Our City's Insecurity: Paying for Awards, Accepting Second Class Treatment as Citizens

From the editor:  So insecure are we as a city that we paid big bucks for an "All-America City" award, beating out another lackluster settlement, the second place finisher in Texas, the City of Tyler. 

The taxpayers even footed the bill for a delegation of about forty to travel to Colorado to receive the accolade. Consumers are frequently told never to pay for any "prize" or "award," but our city leaders are not that savvy, easily duped. 

City Manager Charlie Cabler,
 after inking the deal with David
McCarthy of Community
Showcase Banners

Remember "Bannergate" of 2012 when Mayor Martinez was approached by David McCarthy of Community Showcase Banners at a mayor's convention to inform the mayor that the city was being recognized as one of "only 15 cities in the country" to be honored with the showcase banners.  Under the mayor's direction, City Manager Charlie Cabler signed off on the program and soon salespeople were approaching business owners carrying a letter from the city, asking the businesses to purchase banners "in support of the mayor."  The gold package went for $4,000.

Our city's insecurity is also reflected in our toleration of being treated as second class citizens. Symbolic of that treatment is the ban of the broadcast of public comments at city commission meetings.  While the words of wisdom of the mayor and commissioners are videotaped and broadcast, the switches are turned off as soon as the taxpayers come to the podium for the so-called Public Comment Period.  

Treatment of the citizens, taxpayers as second class was also in evidence at the recent town hall meeting on Lincoln Park.  The Tony Gonzalez Gymnasium had the feel of a 50's deep south movie theater on October 30 for that public meeting, with anglo men representing UT in the upper right quadrant, along with IBC's Fred Rusteberg, Chamber of Commerce President Maria C. Hall and Pastor Brad Burke. Southmost residents, much like the "coloreds' of yesteryear sat mostly behind and to the left of the movers and shakers.  When one speaker, District Attorney Luis Saenz, asked the privileged to turn and take one look at the disturbed citizenry, only one prima donna turned his neck around.

The chosen ones even had their own exclusive parking area as Mary Helen Flores found out when she tried to park her red and gray motor scooter close to the building.  

We're not saying that the UT regents or their counterparts set up the seating and parking arrangements. Those organizational decisions were made by locals setting up the meeting. But, the setup simply reinforced the concept of UT as hierarchy and the taxpayers as underlings.  The reality is that local taxpayers have overpaid for every bit of educational service from UT including not collecting $10,000,000 in promised rent with the University shielded by the Rene Oliveira loophole.

The University of Texas even allowed their hands to be tied when it came time to dispersing anything from the billions in P.U.F. funds.  A technicality was conveniently enforced to disqualify the TSC/UTB partnership from even a penny of those monies.

Another subtle hint that the people are less valued was the positioning of the microphone at the town hall meeting, facing the four commissioners and Irv Downing as if petitioning a tribunal.  When City Manager Charlie Cabler responded to my suggestion that the microphone be turned away from the majestive five, facing instead the 400 "public" of the public forum, Commissioner Ricardo Longoria, Jr. intervened:  "Charlie, Jim is not running this public forum.  I'm running this meeting."  Cabler returned the microphone to its original position.

Notably, two other speakers, District Attorney Luis Saenz and former Mayor Pat Ahumada, felt as I did and turned the microphone away from the four commissioners and UT rep Irv Downing toward the 400 citizens concerned about losing their park.

When will Brownsville citizens learn they deserve paved roads, sidewalks, even billing with politicians, the right to have their comments heard along with the mayor and commissioners, the right not to have their parks and assets committed to "deals" without their permission?  When will Brownsville's citizens no longer allow themselves to be treated as second class?