Can the Ban and Iowa call centers

Last night I got a phone call on a pressing local issue. A woman on the phone was urging me to vote in favor of the ban on disposable containers on the Comal and Guadalupe Rivers within the New Braunfels city limits. Otherwise, she informed me, we'd be facing an environmental catastrophe.

I asked her if she'd seen the river management plan for the Comal and Guadalupe from the River Systems Institute at Texas State University? She said, "I don't have that in front of me." I informed her that it didn't exist, because for all the New Braunfels City Council's fear mongering about litter and the environment, not a single one of them have approached the state's premiere aquatic resources management institute to solicit any advice or guidance whatsoever. An institute that is a mere 20 miles up I-35, that actually re-stocked the various endangered species in the Comal River after the springs in Landa Park ran dry in the 1950s, wiping out that entire ecosystem.

Why haven't they done so? Because the majority of the current City Council doesn't give a rat's ass about the environment or endangered species or litter. They want a private waterfront for their cronies with million-dollar McMansions along the Comal, and hate the idea that the Comal is a navigable waterway, and therefore regulated by the state. If they can't close the river, then by golly they'll regulate it to death, so that the public stays away because it's too much hassle to do otherwise. Banning disposable containers accomplishes that feat, because people need to drink something during a two-hour float to stay hydrated. What are the logistical complications of taking non-disposable drink containers and dispensers along? And I'm not even talking about alcohol. It's absurd. The same factors were at work a few years ago when the Council, led by Ken Valentine, tried to restrict the size of coolers to a tiny, unworkable maximum size to achieve the same results. The measure failed and the public backlash led to Valentine's recall. It seems some factions never learn.

So, anyway, my phone caller was taken a bit off guard by my statement, so I started to lecture her. I told her the history of this sorry state of affairs, how the City Council forced through the ordinance over vocal public opposition, refusing to put it up for a public vote. How the city attorney's office said the ordinance was likely unconstitutional. How it took a petition drive to get it on the November ballot. How the weasel publisher of the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung publishes 100 percent pro-ban articles and letters that don't even try to be objective. How councilwoman Kathleen Krueger has earned the title of "Drama Queen for Life" with her hysterics in front of the media, going so far as to cancel her participation in a public debate on the issue yesterday because she "feared for her safety." Just to put this into perspective, her husband, Robert Krueger, risked his personal safety on a daily basis as Ambassador to Burundi. U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford was recently recalled to Washington because of threats to his personal safety. Yet Kathleen Krueger had the audacity to cast herself in the same light as these advocates of human rights over her support of a city ordinance that is wildly unpopular with her constituents? Shameful.

So I'm laying this out for my caller, and she finally breaks in, saying, "Hey, I don't know anything about this stuff. I'm in Iowa, and they're just paying me to read from a script." So there you have it. The Can the Ban opposition have tireless local volunteers working the streets, hosting fund raisers and essentially running themselves ragged to get this ill-conceived ordinance voted down, while the pro-ban City Council hires out-of-state phone banks to do their dirty work for them. Hmm.

I voted early last week against the ban. I certainly hope everyone else does as well. And if the City Council really has any concern about the long-term viability of our rivers, I invite them to give RSI Executive Directory Andy Sansom a call at (512) 245-9200. He'll be happy to work with New Braunfels to develop a pragmatic, sustainable, long-term plan for the continued use and preservation of our rivers. After all, the RSI's Vision Statement reads:

Rivers are a major part of Earth's circulatory system, supplying nutrients to support the oceans' biological productivity, plus other important natural and cultural functions. But rivers are also used for consumptive uses and waste disposal in ways that reduce their essential flows and otherwise hinder their crucial functions. Recreation and tourism are increasingly important uses of rivers. These are essential human activities that can be instrumental in helping people understand and support proper river stewardship.

The Research Center for River Recreation and Tourism will encourage and facilitate research from all relevant disciplines and will foster a holistic perspective on river systems. The Center will particularly focus on developing and disseminating an understanding of the processes and methods by which recreation and tourism can lead to better stewardship.

Sounds like a win-win for everyone involved. That is, of course, assuming one side is more concerned with the greater public good, as opposed to establishing a private waterfront for the well-heeled in New Braunfels.

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