"Different from anywhere else"

From the Caller-Times's story on the Tuesday vote:

"A representative from the National Swim Center Corp., one of the proposals for Memorial Coliseum redevelopment that the City Council didn't support, is in the council meeting today waiting to see if his group still has a chance at coliseum development.

"David O'Connell, a swim team parent who said he is the director for the Coalition for the Olympic Training Center in Corpus Christi, said the swimming group is still interested in developing the coliseum. "We have the paitence of Job," he said. "We're definitely interested in seeing how things play out. We do have $20 million sitting in the bank." O'Connell said the swim group isn't interested in developing a swim center if it can't use the coliseum. The Austin-based non-profit wants to convert the coliseum into a swim training center and develop the area around it for retail sites and space for other Olympic sports. O'Connell said the group learned a lot during the proposal process that could help it finish the job now. 'Corpus Christi politics are different than anywhere else,' he said [emphasis added].

"He said members of the swimming group are accustomed to dealing with groups more willing to do projects based on the reputation of the Olympics. 'We came here and it was like, 'So? Show us the money. Who are you?' he said. 'I don't think we were prepared for that. We are now.'"

What does he mean, exactly--how are Corpus politics "different from anywhere else"?