Sunday, February 3, 2013

Tony Wants to Give Away 77 Acres of Brownsville Land to the University of Texas

Tony Martinez
The University of Texas is an extremely wealthy university by any measure despite what their fundraising appeal literature implies.  The Permanent University Fund or P.U.F., which includes the oil and mineral rights generated on over 2,000,000 acres of Texas land came in at 8.8 billion in 2008 and is now certainly higher, yet that is only 8% of UT's total funding.

During the entire UTB/TSC relationship, UT acted as if their hands were tied with respect to financial support for that combined institution, citing a rule that P.U.F. funds were only available for pure UT branches, not those affiliated with another entity, like TSC.(No mention was ever made that UT easily had enough funds to alleviate some of the burden of one of the poorest cities in the United States.)  So Brownsville, as always, was allowed to suck it up and assume the tremendous financial burden of perhaps as much as 1 billion dollars by 2034 to pay for the infamous Juliet Garcia's extravagant ways.  Please don't forget that when Garcia's request for a 105 million dollar bond issue was rejected by the taxpayers in favor of a more modest 65 million, she went ahead and spent 105 million anyway.   Yes, arrogance beyond belief!

Juliet Garcia
Tony Martinez left us no clue as to why he ran for mayor until recently.  He seemed totally disinterested in the city and city business.  He took obvious pride in short, no-participation commission meetings.  All of that changed when Juliet Garcia called.  Could Tony help with the transition into a new campus?

One prompting by Juliet Garcia and Tony was like a bat out of hell;  purchasing a lackluster assortment of downtown properties for possible transitional use by UTB or whatever university it becomes.  Tony used taxpayer dollars to purchase an armory, a warehouse, two restaurant or club-sized buildings and an old retail store still selling, as new, goods from the 80's, that had been for sale for forever.  It is doubtful if any of these hastily purchased properties would be of interest to the University of Texas for even interim accommodations given the pristine standards already set by UTB and UT.

So desperate is Tony to placate Juliet Garcia and impress the University of Texas system, that now he is offering 77 acres of taxpayer owned land to the rich school absolutely free.(Yes, this is on the agenda for the 2/5/2012 City Commission meeting; a donation of two tracts of land totaling 77 acres to UT.)  Surely, UT officials laugh privately at the sheer desperation,  the clumsy negotiation by Martinez.(Horacio Barrera must have handled all the negotiations for Tony's law firm.  Do you remember when Tony and the City Commission showed up at a public hearing about SpaceX ALREADY wearing SpaceX insignias BEFORE any contract was signed or even dollars talked?) Very amateurish.

So far the City Commission has been unable or unwilling to stifle Mayor Martinez spendthrift ways.  It will not be easy at the 2/5/12 meeting with two commissioners an absolute lock to vote Tony's way.  It's time the City Commission stood up for the Brownsville taxpayer.

Addendum:  Do we see a pattern with Tony?  He contributes mightily to the 2008 Obama campaign, hoping for at least an ambassadorship.  He initially offers Filemon Vela free office space in City Plaza, possibly hoping to curry favor with Vela.  Now, he goes totally berserk, trying to prove his devotion to Juliet Garcia and UT.  Tony is all about Tony.  He does not care one wit about Brownsville.  He is using his unfortunate election as mayor to try to further himself.


17 comments:

  1. We've had a lot of bad mayors in Brownsville, but Tony Martinez will go down as one of the worst.

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    1. Most definitely most despised, biggest disappointment and biggest "Looser". Hahahahaha! hey Rey, what, do, you, have, to , say, about, that?

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    2. Biggest "looser" is a stretch. You mean, of course, "loser." But te second most popular activity for local Mexicans is acting Estupido. That would be you, ya hack.

      Rey

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    3. @Grammar Nazi,

      "But te second.."

      Slow done when typing to prevent this type of mistakes.

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    4. i got your "HACK" right here you "looser"!February 5, 2013 at 10:16 AM

      I misspelled "looser" on purpose Rey, just for you and you took the bait. Did you notice the quotation marks and all my commas? Why are you so insulting to all those that post comments? Not everyone is graced with your "intellect" and I say that "loosely". Can you for once post a comment that relates to the article instead of criticizing everyone's grammar? Is this what was done to you at the BH? You sound bitter and miserable. If anyone is a hack, you are the perfect example of what a hack is, you write the same dull remarks each and every time, boring. At least get some new lines.

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    5. Like GHETTO OBAMA LOL!

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  2. Does not the Texas Constitution prohibit the city from gifting public property or funds? Has the city attorney Sossi have an opinion on this?

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    1. Sossi??? Are you kidding??
      Sossi???? One of his Yes Sir, men??

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    2. [Has the city attorney Sossi have an opinion on this?]

      Whaaaaaaaaaaaat!?!? "Has" should be "Does." And, of course, city attorney should be capitalized to look like this "City Attorney Sossi," ya hack.

      Rey

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    3. Is this the same Guevara-Vasquez who was a reporter at the Herald? And isn't he also not supporting his kids? ja ja ja to you Rey!

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    4. "Whaaaaaaaaaaaat!?!?"


      The word is spelled, "what". Go back to first grade!

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  3. We have a great problem in Brownsville that is inhibiting progress and focused on establishing autocratic management of this city. Tony Martinez represents this autocratic group of "Old Brownsville" families and friends who would like to go "back to way it used to be"; when a small number of families controlled the city. Juliet Garcia is one of those and she, along with Tony seem to believe they are wiser than everyone else in the city. Various groups, including non-profit groups and even social groups are starting to have problems and lose membership because of the autocratic ways of those who think they know better than the collective group and that autocratic group seeks control to badger, harangue, brow-beat and just plain overwhelm the majority with petty bullshit. We still have representatives of "how Brownsville used to be" around and since most families seem to be related, the autocrats depend on the loyalty of their cousins, and other family members to consolidate their power and control. Tony Martinez, Juliet Garcia, Fred Rusteberg, the Kardenas Klan, and others are behind this move that will protect their power, but not move the city forward. None of this negotiations for public money or public lands should be undertaken without public input. Unfortunately, Tony Martinez, et al, don't see the need to include the public...since Tony and his autocratic friends are so smart...and the public is so dumb.

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    1. Yep the public is so dumb cause the majority are LOW INFORMATION DUMBOCRATS!!!!!!!!!!

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  4. Juliet Garcia lost her royal domain because she failed to seek public input and now Tony Martinez is seeking to protect a lost domain.

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  5. Does UTB/TSC still have Senator Lucio and Representative Oliveira as Consultants at a price of $998,000.dlrs

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  6. Tony Martinez is not a city leader looking out for the best interests of the citizens, he is merely a pimp for Juliet Garcia and this "United Brownsville" group which also serves the interests of Juliet and the few....not the citizens of Brownsville. Saw a new sign on the expressway....says "Historic Shopping"...what does that mean? I suspect it means that if you go downtown you can buy all the junk that you used to be able to buy in Matamoros. Or does that sign point us toward "shopping for history"?

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  7. Juliet Garcia cares what is best for her, and her school. But not for the students of the school. I dislike Juliet more than anybody else on this page I have dealt with her first hand. She is manipulative, and cares what is best for her.

    Also to the Anonymous who keeps hating on Democrats, hate all you want say what you want, you just keep sounding dumber and dumber. Unlike Republicans we do not "Hate" Even (normal) Republicans don't hate as much as you. You must be a dirty Tea bagger. Typical of you to say random flagrant things about democrats. Because of crazy people like you progress is halted in this country.

    To the anonymous who thinks Senator Lucio is getting paid a substantial amount of money, your very wrong he gets paid nothing to "consult". I would know since he is family.

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