EARLY VOTING FROM APRIL 22 - 30
ELECTION DAY IS SATURDAY, MAY 4
Overall, life here is good. But we do have problems. Here’s an example…
A few months ago a friend showed me an RO filter he was changing. It was black and stunk. It made me sick to know that black gunk came out of the water we drink, shower and wash our clothes in. I pay a high monthly bill for water that could come from a third-world country?! Even an expensive RO system, which I don’t have, only “purifies” the tap water, not the shower! So I wondered, “Am I safe in my own shower?!” I’m an engineer, I start with the facts. Some research in the American Journal of Public Health says we absorb a lot of chemicals from the water and steam, even more than from water we drink!
The Environmental Working Group analysis shows Surfside has unsafe levels of arsenic, chloroform and toluene in our water, plus a LOT of other bad hydrocarbon chemicals. Now I know, I’m NOT safe in my own shower! Every day I poison myself just a little more.
If I’m elected, I will focus on four things that will make our life here better:
1) Clean water. We shouldn’t accept the Council’s “that’s the way it Is” attitude. Only Jon Gerber has put any real work into the issue, looking for possible solutions and grant money to pay for it all. Jon and I together will make Clean Water our first priority. We deserve clean water we can drink and shower in without risking our health!
2) Roads without potholes. I hate potholes, and I’ll bet you do, too. The Council’s “patch and hope” attitude will never fix the problem. I’m now looking for advanced techniques in the U.S. and Europe, to fix our potholes for a decade or more, giving us smooth streets. I believe there’s an affordable solution, but without a Councilmember birddogging the issue, nothing will ever happen. I’ll be your birddog.
3) SPOT. Two Houston oil companies plan to ram two huge high-pressure oil pipelines through Surfside near Swan Lake and out 30 miles in the Gulf to fill giant oil tankers going to Europe. Too many communities in Louisiana and Texas have bitter memories of massive oil leaks and spills that covered their beaches and birds, and destroyed their tourism. We’d be at the mercy of the oil companies to pay for the cleanup. I'll tell them to put their pipeline somewhere else, not on our beach!
4) Clean, stable beach. The beach is our most valuable possession, and we must protect it. SOBA and the Village do a wonderful job of keeping our beach clean and safe. But we must be ever-vigilant to the dangers it faces. We need action to protect the sand from continuing to wash away, including finding funds to build the groins and improve the berms.
I believe in the old saying, “Action, not words.” If councilmembers don’t take ownership of certain issues and shepherd them toward a solution, nothing gets done. I want to deliver Action. We’ve had enough words.
I’m responsible to YOU. I’ll have regular conversation sessions at local watering holes where you can ask me what I’ve accomplished and tell me what you want me to accomplish for you. That’s what it means to me to be a Public Servant.