Brownsville City Government 101: The Handling of the Stillman House

The Stillman House at Current Resting Place, Linear Park

The old ark-like house, once the abode of ranch workers of Charles Stillman, remains dry-docked at Brownsville's skinny Linear Park.  Window openings are strategically blocked by signs advertising the out-of-town house movers the City of Brownsville used to transport the dilapidated structure, first to the future parking lot adjacent to Los Cuetos Building, then to Linear Park.

While the history of the building may be dubious, it has become a case study in the function of Brownsville's city government; its planning, city commissioners out of the loop, disinformation mouthpieces and yes, retaliation.  The handling of this particular "Stillman House" reveals a city government, that, not only makes decisions by the seat of its pants, but autocratically, with long-tenured city officials cooperating out of self-preservation and younger ones proving themselves loyal foot soldiers.

The angst about the transporting, monies spent and final destination of the Stillman House surfaced publicly at the January 21, 2014 City Commission meeting, when Commissioner Chavez-Vasquez questioned the two-part move of the building exceeding the $30,000 threshold on expenditures that requires City Commission approval.  In a spontaneous, but, not well-thought-out misrepresentation, Commissioner Rose Gowen covered:   "We did not realize we were going to have to move it twice." City Attorney Mark Sossi echoed that by saying moving the house again was "not contemplated."  

It is not difficult to prove that Gowen and Sossi lied about the transporting of the Stillman House.  They only had to use the "search" feature on the Brownsville Herald to read interim City Planner Ramiro Gonzalez' October 18, 2013 quote:  "When the house was first moved here, that location was always meant to be a temporary location,” he said. In other words, the city ALWAYS knew the Stillman House would be moved at least twice.(It was at the 1/21/13 meeting that the commissioners also dealt via agenda item with the mayor's unapproved dipping into the $3,060,000 AEP Texas refund for personal pet projects.)

All of this is very revealing. Most of the City Commissioners are kept out of the information loop with Mayor Tony Martinez functioning unilaterally.  Sossi and Gowen run cover.  Gowen's campaign for public office was managed and, perhaps, even funded by Martinez.  Sossi has enough unethical baggage to be terminated in any other city in the U.S.  He is definitely a tool, albeit a useful one for the mayor. 

The saga of the Stillman House also reveals how city officials react when questioned.  According to a 2/10/14 Brownsville Herald article:   Attorney John Shergold has filed a formal complaint with City Permitting Director Evaristo Gamez Jr. suggesting that the building is in violation of the city’s ordinance concerning unsafe, dilapidated buildings and structures.

The complaint also questions whether a permit was granted ahead of the moving of the structure, as required by the city’s policy.

“Make no mistake, I am filing this complaint as a citizen in

order to protect the safety and welfare of citizens as the ordinance was designed to do,” he said in the letter. 

“Currently, the location is surrounded by a six-foot, chain-wired fence that is unlocked and secured by only twisted wire.”

Shergold told The Brownsville Herald that the fence was small enough that any child could climb it and noted that the building’s condition is such that it may violate the city’s ordinance, which stipulates that partially demolished buildings can’t be left standing for more than 30 days.

“I just wonder how the city is allowing this to happen,” he said.

Five weeks later, according to the Brownsville Herald, not only had Shergold not received an answer to his complaint, but he was threatened by Assistant City Attorney John Chosy:

"And while Shergold said he was perturbed about not receiving a prompt response to his complaint, he said Friday that he is even more concerned with the way he was treated when he followed up on his complaint.

Shergold said he was warned by Assistant City Attorney John Chosy that continuing to communicate with city employees concerning his complaint would lead to Chosy reporting him to the State Bar of Texas."

After reading the above, we called Shergold:  "And while Shergold said he was perturbed about not receiving a prompt response to his complaint, he said Friday that he is even more concerned with the way he was treated when he followed up on his complaint.

Shergold said he was warned by Assistant City Attorney John Chosy that continuing to communicate with city employees concerning his complaint would lead to Chosy reporting him to the State Bar of Texas."
Will the Shergold family now have to worry about trash pick up? Will a team of inspectors come to his law office looking for violations?(That's not too far-fetched.  Remember the photo-op we reported with then Commissioner Edward Camarillo showing up at Daniel Lenz' downtown business with a dozen inspectors and a television reporter.)

Then, there is the matter of the actual history of the now twice-moved house.  Juan Montoya of El Rrun Rrun has reported on the sordid history and sometime actual use of the house.  Nena objects to calling the building a "whore house" as she feels that the females coerced there were victims, not whores.

Of course, "history" gets written and rewritten, but the saga of this Stillman House provides an unflattering portrait of our city's government.