Eduardo Campirano, Board Member of Rio South Texas-Economic Council |
We first heard about the Rio South Texas Economic Council at the February 12, 2014 meeting of the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation when Rachel Flores, then BCIC Director, mentioned the payment of $17,500 in "dues" to the organization.
Ms. Flores explained, in a brief conversation after the meeting, that this regional group was trying to enhance the RGV's image, lest the image of border violence affect commerce and tourism. Flores was excited that Eduardo Campirano, CEO of the Port of Brownsville was a board member of Rio South Texas. Flores stated that, for once, Brownsville would have more representation than the Upper Valley. Incidentally, the Port of Brownsville kicks in $17,500 to Rio South Texas.
Rio South Texas has carefully copied the model set by United Brownsville, an unelected, unaccountable board that collects at least $200,000 in "dues" from 8 local entities, then rewards officials from those entities with the status of membership on the "coordinating board."
Debbie Portillo, named Tri-Chair of United Brownsville, also Co-Chair of Marketing/ Public Relations for Rio South Texas |
While United Brownsville has no official role of governance, it horns itself into city issues as if mirroring the City Commission. Its meeting agendas discuss the Resaca Restoration Project, Curbside Recycling and even the application for All-America City, duplicating decisions already made in actual city government. Young City Commissioners like John Villarreal and Estela Chavez-Vasquez were named to the board immediately after their election in 2011. Now, young Debbie Portillo has that honor, named Tri-Chair of United Brownsville.
Rio South Texas, copying United Brownsville's modus operandi named young Portillo a "co-chair" after the City of Brownsville kicked in their $17,500 "dues."
So, what does Rio South Texas do for the money? Essentially, it runs a very amateurish website reporting good things about the Rio Grande Valley. Here is the mission statement: The Rio South Texas Economic Council (RSTEC) welcomes the opportunity to introduce you to the The Real South Texas. We have a dedicated staff ready to introduce you to the dozens of commuinities(sic) that make up the Rio South Texas Economic Council. In addition to community orientation, we can help conduct labor interviews, utility and permitting representative meetings, site and industrial park visits and introductions to colleges, technical schools and employment services.
When I clicked on a link to the section What's New, I received this warning: ACCESS DENIED: You are not authorized to access this page.
Under Regional Profile, the site makes this claim: Rio South Texas is growing at a phenomenal pace. Job growth has outpaced that of the state, and by 2012, the projected employment growth rate in the McAllen-Mission-Edinburg MSA is estimated at about 38.5 percent, compared with the state's mere 25 percent rate. (What about Brownsville guys? We pay dues too!)
The site has a section entitled Available Properties. 133 business properties are listed as available in the Rio Grande Valley, none in Brownsville. You may recall young Ms. Portillo introduced an agenda item at a recent City Commission meeting to list some of the city's properties on this site. That didn't happen.
Raudel Garza, former Executive Director of Rio South Texas |
Once again, Brownsville taxpayers get very little in return for their hard earned tax dollars.
Interestingly, demonstrating that not everyone is as gullible as Brownsville's City Commission and boards, the San Benito Economic Development Council declined to fund Rio South Texas at their August 21, 2014 meeting.
Interestingly, demonstrating that not everyone is as gullible as Brownsville's City Commission and boards, the San Benito Economic Development Council declined to fund Rio South Texas at their August 21, 2014 meeting.