Take the “Rose Colored Glasses” Off and Look Around Bay City--What Do You See?
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I am a 37 year resident of Matagorda County with a long history of family ties to Bay City and Matagorda County. I was born in Bay City and was raised in Bay City and Blessing. After college, I spent twelve years as a public educator in Bay City ISD before going to work for Fluor Nuclear Power. I currently live and work in Greenville, South Carolina but still maintain my residence in Bay City. I stay up with what is going on around the county/city by reading both local newspapers via the internet. I travel quite frequently back to Texas, and each time I come home, I see more business closures. During one of my recent trips back to Bay City, I noticed the movie theatre, the bowling alley, Golden Corral, and Bay City Ford has all closed. In addition, I am sure there will be more to come if we do not see progress in our city and county.
I continue reading “letters to the editors” in the local newspapers as well as reading county/city information on various websites. For all of the people who are fighting progress and change within our city and county, I say to you, take your “rose colored glasses” off and look around Bay City, what do you see? What I see is a high unemployment rate, a large population of low socio-economic citizens, citizens traveling out of the city/county to shop, eat, entertain, to purchase automobiles (i.e. tax dollars leaving our city/county), and yet more buildings becoming vacant and run down (i.e. decrease of sales and property tax for the city/county), shall I go on?
When I see multitudes of cars leaving our area to shop, see a movie, and to eat out in Sugarland, Lake Jackson, or Houston, I see the sales tax revenue (recent reports state that Bay City has lost $500,000 in sales tax revenue compared to one year ago) that should have been captured in Bay City or Matagorda County if the amenities were here.
I continue to hear “we need this or we need that” but in order to get “this or that”; we have to see large capital projects move into the area. Stifling large capital projects like White Stallion does not bring in retail, entertainment, eating establishments, nor does it help with the high unemployment rate we have in Matagorda County (May 2010: 10.9%).
It concerns me how those who are blocking progress/change in our city/county can sit back and say NO to tax dollars annually that could benefit so many entities. In my opinion that is like saying “NO, we don’t want better salaries for our teachers, NO, we don’t want better health care for our citizens, NO, we don’t want better roads in our community, “NO, we don’t want better law enforcement.” However, saying YES to vacant buildings, YES to business closures, YES to people going out of town to shop, YES to high unemployment rates, and YES to an increase in the low socio-economic population.
It is time for CHANGE and PROGRESS! Lets stand UNITED to move Bay City and Matagorda County forward in the 21st century!
Cody D. Holloway, M.Ed.
Citizen for Progress & Change
South Carolina