Can Ban

If you have ever been to New Braunfels, TX then I would think you have heard of Schlitterbahn (voted world's best water park for 13 years), Wurstfest (10 day festival of German culture and food and lots of oompa loompa music!) and floating the Guadalupe and Comal Rivers or 'toobing the river' as the locals call it.

This past summer was very dry, no rain and because of this the Guadalupe River was dry in many places forcing people who wanted to float the river on tubes to move to the Comal River, both running through New Braunfels.  A lot of the people who float the rivers are younger high school and college aged kids, not all but most.  I have to admit, the first time I hopped onto a big old black tire tube and pushed my way into the river, put my head back and closed my eyes it was like heaven to me.  This is a very desirable option for cheap weekend fun during the summer here.  All you have to do is get to the river, find a place to park (this is where they get you, the establishments along the river make you pay around $30 to park for the day, but with this you get a tube and you get a shuttle to a drop off point where you put your tube in the water and float down river back to where you parked your car) and leave the rest to mother nature.  


Unfortunately with the crowds of people come problems.  People drink too much, act up too much and keep their mouths shut too little.  Arrests were on the rise and litter was at an all time high.  The city of New Braunfels was at its breaking point.  They had been putting up with this nonsense for way too long and were looking to put a stop to it.  Land owners along the rivers were tired of empty cans and bottles littering their properties.  The city placed extra policemen on the river but this just created the department to be over budget.  


The city proposed a ban on all disposable containers on the Comal and Guadalupe rivers and as expected there was much opposition to this ordinance.  The vote went down and it was passed.  The local business owners were upset as to be expected because if people aren't buying beverages in disposable containers to take tubing on the river with them, they would be losing a lot of business possibly jeopardizing the hospitality industry in this city.  On the other hand there are those who are for the ban.  Those that are more concerned with protecting the rivers and the sources of drinking water and habitat for endangered species.  Tons of trash are taken out of the rivers every week.


The city has attempted to address this issue for more than a decade.  There is currently a ban in effect on glass and noise from radios on the rivers.  Will these weekend fun seekers finally get fed up and chose not to tube in New Braunfels anymore due to all of the restrictions?  Will this town lose revenue from lack of vacationers and suddenly become just a distant memory?  haha just kidding....but this is not the end of this war, maybe just the end of this fight for now.