Wednesday, June 19, 2013

In Juliet Garcia's Lust for Power, Is Tony Martinez An Enabler?

Juliet Garcia
Juliet Garcia's track record is not pretty.  She has treated Brownsville's taxpayers with disrespect and the city's students with total disdain.  Do we really need to refresh our recollection that, when voters rejected Garcia's request for $100,000,000 in bonds for construction, but instead passed a $68,000,000 bond issue, she spent 100 million anyway?  That was Julia's big "Fuck you!" to Brownsville and Cameron County.

Meanwhile, Garcia attempted to destroy Texas Southmost College, while providing students at the University of Texas at Brownsville a mediocre education at best with the state's highest tuition.  Perhaps, as illustrative as anything of the education received at Garcia U. is the fact that none of UTB's 13,000 students even bothered to attend the school's recent City Commissioner Candidate Forum on campus.  The student's nonparticipation in participatory democracy was further illustrated in the vote totals experienced when Mary Rose Cardenas Hall was recently used as a polling place. Our comments in MMB last month:

UTB's Mary Rose Cardenas Hall processed 151 voters during 61 hours of operation, 2.47 per hour.(Project 100% City Commissioner Candidate Forum, sponsored by the Center for Civic Engagement and the League of Women Voters, was attended by perhaps two dozen students.)  Here is one comment on the subject made after the forum:

"UTB's Project 100 percent Vote is a joke. The turnout is EXTREMELY dismal for the polling site at the University. They have access to address, e-mails, etc. for all students and staff, and they couldn't even send info to students. I know lots of the blame should be placed on the apathy of students, but if you're going to lead a get-out-the-vote charge, then actually take charge and do it."

(The handsome salary received by former Catholic priest Armand Matthew to run the Center for Civic Engagement has been wasted money.  The arrogant, unchristlike Matthew has been unable to generate the least bit of civic engagement by UTB students.)

Mayor Tony Martinez
During this time of flux for UTB and likely reassignment for Juliet Garcia, enter Brownsville Mayor Tony Martinez, who undoubtedly has more loyalty to Garcia and his other cronies at United Brownsville than to the citizens of Brownsville.  

Tony has been like a bat out of hell, buying up older downtown buildings without citizen involvement.  Like Garcia, Tony operates on the sly, totally disrespecting those whose children and grandchildren will be paying for all of this speculative real estate.  

The only information citizens are receiving comes from disenchanted city administrators who have tired of Tony's autocratic, bullying methods.    It was only through such leaks in the Martinez administration that we learned Tony was contemplating the boneheaded move of leasing, gifting or renting the very suitable City Plaza to the Brownsville satellite campus of the University of the Americas.  Just a few years ago Brownsville taxpayers paid for an extensive renovation of the former bank building, including a nearly ideal municipal court, ample parking and comfortable HVAC.  

Now, we get even a better glimpse of Tony's misguided benevolence to the soon to be former UTB.  He wants to give Market Square and offices in the Cueto Building to the world's likely second or third richest university system, plus 48 acres of naked ground, while cramping city administrators in the recently purchased, dusty retail building Casa del Nylon.  Of course, Tony is not a structural engineer and likely has no clue as to the millions needed to bring all these buildings up to suitability for their poorly thought out new uses.  Like we said earlier, Tony cares very little for Brownsville's actual needs, placating the power lust of Juliet Garcia and his other cronies on United Brownsville being the only thing that drives him. 

13 comments:

  1. You know, you keep writing the same stuff over and over and nothing happens. GET A LIFE, JIM.

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    1. Once Tony Martinez understands the word democracy or one of the city commissioners gets the gumption to challenge the idiotic giveaway of city assets, I will stop writing articles like this.

      Jim

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    2. 'You know, you keep writing the same stuff over and over and nothing happens. GET A LIFE, JIM."

      If you don't like what you read, don't read it.

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    3. It's childish, Barton. That "fuck you" part is juvenile. You're an adult. Write like one. jmho

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    4. "That "fuck you" part is juvenile."

      I'm not a prolific curser, but sometimes polite words fail to capture the spirit of an act or attitude. I believe, for example, that a child molester is a "son of a bitch," and that the disdain Juliet Garcia shows the taxpayers is the equivalent of a "fuck you."

      Jim

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    5. on "writing the same stuff over and over"

      It's called keeping a theme alive or repetition for emphasis. Why stop calling attention to corruption when it continues? Should we no longer mention politiqueras, election fraud, the undemocratic ban on the broadcast of public comment, the autocratic methods of our mayor, the incompetence of our city attorney, etc., just because we've mentioned it once before?

      Jim

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    6. to June 19 at 5:03 PM,

      You say "nothing happens." That's not exactly true. The bloggers kept writing about the poor job Roger Ortiz was doing, the abuses of DA Villalobos and Margarita Ozuna. Ortiz was fired. Villalobos and Ozuna were indicted.

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  2. Got to look elsewhere, University of the Americas was taken along time ago, over 40 years. Originally Mexico City College, it moved to Puebla in the early 70's with its new name. It is US accredited and built with AID money. Don't think they would appreciate UT stealing their name.

    http://www.udlap.mx/home.aspx

    How about UT at Rio Grande Delta and get away from the stupid con trick valley name. The use of Valley came from early land swindlers to fool the Midwesterners into thinking this was a valley. That was when they were not surreptitiously dropping ice blocks down wells to convince the yokels that they were artesian wells. These were the founders of the Magic Valley.

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  3. Mayor Martinez, Juliet Garcia, the Kardenas Klan, United Brownsville, et al, seem to be more than willing to take advantage of the citizens of Brownsville. Obviously, they see themselves as superior to the average citizen, and therefore more capable to govern. These people know that as long as BISD provides day care, and they get their welfare checks.....it is a perfect Democratic Party world out there. The United Brownsville is taking advantage of this "ignorance is bliss" attitude of the public to have their way with us. Brownsville is swirling down the brown tube and United Brownsville can't seem to understand they are part of the problem.

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  4. Off topic, but what happened to your post about the voting, regarding Ozuna and Masso? It disappeared faster than a donut at a police convention!

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  5. I deferred to an ongoing investigation.

    Jim

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    Replies
    1. Speaking of Masso, why does he still have a sign for the 2012 election standing off the corner of South Indiana and California?

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  6. Of course this is about Juliet Garcia'a lust for power. Tony Martinez is one of her budz and is doing this to promote and protect Juliet.....its not what's best for the city. While Hidalgo County is willing to contribute $50 million to the new university....Tony Martinez wants to offer old, run-down buildings to Juliet. She will not use them long for a university, but will, as she has done with other buildings, sell them off to benefit herself. What has she ever given to this city...nada. But she has been willing to accept an exorbitant salary to "not educate" our kids. Shame on Tony Martinez for being such a wimp and shame of Juliet for taking advantage of her hometown taxpayers. But, we remember, she was trained by the Kardenas Klan.....greed uber alles.

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