Belden Trail Dominates Meeting of the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation

Back in June of 2004 the Brownsville Herald declared that completion of an 8.6 mile toll road from the B&M Bridge to the Highway 77 flea market was "almost certain" at a cost of $100 million.  The Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority had money burning a hole in their pocket, but cooler heads eventually prevailed through several public meetings and the toll road was ditched in favor of a bike trail.  That was $179,000,000 plus typical overruns not going to the bottom line of Howard, Needles, Tammer and Bergendolf, the Kansas-based engineering firm noted for sports stadiums and freeway clover leafs.  The toll road was a dumb idea from the get-go since the B&M Bridge does not support truck traffic.  So, the toll road either takes car traffic from Mexico beyond Brownsville or simply charges West Brownsville citizens a dollar to go to the flea market or sports park when they can simply drive down Central Blvd. and connect to 77/83 for free,

Tonight's meeting of the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation(BCIC), held on the fourth floor of the City Commission/Post Office building, dealt primarily with the Belden Trail, the new bike trail located where the old rail tracks used to connect Matamoros and Brownsville.  In fact, in the executive director's report, she admitted that 75% of her efforts had been dedicated to the Belden Trail.  Three door-to-door canvasses had been conducted to make certain all the folks living along the trail were on board, but still three families plus O'Reilly Auto Parts raised issues once construction started.  Change orders to satisfy citizen complaints and other issues raised the original contract amount from $786,528,000 to $861,038.50.

B&M Bridge

One agenda item dealt with travel expenses for the executive director to attend a Green Summit in October.  No specific location for this summit was mentioned in the agenda and the BCIC board was nearly inaudible, but I did my research coming in.  The California Green Summit features simulcasting.  Why should a green advocate pollute the atmosphere with millions of jet fuel hydrocarbons to attend a Green Summit conference out of town, when they could enjoy a simulcast at the City Commission building?  I wince when I repeatedly see Peter Goodman sent on the community dime to study film in Los Angeles, Pete Gonzalez to learn to count in Dallas or Doroteo Garcia to study engineering in New Orleans.  Put the fools in the air-conditioning comfort of the City Commission building and let them study, honing their skills on a simulcast.  Bring in an organicly grown salad and several bottles of Jack Daniels, but nip this horrendous travel budget in the bud.  Don't get me started on Tony Martinez and his cronies traveling to Colombia to learn how to ride a bicycle on the public dime or Ralph Cowen and his Port of Brownsville cronies fattening themselves at every exotic port in the world.  All of this travel is ridiculously expensive self-indulgence and does nothing for Brownsville.

One agenda item, that was eventually tabled dealt with a bill from the Whitley Penn accounting firm.  Sports park audit?  Who knows?  The BCIC board speaks inaudibly so as not to be heard beyond the board table.(This lack of projection frustrates someone who taught public speaking for 30 years, but goes with the territory of auditing Brownsville board meetings.  I won't waste my time with another BCIC meeting.  Nena simply reads a book during such proceedings.) Anyway, Whitley Penn submitted a bill far exceeding their bid.  While the executive director felt the company had done the work, they had multiple opportunities to mention they were using more auditor hours then projected.  The BCIC board decided to table the consideration of payment until legal had ascertained their rights in this area.(Assistant City Attorney Allison Bastain was one of the few board member who could be heard.)

In another agenda item the board agreed to pay $19,500 annually for a firm to water 46 trees planted along the Belden Trail.  The firm has done work for the city before and always watered when they said they would water.