How Lies, Disinformation and the Mayor's Inaccessibility Factored into the Parking Meter Rate Raise~Part III

From the editor:  Part III in this series will deal primarily how the mayor's inaccessibility and reluctance to involve the taxpayers results in poor decision-making.  Downtown business owners could not have articulated the ACTUAL downtown situation with respect to parking any more clearly, yet, Mayor Martinez CHOSE not to be present.  Remember, without knowing the date of the forum, he stated he would be "out of town."  Easily, the forum date could have been included in his schedule, but, unlike Democrats John Kennedy or Bill Clinton, Martinez will not be questioned.  Perhaps, his skill set has not developed to the point where he could conduct a free-flowing town hall meeting, but, the reality is that it's his attitude that needs adjusting.  

His ban on the broadcast of Public Comment at City Commission meetings shouts plainly where he stands on the First Amendment.  While the city carefully preserves every utterance from the mayor and city commission for broadcast, the switch is turned off the instant a taxpayers stands up to speak.  The last thing we hear on Channel 12 is the mayor sarcastically and disrespectfully say:  "Well, I guess we'll hear from ol' Robert again!"  I hope Mr. Uresti prefaces his remarks with:  "Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for another disrespectful introduction."

After Interim Planner Ramiro Gonzalez' opening 18 minute power point at the 1/22/14 Town Hall, illustrating how New York, Chicago, San Antonio and Houston handle downtown parking, using excerpts from his parking bible, "The High Cost of Free Parking,"  the meeting was opened to public comment.  

Twenty citizens, most downtown property owners, gave their observations about the current state of downtown, the reasons for congestion on a limited portion of two streets and the impact of raising parking rates.  18 of 20 spoke against the raise, all but one, Dagoberto Barrera, spoke in a reasoned tone, articulately, without raising their voices.  Among the speakers:  Dr. Gustavo Stern, Abraham Galonsky, Daniel Lenz, Reynoldo Garza, Jr., Larry Holtzman, Larry Jokl, Trey Mendez, Dennis Sanchez, Robert Uresti, Jim Barton, Letty Perez-Garzoria, Dagoberto Barrera, George Ramirez, Roberto Zamora, Ernesto Elizondo, Jr., and Jaime Parra, Jr.

Dr. Gustavo Stern

As the speakers explained, downtown congestion was on two streets, Elizabeth and Washington, and only on about four blocks of those two streets. A simple solution, without raising fees, would be for those working downtown to park in one of the city's lots.  Trey Mendez said that providing that parking free of charge would be an incentive to park there and quickly free up the congestion on the two streets.  

Attorney Trey Mendez

Abraham Galonsky and others described the deterioration of downtown business, saying like so many others that this was simply "not the time" to raise parking rates.  Larry Jokl said he had a large building on Elizibeth standing "empty" and two others on Levee.  He said "let us get some tenants first for our downtown building before considering raising rates."

But, these reasoned comments from businessmen actually in the trenches of downtown Brownsville, went unheeded by the mayor and city commission.  The Town Hall meeting was a sham, as the commission was hell-bent on raising parking rates.  

Make no mistake, although Ramiro Gonzalez is the point man is this anti-democratic exercize, this is all down under the direction of Tony Martinez.  This is his show, although he lacks the intestinal fortitude and insight to include or even face Brownsville's citizens.


The City Commission unanimously agreed to double parking rates at the 3/28/14 meeting.  None of the concerns of citizens expressed at the Town Hall meeting were represented during the agenda item's discussion despite 4 commissioners having attended at least a portion of the the Town Hall meeting.  Commissioner Tetreau-Kalifa, who promised at the Town Hall to vote AGAINST the raise, did not do as she promised.

From the editor: In the next installment, we will consider another a misrepresentation made at the 3/28/14 City Commission meeting by Ramiro Gonzalez, with an assist from John Villarreal, about a "shortfall" in parking meter 
collections.

(to be continued)