Oak tree on one of their sites in San Antonio... :x I still pass on this info 2-3 times /week... +/- 120 times a year
As a commercial landscape contractor in a very beautiful and environmentally sensitive area, I am caught smack in the middle of the reality of progress and preservation of the environment. By no means am I a "tree hugger", ( in fact, I do more positive things for the environment in one year than most eco protesters do in a lifetime) but there has to be a respected balance based on facts.
Case & Point, PGA Village golf course developement over the Edward Aquifer recharge zone in San Antonio TX. Complaint: Eco protesters screamed contamination of the aquifer from over use of chemical on the golf courses, and they recommended the property be re-zoned for residential developement.
Fact 1: The property would be developed in some manner
Fact 2: The PGA went through years of site envronmental impact studies before deciding to proceed
Fact 3: The PGA is on the cutting edge of land development and management. They employ very expensive/intricate construction techniques and policies to minimze initial impact on the site. The chemicals/fertilizers used in turf management are extremely expensive and are applied with computer controlled equipment to prevent over application.
Fact 4: Proper environmental controls are in place to control stormater/runoff off and filter herbicides/impurities in this water through a series of "water quality ponds" before being released into the existing creeks.
Fact 5: The ratio of pavement to vegetated area makes the PGA village nothing more than 3000 acres of parkland providing refuge to wildlife in a metropolitan area
Fact 6: 3000 homes could have been built... thats +/- 10,000 people, 6000 cars, 3500 dogs, 1500 cats, 3000 lawnmowers/weedeaters, hundreds of acres of asphalt/concrete, and +/- 365 White-tail deer killed on the roads in the development every year.
My Verdict: PGA Village wins this one hands down
So in regards to the pier, I feel that important for us not to protest progress itself but to protest how progress progresses. I personally do not care for the sight of the pier, but it's construction somewhere in Playa was probably inevitable due to good old economics . But what we should be p'd about is:
1. the lack/inadequacy of initial and long-term environmental impact studies in site selection. Site was selected purely for reasons of economics/convenience and could have been relocated to minimize eco impact
2. Sub-standard construction techniques/controls in an environmentally sensitive area. I can just imagine all the lime/form release agents/gasoline/etc that contaminated the water!
3. Aggressive political ram-rodding of project over VALID local protests, by those who would benefit the most economically.
I try to avoid local politics when I'm down in Playa and I try not to get too upset with growth, but it really saddens me to see the lack of concern for how this growth proceeds in such a beautiful and sensitive area... hopefully, through properly directed protests, these practices will start to change more rapidly... then I will have my niche and can finally move down there.......but I fear they will not change quite fast enough.
Oh Yeah, the 300 year old oak tree McDonalds bulldozed... seems the tree was in the location where the childrens playground needed to go.......... Whataburger rocks!!!!!!
So James, you go boy!!! And I'll throw in a big boo/hiss for the pier when we're down there next (hopefully in march!)