𝗖𝗜𝗧𝗬 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗠𝗜𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗘𝗥 𝗖𝗔𝗡𝗗𝗜𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗦 𝗟𝗢𝗨𝗜𝗘 𝗧𝗜𝗝𝗘𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗔 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗗𝗔𝗜𝗦𝗬 𝗭𝗔𝗠𝗢𝗥𝗔 𝗦𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗘 𝗗𝗨𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗜𝗡𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗠𝗔𝗟 𝗗𝗜𝗦𝗖𝗨𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗚𝗥𝗢𝗨𝗣 𝗜𝗡 𝗖𝗜𝗧𝗬 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗠𝗜𝗦𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗕𝗨𝗜𝗟𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗛𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗪𝗔𝗬

                                                                                

Candidates for the City Commission picked their ballot positions by lot on the fourth floor of the City Commission Building Monday at 2:00 PM.  Nurith Galonsky Pizana, candidate for At Large B, was not in attendance,  represented instead by a surrogate.

After the ballot positioning ceremony, led by City Secretary Mayra Rios, I met with all of the City Commission candidates in the hallway for about 20 minutes, testing their knowledge of the city.  No "gotcha" questions, with most of the information coming from the city website. (Denise Granado Chavez, candidate for District 3, excused herself, saying she had another meeting to attend.)

With my first question, asking the median household income for Brownsville, it was my information that was incorrect.  Several commissioners responded with answers closer to the actual median than my figure of $62,312, which I discovered later is the mean household income, not the median.  The median household income for Brownsville is $46,735.  

Here's an explanation of the difference between median and mean household income:  

Median income is the amount which divides the income distribution into two equal groups, half having income above that amount, and half having income below that amount. Mean income (average) is the amount obtained by dividing the total aggregate income of a group by the number of units in that group.

Gustavo De Leon, candidate for District 3, immediately recognized my number to be high for median income and so stated.  My apologies to Mr. De Leon.

We also talked about the percentage of Brownsville residents under the poverty line; 26.08%.

Commissioner Roy De Los Santos, candidate for At Large B, correctly identified our style of city government as "Council-Manager." 

When I asked the commissioner candidates for details on the Old Highway 77 project, both Daisy Zamora and Louie Tijerina, both District 4 candidates, knew every detail, from the estimated cost, the P.U.B. contribution, and the full realm of work, including sewer, water, repaving, sidewalks, curb and gutter work, etc.  Current District 4 Commissioner Pedro Cardenas was also totally familiar with the project. 

Louie Tijerina came closest to estimating the number of miles the city has devoted to hike and bike trails.  

We asked about the city's program with larvacide, mosquito spraying, and Daisy Zamora seemed on top of that, explaining why the city sprayed after a substantial rain, etc. (Commissioner Bryan Martinez, who must have been listening in, although not currently running, added some more details, explaining something about computer-aided identification of mosquito larvae or somesuch.

We'll monitor candidate forums as they come up, but, for this informal meeting in a hallway, Daisy Zamora and Louie Tijerina stood out.