Pleasure Island sample rendering. (Courtesy City of Port Arthur.)

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The Kemah Boardwalk and Cancun, Mexico each have signs that draw tourists in for photo opps and now leaders in Port Arthur are looking to place their own tourist attracting sign on Pleasure Island’s Lakefront Park.

 

And now, for a price not to exceed $464.072 minus a $200,000 donation from the Cheniere Foundation, there will be a sign. 

 

The majority of Port Arthur City Councilmembers are hoping a photo opp sign will be enough to lure tourists to Pleasure Island and give them a place to snap photos and tag them in social media. 

 

But not all of council thought it was the right time to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars. The vote on the issue was 6-1 with District 3 Councilmember Doneane Beckcom casting the dissenting vote.

 

“I just don’t think this is good timing for this project,” Beckcom said adding she could get behind the idea if there were things on the Island to justify spending almost $500,000.”But i feel this is a project where we are once again putting the cart way before the horse and is something we should sit on and wait for a while.”

 

The $200,000 donation from Cheniere is earmarked for the photo opp project but there is no time frame in which to spend the funds. 

 

Beckcom wasn’t the only one questioning the issue. Hollan Hoffer, a Pleasure Island resident, spoke before council saying there are other things that there are needs on the Island such as lights for a fishing pier.

 

“This project is stupid. It shows how out of touch some of the members are with what’s going on in the community,” Hoffer said, adding that people visit Pleasure Island to fish and enjoy nature. 

 

Other councilmembers noted the recent activities on the Island which were brought by a developer — a Father Day and Juneteenth festival and most recently a Fourth of July event. The developer, Selim Kiralp, is looking to bring a restaurant and possibly a waterpark to the Island. 

 

City Council approved entering into an agreement with Preferred Facilities Group of Port Arthur to construct the photo opp on Pleasure Island’s Lakefront Park.