The offensive in New Braunfels against the Great Rowdy Tuber Menace marches on this week. The New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung recently reported that the City Council is on the verge of approving yet another ordinance that purports to protect public safety, but is really intended to disrupt tourism shortly before Spring Break. The ordinance would regulate the manner in which river outfitters can run shuttles for tubers.
The proposal would limit shuttles only to vehicles specifically designed for commercial shuttle service and would require outfitters to carry at least one million dollars in liability insurance. This proposed ordinance comes a year after the Council restricted parking areas in the vicinity of the Comal River, which forced outfitters to scramble in order to offer expanded shuttle service to tubers -- not just to get tubers to and from the rivers, but also to get tubers to and from the outfitters' businesses and the now-distant lots at which the tubers were forced to park. Now, no one really argues that tube shuttles shouldn't be operated safely.
However, the timing of the ordinance is designed to make it impossible for many outfitters to comply with the new regulations in time to shuttle Spring breakers. Had the regulations been suggested after the end of the last tourist season, outfitters would have had several months in which to get ready for the new rules. If the ordinance is passed, some outfitters may face the prospect of being run out of business. The timing, of course, is not coincidental. This is the same council that, a few weeks ago, proposed a "roommates" ordinance that would have the effect of putting many local weekend house rental companies and bed and breakfasts out of business in the name of reducing noise from tourists on weekends. None of these ordinances are necessary.
There are plenty of laws and ordinances already on the books that protect riders in shuttles and that give law enforcement the ability to maintain peace and quiet in residential neighborhoods. The real intent of theses ordinances is to destroy the tourist industry in New Braunfels. In the long love/hate relationship that New Braunfels has had with river tourism, the hate faction now has the upper hand. Ironically, this attack on the most iconic sector of the New Braunfels economy comes at a time when this same city council announced that the city is expected to run a 3.3 million dollar budget deficit, in large part because of declining sale tax revenues. At a time when New Braunfels desperately needs tourist dollars, the council continues to cut off its proverbial nose to spite its proverbial face.