Beach Ownership and Bank on Houston: Tuesday’s Show (June 23, 2015)

The Houston Chronicle recently reported on a conflict between a Galveston resident and the city's Park Board over who rightfully owns a section of Galveston beach in front of the seawall. Resident Frank Maceo says that portion of the beach belongs to him. City officials say Maceo's claim could endanger plans to re-sand some of the eroding beaches. It's not the first time property owners have staked claims to portions of a beach in Galveston. A similar case went before the Texas Supreme Court, and in 2012 the court ruled in favor of the property owner.

At the center of the debate is the Open Beaches Act, which was added to the state constitution in 2009 and guarantees the public the right to free and unrestricted access to Texas beaches along the state's coastline.

On this edition of Houston Matters, we discuss the privatization of beaches and what's at stake in Galveston.

Also this hour: tracking homicide rates in Houston according to the time of the year — do we see more murders in the summer?

Then: We learn about efforts to help Houston’s ‘unbanked’ and ‘underbanked’ — folks who either don’t have bank accounts or who turn too often to high-interest payday lenders. We talk with Denise Carpenter, who coordinates the city’s Bank on Houston program.

And: We continue our summer reading series. We talk with Houstonian Toby Haberkorn, author of When My Grammy Forgets, I Remember. It’s a children’s book designed to help kids and their parents talk about and understand what happens when a grandparent develops dementia.

(Image Courtesy: www.galvestonrv.com)