Cesar de Leon's Opportunity, Tony's Freefall, United Brownsville's Greed

"If a dog's gonna bite, he'll bite you as a pup."

Former UT Coach Darrell Royal

City Commissioner At Large "A" Cesar de Leon

By now, personable, young Cesar de Leon has been told that he's the only candidate in the recent city elections to achieve elective office with anything resembling a "mandate." Cesar garnered 4,335 votes or 54% in a four man race for City Commissioner At Large "A," far eclipsing the mayor, who merely qualified for a runoff with 43% of the vote.

The empowerment of such a plurality can be easily squandered with a tepid, hesitant start as a City Commissioner.  In 2011, John Villarreal and Estela Chavez-Vasquez both deferred to Tony Martinez in their first City Commission meeting, relinquishing representation for their districts on city boards.  Neither commissioner ever recovered from that weakest of starts, simply filling a seat in their tenure without contributing anything of substance.  Rumor has it that Villarreal is still on the City Commission.

De Leon must come out of the gate prepared, articulate, protecting the people's interests.  Sponsoring agenda items to restore the broadcast of public comment and take the transfer of Lincoln Park off the table would be a brilliant, opportunistic move.  If Abraham Galonsky calls, De Leon should take the call, just as he should for another other constituent, but Cesar must demonstrate he's putting the people first, not Galonsky.  Abraham's $1,000 campaign contribution can always be returned.

Mayor Tony Martinez

Brownsville's biggest loser in the city elections is Tony Martinez, who did manage to overcome Pat Ahumada in the runoff, but appeared haggard, desperate, insecure in doing so. While Martinez initially tried to soar "above the fray" with spiffy ads from the Austin ad agency, Message, Audience, Presentation, Inc., his campaign deteriorated into groveling for votes in adult day care facilities, attack ads and general pandering.  Did he turn his campaign over to Herminia Becerra and her niece, Sylvia Garza-Perez? 

While the City Commission sleeps, UT is purchasing the stinky land next to the sewer plant, preparing to exchange it for Lincoln Park while adding the agreed upon monies for the "amenities."  

Meanwhile, the unelected board now controlling development of the FM 550 industrial corridor, United Brownsville, has posted the agenda for their Wednesday noon meeting at Fred Rusteberg's IBC Bank.  The primary agenda item is succinctly worded:  "LNG."  There is some urgency to get 5 liquefied natural gas plants up and running from the Port of Brownsville to Port Isabel.  The primary customers, Russia and China, are said to be only 5 years away from having their own LPG plants.  This whole mess is essentially short term profiteering with long range effects on the environment.