Mayor reflects on past, looks to future
BY DAN PARKER SOUTH JETTY REPORTER

MAYOR CLAUDE BROWN

[Editor's note: With the emerging new year – a time when people traditionally look ahead with renewed hope and predictions – the South Jetty is publishing a seven-part series of interviews with the current and past Port Aransas mayors reflecting on the state of our island town and its future. Following is the first article in the series, an interview with current mayor Claude Brown. Later articles will feature interviews conducted in December and January with all six of Port Aransas' living former mayors: Georgia Neblett, Glenn Martin, Jim Sherrill, Dale Bietendorf, Charlie Brown (no relation to Claude Brown) and Bob Flood.]

Claude Brown, 48, has lived in Port Aransas all his life. He owns Outlaw Services, a business that provides heavy equipment for construction and demolition. He served as a Port Aransas city councilman from 2002 to 2003, ran unsuccessfully for mayor against Georgia Neblett in 2004, then defeated Neblett in a race for the mayor's office in May 2006.

South Jetty: What is the state of the city today?

Brown: I think the city is in good shape. We're in good financial shape. We've got an excellent A-plus credit rating. There's been a little drop in the economy as far as building, but we're still holding our own. The police department is coming around. We've got a good (new) chief on board. He's really making some positive moves on the police department to improve the service and quality of our police work. We've got nice fire equipment. We've got a good Volunteer Fire Department. We've got a brand-new ambulance, and a lot of that is courtesy of our women's auxiliary.

SJ: A lot of what you're talking about is government, and that's important. But what is the state today of the Port Aransas in the private sector?

Brown: Well, you know, there're new houses being built every day. Our tax base is coming up, which hopefully we can start relying on – a larger tax base instead of larger taxation.

SJ: What do we need to do to make Port Aransas the best town it can be?

Brown: Right now, we have got our foothold started on working to rebuild our infrastructure. Our council is onboard. Everybody seems to be 100 percent majority, working on our drainage problem. And, you know, that's a one-two-three step, as far as when you improve your drainage and you take the water off the streets, the foundation of the streets don't go away from having soggy bases underneath them, and, you know, deteriorating the roadways. So, by improving that infrastructure of the drainage, you've also increased the longevity of your streets, the curbs and so forth. We've enacted some ordinances to prohibit any (obstacles or pollutants) from being introduced into the storm water drains, which is now, you know, can be punishable in the court. … We've got a good staff on board. Everybody seems to be going together.

SJ: In what way should Port Aransas grow? What should this town look like in the future? What kind of town should it be?

Brown: I hate the loss of the ambience, of everyone knowing each other, and I see that more and more. As buildings go up, more fences go up. People didn't used to put fences on their yard just to mark their boundary. Sometimes, you know, it requires crossing the edge of your neighbor's property to get something in your house or something in the driveway. But that ambience is gone, because nobody wants you to cross the edge of their property. I don't' know, it's just – I hate to see the loss of that. But I guess it comes with the territory. I just hope with all the new development and new people coming in, we've got good, friendly people who are willing to help their neighbor or go a little bit the extra mile to keep that hometown atmosphere.

SJ: The main direction where Port Aransas can grow is along State Hwy. 361. What kind of growth would you like to see?

Brown: I'd like to see more working class family operations and less of a retirement-style community. But, you know, the property is for sale, and people are buying it. You can't put a demand or a control over who can come to your town and who

can't. Like I say, I would like to see the working class people be able to afford to live here, the middle class and even some lower class, because there's room for everybody.

SJ: Is there anything people in town or government can do to preserve that kind of population?

Brown: It's hard to ask somebody to sell their property for below market value, and when you have a predominance of high-priced real estate, the market's going to follow that. … It is pretty much out of our hands. The only (possible help) is upping the pay scales, if employers could … to keep workers here. Employers would have to go the extra mile to help preserve the working class here. I've tried to do it myself in my business.

SJ: How much effort should be put into preserving old-town buildings and everything else associated with old town?

Brown: I applaud the people attempting to do that, but you can only put so much into an old building. You're living in a hurricaneprone area that is long overdue (for a hurricane). It's a want situation. You've got to want to do that, (have) a desire for the preservation of it. But you've also got to balance the scales with (the idea) that it could be gone in a hurricane season. So, how much do you want to put into it? The older buildings don't meet the hurricane (building) codes, so it's going to be a hard operation. I applaud the people who want to do it, but it has to be a limited amount of time and money that can be spent on it, due to the fact it could disappear at anytime.

SJ: How is our beach doing?

Brown: We're fixing to have a (city council) workshop on our beach maintenance (Jan. 16). What I've heard from our beach maintenance

committee – they want to eliminate the use of any (heavy equipment) on the beach. It's the flip-side of the record. On one side, you've got to clean the beaches and maintain them, because they're why people come here. And the other is, you put equipment on the beach, and you are literally scraping the beach away. There has to be a line drawn toward how much work you do with a piece of equipment on the beach and try to limit it. But you can't say we're not going to have equipment on the beach at all. … You have severe tides or rain washes a gully across the road, and you can't just leave that sand where it lies. So we're going to talk about all this.

SJ: What would you like to see happen in the future regarding how our beaches look and operate?

Brown: It wouldn't be changed whole lot. But I think the beach maintenance needs to be done at night. You have less people on the beach and more room to get down there and work and run rakes and have it looking pristine the next morning.

SJ: Corpus Christi residents recently went to the polls and defeated a proposal to ban vehicles from the beach next to Packery Channel, where a developer wanted to build a large resort on condition that vehicles are banned from that part of the beach. How would you feel if a condominium development seeks a ban on vehicles in Port Aransas?

Brown: It'll never happen if I have anything to do with it. The beaches belong to the people of the state of Texas. … And property in Port Aransas is too valuable to turn into a parking lot (to accommodate a beach vehicle ban). And there's not property available along the beachfront for a parking lot anyway. … It's impractical.