ANONYMOUS COMMENTER DISPUTES OUR REPORT ON GALONSKY-NEECE REMODEL AT 1203 E. WASHINGTON STREET

From the editor:  We received an anonymous email comment at 1:13 AM concerning our report that the Galonsky-owned property at 1203 E. Washington Street was being remodeled by City Commissioner Ben Neece without permits.

We'd also reported that the remodeling was being performed in lieu of paying rent on the property.

We reprint the comment below:

"Jim: If you would, actually, check on the rumors being fed to you, you'd see that 1203 E Washington is registered at the City Engineer's office, a permit was issued for remodeling, a Certificate of Occupancy has been issued for a Commercial/Residential Use and Abraham Galonsky doesn't own the property. Just saying, Mr. Rumor Control."

Actually, we did not rely on rumors in reporting that no permits had been issued by the City of Brownsville for the remodel at 1203 E. Washington Street.  We sent a Public Information Request to City Secretary Griselda Rosas on December 22, 2017, receiving an answer on January 5, 2018.

We post the city's response below:

Public Information 2017-694    January 5, 2018


Good Morning Mr. Barton,

This message is a response to your request listed below. The report was asked from the Building Department, they report no permits were issued.

Thank you

Juan Carlos (Johnny) Gutierrez

Records Management Specialist

City of Brownsville | Office of the City Secretary
1034 E. Levee St. | P.O. Box 911 | Brownsville, TX 78520

Tel: 956/548-6067 | Fax: 956/546-2130

juan.gutierrez@cob.us | www.cob.us





P Go Green! Please do not print this e-mail unless completely necessary.

From: Jim Barton [mailto:barton873@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, December 22, 2017 1:47 PM
To: public request <public.inforequest@cob.us>
Subject: Public Information Request

Please show any and all permits during 2017 for 1203 E. Washington Street.

Thanks,
Jim Barton

First of all, who sent this anonymous comment?  It could have been sent by Ben Neece, although Ben typically communicates directly, signing his name.

Nurith Galonsky

It could also have been sent by Nurith Galonsky, Abraham's daughter.  Nurith, with a law degree from SMU, has recently been appointed to a couple city boards.  It's possible that Nurith, not Abraham, actually owns the property now identified as 1203 E. Washington Street.

The Public Information Request above shows we were not relying on mere rumors in our report.  We did our due diligence.

Notice that the anonymous comment did not say WHEN 1203 E. Washington Street was permitted.  It's entirely possible that permit was issued AFTER our Public Information Request was received and shared in our report.