the city
THE BATTALION Page 3
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1979
-Area Growth
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pp up with it,” he said. He ex-
ained that a city is typically two
rs behind on revenues collected
its tax base. If an industry
ablishes itself in a community in
! spring, it is not until the follow-
j fall before the company is issued
■ity tax statement, he said, and the
apany has another year before
kment is due.
‘‘We can’t keep up,” Nelson said,
1 he credited this income lag with
iighcity employee turnover rate, a
of office space, and understaf-
)ut of 500 possible staff positions,
6re are 71 vacancies, and the
lual turnover rate in Bryan looms
percent, he said. The city can’t
hp up with the pay scales of private
lustry, and so the city becomes a
jining school for jobs in the private
ptor, he added.
“It becomes a cycle,” Nelson
An employee usually comes
to the city unskilled, but in a year or
two he has gained the skills to get a
higher paying job elsewhere, he
said.
Nelson also pointed to an in
herent attitude problem in the pub
lic as one factor affecting city re
venues.
“To most people, the government
is thought of as ‘they’ — someone far
away who has the power and money
to do everything.
“They seem to think ‘they’ print
money in the basement of city hall or
something.”
Nelson said this sentiment shows
up in low voter turnout during bond
elections. The citizens must realize
that one of the city’s main methods of
acquiring revenue is through bond
elections, he said, and when bond
issues are defeated, the city is left to
struggle along with what it has.
“Unless citizens are willing to con
tribute, nothing can be done,” he
said.
Meanwhile in College Station, a
move is under way to dispel this
Better drainage
sked from city
m
er
By RICHARD OLIVER
Battalion StafT
Iftien it rains, it pours. The Col-
Station City Council was more
tan usually aware of that fact Thurs-
|y night.
The council was presented with a
petition signed by 146 College Sta-
! ion residents at their city council
fleeting citing a lack of proper drain
age channels in the area.
The petition accused the city of a
nek of maintenance on the local
Idnage systems, and named speci-
cally the Southwood Valley, Nor-
nan Circle and Longmire Bridge
reas as being hardest hit by
boding.
Gale Wagner, a Sandy Circle resi
lient, addressed the council on the
iroblem, saying, “Only partial chan-
llization of the existing streams ex-
sts, particularly in the Southwood
Valley district. ”
"It’s not confined to creeks behind
ndy Circle and Norman Circle,”
hgner said. “It’s not simply one
Seek or one bridge. There are prob-
ns everywhere. There are real
qblems.
[The city doesn’t know whose re-
bonsibility it is. The developers
Jn’t claim responsibility. Who has
responsibility for it?”
jMayor Pro-tem Gary Halter
noved the council turn the matter
iver to the city staff for a study and
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College
Graduates
BECOME A LAWYER’S ASSISTANT.
• Program approved by American Bar Association.
• Day or Evening classes available.
• Employment assistance.
A Representative from The National Center for Paralegal
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Placement Office to meet interested students. For more
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Name
Address
City
. State
Zip
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College
Yr. Grad.
1980
□ SPRING DAY
Feb. 11 - May 9
□ SUMMER DAY
June 12 - Sept. 9
□ SPRING EVE
March 18 - Sept. 20
□ FALL DAY
Sept. 18 - Dec.
□ FALL EVE
Oct. 21 - May 9
16
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• • •
apparent apathy. Recently, city
council appointed a 12-member
Citizen’s Planning Advisory Com
mittee to study the current master
plan for the city, and to make recom
mendations for a new one. The cur
rent plan was significantly revised
two years ago, but planners say it’s
time for a new one.
But the committee itself faces
a problem.
It has met three times, and disin
terest is already apparent. Only
seven members of the committee
showed up for the last meeting.
Member Earl Bennett summed up
the sentiments of the group.
“I bet you can’t find five people
really concerned, to come up here to
the committee until something
affects them directly,” he said.
However, the committee is taking
steps to reorganize interest in the
city’s problems. Through a survey
and neighborhood meetings, it plans
to map out where the people think
the city should be going, and how it
should get there.
But members agree the road
ahead will be bumpy.
Former city councilman Ann
Hazen, representing the Planning
and Zoning Commission at the Octo
ber 19 committee meeting pointed
out the major obstacle blocking
progress.
“We’re going to have to educate
the people before they can even
answer the questionnaire,” she said.
recommendation on the problem,
saying, “The city must decide what is
the city s responsibility and what is
the responsibility of the others.”
Following the discussion, Wagner
told reporters outside the council
meeting that although he wasn’t
satisfied with the city’s action on the
matter, at least they had been noti
fied of the problem.
“The basic problem is drainage.
The council is considering only the
exact problem at the moment, not
the potential problems.”
Wagner said developers of the
area, simply want to divert the drain
age streams in the Sandy Creek area,
which would move the water into the
Bee Creek area, where a problem
already exists.
The council also decided to add
College Station’s name to a list of
Texas cities who are protesting a gate
rate increase request by Lone Star
Gas Company.
The protest, sponsored by the
Texas Municipal League, currently
has 108 cities bonded together.
The protest calls for a reduction of
the rate increase called for by Lone
Star Gas from the $41.6 million
annual rate requested to approxi
mately $7 million.
A gate rate is the amount of money
the company charges to get gas to a
city’s limits. Local rates are deter
mined after a city adds local charges
such as distribution costs and taxes.
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