Hurricane Ike and an economy in free fall put something of a wrench in Marquette Land Investments' ambitious plans for the 1,000-plus-acre development called "The Preserve at West Beach." The planned community is still in the works, with a 15-story resort hotel, more than 4,000 condos and residential homes, a golf course, and a marina in the designs.
But now a coalition of conservation-minded locals are trying to buy back some of the undeveloped bay-front land and coastal plain from the developers. The site, according to environmentalists, is one of the most ecologically diverse spaces on the island.
The Galveston County Daily News reports that environmental group Artist Boat applied for $11 million from the federal Hazard Mitigation Grant Program to buy 343 acres, the site of the proposed marina and some residential housing. After a denial from Governor Rick Perry, the group joined with Galveston city officials to try to secure a $3 million Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association.
Marquette Land Investments is supporting the deal, too. The developers, who market The Preserve at West Beach as having 50 percent of land left as open space, are offering to contribute $3 million in matching land value if the grant is issued. NOAA will make a decision within 6-9 months, and if awarded the city council will rule on whether to accept it.
Netflix has a new series on the tragedy that took place in Waco three decades ago: Called Waco: American Apocalypse, it's a three-part series documenting the standoff between cult leader David Koresh and the federal government that ended in a fiery inferno, televised live, with 76 people dead.
The series debuts on March 22, to coincide with the 30-year anniversary of the event which took place from February 28 to April 19, 1993.
It's an oft-told tale and not the only new release to try and exploit the 30-year anniversary: Jeff Guinn, former books editor at the Fort Worth Star Telegram, just came out with a book in January, also described as definitive, called Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and a Legacy of Rage.
Waco: American Apocalypse is directed by another Texan: Dallas native Tiller Russell (Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer), who obtained never-before-seen videotapes of FBI negotiations, as well as raw news footage and interviews with insiders.
Those insiders include one of David Koresh’s spiritual wives; the last child released from the compound alive; a sniper from the FBI Hostage Rescue Team; the FBI Crisis Negotiation Unit Chief; journalists; and members of the ATF tactical team who watched colleagues die in the shootout against the heavily armed members of the religious sect.
The FBI videotaped inside the hostage negation room, thinking they'd be there maybe 24 hours, not 51 days.
"These are video cassettes that were sitting in somebody’s closet for 30 years, that show the mechanics of hostage negotiations in an intimate setting - not the hostage negotiation scenarios you see in films, but a team of people grinding, day in and day out, for 51 days," Russell says.
He also procured footage from Waco TV station KWTX, who had a reporter embedded in the initial gunfight.
While the standoff was broadcast live on TV at the time, much of it was out of camera range. The film uses 3D graphics to recreate the details of the compound.
Russell acknowledges that the tale of the cult leader who was also a pedophile, the debate over the right to bear arms, the constitutional limits of religious freedom, dredge up painful conversations that continue today.
"It cast a long shadow, pre-saging the Timothy McVeigh bombing in Oklahoma, the shooting at Colombine, and a growing distrust of government, but I think it's important to reckon with our past so we don't repeat mistakes," he says.
"So much of what’s roiling in culture today can be traced to Waco, a story about God and guns in America with all these children at the center whose lives were determined by the adults around them," he says. "There was no playbook for what happened, everyone was out on a limb, and people made mistakes. But almost everybody was trying to do their very best."
"I think this is a story that's often recalled in politicized terms, with finger-pointing on who screwed up and how did we get here, but there's a profound humanity to it all," he says.
