Mayor Martinez Still Has Not Told the Taxpayers About His New Office

Taxpayer-funded Mayoral Office

 Mayor Tony Martinez continues to function without consulting, informing, considering or even thinking about Brownsville taxpayers. He has yet to tell us why he spent over $3,500,000 of tax dollars last year in speculative real estate and he certainly hasn't told us about his totally unnecessary lease of office space on the corner of E. 11th and Washington Street for a mayoral office.



Mayor Tony may have a shrine at his residence where he worships, but, with respect to "Believing in Brownsville," he is agnostic at best.

We've closely followed the refurbishment of the property at the corner of E. 11th and Washington, the installation of new windows, a gender-neutral bathroom and eclectic furnishings.  Last week three mismatched tables with dining chairs were topped by large fern arrangements.  We assumed the ferns would be hung as they greatly restricted the table surface area, but, this week the ferns are gone. 

Each table is underlaid by an area rug(5' X 8'?).  There is no desk, mayoral or otherwise, as yet. Both entry doors are protected by iron bars as are all but the

"No, you are not worthy!"

most recently installed commercial glass window.  As workers told us it would be, the floor under the rugs has the same tile as before restoration.  One service, evidently not utilized by the city, was that of an interior decorator.

Why should this blog and citizens in the community care if Mayor Martinez leases office space downtown and has it remodeled to suit his needs? Well, these are tax dollars being spent and unnecessarily. City Plaza, where several city departments function as well as the municipal courts, has ample, unused office space where the Mayor could have located his office without wasting more tax dollars. The huge Market Square building, where the Heritage Department is located, has ample ground level space available and an entire second floor yet unoccupied. Casa del Nylon, the former retail building on Adams Street, purchased by the Mayor and City Commission for $2,300,000 is available among other properties. But Tony had his eye on THIS property, not owned by the city, but available for lease. As the song goes: "What Lola wants, Lola gets."


We did receive information anonymously that's being checked out through an open records request to the effect that the lease on the property at E. 11th and Washington may have originally been taken by Tony Martinez personally, but transferred to the City of Brownsville with the remodeling costs assumed by the city. The furnishings are said to belong to Martinez, but, we're told, an interactive television has been purchased by the city at a cost of $8,000 to enable the mayor or others to access maps and other online documents and communicate audiovisually with other officials.  We're also told that only the mayor has keys to the office.

Below is our Open Records request to the City of Brownsville:

Dear Ms. Von Hatten or Ms. Valdez:

My request concerns expenditures for the mayoral office at E. 11th & Washington.  I would like to know the cost of the lease, when it started and if it is being paid by the City of Brownsville.  Was this an original lease or an assumed lease?  What is the total cost of refurbishing the property?  Was there a purchase of an interactive television and, if so, how much did it cost?  Also, who furnished the office and at what cost, if any, to the city?

Thanks,

Jim Barton