features
Laredo streets for sale
to earn money for city
United Press International
LAREDO—The dusty streets
of Laredo have been lyricized in
songs and romanticized in old
Western movies. Now, they’re
up for sale.
City fathers in the 92,000 re
sident border town, tired of
Laredo’s image as a holdover
from wild West days, put up “for
sale” signs on many worn-out
and unused roadways in hopes
of raising enough money to pave
other, more well-traveled
streets.
“Somewhere around 50 per
cent of our streets are unpaved,”
said City Councilman Felipe
“Chilo” Sanchez, a Laredo na
tive who helped devise the street
sale idea last summer.
“We needed to start generat
ing revenues to provide the
community with a paving prog
ram,” Sanchez said, “but we
were hesitant to have a bond
issue because the interest rate is
so high right now. We felt that
we had to find an alternative
method of paving streets other
than having to float a bond and,
my idea was, why don’t we start
selling streets that we’re not
using.”
So far, two streets have been
sold for $33,000 each — one to a
home improvement store and
one to a retail development com
pany — and deals are in the
works for 18 other street sales
that could total as much as
$600,000.
In most other Texas com
munities, such a sale would have
been impossible since streets
usually belong to abutting land
owners with the cities owning
easements for utility pipes or
poles.
But Laredo was founded on a
Spanish land grant, and the
streets belong to the city.
“At this time, our ad valorem
taxes bring in only about $3.8
million a year,” Sanchez said.
“The sale of streets should be
able to generate somewhere be
tween $5 million and $7 million.
We figure paving a block will
probably run between $9,000
and $10,000 — so that’s a lot of
streets.”
The benefits to Laredo from
the sale of its streets will not end
there.
“We have public streets that
we are not really using and we
are not getting any ad valorem
taxes out of them and not really
letting anybody build or expand
their businesses on these streets.
Now, those businesses can pur
chase streets and extend their
businesses, and that creates
more taxable income for the
city.”
The Missouri-Pacific Rail
road Co. is negotiating to buy 17
streets for about $500,000 and
the La Quinta Motor Inn is
negotiating to purchase a street
for $101,000. Sanchez said the
city will continue to offer certain
streets for sale until the interest
dwindles.
PCIRYEAR HALL
PLAYBOYS
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SUITCASE PARTY ’82
April 2, 1982 National Guard Armory
9 p.m. -1 a.m.
Beer, Band, Door Prizes
s 4 00 donation (Benefiting the Brazos Valley MHMR
Tickets available at Sbisa & Puryear Hall
Presale only — No tickets available at the door.
Cheryl Wagnon, who has been working with
Grounds Maintenance for 1 Vs* years, waters the
plants at the Main Desk of the Memorial Student
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Earth’s magnetic
field is potential
electricity source
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United Press International
HOUSTON — Scientists be
lieve space is full of potential
electricity that future space sta
tions could tap simply by trailing
a miles-long wire outside, sort of
like Ben Franklin flying his kite
on Earth.
The idea, taking advantage
of the fact that Earth’s magnetic
field extends far into space,
would mean space stations
would not have to carry fuel
cells, solar panels or other pow
er-generating capacity into orbit
with them.
They simply could pull power
from space, which is not nearly
as empty as it seems.
“The electricity is there just as
it’s in this wire,” said Dr. Peter
Banks of Stanford University,
holding a piece of wire. “A sys
tem like this can provide power
of 10 to 20 kilowatts for an orbi-
ter and be stored in batteries.
“The calculations I get indi
cate that if you had a space oper
ations center you could hang a
tether above it 20 kilometers
away and have a continual supp
ly of energy.”
Banks was one of the scientists
with experiments aboard space
shuttle Columbia’s third flight.
He said the effect is the same
thing that happens in an electric
generator. A wire brush is
moved through a magnetic field
to generate electricity, which
essentially is moving electrons.
In the case of the spaceship
revolving around Earth, the
planet provides the magnetic
field naturally and the spaceship
becomes the wire brush as it
moves through. The result is
moving electrons.
Banks said the system could
be very energy efficient.
“What you need is jis
source of electrons (from
ship) and that can be die:
Banks said. “Take an ordii
vacuum tube and break offs
cover and that gives youasw
of electrons.”
The electrons would I
from the ship via the “broker,
vacuum tube,” be picked iif
the end of the tether,
down the miles-long tediei
large numbers by the Eat
magnetic effect and, if desi
stored in a battery.
He said this passive el®
magnetic power systemcoi
self-propellng once in pnf
and the result would be cons
erable usable electrical po«
Banks said he doubts s|
ceships will go into orbitanys:
soon without fuel cells at to
a backup: “You couldn’trisl
Suppose a micrometeorite
your tether short.”
Banks also said there ‘
some drawbacks.
The generation ol power
way would put an electjomajf
tic drag on the space staift
eventually forcing it out oto
into the Earth’s atmospM
Banks said. - ,
“But that works both«'
and it could provide energ)
raise t he orbit,” he said. * ¥
an electromotive effect to
you in orbit.”
Banks was seeing farther' ,
a future that might include'
cles like cartoon chafiM
Fearless Fosdick’s
machines.
Such theoretical mac'
would use the reverse o
power-generating process a-
electric motor, taking ath^
of the Earth’s magnetic ’
stay in orbit.
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MSC Hospitality Fashion Models present Sorina
Fashions at
Post Oak Mall
Friday, Apr. 2 7:00 p.m.
FILING FOR \1l
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