Scattered Thoughts: Bobby Wightman-Cervantes/Erasmo Castro Catfight, A Vote for Portillo Is A Vote for Tony, Relative Observer Hospitality of Brownsville City Boards

Erasmo Castro Dragustinovis

Before Erasmo Castro appeared before the City Commission in 2011, he sent his speech to me via email for proofreading.  In his opening line he proudly announced "I am Brownsville Cheezmeh."  I crossed through the "I am" and substituted "We are," still thinking we were a group, not merely an individual.

The rest of Erasmo's prepared text was filled with preacherisms and antiquated verbs and adverbs from the King James Version of 1611, not exactly my style, but nothing to quibble about, just sanctimonious.

The main difficulty with the guru's prepared text is that it was far too long for a 3-minute public comment.  When I suggested Erasmo condense his verbiage, he asserted:  "They wouldn't dare cut me off!"(They actually did stop him after about five minutes.  I told him they might let him go six.)  Such is the ego of Erasmo, the largest thing about him.

A revealing exchange between Erasmo and BROWNVILLE VOICE'S Bobby Wightman-Cervantes

Bobby Wightman-Cervantes

demonstrates that the rotund one's self-admiration is still very much intact.  Wightman starts with a recent Erasmo quote proclaiming himself, not simply the king of the hill of Brownsville bloggers, but the only remaining one:

"With no more bloggers in Brownsville, we have become not only the best, but also the one and only social media/web based information site for the City of Brownsville (and neighboring cities)... in the end, there could be only one... "

Wightman followed this quote by describing Erasmo as a liar and con artist, detailing his less-than-successful venture into local politics, prompting Erasmo to send this cryptic note to Wightman's blog:

"do I really frazzle you that easily? tsk tsk...poor Bobby..."



Erasmo

Here is Wightman-Cervantes' response:

BobbyWC said...

You frazzle no one - you are well known as a patholigical [sic] liar with delusions of grandeur - Your endorsement of a candidate is a death nail [sic] - you cannot deliver votes -

The only exception in Erin Garcia - and you had nothing to do with that win - if anything your racists and hateful statements towards Begum turned the campaign into one of the nastiest I have ever seen.

Ernie Hernandez has his own political machine and does not need your help - if anything you nearly cost Erin the election.

Only in your delutions [sic] do you believe you frazzle anyone.

Bobby WC

Mayor Tony Martinez

While the 95% of Brownsville's registered voters who were not interested enough to participate in the last month's city commission election may not care, it couldn't be more obvious that Deborah Portillo is simply a pawn in Tony Martinez' game to use his mayorship to benefit the interests of his cronies in the United Brownsville scam.

What else could satisfactorily explain the young woman's sudden interest in city government when she has never voted in a city commission election before?  Does anyone find it remotely curious that this inexperienced youngster was plucked from her family jewelry store to fill a newly created position as Special Assistant to the Executive Director of United Brownsville?  After a brief episode of cold feet about the city commission race, she was seen huddling with Carlos Marin and UTB President Juliet Garcia's son Oscar.  Whatever the encouragement given, she re-entered the race.

Currently, Mayor Martinez counts on the votes of his financially-supported City Commissioners Rose Gowen and Estela Chavez-Vasquez, along with the general acquiescence of the timid John Villarreal to ramrod his undisclosed program of real estate speculation and unabashed bootlicking of IBC President Fred Rusteberg, outgoing UTB President Juliet Garcia and Matamoros millionaire Carlos Marin.  Martinez has raised taxes and created Certificates of Obligation to saddle Brownsville's children and grandchildren to pay for his dubious shenanigans.  With the pending departure of Commissioner Melissa Zamora, Martinez saw an opportunity to solidify his stranglehold on the commission by handpicking Zamora's successor.  If you like the idea of one man controlling our city without involving the citizenry, vote for Deborah Portillo.

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Our ongoing tour of Brownsville city boards has revealed a variance in accommodating citizen onlookers.  First of all, the schedule produced by the City Secretary showing the scheduled board meetings needs updating.  Some of the meeting times have changed as have the contact numbers.  Usually, I will call several days in advance to find out if there will be a meeting and when.

The Transit Advisory Board, meeting on the second floor of the multi-modal building, was very cordial.  We sat at the board table, made our public comments and learned a great deal in informal conversation.  The Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation(GBIC) met in the BEDC Board Room on the ITEC campus.  Several board members welcomed us with the notable exceptions of Mark Sossi and Chairman Jason Hilts.  While it was difficult to hear, I sat directly behind Hilts who did most of the talking.  The Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation(BCIC) meets on the fourth floor of the City Commission building.  This group was the least hospitable with only Pete Gonzalez acknowledging our presence.  Board members speak barely above a mumble, so without any written materials to peruse, very little can be discerned by attending.  The executive director did hand us one printout, detailing the costs incurred so far by the Belden Bike Trail.

On Tuesday, we will check out the Airport Advisory Board and P.U.B.  P.U.B has scheduled a workshop for 4:00 PM, then the scheduled 5:00 PM meeting goes immediately into executive session.