Derek Todd, one of three finalists to be Galveston's next city manager, also is among four finalist for the same job in Holland, Mich., according to local news reports. Read the Holland Sentinel story here.

Galveston's city council plans Monday to interview Todd, a management consultant for the city of Greeley, Colo; Michael Kovacs, assistant city manager for Park City Municipal Corp., Utah; and Kenneth Williams, the city manager for Buda, Texas. The council could hire a new city manager at that meeting.

Read some background here.

Island icons Rudy & Paco and The Donut Shoppe, 4917 Broadway, got forks-up reviews last month in the Business and Travel section of USA Today. In fact, Galveston made the lead of the article about places business travelers like to eat.

The plugs came from Greg Newell of Saxotech, a Danish company that makes the excellent media management software we use at The Daily News. Greg is based in Tampa, but his job is to help simple minds comprehend sophisticated programs, so he's on the road a lot and in Galveston now and then.

And talk about synergy: When Greg first came to Galveston back in the summer of 2007 to help us launch the company's media management system, my wife, Laura Elder, included Rudy & Paco and The Donut Shoppe among her recommendations about where Greg, a dedicated foodie, ought to eat. He turned up the next day raving about the red snapper with raspberry chipotle sauce and lump crab meat. She and I tried it that night and it has been among my favorite dishes anywhere ever since; and the Bronco Burrito just speaks for itself.

And since The Daily News covers his expenses while he's in town: Glad you enjoyed it Greg.

What's your favorite Rudy and Paco dish and do you also love The Donut Shoppe?

Surfers last night began posting videos to YouTube purporting to show debris from the Flagship Hotel going into the Gulf of Mexico. My story in Wednesday's edition attempts to spell out the controversy.


Crews continute to demolish the Flagship Hotel in Galveston on Tuesday. Some surfers and bystanders said crews knocked glass and construction debris into the Gulf of Mexico. Photo by Jennifer Reynolds

Bill Hill, a surfer who runs a real estate office in Galveston, said links to the videos had been sent to attorneys at the Texas General Land Office and that people here were waiting for people there to review the clips.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about the candidates forum staged Thursday morning by the Galveston Chamber of Commerce was what didn’t happen: Not a single person asked a single question about Galveston Housing Authority’s plan to rebuild public housing.

Some rank-and-file islanders are expecting that issue to be a litmus test for candidates. But if that’s the case you couldn’t tell it by the questions collected from among chamber members.

It’s anybody’s guess what that really means. Maybe people are done talking and are ready to vote. Maybe Galveston’s business community has moved on to other issues. Maybe opposition to the authority’s plan never really had the depth and breadth it appeared to have.

What's your bet?

After years of failed effort to get the city of Galveston to invest more in the historic downtown, The Strand Merchants’ Association and the Historic Downtown Galveston Partnership say they are taking a new approach by making a unified effort to lobby the city.

The merchants want more of money collected from downtown parking meters spent on downtown projects, especially on more parking spaces and more public restrooms.

This fiscal year, the city expects to bring in $464,000 in parking meter revenue, money that was always promised to merchants for downtown projects. Signs on parking meters even notify people that their money will be used to improve the area.

But most of the money has gone into projects elsewhere, some business owners say.

While the groups are taking a new tack in lobbying the city, they and the city so far plan to follow what might be called the “Galveston Model” when it comes to spending the money.

They want to spend almost half of next year’s parking meter revenue on a master plan study advocated by the downtown partnership.

City manager Steve LeBlanc will ask the city council to approve $225,000 in the 2008-09 budget to pay for a consultant to create the plan with the help of downtown groups and city staff.

Is a study really what downtown needs or should the parties try a new approach and spend it on actually building something?