By CINDY STURLIN
Emergency preparedness on Long Island (LI) and surrounding areas has pointed to the need for practice drills on land and sea by local, state and federal response teams, should there be an accident or natural disaster to the S. Garcia St. Swing Bridge. While it is unfortunate that the Long Island Owners’ Association (LIOA) was not notified of drill scenarios for the recent US Coast Guard (USCG) Security Exercise, our LIOA bridge crew needs to be included in any future planned hazmat response drill scenarios.
Secondary evacuation routes within the Port Isabel Ship Channel and the Port of Brownsville harbors must be considered. This planning is critical to survival, and discovering failures in debriefs will expose somebody not being onboard or not informed. The fast-paced growth and fears for Long Island and on the Gulf Intracoastal Water Way can only be met with readiness.
Doc Young, Long Island Village Owners’ Association (LIVOA) General Manager and Maria Pointer, Long Island Owners’ Association (LIOA) Bridge Board Vice-President, met recently to initiate a National Incident Management System (NIMS) draft proposal. NIMS guides government and non-governmental organizations and the private sector to work together to prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to and recover from incidents. They discussed who to get involved, including LI boat owners to rescue LI residents. From a written draft to our bridge being included in NIMS is a two-year process; Both LIOA and LIVOA are looking forward to being included in future required drill scenarios.
Commander Anthony Garofalo of the US Coast Guard (USCG) Corpus Christi Commandant’s office, has responded to Captain Maria Crowl-Pointer’s July 13, 2023, contact requesting information relating to maritime incidents in our channel and surrounding areas, and asked how to keep communication open. Commander Garofalo has relayed our concerns to Mr. John M. Bray, our local Port Security Specialist. We also want to provide USCG with historical information, found in the family archives of John Freeland, for bridge impacts. As we get more people on board, LIOA with LIV continues to seek connections with government and private entities for increased participation with emergency preparedness for our area. We look forward to attending the Port Security Working Group meeting on Sept. 26 in Brownsville.
We continue to maintain contact with Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT) Commissioner Alex Meade concerning public comments for the Unified Traffic Plan (UTP). Mr. Meade is the person who suggested LIOA property owners request TXDOT add a study for including Garcia St. and the S. Garcia Swing Bridge in the 2023 and/or 2024 UTP. Jared Hockema, Port Isabel City Manager, has also been provided with this information. TXDOT has a Commissioners Meeting on Aug. 16, where our request and public comments will be discussed, and Mr. Meade will discuss resuming operation and maintenance of the swing bridge with his staff. Senators LaMantila and Hinojosa have been requested by LIOA and LIVOA to have staff participate in these meetings on our behalf.
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