Come To Galveston Island, But B.Y.O.C.

I recently had a flashback to the billboard we all saw a couple of summers back, of Galveston Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas astride a Harley Davidson Motorcycle, all decked out in a bandana, black leather jacket, motorcycle boots, the whole nine yards. The billboard, at the causeway, faced incoming traffic and beckoned the 200,000 or so expected bikers to the Lone Star Motorcycle Rally. And they came.

Of course, part of the Mayor's job is to stimulate the local economy. It's the job of all city officials and park board officials and convention and tourist bureau people, and they will go to any limit to keep a steady flow of tourist dollars coming over to the south side of the big bridge. Their hopes and their missions are to coax the mulitudes to the island, leaving a good share of their assets and personal fortunes when they finally depart back to their homes on the north side of the big bridge. And this happens in more ways than one.

To be successful at enticing people to Galveston, these same officials must be very careful not mention some of the not-so-fun things these visitors may experience while enjoying the sun and fun on this exotic island.

We mustn't let them know that the crime rate on the island is at an all time high. They leave it to the media to sniff out these details. And we mustn't let them know that the number of policemen are at an all time low, less than three cops for every 1,000 residents. That's residents, people who actually live on the island. In the summer, when the beaches are full and the strand is busy, and the cars are bumper-to-bumper on the causeway, the ratio of cops to citizen is even further fractionalized.

About 45,000 of Galveston's pre-hurricane Ike residents still live here, down by 15,000, according to somebody in the press. We have about 153 cops on the island, so that means there are about two point something police for every one thousand islanders. Jamaica Beach has more than that. So does every other city in the county at last count, but those cities aren't trying to funnel hundreds of thousands of tourists into their cities.

It was recently announced that home and business burglaries have soared in Galveston. One would expect that the last thing a city would want to do when crime is soaring is to get rid of some of it's cops. Not so in Galveston. In Galveston, as crime increases, cops get hit with pay cuts and there is a great likelyhood that in April, some of them will be sent packing, in search of jobs elsewhere. What a welcome invitation to burglars, thieves and others in the crime business. I said, "crime business" not "anti-Crime business." Surely they will be delighted to see the steady flow of blue going north as they convoy into town with their burglar tools, guns, knives, hotwires, and whatever devices they use to pillage and plunder a defenseless island.

I picture a new billboard on the causeway of Lyda Ann on her motorcycle, all decked out in leather, waving people onto the island, with the caption, "Welcome to Galveston Island. B.Y.O.C.", Bring Your Own Cop.

The thing that city officials want us all to know is, they are running out of money. Hurricane Ike washed away the city treasury and even though the feds are sending money to stimulate the economy and save jobs, the jobs being saved are not cop jobs or firefighter jobs or jobs of many other city employees. Apparently, even though the President has announced these federal funds are specifically to prevent the layoff of cops and firefighters and other first responders, that does not apply in Galveston. Galveston instead will fix potholes, and make the beaches beautiful for all those tourist dollars they hope will return.

Oh, what summer fun the crooks will have. They will be back on the Seawall, watching and waiting as visitors leave their cars unattened and lay out on the beach for hours, or visit restaurants and shops, pouring money in the Galveston economy. They probably won't discover until a day or two later, when they are back home in Houston or Pasadena or Baytown or Louisiana, that the contents of their gloveboxes or center consoles are empty. Whatever valuables were left in their cars have been transferred to pawn shops and fences on the mainland or somewhere.

And the people who live in Galveston, dare not venture from their homes or businesses for very long periods of time for surely the burglars will come visiting, departing with their treasured belongings.

Where are the cops when all this is happening? Well, the cop assigned to that beat was probably busy with one of the other 333 people assigned to him. Actually, more like 999 since it's summertime and the population has tripled.

The invitation is open. Come to Galveston Island, where we are getting rid of cops as fast as we can, so we will have money to entertain you and your pocketbook, but you should B.Y.O.C.