The Case of the Missing $7,247 Video Display and the Moving Downtown Mayor's Office

Brownsville Downtown Revitalization Information Center

This past October we reported that the mayor was leasing space for a downtown office at 1101-A E. Washington St.  As many as four City of Brownsville trucks could be seen in front of the building with city workers feverishly working to remodel the space.  New commercial safety glass, a unisex bathroom and interior repairs were made.  The initial tip we received indicated plans to install an $8 grand video display system in the space.

We sent a Public Information Request to the city, soon learning that the city had leased the property, but that it was being furnished by the mayor.  As to the display system, we were told that the invoice was for $7,247, but remained unpaid.  The cost of remodeling was given as just under $4,000, which may have included materials, but certainly not labor.

We questioned why the mayor would need to lease another building with the city owning so much unoccupied space at City Plaza, the entire 2nd floor of Market Square and any one of eleven buildings the mayor and city commission purchased with tax dollars this past year.  Certainly, the home next to the Cueto Building, said to be headquarters for the fake entity United Brownsville, could have squeezed in an office for the mayor.  But, no, the mayor had his heart set on this particular office space.  As the song goes:  "What Lola wants, Lola gets."

$7,247 Interactive Video Display

But, sometime around the end of the year, the mayor changed his mind.  A sign was put up on both street entrances of what would have been the mayor's new office, declaring it the Brownsville Downtown Revitalization Information Center. Did we just get our facts wrong and this was the intended purpose for the leased space all along?  Not likely.  When we sent our original public information request to the city, we asked specifically about the mayor's new office.  We were not told our characterization was incorrect.  Remember, we were also told that the mayor was furnishing it personally.  The tables and other furniture were said to be his, while the chairs were some the city had on hand.  So, the office was definitely intended for the mayor.  But, what about the $7,247 video display screen?  Was it going to be returned or would the invoice be paid?

We sent in another Public Information Request to the city and waited.  Around the first of the year we learned from the City Secretary and the Finance Department that the invoice for the video display system had been paid on December 31, 2013.    Although frequently downtown, taking the opportunity to peer in to the newly leased office, we never caught a glimpse of the new video display screen. Then, we got another tip.  Someone said they had observed two men moving what appeared to be a large flat screen tv from the office at 1101-A E. Washington down 11th street on a cart.  The mystery screen had disappeared before we had even seen it.

Tony's Newest "New" Downtown Office

The rumors kept coming.  Tony had evidently changed his mind.  His planned new office had morphed into the Brownsville Downtown Revitalization Information Center and work had started across the street on 11th St. in three small cubicles the city purchased last year.  A sign on one of the windows cited construction of the mayor's "central downtown office" and a "police substation."  Still, there had been no sighting of the now paid for interactive video display screen.

It was at the Town Hall meeting this past Wednesday that someone whispered to me: "Jim, that screen behind Ramiro is the new video screen you've been writing about.  They tried to take it to the Planning Department in El Tapiz building, but the elevator is broken and so they left it here."

Interesting.  We did an article last month on the city's annexed El Tapiz building, which houses the Fire Department Administration, the Planning Department and MPO, not being A.D.A. compliant with the elevator not functioning.  That means that those with disabilities do not have access to those city departments.  The able-bodied use a service stairs to go to floors two and three.

So, taxpayers, our new video display screen has been located.  It is on the ground floor of the Market Square building.  The new mayor's office has become the headquarters for downtown revitalization and yet another location is being remodeled for Tony's "central" downtown office.  Confusing, isn't it?