DALLAS — Texas voters raised enough money to float a battleship in last week’s bond election, and no one could be happier about that than Barry Ward, executive director of the Battleship Texas Foundation, a nonprofit charged with preserving the rust-threatened relic of World War II.
“The Texas is the only ship of its era left in the world,” said Ward, a historian, archeologist, and former curator with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. “There are none from this seminal period in history, the dreadnought era.”
With approval on Nov. 6 of $1 billion for state parks, historical sites, prisons, and crime labs under Proposition 4, the U.S.S. Texas will receive $25 million for restoration and placement in a permanent dry berth, where it will be safe from the corrosive seawater at its present site on the Houston Ship Channel.
The battleship is a major attraction for San Jacinto State Park in LaPorte, site of the decisive battle for Texas Independence in 1836. More than 150,000 visitors a year board the ship, including students and youth groups.
Classed with the British HMS Dreadnought of 1906, battleships of the era carried only large guns, all of the same caliber. Made obsolete in a world of aircraft carriers, the last battleships were removed from the U.S. Naval Vessel Register in March 2006.
Launched in 1912, the Texas is one of two remaining ships to have served in both world wars. She was the first battleship with anti-aircraft guns, the first to receive commercial radar, and the first to become a museum ship.
“Her design began within a year of the Wright Brothers flight, and it ended a year after the nuclear age,” Ward said. “It’s a pretty amazing arc of history.”
Since she was towed to her berth on April 21, 1948, the Texas has spent most of her retirement in the corrosive waters of the channel, with trips to the drydock about every 10 years for repairs at a cost of about $15 million, Ward said. The state had only enough money to repair 30% of the hull during the last dry dock in 1989, he said.
By removing the ship from the water, the $25 million will cover the repairs without the prospect of another costly restoration 10 years from now.
“Imagine if you were trying to repair that now, and the 60% that you didn’t restore last time is even worse,” Ward said. “This saves the people of Texas millions of dollars in renovation funds.”
With inadequate state funds to preserve the ship, the Battleship Texas Foundation has raised private funds for periodic repairs. With rainwater leaking into the captain’s quarters, the deck had rusted, creating a danger to visitors, Ward said.
| The U.S.S. Texas will be placed in a permanent dry berth, making it safe from corrosive seawater at its present site on the Houston Ship Channel. |
Using private funds, the foundation is already planning the move to permanent drydock as the state works out details for selling the bonds with the first issue expected next year. The Texas Public Finance Authority will issue the general obligation debt.
The $1 billion of Proposition 4 bonds were among $10 billion approved by voters last week. If all the bonds were issued, it would more than double Texas’ current debt of about $390 per capita. Analysts say there is no danger of exceeding the legal debt limit, which is 5% of the state budget.
For proponents of Proposition 4, which amends the state constitution to allow for the debt, the U.S.S. Texas was, perhaps, the most visible symbol of the state’s neglect of its parks and historical sites. The San Jacinto Battleground also receives $435,750 for water and wastewater system repairs.
Voters approved $100 million in bond funding for Texas Parks and Wildlife Department projects in 2001, but $46 million of those bonds still have not been issued, leaving urgently needed repairs in limbo, according to a 2006 report from the department.
Texas ranks 49th among states in per capita spending on parks, and less than one-fifth of the sporting goods tax designated for parks in the 1993 Legislature actually goes to the parks, according to the report.
Proposition 4 provides $48 million for 2008-2009 for historic Texas courthouses and other historic sites. The Texas historic courthouse preservation program, which matches state and local funds, is scheduled to receive $31 million of that amount.
Since its creation by the Legislature in 1999, the program has restored 37 courthouses with another 27 in the works. The Bexar County courthouse in San Antonio, the oldest and largest continuously operated historic courthouse in Texas, was re-dedicated in 2003 with $2.8 million coming from a THC grant.
Officials estimate that $250 million in state funds is needed to restore 121 courthouses that have submitted approved master plans.
Among the unusual historical projects scheduled to receive bond money are two antebellum plantations in Brazoria County near Houston, complete with slave quarters and artifacts discovered by archeologists.
The Levi-Jordan Plantation, a former slave trader’s compound in West Columbia, will become the first state historic site focused exclusively on interpreting the African-American experience in Texas.
The Varner-Hogg Plantation, 12 miles away in West Columbia, will receive repairs and improvements to the roof, fences, electrical service, and other areas. The plantation, once owned by Gov. Jim Hogg, was donated to the state by his daughter Ima.
Although Varner-Hogg has been open as a state park for several years, funding problems have reduced its hours and staffing, as leaking central air conditioning forced the state to rely on window units for cooling. Antique furniture is locked away in storage.
The more dilapidated Levi Jordan Plantation has never been opened to the public. The main home has been stabilized to preserve the structure, and the slave quarters concealed by vegetation.
The Civil War Sabin Pass Battleground also will receive bond funding to make the site accessible to people with disabilities.
Sea Rim State Park, damaged and closed since Hurricane Rita in 2005, is budgeted to receive more than $1 million.
Proposition 4 won passage with 58% of the votes, despite critics who noted that $300 million of the proposal has not been allocated to specific projects, giving the Legislature and state agencies too much latitude in deciding how to use the funds.
The allocation for prisons also prompted claims that the state already has difficulty staffing the existing lock-ups.
Proposition 4 provides up to $200 million for 2008-2009 to the Department of Public Safety for new and expanded crime labs. Most crime labs are nearly 30 years old, with caseloads now up to eight times their original scope.
The DPS will also get a new emergency driving track in Williamson County with classrooms and driving simulators available to all law enforcement agencies.
Other projects include repair and renovation of state mental health schools and hospitals, maintenance and asbestos removal for state offices, and projects at 14 Texas National Guard readiness centers.
