CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — New statistics from the Metropolitan Planning Organization suggest the Corpus Christi area is expected to experience little to no growth in population and jobs through the year 2050.
An economist at A&M Corpus Christi says it is our area leaders' jobs to try and prove that those stats are simply going to be wrong. Dr. Jim Lee is known for crunching the numbers to reveal all kinds of facts about our economy. He says they don't look good.
"Those numbers actually tell us a story that we need to change," said Lee.
He believes part of that change is going to be continuing the effort to make the city a popular place for people to want to live. He suggested that the city might be able to benefit if able to attract those big city workers looking to live by the beach while working from home.
"As we move forward, we are going to need more water somehow... we have plenty of water we just need to figure out how to take it, environmentally, and use it to be able to fund and to help industries coming, and our region growing," said Mike Culbertson, CEO of the Corpus Christi Regional Economic Development Corporation, which works to bring all of those huge industries to town like Gulf Coast Growth Ventures.. "If your region doesn't grow, then all of a sudden, your tax burden becomes onerous to your citizens."
City councilman Roland Barrera agrees with that sentiment from Culbertson.
"Right now, Corpus Christi or the region is basically at about 70% of its maximum capacity in water."
The Councilman told 3NEWS he feels that by the end of the year, the city will secure all of the needed permits to start construction on a desalination plant. The concern is that our huge spurt of industrial growth will slow to a crawl without that water in the future.