Is Flagship debris ending up in the Gulf?

GALVESTON — Surfer websites and social media pages of surfers are roiling with claims that demolition crews working on the Flagship Hotel have, by accident and design, allowed huge shards of glass, chunks of concrete and other debris to fall into the Gulf of Mexico.

Waves kicked up by their claims, posted on Facebook and sites such as g-townsurf.com, are rocking boats as far away as Austin.

Representatives of Landry’s Restaurants, which owns the Flagship, 2501 Seawall Blvd., said they have been receiving complaints for weeks, have taken them seriously and investigated several times but so far have seen nothing indicating any hard debris has fallen or been pushed into the Gulf.

Landry’s officials also said some of the complaints rang false based on the timeline of the work.

Meanwhile, both the city of Galveston, which issued the demolition permit, and the Texas General Land Office, which has some jurisdiction over work done around the beaches, have sent inspectors to the site at 25th Street and the seawall.

Glass, Metal And Concrete

David Colombo, a dentist with an office on Seawall Boulevard, said while surfing, he witnessed crews dropping debris into the Gulf through carelessness or pushing debris into the water on purpose four times between Feb. 21 and Monday.

Colombo said last week he saw workers on the east side of the hotel breaking windows with crowbars and allowing sheets of broken glass to fall into the Gulf.

“Hell yeah, I saw it,” he said Tuesday. “I saw glass go down and pieces of concrete go into the water. They did it from the fourth floor.”

Nets had been erected on the floors above to catch debris, but none were present on the first through fourth floors, he said.

He said on Monday he saw a worker driving a small Bobcat-type loader pushing debris, including metal door frames and chunks of concrete, off the Flagship pier and into the Gulf.

Huge Pieces Of Glass

Likewise, surfer Lauren Kenney said she and friends saw glass falling into the Gulf either Tuesday or Wednesday of last week.

“I saw huge pieces of glass just falling into the water,” she said Tuesday. “It was super foggy. People probably couldn’t see it from the beach.”

Laureen Vasquez said she was standing on the seawall at 25th Street about 4 p.m. Friday when she saw crews throwing glass and ceiling tiles into the Gulf.

Many similar accounts have appeared on Facebook pages and forums devoted to surfing.

Saw Nothing Like It

On the other hand, surfer Steve Kuchta, whose name was offered as a corroborating witness for another account, said he had not seen debris going into the water.

“I did not see anything like that, and I surf out there all the time,” he said. “Personally, I think they have done a great job and made very little mess considering the size of the job.”

Kuchta said he’d been approached by several people who wanted him to file a complaint with the land office or elsewhere, but he declined.

“I have not seen anything except little pieces of tar paper about the size of pennies go into the water,” he said.

No Evidence

Despite Internet statements that videos and photographs exist to prove the claims, no clear evidence had been presented to the city, the land office or Landry’s by Tuesday evening, officials said.

Undated photographs on several websites showed glass that seemed poised to fall into the water, however.

A Landry’s official said he was puzzled about why the claims had “gone viral” Monday and said some of them could not be true.

For example, all the glass had been removed from the Flagship three weeks ago, Jeff Cantwell, senior vice president for development, said.

Likewise, no concrete demolition had been done at the site yet, he said.

“I got a call from a woman today who said she saw debris being thrown into the Gulf on Sunday, but there were no crews working Saturday or Sunday,” he said.

Landry’s officials have taken the claims seriously and had inspected the work site several times to ensure the general contractor and subcontractors had the proper containment devices in place and were following the proper procedures, he said.

So far, they have seen no evidence that anything substantial has gone into the Gulf, he said.

“We have seen no evidence that would justify telling our contractors that they are lying to us,” he said, noting he had asked anyone with such evidence to step forward.

Landry’s would require the contractor to perform a marine survey and clean up the mess if compelling evidence was presented, he said.

“We care about Galveston,” he said. “We do business here. We care about the Gulf. We sell seafood.”

A Show Of Confidence

The 225-room Flagship, built in 1965 as a show of confidence after Hurricane Carla, is the only hotel in Texas on pilings over the Gulf.

In 2005, Landry’s, led by island native Tilman Fertitta, paid the city $500,000 for the property and last year hired Ardent Construction to tear down the hotel that long ago lost its luster, was neglected and had been closed since Hurricane Ike struck it a fatal blow in September 2008.

When the hotel is gone, Landry’s plans to develop an amusement park, which will boast a double-decker carousel, a Ferris wheel and other amusements.

This week, crews will start shoring up the hotel with plans to start chiseling away at the concrete, slowly taking it from the top, one floor at a time, dumping debris down the elevator shaft and hauling it away.

Demolition is expected to be complete by May 1.