Thursday, April 18, 2019

REPOSTING OUR 2014 STORY ABOUT THE HOMELESS COUPLE LIVING UNDER THE AWNING OF CASA DEL NYLON

Homeless Couple Still Living Under La Casa del Nylon Awning Despite Applying for Housing Months Ago

The couple pictured in a February Mean Mister Brownsvillearticle, living under the awning of La Casa del Nylon building at 1305 E. Adams Street, were still there on Memorial Day.

Brownsville native, Jesus Marroquin, sporting a U.S.A. ball cap and his wife, Roberta Waters, originally from Washington D.C., and their dog Milo sleep nightly under the aluminum overhang of the old retail store.  

After Roberta asked "Who owns this building?"  I explained that it was purchased in 2012 by the City of Brownsville for $2,300,000, to which she responded:  "They paid too much!"  While any Brownsville resident with common sense would agree with Roberta, Mayor Tony Martinez and the City Commission have not demonstrated common sense in spending or protecting taxpayer monies.  La Casa del Nylon is just one of a dozen or so old buildings the City Commission has purchased recently with other people's money for which the city officials are now scrambling to find uses.

Roberta called my attention to how clean and neat they
were keeping the store entrance.  Pointing to the concrete, she offered:  "I clean that with Fabuloso."


Family dog Milo stays tied to an H.E.B. shopping cart, stuffed with reusable plastic bags, containing the couple's earthly goods.

"He won't let anyone get close to our stuff," explained Jesus, "but he won't bite."  When I extended my hand to Milo, he licked my fingers that likely still contained traces of the handful of dog food I'd given my dog that morning.  When I mentioned that the housing authority may not permit dogs, Jesus said:  "Well, he could stay with my cousin."

"Have you two ever applied for housing?" I asked.  "I know some people actually prefer living out-of-doors."

"No, we've applied," responded Jesus, pulling out a card with the name of a Brownsville Housing Authority contact.  "They told us there is a two year waiting list."

Jesus did take some personal responsibility for their situation, stating: "We didn't have all our paperwork together."  The couple are not exactly off the grid with Roberta getting a monthly disability check via direct deposit in her bank account and what looked to be a cell phone stuck in the door pull bar of La Casa del Nylon.

The conversation turned to other places the couple had spent the night, including uncovered bus stops, before finding this location under an awning.  The city's primary downtown restroom, La Plaza at Brownsville Multimodal Terminal, is just a half block away.  The bus terminal's restrooms, cleaned constantly, serve as body wash and changing stations for Mexican Nationals with jobs in Brownsville.  The restroom counter, with several sinks, is covered with water splashed from patrons washing more than just their hands.  A young man exits a bathroom stall after changing into a Church's Chicken work outfit including cap and name badge.


One street away from Jesus and Roberta, a homeless man sleeps in front of the formerFamsa/Edelstein's Furniture Storeon Washington Street.

While the blame for downtown homelessness can be spread out among several entities and individuals, including the homeless themselves, our city's officials are preoccupied with using their cleverness to convert a tract of land unneeded as an easement to owned property for a city planner or to make overpayment for downtown real estate owned by a friend of the mayor in a deal negotiated by the mayor's law partner.  

Why can't we divert some of that cleverness to solve real needs in our city or does Mayor Tony Martinez not "Believe in Brownsville?"






18 comments:

  1. Tony Martinez believes in his own version of Brownsville.....the version of Julieta Garcia, IBC Bank, Carlos Marin and other well healed citizens....Tony has no view of the real needs of Brownsville and her citizens. Tony does not have a clue about the real needs here, the real people, or the real Brownsville.
    ReplyDelete
  2. Quoting a homeless woman on the cost of real estate? Dumb.
    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Really? She could not be any dumber than the person who did the 2.3 million appraisal. Actually, she sounds a lot smarter as she said they paid too much....
      Delete
  3. Jim,

    Just to let you know, your favorite bank, IBC, is one of the top fee takers of all banks, over 8 million from fees alone. http://www.businessinsider.com/banks-earning-the-most-fees-2014-5
    ReplyDelete
  4. "Quoting a homeless woman on the cost of real estate? Dumb"

    Your limited life experience is showing. People are homeless for a variety of reasons not associated with basic intelligence.
    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, really? Tell that to the state agency okaying release of the mentally retarded from state hospitals. Released at street corners across the state. Big story. Write it. If you can. You are so naive, Bofo.
      Delete
    2. You are the bofo Duardy, .....pendejo...lol

      Jake
      Delete
  5. I like the way you ended your writing: "believe in Brownsville"; just to remind us that we believed the line and our mayor doesnt believe in his own words.
    ReplyDelete
  6. At least there are people going downtown and 'Da Mayor's real estate is being used. After watching the Robert Duvall movie made in Brownsville (probably the worst movie I have watched in many, many years) perhaps this is the new population. Duvall, with the help of super-DICKs Peter Goodman and Joe Gavito, has made Brownsville look more like "Old Mexico" than a US city. That movie should be used as evidence against the city's application to be an "All American City"........it appears more like an "All Mexican Pueblo" in the movie and in reality. I am more comfortable with the homeless than with the politicians.
    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What's this about Brownsville making overtures to become an "All American City" again? How did the city benefit from such the first time? Are the "heavily populated" bike trails figuring into the application? Are these city cheer leaders serious?
      Delete
  7. Me thinks Julieta Garcia has "dissed" her buddy Tony Martinez and left him hanging with lots of real estate that no one wants. That's the way Juliet works.....uses people and then tosses them aside. Tony is now one of the many folks she has "used and abused" and then left to rot with the real estate they purchased to help her. Juliet is moving on to her next victims and me thinks Brownsville is in her rear view mirror. Julieta is surely the "wicked witch of Brownsville".....and now has more victims than the Kardenas Klan....who remain her allies.
    ReplyDelete
  8. According to Charlie Cabler on TV this week, the city is contemplating opening a "homeless shelter for children" at the former "Our Lady of Perpetual Care" facility downtown. Charlie didn't mention price, but did say the city is looking for a private entity to run the facility.....after all the environmental checks are completed and Rose Gowen's bicycle storage there is re-located. Charlie mentioned that this action was based on BISD reports of many homeless students.....not sure they are actually homeless or just Mexicans here for a free education....and just homeless in the US. Is this a signal that the city wants to get out of the
    real estate business???? If Casa de Nylon is already a haven for the homeless....perhaps that building would be better located for the illegals.
    ReplyDelete
  9. Here it is:

    "Garcia executive director of new UT Institute of the Americas"

    It is rumored that its new headquarters will be in the "La Casa de Nylon" office complex in downtown Brownsville. Mayor Antonio Martinez is said to be beside himself with glee.
    ReplyDelete
  10. Slight problema, there already is an "Institute of the Americas" that has been around for over 30 years and is based at UC San Diego. You would think all those hot shots could at least come up with something original. Of course, I don't think anyone would confuse Brownsville with San Diego!!!

    https://www.iamericas.org/en/
    ReplyDelete
  11. This is how it works. Hidalgo County gets the medical school and the UT-RGV administrative offices, most of the classrooms and Brownsville gets to be a satellite AND the home of the world famous "Institute of the Americas" run by the most powerful woman on the face of the earth. It is called political gerrymandering for you beginners.
    ReplyDelete
  12. Jim,
    Do you know this couple well ?
    If so I can help them out with with a room for a few days....
    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've spoken to them twice. I don't know them well enough to recommend them to stay in someone's home.
      Delete
  13. You really won't want to offer if you do a background check!
    ReplyDelete

1 comment:

  1. Yes that’s not the only property they have missed spent on. Ask MARTINEZ about the property on 511 that the city bought to get dirt to fill the landfill. And come to find out the sand in that property was useless. Spent millions and know have to buy dirt from someone else to use a filler for the landfill. Why dose no one bring that up. We need a change ASAP

    ReplyDelete