Give credit to Ahumada for seeing through this scam from the get-go, not just for the $900,000 the City of Brownsville paid for the Imagine Brownsville Comprehensive Plan, but for nearly the same amount spent by the city in wages and other overhead to complete the coffee table sized paperback comic book, now gathering dust on city shelves. Back then he described the board developed out of "discussions," now named the United Brownsville Coordinating Board, as "unelected and unaccountable."
Unlike Ahumada, most of the current City Commission are not savvy enough to realize the control they are yielding bit by bit to the United Brownsville con. Shortly after being elected as commissioners, Estela Chavez-Vasquez and John Villarreal, were appointed to the coordinating board, John as a tri-chair.(Tri-Chair Fred Rusteberg recently announced Villarreal's resignation due to the press of family business.)
One exception would be Commissioner Ricardo Longoria, who
wrote this about United Brownsville April 10, 2012:
"As I stated in the beginning United Brownsville was created so that a plan could be in print to secure funding, what is going on right now is not what this plan was created for. I sincerely appreciate the countless hours that all volunteers, directors, employees and elected officials have put into this very much needed plan and know for a fact that no one is monetarily benefitting from this concept, but we must stop with the smoke screens already and go as was intended in a unified front to Austin and Washington D.C. to seek major funding for our community and make the visions that are on paper into a reality.
Do we need to continue with the United Brownsville concept as is; in my opinion “no,” but then again I am only one vote."
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| UB Executive Director Mike Gonzalez |
Former Commissioner Melissa Zamora, seemed to be wising to the scam, asking United Brownsville Executive Director Mike Gonzalez to give some specifics regarding exactly what the entity does to earn the $25,000 annual "membership dues" contributed by the city along with 7 other city and county entities. Gonzalez promised to "get back with you on that," but never did. To this day this annual $25,000 stipend passes through the young City Commission without a peep or question.
In his comments below, Ahumada also alludes to current Mayor Tony Martinez' silly acquisition of a dozen third tier downtown properties in his puppy love pursuit of outgoing UTB President Juliet Garcia and the UT system. At least $3.5 million of taxpayer money has been wasted to date on Tony's unrequited love for UTB.
Below are Ahumada's comments in full:
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| Former Mayor Pat Ahumada |
Anonymous,
I guess according to you, I am not entitled to express myself or defend myself.
You obviously prefer to be governed by the United Brownsville gurus who are smarter than you and take taxpayers money in the millions, which makes you happy. You also prefer a mayor who buys worthless real estate for the university and pays millions of dollars, even though the city has no use for these properties, but this makes you happy.
I can tell you are very smart and that we must all defer to the honest pillars of our community who will take your money and pat themselves in the back, because they managed to get you to be in their cheering squad. The utility rates I kept down for you and are now up. The property tax rate that I kept down for you and is now up, plus the extravagant spending I opposed, but now is acceptable is what makes you happy.
You also prefer a form of government that is only for a certain few, because my constant involvement to improve things and be the taxpayers voice and protect is not something that you approved of and how dare I say anything to the contrary.
After all, Pat was a shrimper, uneducated self taught person who was an emancipated minor who had to stand on his own at an early age and managed to become mayor against all odds, should learn to allow the smart people you laude to govern. Yeah, Brownsville is better off with your type of people in charge.
Why worry about the taxpayers and fiduciary responsibilities, let the Carlos Marin's and Tony Martinez tell you what is good for us all. Thank you for enlightening me. How dumb to stand up and try to make it better.
Pat Ahumada
It has become clear that Tony Martinez really doesn't care about the people of Brownsville....he may care about certain "special friends", but not for most of us. His administration has been a disaster as he has practiced real estate more than public planning. His efforts to save Julieta Garcia from her own mismanagement at UTB-TSC has been unbelievable. As UTB falls apart, Julieta's ego continues to expand and she clearly has her eyes on a future of mismanagement. To turn over the city to "United Browsville" a non-elected body is a dynamic failure and demonstration of his total lack of leadership and management. Brownsville, under Tony's administration, has gone backward and continues to swirl down the municipal toilet.
ReplyDeletePat you were doing a fairly good job but, you lost it with the support of banning plastic bag and killing our First Amendment Right FREEDOM OF SPEECH. You failed to see the banning of plastic bags as killing an American industry. You used the excuse this would eliminate the trashing of the city, well the city still looks TRASHY. And Lord knows the LEFT has killed most our industrial sector which resulted the end of many high paying jobs. Secondly by eliminating FREE SPEECH you have started Brownsville's path to SOCIALISM.
ReplyDeleteYeah right! I banned free speech and killed the 1st amendment. I also failed to see the killing of an American Industry (keep smoking the joint that makes you dellusional). Restricting the use of plastic bags saves our enviornment, reduced the littler and saved tremendous amount of taxpayers money, effort and landfill space with less bags in circulation. Your taxpayer budget was never enough to pick up the littler and it was hopeless until I introduced the plastic ban ordiance. How simple and effective, but some people do love to live in filth.
ReplyDeletePat admitted you did killed the people of Brownsville FREE SPEECH.
DeletePlastic bags is one of the few industries still left in America and your ilk want to KILL that too.
The reusable CONTAMINATED (AFTER THE FIRST USE) bags come from COMMUNIST CHINA!!!!
The dirty little secret the reason why our city is so trashed is because of the dirty Mexicans that come here and are the main people that litter our city, but no one wants to acknowledge the TRUTH. Just go to Matamoros and see how filthy and trashy that city is.
Pat Ahumada is simply not a leader. He is better suited, it seems from his writing, for the gaming industry. Nice try, Pat. But something about you being arrested for drinking blew your rep.
ReplyDeleteFor the first time in history, the Education Department also examined school discipline at the pre-K level, finding that black students as young as 4 years old are already facing unequal treatment from school administrators.
ReplyDeleteThe Education Department released four papers with the data, analyzing inequality in school discipline, early learning, college readiness and teacher equity (PDFs). Here’s a breakdown of some of the key findings, taken straight from those papers. During the 2011–12 school year:
1. Black students accounted for 18 percent of the country’s pre-K enrollment, but made up 48 percent of preschoolers with multiple out-of-school suspensions.
2. Black students were expelled at three times the rate of white students.
American Indian and Native-Alaskan students represented less than 1 percent of students, but 3 percent of expulsions.
3. Black girls were suspended at higher rates than all other girls and most boys.
American Indian and Native-Alaskan girls were suspended at higher rates than white boys or girls.
4. Nearly one in four boys of color, excepting Latino and Asian American students, with disabilities received an out-of-school suspension.
5. One in five girls of color with disabilities received an out-of-school suspension.
6. A quarter of the schools with the highest percentage of black and Latino students did not offer Algebra II.
7. A third of these schools did not offer chemistry.
8. Less than half of American Indian and Native-Alaskan high school students had access to the full range of math and science courses, which consists of Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, calculus, biology, chemistry and physics.
9. Black and Latino students accounted for 40 percent of enrollment at schools with gifted programs, but only represented 26 percent of students in such programs.
10. Black, Latino and Native American students attended schools with higher concentrations of first-year teachers (3-4 percent) than white students (1 percent).
11. Black students were more than three times as likely to attend schools where fewer than 60 percent of teachers meet all state certification and licensure requirements.
12. Latino students were twice as likely to attend such schools.
The Department of Education’s civil rights survey examined all 97,000 public schools in the US, representing 49 million students. Explore the datasets, organized by school, state and district, at Ed.gov.
Chilling.
DeleteYeah, I forget, your definition of a leader is to steal from the taxpayers till unmercifully and you applaud how great they are. Yeap! Gotcha!
ReplyDeleteSo, you think you're a leader, Ahumada? Maybe of a bartender's union. Fading away is a virtue.
DeletePat didn't you go to TRIAL because you got caught STEALING FROM THE TAX PAYERS?
DeleteThe problem is most of you if not ALL Lefty Liberals son ratones!
I like the bag ban. It's pure laziness that people wont take 1 minute of their day to stock their car with reusable cloth bags they can always use again.
ReplyDeleteAhumada did good things as mayor. The plastic bag ban was one of those good things. Keeping property taxes and PUB rates as low as possible were other good things. It is unfortunate that his personal demons got the best of him in the end. He is still a better man than Tony Martinez and a better person than a couple of the sickos who comment here.
ReplyDeleteAnton would be better than Tony. I am sorry to say I supported him. I will work my ass off to unseat him!
ReplyDelete