Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

CEO says damage in Galveston, Kemah may total $50 million Landry's takes hard punches from Ike
Houston Chronicle ^ | Sept. 16, 2008, 10:44PM | By NANCY SARNOFF

Posted on 09/17/2008 5:08:36 AM PDT by BellStar

Friday, they prepared for the worst.

Saturday, they watched and waited.

What they saw Sunday was not good.

"We're affected right now, huge," Landry's Restaurants chief Tilman Fertitta said after a hurricane assessment meeting with a dozen of his executives Tuesday.

(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: fertitta; galveston; hurricaneike; kemah; tx
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-25 next last
http://www.kemah.net/jmc617081FCbsm.jpg
Tilman Fertitta & BellStar @
McCain Eventin June 08
1 posted on 09/17/2008 5:08:37 AM PDT by BellStar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: BellStar

If they completely did away with *Joe’s Crab Shack*, wouldn’t bother me at all. Worst seafood experience ever!


2 posted on 09/17/2008 5:17:30 AM PDT by wolfcreek (I see miles and miles of Texas....let's keep it that way.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wolfcreek

If you thought the point of Joe’s was the seafod, you are sadly mistaken. :P


3 posted on 09/17/2008 5:25:03 AM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: BellStar

***What they saw Sunday was not good. ***

But think of the jobs it created in the building industry!


4 posted on 09/17/2008 5:31:56 AM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Spktyr

Those visits to the *throne* at 3 in the morning, sealed the deal.

I repeat: avoid the crawdad etouffee?


5 posted on 09/17/2008 5:32:20 AM PDT by wolfcreek (I see miles and miles of Texas....let's keep it that way.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: wolfcreek

Don’t bother with the food, just go there to drink the alcohol and ogle the smokingly hot waitresses.


6 posted on 09/17/2008 5:34:18 AM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: BellStar

Had dinner at Landry’s on Labor Day and rode the roller coaster.


7 posted on 09/17/2008 5:35:08 AM PDT by SeaHawkFan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Spktyr

8>}


8 posted on 09/17/2008 5:45:27 AM PDT by wolfcreek (I see miles and miles of Texas....let's keep it that way.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: wolfcreek
If they completely did away with *Joe’s Crab Shack*, wouldn’t bother me at all. Worst seafood experience ever!

Tillman did get rid of Joe's, back in 2006; however, I agree, any Landry's experience, IMHO, would be bad. Cadillac mexican food was so-so, but the ONLY Landry's owned sign, I might return to. Joe's was without a doubt, one sorry attempt at seafood. Haven't been in one since ownership change; however.

9 posted on 09/17/2008 6:06:29 AM PDT by OBXWanderer (Now is the time for all good men [and women] to come to the aid of their country.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: BellStar

I wrote this in 1992 after Andrew, whose path was eerily similar to that of Katrina – and now Ike! That should tell ANY sane person that THIS WILL HAPPEN AGAIN AND PROBABLY IN LESS THAN 12 YEARS GIVEN THE MORE AGGRESSIVE HURRICANES IN THIS CYCLE. And this cycle is predicted to last another 15 years!!

Simply change some of the names.

If they rebuild NOLA on the present site – and DON’T get folks OFF THOSE BEACHES ALONG THE ENTIRE HURRICANE-PRONE U.S. COAST — keep this for the NEXT catastrophe. Insanity is defined as doing the same things over and over while expecting a different result. Whom God would destroy, He first makes insane. Has this nation lost its mind? Look to NOLA – BUILT 8 FEET BELOW THE SURROUNDING WATERWAYS – for the answer for that. If NOLA is rebuilt, those low-lying areas ought to be allowed to revert to their original state as wetlands and swamps. The folks necessary to operate that vital port and petro/chemical infrastructure need to live in reinforced dwellings ABOVE future anticipated flood levels.

And now that Rita and Ike have come and gone, taking most of these coastal dwellings and structures with them, it is time to consider turning a 10 to 15 mile strip of our hurricane prone coastal areas into RV parks or campgrounds with MINIMAL SEMI-PERMANENT – and I stress “SEMI” — STRUCTURES. Anyone building a structure in that strip is ON HIS OWN RE. SHOULDERING THE FINANCIAL LIABILITY FOR ITS LOSS!!!
************

WHAT GEORGE SHOULD HAVE SAID
by Dick Bachert

On the evening of September 1st, 1992, President George Bush went on national TV to announce that the already empty federal coffers would pour forth uncounted billions of dollars to totally rebuild the Florida and Louisiana communities destroyed by Hurricane Andrew. A vast majority of Americans seem to agree with this action, providing yet more evidence (as if more were needed) that we have come very, very far from the philosophy of self-reliance articulated by one Colonel Davey Crockett. (See “Not Yours to Give” available from FEE at www.fee.org)

Instead of attempting to purchase his reelection with plundered resources, this is what George Bush should have said.

“My fellow Americans:

As you all know, a devastating hurricane has struck the southern tip of Florida and Louisiana. Our hearts and prayers go out to all who have lost so much.

“There is now a great cry for the federal government to “do something”.

“And we shall.

“I have dispatched otherwise idle military resources — men and women involved in our national defense who will profit from what will amount to a real-life field exercise — to the area to render whatever aid the local authorities deem appropriate to restore basic communications and public safety infrastructure. But, beyond that, we can do little else. Before you brand me a heartless monster, allow me to explain:

“The area involved has been regularly struck by many such storms since long before we have inhabited this continent. There is reason to believe that this pattern will continue. All who have vacationed or visited there will agree that it is a beautiful area and by driving a short distance, residents there can avail themselves of the ocean waters and sandy beaches of that coastal setting. I, too, understand the attraction. That’s why I spend as much time as possible
in Kennebunkport. That’s the upside of living in such an area.

“The downside is that the area is regularly struck by these terrible storms. Which is why responsible and intelligent residents of the area insure their property against the inevitable resultant damage.

“That the largest private insurers have determined that certain of these areas are so likely to be struck by storms such as Andrew as to make them “actuarially unsound” risks is a matter for the insurers and the property owners. Government will only, through the lawfully established court system, do its best to see to it that any contracts between these private parties are honored.

“If a prospective property owner is unable to secure private insurance against these calamitous eventualities, he or she had better reevaluate his or her position. If a prospective owner cannot bear the financial loss which would flow from the destruction of an uninsured home in one of these high risk areas, he or she is well advised to purchase in an area where such insurance is available. It is not, nor can it ever be, the government’s place to levy a compulsory tax on citizens who do not live in these high risk beach areas to subsidize the folly of those who choose to do so! It would be criminal to force citizens who themselves already pay hundreds of dollars each year to protect their homes from
normal hazards such as fire and the occasional tornado to also pay for the beach front lifestyle of others! To increase their taxes so that some of their less responsible fellows may enjoy the benefits of living in these normally
beautiful — but statistically periodically dangerous — surroundings is unconscionable.

“As much as our hearts go out to those who have lost so much, I must remind them that just as it has happened in the past, it will happen again. If you chose to remain there, you do so at your peril. This is an election year and the temptation is great for me to obligate the already strapped taxpayers of the entire nation to pay for the rebuilding of these damaged areas.

“Though it may cost me another term as President, I must, because of the dangerous precedent it would set, resist it. To do otherwise would be the grossest unfairness to, say, a citizen in Kansas whose roof might be blown off during a tornado. Would that citizen not have the right to ask the federal government to do the same for him? Multiply that by the numbers of isolated, individual-but equally calamitous disasters each year and you will come to see that the treasury of even the richest nation on earth (which, thanks to decades of such nonsense, we no longer are) would soon collapse under the load.

“On a technical level, I would also remind you that expert analysis of the destruction of these homes quickly disclosed that it was government and the building codes — rather the false security of their enforcement — which led to the loss of nearly 85,000 dwellings. You who now look to government to solve your problem ought to consider that it was the failure of the government mandated building code enforcement that reduced your home to a pile of rubble. Your reliance upon government enforcement of these codes and their assiduous observance has proven to be an error.

“In that connection, I would point out that engineers who surveyed the damage discovered a number of structures which survived. It was found that these buildings had been built under an older, ostensibly less stringent code and/or were constructed using a number of proven, but more costly, techniques designed to improve survival.

“If you do plan to rebuild in one of these uninsurable sections, please, in order to minimize the destruction the next time another killer storm comes ashore, employ these construction techniques.

“Let me now turn to what we must now do to help those in such desperate need at this moment.

“I submit that we should continue and intensify what we’ve been doing thus far: The volunteer activities many of you have undertaken as individuals, small businesses and large corporations are doing exactly what I envisioned when I
launched my “Thousand Points of Light” campaign. What we need now are millions of such points. And, if the response continues to swell as in the past few days, we’ll get there.

“Let me also remind you that the first folks into the area with meaningful relief were not government people. As we have seen, these huge bureaucracies possess equally huge levels of static inertia. They lack the flexibility and
sensitivity to function efficiently. People helping people is the highest embodiment of the faith our forefathers brought to these shores over 300 years ago.

“America was — and, I fervently believe, still is – a nation of people who understand this basic concept. It is time we remembered that government’s role is to only do for citizens those few constitutionally limited things we cannot
individually do for ourselves. I’d remind you what George Washington said about government: “Government is not reason. It is not eloquence. It is force! And like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.”

“It is also time for us all to remember that we must take individual responsibility for ourselves. We must remember, for example, that we cannot construct our homes in places where the forces of nature periodically rage against us without adequate preparation for those periodic rampages.

“To be more specific, if we must build in those areas, we must take personal responsibility for the soundness of construction and/or insure against the certain eventuality that these natural assaults will occur. The days when
individuals can look to a government to force the rest of us to underwrite the folly of the few are gone! I urge those of you now digging out from the destruction in Florida and Louisiana to remember that as you consider your future. I pledge that if you grant me another term in office, I shall devote my next 4 years to bringing government back under the United States Constitution in order to ensure that it does only those few things we cannot do for ourselves and does them as efficiently and effectively as possible.

“Let me again urge us to continue the enormous volunteer efforts we have already begun until this tragedy is behind us.

“Thank you and good night!”


10 posted on 09/17/2008 6:25:06 AM PDT by Dick Bachert
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BellStar

His Flagship Hotel, that sticks out over the water on a pier, got badly damaged and will be closed until hopefully mid January.


11 posted on 09/17/2008 6:33:34 AM PDT by neb52
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dick Bachert
On the evening of September 1st, 1992

There is the reason the speech you wrote could not and never will be given by any politician -- an election was nigh, bread and circuses for all, I say!! /s

12 posted on 09/17/2008 6:38:00 AM PDT by T-Bird45 (It feels like the seventies, and it shouldn't.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: BellStar
I visited the Kemah boardwalk several years ago. Very nice. Before that visit I had been to Kemah back in the late 60s or early 70s when there wasn't much except bait shops where we bought chicken necks for crabbing. I also grew up eating at Landry's. When we moved from Louisiana to Texas we still went thru Louisiana twice a year to visit our grandparents in Mobile AL. My last visit to Landry's, the food was disappointing. Maybe the company will reorganize and get back to the basics of really good food.

My nephew proposed to his wife on the ferris wheel at the Kemah boardwalk. It was sad watching it take the blows from Ike. I have no doubt that Kemah and the affected area will be back! And I hope Landry's are a part of that come back. My sister and bro in law in League City came thru with a downed fence and messy yard. My nephew and his wife also didn't have much damage. My sister even found her in laws beach house on a noaa sat image..it is on the west end of Galveston! Nothing but slabs on either side, but there it stood..and the white table and chairs STILL ON THE DECK!

Anyway..sorry for the ramble. I would love to see Landry's come back WITH GOOD FOOD.

13 posted on 09/17/2008 6:55:20 AM PDT by sweet_diane (IMHO, a jacka** in lipstick is still a liberal.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dick Bachert
"And now that Rita and Ike have come and gone, taking most of these coastal dwellings and structures with them, it is time to consider turning a 10 to 15 mile strip of our hurricane prone coastal areas into RV parks or campgrounds "

So should the federal gov just come and take that land via immient domain? Or should taxpayers buy it from us? Or should we just give it away outright? For 70 years my family has paid property tax on coastal property and we have no desire to run an RV park or campground.

Hurricanes may get more media coverage but they are not the only natural disaster out there.

14 posted on 09/17/2008 7:11:05 AM PDT by sweet_diane (IMHO, a jacka** in lipstick is still a liberal.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: sweet_diane

Ahh, but, my dear Diane, thanks to the National Flood Insurance program and federal “assistance” in the aftermath of these INEVITABLE storms, ALL of us have been subsidizing your beach lifestyle.

I also have property insurance and pay some mighty premiums — made mighty by the insurors having to spread the costs of YOUR frequent coastal losses to the rest of us — but my chances of being destroyed by a tornado or a flood are infinitely smaller than you being wiped out every 10 years less by a hurricane.


15 posted on 09/17/2008 8:30:16 AM PDT by Dick Bachert
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: wolfcreek

We’ve visited the Joe’s at Kemah’s boardwalk a couple of times on vacation and had wonderful experiences there! Even my fish-hating husband (the kind you eat, not look at) had a good time there. :-)

So sad to see the images of Kemah’s destruction—hopefully if we get to have a vacation next summer the boardwalk will be rebuilt and the kids can have a blast like we did last time!


16 posted on 09/17/2008 8:42:31 AM PDT by pillut48 (CJ in TX --Soccer Mom and proud Rush Conservative leaning toward the McCain/Palin ticket now!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Dick Bachert
You sound like you wish our property would take damage, which is hasn't. When the house my grandfather built was destroyed by Frederic, no gov agency gave my parents money to build. Heck, when mom needed to repair the deck after Ivan it didn't even meet the deductible!

Your beef is with the high dollar developers who build all the high rises the tourist flock to each year, not the average American who happens to live where many want to be. I wonder how many of said tourist have a $10,000 deductible on their homeowners. I don't know how much mom pays in yearly to the National Flood Insurance program, but she budgets and does.

Will be a sad day for America if the federal gov comes in and takes land to turn it into an RV park or campground, as you suggest. So much for working hard and buying property!

My house is 13 years old, I'm inland a bit. Mom's is 25ish years old. Not wiped out yet, sorry.

If you have issues with NOLA and how it is built, keep it there.

17 posted on 09/17/2008 9:08:04 AM PDT by sweet_diane (IMHO, a jacka** in lipstick is still a liberal.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: Dick Bachert
Have made many trips to the Texas coast over the years, last one was a week ago today to move my trailer from Rockport (didn't because by Thursday AM it was evident Ike was headed north and east). 25 or 30 years ago places like Kemah, Port Aransas, etc. were mostly collections of low value homes (not inaccurate to call shacks) and a few small scale commercial buildings. In todays dollars they probably would average maybe $20k in value. I think that building style was deliberate it's one thing to lose a $20k house another to lose a $200k house. Various polices have encouraged a rapid rise in cost and value on the coast. We need to rethink those policies. Keeping an RV there you can move or a cheap shack you can afford to lose is one thing building a $250k house there you expect my tax dollars to somehow help out with rebuilding is another. Maybe government can help with the first $20k of value or so and after that you are on your own. I realize this would require serious revision of building codes, property tax policy and many other things but it is possible.
18 posted on 09/17/2008 9:18:27 AM PDT by nomorelurker (keep flogging them till morale improves)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: sweet_diane

Good for you and your people.

Unfortunately, you are in the minority.

And if you wish to stay, by all means do so.

But you do know, I’m sure, that government can now take your property and give it to a developer to garner higher property taxes from more 30 story condos.


19 posted on 09/17/2008 9:25:01 AM PDT by Dick Bachert
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: OBXWanderer
Been to Cadillac Mexican food on the Island. Horrible by Texas standards. Good for foreign tourists.

We ate at the Aquarium restaurant at Kemah. It was pretty good. Really enjoyed looking at the sea life in all the aquariums.

20 posted on 09/17/2008 12:44:17 PM PDT by wolfcreek (I see miles and miles of Texas....let's keep it that way.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-25 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson