The real GGW story
A reporter for the LA Times hangs with Joe Francis, the mad genius who has figured out how to make "dumb chicks" (his words) take their clothes off on camera for t-shirts, hats and underwear.
GGW has done more to ruin the reputation of South Padre Island than most residents will believe. It is embarrassing when I mention my hometown and the only thing most people know about us is that we appear very prominently on Girls Gone Wild videos.
Why do we continue to welcome his crews every March?
I hope I live to see the day when women respect themselves enough that nobody will flash this slimy toad so much as a smile.
Link
GGW has done more to ruin the reputation of South Padre Island than most residents will believe. It is embarrassing when I mention my hometown and the only thing most people know about us is that we appear very prominently on Girls Gone Wild videos.
Why do we continue to welcome his crews every March?
I hope I live to see the day when women respect themselves enough that nobody will flash this slimy toad so much as a smile.
Link
posted by Lucinda at 5:08 PM
16 Comments:
Will you be running for mayor soon, I hope? Why is it we ordinary citizens can see this damage and our leaders cannot?
Maybe because we travel more and talk to more people out of the area.
Spring Break - get drunk, get naked, have sex - party, party, party. Whose your Padre?
We welcome GGW because they bring national exposure (in more ways than one.) The potential for a bunch of naked drunken babes is an incentative for the college male to come to SPI. If the college males head to Padre to party - so will the college female (and college wanna-bees). All GGW has to do is have a party, invite some professionals to get the party rolling and let the competition begin.
I have often wondered how many women when applying for a job found that their potential employer first saw them on a video.
This is the age of photo and video cell phones - many of the participating women will probably find that what happens on SPI does not necessarily stay on SPI. And like Heather McCartney find that old photos have a habit of popping up.
What I got out of the article was that nightclubs pay GGW about $10,000 for the opportunity of the girls, the bus, and the hype. So there's your problem right there.
Ought to be a law against it ....
Is there really such a thing as bad publicity?
Has anyone noticed, the island seems busier this summer than we have ever seen during our 4 years here?
We are in the business of promoting South Padre Island and we speak to potential visitors each and every day,
Not a single one has ever mentioned GGW or any concerns about drunken wild parties and such, except the few who had planned a family outing or wedding during spring break.
Those folks had no prior knowledge of such debauchery until we mentioned the fact that there would be a crowd on the beach and then they simply reset their arrival dates.
Face it, South Padre will always be Spring Break Headquarters for the drunken masses.
Love it or do what many locals do…LEAVE during that time a take your vacation elsewhere.
This Island will never be the retirement village that some desire, In fact I am afraid it will soon go the other direction. (Casinos and such) Who knows, I could be wrong…
I don't think there is any easy fix for this situation. Francis' product is offensive and tasteless, but the drunken girls who appear in his videos have no one to blame but themselves. At the end of the day those girls are just typical brainless springbreak tourists. In an economy that's as dependent on tourism as SPI, this situation is a double edged sword.
Oh come on, lighten up a bit PLEASE. You are sounding like member of the moral majority or just a general geezer and we know you are not. Thank goodness!
People who know me would never confuse me with someone who wants to transform SPI into a quiet retirement community. And I do not object to spring break and the shenanigans that come with it. I wish the young women would wake up and see how they are being played for fools. That's all.
The issue is not morality it is economics. The fact is so long as this island is viewed by the rest of the country as year round Spring Break (and they do) it will not prosper. There will not be enough business year round to support decent jobs and wages. Few people want the island to become a "retirement village." Most want just the opposite, a thriving beach resort with a strong business community.
Lily here.
Entirely unrelated, but...
I just found you by following a direct link from the New York Times, Blogs 101 page! There, they link to a site called "Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools" & a couple days ago he posted an entry on your sandcastle book, photo of you and all. But then maybe you already knew that. Either way, the whole "I know her!" is always fun for me. Here's the link: http://www.kk.org/cooltools/
You're right about the economics - this Island really rips off the spring breakers. Hotel rates are sometimes jacked up by a factor of ten times. It is almost as if we impose an "idiot tax" on college kids because SPI is the place to get crunk and crazy. It is very well marketed and frankly, rather disturbing to see the Town promoting it (e.g., CVB advertising funds).
Enter a young budding capitalist whose sole job is to exploit women for the benefit of some horny boys, often in direct violation of mamy local, state, and federal laws regarding pornography, nudity, inebriation, rape, and so forth. Yup, that's ecnomics for you, and I hear that GGW is quite a profitable corporation now.
I was a kid once, and don't mind their antics for the most part, as most of them are great kids. The problem is when you draw a proverbial line between all that Town money and the bus that says "GGW" on its side. Hey, how much of that is MY money?
Thanks, Sam.
I couldn't have said it better myself.
Not to mention the gang activity which preys on the kids.And the money's only for one week a year.No matter how much is made during that one week, you can't survive for a year on it. People need jobs year round. It's driving off other business.
Eliminating Spring Break, however accomplished, raises complicated issues. Does anyone have any knowledge as to how that was done in Fort Lauderdale? I am sure that doing away with SB would cause a lot fo short term pain to many but perhaps it would be in the resort's best long term interests. I really don't know. SB basically lasts for one month. And other visitors are defintely discouraged from visiting during that month. However, I seriously doubt that SPI's SB rep discourages many from visiting during the other months, but rather it is the downscale appearance of the town (not the beach though!) that keeps many from coming back or recommending it to their friends. Right now, SPI is for the most part a regional beach resort and it would take a lot of change to make it into something else. Tom
Well Tom you're right, which is why we're kinds conflicted and tormented here. A whole bunch of good friends and local businesses would really be screwed if there was no Spring Break. It goes like Winter Texans, Spring Break, Samanta Santa, Memorial Day, July, a last hoorah in early August, and whatever you can get on the fall shoulder season - which for many is the time to close down or go on vacation or just chill. Biker Fest and Sand Castle Days in October help but it not cold fusion by any means. November is deads-ville.
There are no real good statistics on Spring Break occupancy because sometimes you have ten kids in a room but the general consensus is that there are less and less Spring Break kids every year since the year 2000. Many of the kids you see are not college kids but are homies from the Valley wanting to have a good time because they get evenings or a whole week off.
Hotel costs and dwelling unit leases for Spring Break have sky-rocketed and it is cheaper to go places in Mexico, including air travel, than to drive here. There are more cops and security down here than ever, thanks to 9/11 and a slightly wayward alcohol agency (TACB).
There are indications that Spring Break might solve itself without a lot of pontification, just on economic terms. Chaos, Tequila Frogs, Parrot Eyes, and Louie's, all party-hearty Spring Break joints, are in various stages of being converted to condominiums. The GGW bus went to each of the gin joints as far as I know so if the old gin joints are gone in a year or two, no more GGW there.
I am not exactly happy about that, since even though these gin joints are probably in violation of every fire code and half the morals codes in the world, and worth much more money as nine-story condos, a little soul will be lost from the island.
About 20 million dollars of soul.
You are right about the loss of community soul and converting the gin joints into condos, Sam. Especially converting Louies into condos would rip a big part of the heart of the island out. It is such an institution-not only during springbreak-but for the entire season. If it requires a rezoning to convert, perhaps the town should consider declining to do so for the area encompassing Louies. The other places are pretty marginal IMO and I don't believe their loss would have much effect upon the quality of life. Cheers, Tom
That may be spot zoning and the P&Z has declined to approve like cases. The town has been real accommodating of most anything developers want to do.
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