Galveston's Recovery

We've been making visits to Galveston Island for over 25 years and have owned property there for around 10 years. Part of my heart is there, so I have been following the news carefully about the aftermath of Hurricane Ike. One of the frustrating things to me is the timing of Ike. The national news media covered the landfall and immediate aftermath. But the more urgent news of the financial crisis in the credit markets swept the national consciousness quickly to other news with more national repercussions. The sad thing is that Hurricane Ike did not just do tremendous damage in Galveston and Point Bolivar, it affected an entire region along Galveston Bay. For people living inland, it took 3 weeks or so, but life got back to "normal," but for those living near the waterfront areas along the coast and bay, life is still far from normal.

I was so pleased and proud of our state in the initial stages. Help came to Galveston quickly, very quickly. There was a virtual army of people bringing ice, water, food, military and police making rescues and maintaining order, government people trying to get people settled in some kind of temporary housing with money for immediate needs, and charitable organizations providing much needed assistance.

It has now been four months since Ike hit. The reality of how long it is going to take for the area to recover financially, to rebuild the damaged properties, to demolish and restore the beaches where the houses can not be rebuilt is sobering. It has been three years since Katrina. We visited coastal Mississippi last February. The road at Biloxi that runs along the beach is empty of all but a few houses. Entire neighborhoods in the few blocks near the beach are gone. The buildings have been demolished, the debris piles gone, but very little reconstruction has occurred. Cynically speaking, the casinos are rebuilt and up and running, but the neighborhoods around them have not returned.

Galveston is not only a resort, vacation destination, but it was also a vibrant community populated with people from all walks of life. While the costs of living on the island were pushing middle class families to the mainland, there was still great diversity of income levels on the island. Galveston is a historic city, many residents, both rich and poor, are multi generational islanders with deep roots. They want to restore or rebuild their homes. But the road right now is rocky and filled with obstacles.

I know that there is money being channeled to help not only Galveston families and businesses, but also the other areas - Point Bolivar, San Leon, Texas City, etc. Insurance payments and FEMA have certainly paid out a lot of money. This article from the
Galveston Daily News gives an interesting look at where some of this allocated money goes. On one level, it really makes sense. There is $814 million in federal funding that is being distributed to help the region. There is also $1.3 billion in Community Block Grants. The regional governments have been hard hit in providing services and repairing infrastructure. Their tax bases have been tremendously impacted and future revenues will be much less for a long time.

There are three ways that this money must be split: restoration of infrastructure, housing, and economic development. There is a lot of FEMA money still going to pay for temporary housing. Obviously the sooner you can get people into "real and permanent housing" the money can be more efficiently spent. Economic development is important as well, because area business have been devastated as well. People need jobs not only to pay for their housing, but also to feed their families. The good news is that businesses are reopening in the area. But some major employers are facing obstacles that seem insurmountable. Galveston had a world class medical school and medical center. The Shriners had an important children's burn center. Both hospitals were damaged by the flood waters of the storm surge. The UT medical center has already laid off workers and is downsizing. The Shriners were in the process of repair and reconstruction, but have been forced to halt and lay off workers due to investment losses in the national endowment funds. The HEB grocery store in Galveston will not reopen. The Dillard's in the mall off I-45 will not reopen.

The article above does a good job showing how hard it is to get money into the hands of the families that really need it to rebuild. In rebuiding Galveston in 1900, there was a lot of private money spent to assist the recovery efforts. With the crash of the financial and equity markets, it is going to be harder to get that private money flowing this time.

As I watch this process, I'm realizing what a long term project this is going to be. I'm wondering how long it will take before all the debris through Galveston and Chalmers county is dealt with, how long before all of the people displaced by Ike will be in permanent housing, how many will return to live in Galveston, how many will permanently relocate. I remember the great San Francisco earthquake in 1989. In checking Wikepedia it took 8 years to rebuild the freeway bridges that were damaged. I don't know how long it took to rebuild and repair all of the buildings that were damaged. At the time I had never been to San Francisco, so after the major news of the earthquake, the rescues of people caught in the bridge collapses, etc, it fell off my radar. I know that today, San Francisco has rebuilt. The reconstruction was all done to current earthquake construction codes.

Thinking about how San Francisco, so far from me in Central Texas, fell off my radar, I suspect that the Texas Gulf Coast has fallen off our nation's radar. Like San Francisco, the reconstruction is going to have to meet hurricane construction codes. Some houses will have to be elevated. Some will be bought out. But for houses behind the seawall, buyouts don't seem practical. Any homes that are bought out become public land forever. I don't quite see Galveston island becoming an uninhabited island like Padre Island National Seashore. But the population is going to be smaller for a long time. Before Ike about 57,000 people lived on the island. The estimate is that now it is 40,000 - almost a third have not returned. Even with large sums of money being allocated, rebuilding is going to take a long time.

Let's hope the tourists do come to the island and the other coastal areas during spring break and this summer. That tourist money will go a long way toward helping the area rebuild.

Murdoch's Bathhouse - Demolition Today - Rebuilding Soon!

Leigh Jones blog at the Galveston Daily News reported today that what was left of Murdoch's Bathhouse was demolished today. There are comments from the owners . . . I can't image how difficult it must have been to watch the big machines finish the job the hurricane started. So much work, so many dreams, so many people's happy memories . . .

But the good news - the demolition is the first step in the process of rebuilding! They are hoping to reopen by spring break 2010 - what a great way to celebrate their 100 year anniversary!

Good luck, best wishes for a speedy, uncomplicated construction job!

Galveston Update

I'm still reading the Galveston Daily News almost every day. Sometimes the news is good. (The UTMB hospital opened 200 beds this week - finally.) Sometimes the news is sad. (The Galveston Alternative School that will probably have to close due to lack of funds.)

But sometimes, there is something to good not to pass on. Dolph Tillotson's
101 Reasons to love living in Galveston County is one of those.

There are several things on that list that I have not done . . . you can be sure I'm going to try some of them next time I get to go to Galveston.

I'm finding this to be a wonderful newspaper to read every day . . . but then part of my heart is in Galveston . . .

Galveston Update

Since Hurricane Ike, I read the Galveston County News every day. It's been almost two months. During that time, our nation has faced an enormous economic crisis that came to a head during Hurricane Ike's visit. We've had a historic Presidential election that was hard fought and demanded everyone's time and attention. When we took our fall foliage photo trip, I heard tales from people in Ohio and Kentucky who were so surprised that Hurricane Ike had brought damage and lost power so far from the gulf.

When we were on the island right after Ike, I was impressed with how rapidly help arrived. Army helicopters were making rescues the morning after. Texas State Troopers were lined up to help keep order. HEB sent semi tractor trailer rigs with water and ice. The state of Texas had contracts with truckers who also brought in ice and water. FEMA vehicles, Wal-mart Emergency Team, fire departments from all over Texas had come to help. People who had remained in Galveston were having bar-b-ques to use the meat in their freezers. We could hear generators running at some homes. Some people had already pulled out the wet carpet and padding and they were on the street ready to be hauled away. Some of the historic houses already had water remediation contractors checking things out. National Guard soldiers were checking homes for victims and engineers were already assessing damage. When we left as we drove up I-45, we saw the army of utility cherry picker trucks that had come to restore electricity. While there were complaints (aren't there always), I left Galveston knowing that already things were getting going.

Of course, the bad news was that the Mayor had decided not to let residents return to start their own cleanup. Yes, port-a-potties are unsightly, but . . . I can't help but wonder if people had been allowed in (as was the norm before) quicker, if the damage costs would have been less for a large number of people. Some of the less affluent folk were not even allowed back into their units to salvage belongings that might have survived (plates, jewelry, things that don't mold, mildew or rust.) I know the army has big trucks that carry potable water - I think it would have been possible to let people back in so that they could at least inspect their property and do damage control quickly.

As I've read the news every day, I'm impressed by the strong will that many businesses have to get their business cleaned up, restocked, and open again. Many businesses are open, there are grocery stores, restaurants, hotels that are ready for business. The hotels are full, but as the FEMA vouchers run out, that may not continue.

But Galveston is out of sight, out of mind. People either think that everything is "back to normal" or they think the entire city was wiped out. Neither is true. At the time, I was amazed at how many residences behind the seawall looked so normal. I am amazed now that there was so much damage that was not easily visible in just a casual drive through. I wonder how many homes will be torn down either due to the amount of damage or because they were more than 50% destroyed and cannot be repaired without being elevated to the new flood guidelines. I was glad to hear that homes older than 50 years may qualify as "historic" and will be able to rebuilt even if the damage is over 50%. I grieve and worry about homeowners whose damage may have been 60%, the insurance will pay 60%, but the building codes for the flood insurance require that they be destroyed. Some of those homeowners will only receive the 60% which may not pay off the mortgage. They'll have a mortgage with no home to live in. The Small Business Administration may provide loans, but now is not the time to be trying to get a mortgage.

The picture is really mixed right now. I've heard that Murdoch's Bathhouse will be allowed to rebuild (Hurrah!!!!), but the cost seems astronomical to me. Some folks are working hard and trying to get on with their lives. For others, they are caught in a nightmare. Their homes are unliveable. FEMA assistance is running out. Some having been living in a communal tent for the last few weeks and have been moved from one tent to another. Temporary housing trailers ahave been delayed because no one can figure out where to put them on the island. In an ideal world, the this type of housing would be temporary and would need to be removed before the next hurricane season. This is not an ideal world. So . . . the temporary trailers have not yet arrived to alleviate the housing shortage.

The University of Texas Medical Branch was heavily damaged from the storm. They have just announced the loss of 3800 jobs. They are talking about downsizing the hospital and perhaps moving many of the functions of the medical branch to Austin.

The taxing authorities on the island are worried about the loss of tax revenue. While they could have reappraised based upon the value for the months before the hurricane and for the value of the property after the hurricane, they are not going to reappraise for this tax year. However, next year, they will have to reevaluate based upon the current value or lack thereof.

There are valid concerns that over the last few years that the rising property values and rising taxes, that the middle class were being priced out of Galveston. Galveston's low income housing was hard hit. It will still take time for the business to reopen and provide the job that these folks sorely need. Low income families lack the resources to replace their lost belongings, to relocate, or to afford the hotel rooms after the FEMA money runs out.

Galveston has been a unique place because it has been a living community will all incomes represented rather than just a resort community. Only time will tell if that will be true after Ike.

I have not been back to Galveston since Ike, but Bill Crider has been down there and posted some photos. When we were there the streets around the Strand were empty, when Bill was there they were filled with debris from the businesses.

Martha Wells has also blogged about the current state of affairs. Not a pretty picture.

Now, I realize that this has been a long blog, but this article from the Fort Worth Weekly is a must read.

I don't know what my little blog can do to help keep Galveston and its issues in people's hearts and minds. Perhaps the people who think we should not have towns on barrier islands are correct. But I've been visiting Galveston island for a very long time. It is a special place. I think we need to find better ways to help the people who are trying to rebuild.

Galveston Island State Park

I can't remember the first time I visited Galveston Island State Park, but I suspect it was when my kids were very little. I do remember that we visited before Hurricane Alicia in 1983. I'm pretty sure we stayed there in our van camper. The first time we went, I remember thinking how tall the dunes were, you could not see the beach or waves from the camping and picnic areas. However, I vividly remember going back to Galveston Island State Park after Hurricane Alicia. The storm had swept all the dunes away. There was a beautiful view of the waves and beach from the campground! The dunes were totally gone! That was amazing to me at the time and something I didn't forget.

When I was thinking about the "before" pictures I wanted to take, Galveston Island State Park was high on the list because I did remember what Alicia had done. Unfortunately, we had been running the air conditioner in the car as we drove from the east side of the island to the park on the West End. My camera lenses kept fogging up, giving these photos a dreamy look. It may be appropriate . . . Hurricane Ike did a lot more damage than Alicia!

When I got to the park the morning before Ike, it was already closed. Maintenance workers were emptying trash and cleaning up. I ducked under the barricades and walked over to get my photos. You can see the shelters on the right.



Here is a closer view of one of the shelters. Note how high the dunes are behind them. You certainly can't see the water. However, when you look at the photos after Ike, there is not only a clear view, the shelters have been badly damaged.



There were two dune fences used to help keep the dunes in place - one on either side. The dunes were covered with vegetation that also helps keep dunes from shifting and being washed away. The flowers were blooming, it was a pretty sight.



I walked over to the walkway over the dunes. You can see part of the dune fence.



The Texas Parks and Wildlife department has posted photos of Galveston Island State Park after Ike.

Here are some of the ones that really give you a good idea of what this powerful storm did:

The "new" beach

Damaged shelters

The new view

Debris piles

More debris

The bathhouse

This park is close enough to the Houston metropolitan area, that hopefully it will be rebuilt . . . but for now the the official Galveston Island State park site says the park is closed until further notice. According to the October 1st Texas Parks and Wildlife Press release most of the state parks affected by Hurricane Ike are back up and running. Obviously, Sea Rim and Galveston Island sustained severe damage. It will take longer to rebuild. I've also heard that Sea Rim may not open back up as a state park become a state wildlife area instead. That makes me sad . . . I hope that the state will find the funds to rebuild the facilities at Galveston Island State Park. We need our state parks!

USS Flagship Hotel - Pleasure Pier

The earliest roller coaster near the future site of Pleasure Pier seems to be one built in the 1880's. News reports talk about complaints made because it frightened horses pulling carriages with ladies and children. 6000 feet of lumber, one ton of railroad iron, 200 lbs 6 and 7 inch bolts, and four cars all in working order was mentioned in an advertisement when it went up for sale. The final report, the City Railroad company removed the roller coaster because it was never a success and was always an eyesore.

I think this link is an old postcard from the early 1900's showing the roller coaster that I think is Mountain Speedway. It was said to be " lit up at night like a city blazing in the darkness." Here are two other links to a different postcards of the Mountain Speedway and the Galveston seawall.

I found still another roller coaster photo supposedly from 1909.

Back in 1912, forward thinking city promoters dreamed of an amusement pier similar to the one in Atlantic City. Time passed by, but in 1931, plans were drawn up for a 700 foot pier with an auditorium. Construction did not start until right before World War II.

Pleasure Pier
The Reconstruction Finance Corporation was started by Herbert Hoover in 1932 (think shades of today's financial chaos.) From 1932 until 1941 it disbursed $9.465 billion. I can't imagine what that dollar amount would be in today's currency. The RFC loaned $1,100,000 that was combined with $350,000 from the city that began construction. World War II caused another delay. By 1944, the pier was almost completed, but it did not fully open until after the war in 1948. The new pier was four blocks long with a ballroom, an outdoor theater, a snack bar, and a T-head fishing area. This post card of Pleasure Pier ca 1945 gives us a glimpse of how grand it was.

Unfortunately, it was not profitable and Galveston defaulted on its payments earning the name: "Galveston's White Elephant."

Hurricane Carla damaged the buildings but not the structure of the pier in 1961.

Houston businessman James E. Lyon negotiated for the pier in 1963, paying the government $179,000 for the defaulted bonds (amazing with the accumulated interest these bonds had a face value of $2,300,000.) I don't quite understand the financing here, but Galveston gave Lyon $2,000,000 in new bonds in exchange for those old bonds and issued another $1,800,000 bonds to Lyon. Lyon agreed to pay Galveston $185,000 annual rent for forty years which would pay off the bonds. When the bonds were paid off, Galveston would own the hotel. With these funds, the Flagship Hotel was built. (Information from "Galveston A History" by David G. McComb)

Each room had an ocean view with great sunrise and sunset vistas . . .

The hotel has fallen on some hard times. In 2004, the operator of the hotel, Daniel Yeh filed for bankruptcy. He has been convicted for fraud with regard to lodging for Hurricane Katrina victims. The more recent reviews are not that favorable siting the hotel as dated and in need of renovation. But even so, many reviewers enjoyed their stay in spite of the poor conditions because of the great views and the pleasure of being over the ocean.

The damage to the Flagship from Hurricane Ike was worse on the eastern side. It is quite possible that when the Balinese Room, Murdoch's and Hooters were demolished that there was a lot of flying debris - or that the structures or large parts of them were airborne and hit the Flagship. Note the damage to the front facade and the entire first floor. To my laymen's eyes, the pier structure still looks sound and the damage seems to be to the facades of the hotels rather than the internal supporting walls.



The auto ramps were completely washed out. I am guessing that the wave action hitting against the seawall and bouncing back would be more damaging than just the incoming waves. Hopefully the pilings under the hotel are still structurally sound. I believe that one of the other hurricanes also damaged these ramps.



While there is damage to the sidewalk area of the seawall here and the rip rap, (the large boulders used to protect vertical walls like Galveston's seawall from being undermined by wave action) most of the seawall itself is intact. (There was damage to the seawall on the far west end of the island from the storm surge. That has happened in other hurricanes and is repairable.)



Tilman Fertitta bought the Flagship Hotel and pier from the City of Galveston. Before Hurricane Ike, the plan was to restore the hotel and the pier. Planned improvements included a wooden roller coaster and a Ferris wheel. The transition of management of the Flagship Hotel from Daniel Yeh to Landry's should happen shortly if it has not already.

According to their website, the Flagship hotel hopes to reopen in January. I've been a property owner at the San Luis, one of Fertitta's properties in Galveston for about ten years. His demand for quality, high levels of customer service, and his history of success make me think that the Flagship Hotel will rise to new levels of greatness under his management. I look forward to seeing what he does with this amazing property.

Hurricane Ike - Why They Stay?

Newsweek's article, Riders on the Storm, has some interesting points on why people chose to remain in spite of the mandatory evacuation order.

As I've said before, I suspect that there will be people who evacuated from IKE this time that will stay next time because it took so long for the officials to allow them back on the island to start dealing with the muck and to minimize mold damage.

Many of the folks who stayed through the storm are glad they did - while they may have had water in their home, they themselves were safe in upper stories. I personally would have been terrified if strong waves of water was swirling under my home, if I didn't know how high the water would rise in the dark, or if I was in a wood frame home where the sound of the howling winds would have terrified me wondering if the house could take it. Certainly the high rises seemed to have been "safe" places. And the seawall did its job sheltering the city from the high, strong waves. However, there are certainly stories of people whose places were not "safe" whose survival is miraculous. And, while the death count is still extremely low given the severity of this storm, they are still searching for bodies in the wreckage and finding some.

I can hope it will be another 25 years before another storm this powerful hits the Texas coast. The survivors of Ike won't forget which lesson they learned - better to evacuate or better to stay.

Galveston's Gaido's Seafood

I am glad to say that Gaido's Seafood Restaurant and Casey's Restaurants fared pretty well during Hurricane Ike. While Gaido's Seaside Inn had significant roof damage, the restaurants escaped with only minor damage. Even the giant crab clung tightly to its perch.

Gaido's was able to host a shrimp boil for the emergency responders last week. Their goal: " to boost morale one plate at a time." From firefighters, policemen, electricians, soldiers from the National Guard and city officials, they all enjoyed music, spicy shrimp, potatoes, and corn-a blessed respite from the hard work of cleaning up and caring for Galveston. I hear that they even served with all their white tablecloths!

We first learned about Gaido's from one of Debra's riding teachers. It has become one of our "must" restaurants when we go to Galveston. I love the menu that gives you automatic multiple course menus with your choice of fish or shrimp. We have salad, gumbo, fish (of our choice of type and preparation) with crab meat sauce, and chocolate mouse. They even have two portion size choices!

Gaido's first opened in 1911 at Murdoch's Bathhouse. Still family owned, the recipes are family recipes. Today, beautiful tables with white tablecloths set formally give you great views of the gulf while you dine.

Casey's Seafood Cafe boasts a 50 year history. Less formal, but still great food.

Casey's is already back open with a limited menu. Gaido's reports that it will reopen on Saturday!

Galveston's Murdoch Bathhouse

People who live and work in coastal cities along the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic know that hurricanes and hurricane damage are just part of life there.

The history of one of the structures totally destroyed by Ike is testimony to the tenacity of coastal dwellers. The first Murdoch's Bathhouse was constructed in the late 1800's dirctly on the sand. The famous 1900 hurricane totally destroyed the first one. Quickly rebuilt in 1901, it provided rental bathing suits and showers for the tourists. However, storms in 1909 and 1915 necessitated rebuilding each time.

William J. Guyette Sr. began his business, the Guyette Gift Shop in 1910 inside Murdoch's providing souvenirs. The original Guido's Seafood started in the 1910 Murdoch's Bathhouse building.

Fifty one years later, Hurricane Carla struck the Texas coast between Port O'Conor and Port Lavaca. Carla was classified as an unusually large Category 4 hurricane, the largest hurricane on recored in the Atlantic basin. Port Lavaca had 170 mph wind gusts. Of the 26 tornados spawned, an F4 tornado ripped through downtown Galveston. Even though the eye of the storm was 100 miles away from Galveston, buildings unprotected by the seawall were severely damaged by the storm surge. Near the heads of the bays the storm surge was measured at 22 feet and in places penetrated 10 miles inland. Murdoch's Bathhouse was demolished. When rebuilt, it was raised several feet above the seawall and moved over the Gulf of Mexico on sturdy wood pilings.

1983's Hurricane Alicia caused minor repairs to the pier, but Murdoch's continued operating by members of the extended Guyette family. It was enlarged in 2005 using original piling that once held Murdoch's Bathhouse following State of Texas rules that do no allow new piers to be built in Texas.



From the Murdoch's Pier website you can get an idea of what was destroyed in only a moment of time. I talked with someone who had actually witnessed the destruction. He lives a block away from the seawall. He heard a noise and looked out the window to see the Balinese room rise off its pilings and roll over onto Murdoch's and the Hooter's Restaurant. Apparently Hooter's exploded because he saw a blue glow as it was demolished.

Today's Photos from Galveston

I'll be blogging more details about today later, but here are some of the photos I took today. As far as the weather there was very little that would let you know that a big storm was coming in.

Hurricane Ike - Part 3

We drove down in really beautiful weather - blue skies, white fluffy clouds, etc.

As we neared Galveston Island, the salt marshes looked normal and beautiful, . The herons and egrets were fishing. Upon reaching the seawall, the waves were pretty, but not angry. The sky was peaceful. There were still people enjoying swimming in the waves, walking the beach, and sitting on the seawall. The restaurants with balconies overlooking the gulf were full.

I've seen the presentation here about the horrible hurricane that hit Galveston on September 8, 1900. Back then there were no satellites, no instant communication worldwide, no planes to fly into storms to determine how bad they were. The people in Galveston had no warning. Being here today, I can understand how this would have happened, there is a huge hurricane brewing in the Gulf of Mexico, but as I looked at the sky out to sea, there is no hint of it this evening. The air is quiet, humid, and peaceful.

As I drove down the streets to one of our favorite restaurants, Willie G's - I noted how many of the Victorian houses have been fixed up, freshly painted - a sign of prosperity. How much damage will this storm do to a place I have grown to love?

Wednesday Evening

Well, for several reasons, we've headed down to our condo in Galveston. We have it on the market and when Ike was looking to hit closer to Corpus Christi as a Category 3, we thought it might be interesting to see and photograph. This is one of the few places i know that I would even think of weathering a hurricane in. We're on the 5th floor of a building that was built on top of the old ramparts of Fort Crockett. The base of the building sits up substantially over the seawall which is about 10 feet above sea level. It is a concrete, sturdy structure and is used by the City of Galveston as its emergency headquarters during hurricanes.

However, the news tonight seems to think that it is going to coming in quicker than expected and as a Category 4 and perhaps right over Galveston and Houston!

I am going to go ahead and post some of the things I've seen today, I'm already thinking that we may take sunrise pictures and perhaps head home . . .