Council delays plastic bag decision





Wearing a dress made entirely of disposable plastic shopping bags, Jamie McWilliams of Corpus Christi takes a seat at a meeting of the Port Aransas City Council on Thursday, April 17. The council was discussing whether to ban bags.

Wearing a dress made entirely of disposable plastic shopping bags, Jamie McWilliams of Corpus Christi takes a seat at a meeting of the Port Aransas City Council on Thursday, April 17. The council was discussing whether to ban bags.

Port Aransas City Council members said they want to attack litter with a broad-based approach, but they delayed a decision on whether to ban plastic shopping bags at points of sale in town.

The development came Thursday, April 17, at a meeting where 17 citizens spoke in favor of a ban. Two ban supporters wore dresses made of dozens of plastic bags.

Appearing before the Port Aransas City Council, Bruce Clark of The Islander hands out plastic shopping bags that his store uses. The council was discussing the possibility of banning disposable plastic shopping bags to cut down on litter in town. Clark pointed out that plastic bags can be useful because they’re re-usable. From left are councilmen John Price, Edwin Myers and Steve Lanoux. More than 20 citizens spoke to the council about plastic bags, most of them favoring a ban.

Appearing before the Port Aransas City Council, Bruce Clark of The Islander hands out plastic shopping bags that his store uses. The council was discussing the possibility of banning disposable plastic shopping bags to cut down on litter in town. Clark pointed out that plastic bags can be useful because they’re re-usable. From left are councilmen John Price, Edwin Myers and Steve Lanoux. More than 20 citizens spoke to the council about plastic bags, most of them favoring a ban.

Six citizens made remarks against the idea of a ban.

Council members decided to wait until they start holding budget planning sessions to get going on the subject of combating litter. The sessions will begin on an as-yet undetermined date in late June or early July, according to City Secretary Irma Parker.

Waiting until then will give two new council members a chance to get in on the ground floor of any action that might be taken, council members said.

(Council elections originally scheduled for May 12 were cancelled because no one running for election had opposition. Beverly Bolner Moorhouse will become Place 2 council member, taking the place of John Price, who chose not to run. Former council member Charles Bujan was unopposed in his pursuit of Place 4, which is being vacated by Glenda Balentine. She is finishing up her third consecutive term and cannot run for it this year due to term limits established by the city charter.)

No one at the meeting denied that Port Aransas has a litter problem. In fact, Mayor Keith McMullin pointed at the glass door to the council chambers and said he could see three plastic bags dangling from a tree outside.

But bag ban opponents said businesses and their tourist patrons would be penalized by a ban because it would be harder for merchants to conduct business, and tourists would have to go to the extra expense of buying cloth shopping bags to transport what they buy.

“We can’t make tourists feel like they can’t shop here,” said Mary McDonnell, who owns Port A Outfitters.

A couple of speakers said plastic shopping bags are handy to re-use for picking up pet waste and for other purposes.

The Skip the Plastic Port Aransas organization has circulated hardcopy and online petitions calling for a ban on plastic shopping bags at the point of sale.

Spokesman Rae Mooney said the paper petitions had 679 signatures, of which 269 were Port Aransas residents, 230 were Coastal Bend residents and 180 were visitors, including Winter Texans. The online petition had 250 signatures, including 78 Port Aransas residents, 47 Coastal Bend residents and 125 visitors, she said.

“I ask the city council to think about what is best for the city and the reasons people come here and live here,” Mooney said in remarks to the council. “The economy of Port A does not depend on plastic bags. It depends on beautiful, clean and healthy beaches, birding centers and marine environments.”

Animal Rehabilitation Keep Director Tony Amos spoke in favor of a ban. He said many animals at the ARK came there as a result of encounters with plastics. Many swallow the substance, thinking it’s food.

It wasn’t clear whether a majority of council members wants to impose a ban on plastic bags. Not everyone made a clear-cut statement for or against a ban.

Mayor Keith McMullin and Councilman Steve Lanoux came out solidly in favor of a ban as part of a broad-based approach. Lanoux read a two-and-ahalf page statement citing various arguments supporting a ban.

“Let’s ban plastic bags at the point of sale and protect our city and our end of the island,” the statement said, in part. “I believe Corpus Christi will follow soon, and then all of Mustang Island will be covered. Rockport is about to take up the issue, too. That could initiate parallel action by the other nearby cities. We will then have a regional ban, sending a powerful message to everyone who visits this area, making it even more attractive and appealing. This is our opportunity for Port Aransas to take the lead. And it’s the right thing to do.”

Councilman John Price said Port Aransas has a litter problem that should be addressed in a variety of ways, such as through having more city workers picking up trash and putting bigger garbage cans on the beach.

He added, “Let’s not penalize the retailers … until we’ve done everything we can as a city.” A ban won’t solve the problem, he said.

Councilman Bob Petitt agreed that litter is a problem in town. He said part of the problem is that many visitors “throw their stuff all over the place.”

An anti-litter campaign is needed, he said. Petitt pointed out that he is a restaurateur and said putting a burden on businesses alone with a ban wouldn’t be fair. He said he doesn’t think a ban would be effective, but he also said he wasn’t ready to say no to one.

Another restaurateur, Councilman Edwin Myers, said putting certain foods in a paper bag, to go, wouldn’t work well.

On the subject of a bag ban, Myers said he favors “a more balanced approach” to controlling litter.

Council member Glenda Balentine was absent.

Councilman Skipper Lister also said the overall litter problem should be addressed, not just bags. He said the city’s recently initiated study of plastic bag origins should be expanded to include other kinds of litter.

City public works department employees picking up litter over the course of a recent three-week period paid special attention to plastic bags, keeping track of business logos that might reveal whether the trash originated with stores in Port Aransas or outside of town.

City Manager Dave Parsons said 75 percent of the bags along State Hwy. 361 came from outside of Port Aransas. Eighty-two percent of the bags found on the beach came from outside of town, he said.

A bag ban would help in Port Aransas, but it wouldn’t be a cure-all, Parsons said. A regional anti-litter campaign would be a good idea, he said.

Parsons said the beach litter situation will get better soon. The council earlier budgeted money to buy bigger garbage cans for the beach, and city officials are hoping to have the receptacles set up by mid-summer.

Right now, the city has lidless 55-gallon barrels serving as garbage cans along the beach. They’ve been known to quickly overflow with garbage on big summer weekends.

The barrels are set to be replaced by 300-gallon toter style garbage cans that have lids and are designed to be picked up by garbage trucks with robotic arms.

Each garbage station along the beach has two 55-gallon barrels. The stations will go from having 110 gallons of total capacity to 600 gallons, Parsons said.

The city also has ordered a new garbage truck that’s specially outfitted for driving on the beach and for picking up the toters. It will be equipped with netting along the top to keep trash from blowing out, Parsons said.


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