SPI city council address golf cart issues

By PAMELA CODY

Special to the PRESS

A golf cart as seen on Padre Blvd. South Padre Island’s city council voted Wednesday evening to prohibit sound devices that emit noise, such as Bluetooth and stereo systems on commercial/rental golf carts within the city limits in addition to voting to create a committee to deal with the issue of noisy activity. (Photo by Freddy Jimenez)

After swearing in newly minted Mayor Patrick McNulty and bidding adieu to outgoing Mayor Dennis Stahl, the SPI City Council spent the majority of its regular meeting on Wednesday night discussing how to regulate the burgeoning golf cart rental businesses on the Island.

Before presenting the former mayor with a plaque recognizing his contributions to South Padre Island, McNulty praised the many accomplishments of Stahl, saying “As his successor, I hope to be the anchor and continue the projects that are in the works.

The discussion at the meeting then moved to agenda item number nine, which proposed to prohibit sound devices that emit noise, such as Bluetooth and stereo systems on commercial/ rental golf carts within the city limits.

In front of the capacity crowd attending the meeting, the first to address the Council on this matter was South Padre Island resident Tommy Saenz, who showed a video he compiled of golf cart drivers with open containers of alcohol, no seatbelts on, and even standing up and dancing while driving.

Saenz remarked, “I am pro-business, I’m not trying to shut down the golf carts, but we need to set some stricter regulations and ordinances to control these out-of-control golf carts. It’s giving South Padre a bad image of lawlessness.”

Saenz suggested prohibiting night use, enforcing the right lane use, and an age minimum of 5 years old to ride in a golf cart.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.portisabelsouthpadre.com/2019/07/18/spi-city-council-address-golf-cart-issues/

1 comment

    • DONALD FRIEND on July 23, 2019 at 6:21 am
    • Reply

    Look at the kid in the back. Imagine a rear end collision. Safety issue. Too many intoxicated people on the island. Distractions and bad driving will eventually cause an accident. Don’t wait for someone to loose a child. Ban rentals. Allow only personally owned, licensed and insured vehicles. Rentals should follow rental car guilelines.

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