EDITOR'S NOTE: Question 8 has been edited for clarity. The answers to the question remain unedited.
KRIS 6 compiled a questionnaire for running candidates for the 2024 Nueces County General Elections, and here are their responses.
1. If elected, what would be your top 3 priorities
A.) Develop a quicker and far less expensive technique to avert a looming water crises. It's called cloud seeding or weather geoengineering. It will work due to our location next to the Gulf of Mexico. You seed sea breeze rain clouds that develop over the gulf and travel over Corpus Christi that would dump much-needed rain over Lake Corpus Christi and Choke Canyon reservoir. There is much more detail, but I'm trying to be brief. Also, I would like to see criminal charges brought against the persons who thought it was a good idea to give away or should I say"steal" from our city's fragile water supply, then give it to Exxon in 2017 and Dynamic Steel in 2018, exacerbating our water woes. More to come about this.
B.) Raise the CCPD staffing to the recommended level of 600 officers. Keep the collective bargaining agreement. Raise our officer satisfaction level. I would never support defunding our police force. I fully support them receiving all the tools and other necessities needed for daily functions. I will never enforce DEI practices with CCPD.
C.) Keeping our local businesses afloat during this nationwide economic downtown that has even trickled its way down to south Texas. We will need to be more creative and innovative with establishing and then achieving our intended goals. This will include putting an immediate lid on our vertical debt ascension. We also must eliminate all wasteful spending. Since we can't print money out of thin air like the feds, we must exercise frugality and prioritize immediate needs only.
2. The city budget has been a topic of concern this summer. What are your concerns with the budget? If elected, what steps would you take to improve it?
I currently don't possess any. This question seems a little more appropriate for persons running our city, that should have more concern than myself. When elected I will use all resources at my disposal to successfully tackle any budget issue presented. By forming an economic advisory committee. These would not be new hires, but lateral moves within different city departments to fill the positions.
3. The Coastal Bend is home to military installations, refineries and industry. What role do you see Corpus Christi in next ten years? What would you contribute to its growth?
The same role that it has traditionally had. Corpus Christi is quite a consistent city and can be predictable as for how things will probably be. I haven't noticed any convincing evidence to believe otherwise. Making certain that I helped to achieve a safe and successful way to properly cloud seed the atmosphere bringing rain to our watershed of the Lake Corpus Christi/ Choke Canyon reservoir area and maintaining 90% levels. Then we could talk about expanding more business. Desalinization is not the "Holy Grail".
4. Plans to build a desalinization plant to serve Corpus Christi residents have been discussed for years. What additional water sources do you support, and how long would it take to be operational?
It's called "Cloud seeding", geo-engineering, yes, weather manipulation but in a respectable way. It is the most economical rainmaker we have. Rain filled with silver iodide is good rain. This could be put into effect relatively quickly. The best and easiest time of the year for promising results would come from sea breeze showers between May and September each year. The Gulf of Mexico provides all the moisture we need to do this, and they know it. I hate when they try to BS us. The US government has several patents on cloud, storm, and overall weather chicanery. God only knows everything they have been doing to the skies above us. The not-so-good news about desal is that the city would invite more businesses to relocate here and not care about the citizens' need for water.
5. In July, the Corpus Christi City Council voted to give City Manager Peter Zanoni a 10% pay raise. That increases his yearly salary from $372,000-$409,200. That’s a $37,200 boost in pay. If you were on the council at the time of the vote, did you vote for or against the raise, and why? If you are not on the council, but had the opportunity to vote on giving Zanoni a raise, how would you vote and why?
How is this raised even considered when he helped to create more than 700 million in new debt. To the people thinking he has done a fine job do not realize that almost all the progress came from borrowed money. I probably would not have hired him due to what happened in San Antonio, called Castrogate. It was estimated more than 100 million dollars of theft occurred from that city by several high ranking city officials. During that time, Mr. Zanoni was the deputy city manager of San Antonio. This happened on his watch. I would like to hear Mr. Zanoni's explanation as to what really took place. I also noticed he loves spending other people's money and believe King Zanoni will drive our city debt to the moon.
6. There are several streets and roads in need of repairs. What neighborhood streets do you think are in most need?
Gee, nice of you to also notice. This helps prove I'm not delusional. The constant, never-ending road repairs are reprehensible. Half of the city's roads looking like a war zone is beyond reproach. This will come to a screeching halt!!! We will establish orderly road repair. We are wasting far too much money on excessive road construction equipment. I have noticed several areas where there are road construction signs and equipment left on the sides of our roads, where no road repairs are taking place. Roads needing fixed: Apollo Rd., Saturn Rd., Wow Rd., Kram St., Evans Rd., Central St. This is just a few out of what really needs done.
7. Our viewers say the stray dog population is a problem on the city’s west side and north side. Some animal advocates say our city animal shelter is overpopulated and would like it to become a no-kill shelter. If elected, how would you solve these issues?
Why??? Some animal activists say the animal shelter is overpopulated. Again why is this happening ? They want it as a no-kill shelter. OK, how to they plan to address the problem ? If they present no solutions other than annoyance, then the city will take action to curtail the issue. I understand they like BBQ dog in Haiti.
8. How would you encourage our local police department to be more transparent?
I would not worry about their transparency unless they were taking part in covering up misdeeds. They must many times be careful in today's society which types of information can be given to the public.I think having an understanding from their perspective is needed. Don't worry. I would not permit them to be a secret society.
9. Community events like Art Walk and Farmer's Market have become popular over the last three years. What method would you use to boost local businesses and the local economy?
It's nice to have some types of attractions other than the same old bar scene. this would take a complete community effort between the Marina Arts district management and downtown businesses to coordinate events that they believe will benefit the city.
10. The monthly Art Walk in Corpus Christi has become hugely popular over the last few months. If elected, what would you do to bring family-friendly events like this to our city?
Well, it's quite obvious that nice weather greatly attributes to that success. During cooler weather the crowd turnouts are not as good. If elected, what would you do to bring family-friendly events like this to our city ? Get with city planners, the Marina Arts district and business owners to schedule new types of events that are family friendly.
11. Events like the Art Walk, the Annual Dia Delos Muertos, and the St. Patrick’s Day Festival draw thousands of people to downtown Corpus Christi, but many attendees say there isn’t enough parking. What is your solution to this issue?
Events like Art Walk, Dia de Los Ladrones, Buc Days, Jazzfest, and St. Patrick's Day Festival draw large crowds. However, attendees complain about not enough parking. What is my solution? I have never really experienced a parking problem when attending events in downtown. That's because, being a local helps to know where to park for any event. I believe this issue mainly occurs for people from out of town or tourists. When you hold an event, also advertise where the best parking will be. I don't believe the city has a parking space shortage. I'm certain there's a way we could accurately assess this situation. You could also have attendees park at the American Bank Center and have a free shuttle service to the events. Sometimes it helps to work with the available resources for solutions.
12. Where do you plan on being on election night?
Hmmm. Possibly the beach early, then later in the evening, dining at Panjo's and enjoying a meat-lovers pizza with extra cheese and mushrooms.
