 |
| Millionaire Mayor Tony Martinez |
During the last mayoral election few knew much about Harlingen native Tony Martinez except that he had money. That actually became the strongest selling point for many.
"He won't need to steal from us because he's rich," seemed to be an almost universal pre-election sentiment.
WRONG! Mayor Tony quickly showed that his personal affluence would not prevent him from squandering over $3,500,000 on speculative downtown real estate without a word of explanation to the taxpayers to whom he had pledged transparency.
The general assumption, never refuted by the autocratic Tony, was that he purchased all those old downtown buildings with taxpayer money on the faint hope that Juliet Garcia would use them for
her new UTB campus. The University of Texas system, funded only partially by a couple million acres of oil revenue, mineral and grazing rights, does not need hand-me-down old buildings for any of its campuses. Put quite simply, UT is one of the richest university systems in the world. It does not need our old armory, cantina and ropa segunda buildings.
 |
| La Casa del Nylon |
The fittest of those buildings is possibly
La Casa del Nylon, located at 1304 E. Adams St. Mayor Tony's friend Abraham Galonsky had been trying to unload that building for nearly a decade until Tony's law partner "negotiated" a sweet(for Galonsky) $2,300,000 purchase price for the old retail building. For years the store remained open with a "For Sale" sign out front while selling 80's clothing with original tags, sort of vintage as new.
Meanwhile, residents of Brownsville and Cameron County trudged annually to the tax offices to pay their annual property tax bills and saw 8.25% added to all their retail purchases. Tony has shown utter disregard for all of this hard-earned tax money. He becomes the anti-Robin Hood, stealing from the poor to give to the rich.
So what if UTB locates elsewhere? What does Brownsville do with all these old properties? Do we try to sell them at 50 cents on the dollar, taking a huge financial hit or do we honor the Certificate of Obligation including interest the mayor and city commission have so ungraciously put around our necks?
 |
| The Millionaire TV Show |
There may be another solution hinted at in the old 50's TV show,
The Millionaire. The premise of that show was some worthy human receiving a check for a million dollars tax free. Usually, the recipient was a deserving person who had demonstrated a certain charity in their life. For this blogger, this question comes to mind:
"Are not the hardworking citizens of Brownsville deserving of a check for $3,500,000 to cover the irresponsible squandering of their tax dollars, a personal check from millionaire Mayor Tony Martinez?"(If Tony is cash strapped, he can sell off
Lola's Bakery or other personal holdings to cover the check, that is if he truly "Believes in Brownsville."
.jpg)
If UTB doesn't want the downtown property, then Tony Martinez and the city commission will look stupid for using the taxpayers money on the UTB gamble. The city will be left holding the bag, again. Doesn't Tony recognize yet that investment in downtown Brownsville is not taking root. Even if "La Movida" has reopened, it is not a positive step in city development and progress. It shows us that some prefer to move to the past, rather than move foward. Most of Brownsville is not North of Boca Chica Blvd and most people don't have any interest in going downtown....except for the city officials who work there.
ReplyDeleteTwo and half million for the "Casa de Nylon"? Where is the apprasil and cash flow analysis, business plan if the UT deal folds? Let us see Mr. Galonsky's books and see they will carry a 2.5 million dollar note. Downtown Brownsville will always be ropa usada emporium. The North side mall and stores killed off the local business and you can forget about Matamoros and nobody from Monterrey or Tampico is going to drive to Brownsville as it is too dangerous and the goods in thoses two cities are cheaper and better quality than Brownsville. Oh, I forgot, just change the name of Elizabeth St. to Bourbon St. that will work.
ReplyDeleteBrownsville has only two economic engines, the port and the BISD.
The really galling thing about this is that not only is all this property off the City of Brownsville tax roll, the properties are also off the tax rolls of BISD, Cameron County, Navigation District, College District and South Texas (MedHigh) District. Also gone is any sales tax they might have generated as business enterprises. This fiasco only goes to prove up just how dangerous Martinez and his minion Rose Gowen are.
ReplyDeleteThe mayor is just following statist protocol. Dupe citizens into giving money to your organization ; use force or threat for the recalcitrant ; use booty to fund favorites and enrich self. What magic do you expect after you tolerate their mortgaging of your property?
ReplyDelete(Tony's law partner "negotiated" a sweet(for Galonsky) $2,300,000 purchase) Wonder how much Tony could sell, the city of Brownsville, the property at St. Joseph Academy. I could see a dollar store mall thriving there. Huh, Tony?
ReplyDeleteDags.
What's going on at CASA? Is tax payer money being squanderd?
ReplyDelete