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The Livability Index: How Does SPI Stack Up?

by George Block, Editor, Island Matters

 

The Economist magazine recently published their annual "Livability Index" of the major cities in the world.  South Padre Island was much too small to be on the list, but the method they used in analyzing the world's major cities gives us a thought-provoking tool to look at our tiny community.

 

The Economist used five (5) categories for each city.  Underneath each category, they used several indicators.  The five categories were:

 

Stability (25%)

Culture & Environment (25%)

Healthcare (20%)

Infrastructure (20%)

Education (10%)

 

Stability 25%

SPI would rank high in Stability.  We are a peaceful bunch, but Randy Smith, as Police Chief, developed infrastructure (license plate readers on the causeway) and programs (Spring Break, inter-agency cooperative agreements) that made our island much safer.

 

The Economist rates communities on petty crime, violent crime, terror, military conflicts, and civil unrest.  Although we are on the periphery of the drug corridor, the many agencies involved in interdiction have kept our island's citizens largely untouched.

 

Culture and Environment 25%

We would fall slightly lower here.  Our beach, Laguna, and the near-constant breeze keeps our environment relatively stable and beautifully sub-tropical.  However, we are lagging (possibly dangerously) behind in preparation for severe weather and climate change.

 

Our electrical distribution lines (the smaller and lower ones that bring power to our homes and businesses) are dangerously exposed to high winds.  We need a generational view to putting them underground.  It is expensive to do in one year, but foolish not to do over 20 years.

 

The same long view applies to drainage.  There is no drainage solution if we are ever 4 feet deep in a hurricane tidal surge, but we are woefully unprepared for sub-maximal storms.  The city's study was frightening to read and sending it to the Army Corps seemed like the easiest way to kill action.

 

We have no social or religious restrictions compared to the rest of the world.  We are low in the availability of consumer goods, but so is every other small town in the world.  "Retail follows rooftops." Apparently, the only consumer goods for which we have enough demand is t-shirts.

 

The index rates communities on three sports indicators.  A town of 2,500 will not have any professional teams, but a thriving sports bar scene makes them available to anyone who wants to watch in a communal setting.  We are a largely bikeable community with many residents biking, running, or walking frequently.  With our older population, frailty is a significant public health issue.  SPI has excellent participation in both condo-owned and commercial gyms.

 

Cultural availability is changing quickly on our island.  The ABI is determined to make SPI an arts hub.  Early indications are they might succeed.  New businesses are putting down roots and the ABI is in its third year of resident art-business students.

 

The quality of El Paseo performances seems to improve every year from an already surprisingly high standard for a small town.  All that we are missing is a real theater.

 

Transparency in government is where we would rate low.  Elected officials shield themselves from direct interviews and create obstacles to the public release of documents.  This is the nature of every government, but should never be accepted by voters, especially in a small community.

Healthcare 20%

Do we even score here?  Dr. Ybarra has put ideas in front of the community almost yearly, but his inability to attract investors may indicate their lack of viability without public support.  This has a direct economic impact on the island.  In my ten years on the island, the number one reason I have seen for people moving away is to be closer to their doctors.

The Economist rates communities on availability and quality of private healthcare; availability and quality of public healthcare; availability of OTC drugs (thank you, CVS!); and general healthcare indicators.

 

We all know that on certain weekends and certain days, traffic on the bridge would make critical ambulance transit a near impossibility.  Should SPI combine The Economist indicators and develop a public-private-partnership with Dr. Ybarra or the medical school?

 

Infrastructure 20%

We have very few of them, and successive city councils seem to improve them as quickly as we can afford to.  We need to keep making all of them bike-safe and bike-friendly.

Public transport. Everyone loves the Metro.  It's free!  Many hospitality employees who work multiple island jobs would like to see an increased frequency of the Metro at critical hours, so they can move reliably from job to job.

 

Housing availability. We fail desperately here, but so does almost every major city worldwide.  It is practically impossible for anyone who works here to live here.  Workforce housing should be considered an economic development imperative.  Federal tax-credit programs exist to build high-quality, affordable workforce housing.  The problem is that incomes are so low in the RGV that rent rates make these projects unaffordable here without some type of government support.

 

Energy provision. We are not resilient.  We are vulnerable to the most likely storm scenario – high winds.  We need a long-term plan to get our distribution lines underground.

 

Water provision. We supported the LMWD's last bond but have a long way to go.  We need long-term, regional thinking around water.    Reuse of gray water.  Less loss of current resources through leaking water mains.

 

Competition would help on the island, but this would also require a public-private-partnership.

Education

Technically, none of our education is on the island.  Our island schools are across the bridge.  Property owners frequently complain that "we are the piggy bank" for the school district, but that is not the case. Although the PIISD is a high-poverty school district, much of our tax money is taken by "Robin Hood" and redistributed around the state.

There are very few high-tax, low-income school districts in the state, and most are in the center of major urban areas, but our leadership needs to be smart enough to fix the formula so that their tax money remains locally.  Most citizens might gripe at being the "piggy bank" for local governments, but they become irate when that money goes into the black holes of state and federal governments.

 

What do you think?

How would you rate South Padre Island's livability?  How do you rate our island on The Economist's scale?  Would you use different metrics?

 

Let us know at sarah@islandmatters.org

 
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