Is Oscar Garcia, Jr. Brownsville's Golden Boy?

Oscar Garcia, Jr.

"It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no millionaire's son, no. 
It ain't me, it ain't me; I ain't no fortunate one, no."

John Fogerty, "Fortunate Son"

Young Oscar Garcia, the son of outgoing UTB President Juliet Garcia and her husband Oscar, seems to be in play for nearly any position of influence and prominence in the City of Brownsville.  We will leave it to the reader to decide if these opportunities come from sheer brilliance and work ethic or political connections.  

Carlos Marin

Oscar's day job is that of Operations Director for Su Clinica Familiar, an outpatient clinic on Alton Gloor Blvd., run by the wife of Matamoros millionaire Carlos Marin, Dr. Elena Marin.  Being surrounded by those practicing medicine may have helped the young man conceptualize the business plan for a medical billing business.  Taking the brainstorm to the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation, the entity, funded by Brownsville taxpayer 4A money(1/4 cent on every taxable dollar spent in the city), Garcia was granted $250,000 start-up money for his new enterprise.  Unfortunately, the business was unsuccessful.  

The quarter million dollar business failure/setback did not prevent city officials from snapping young Garcia up for appointment to the board of the Brownsville Economic Development Council.  Garcia's services were also needed on the Public Utilities Board, to which he now serves as Vice-Chair.(A persistent rumor describes Garcia as the heir apparent and/or replacement to current P.U.B. General Manager, CEO John Bruciak.)

This past spring, Garcia committed his energies and talents to guiding the campaign for City Commissioner by Deborah Portillo.  We heard several reports that Garcia had been given the distinct impression that if his efforts on behalf of Ms. Portillo were successful, he would replace Charlie Cabler as City Manager.  

If Tony Martinez' confidence in Oscar is shaken somewhat, it may have to do with an incident reported by Juan Montoya in his blog, El Rrun Rrun:  "Apparently, Marin and Garcia thought that the latter's Palo Verde Consulting firm should get a piece of the Tenaska consulting pie being how they had close ties to Da Mayor and his cadre of insiders. . . . . . . . Push almost came to shove before the pair would relent and gave up chasing that bone. But we understand that the incident created a rift between Martinez and Marin. To have the duo almost derail his pet project was a bit much even for the likes of Martinez."

Even if Garcia doesn't get the coveted City Manager gig, yet other opportunities may surface.  At the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation meeting held October 31, 2013, Agenda #8 caught our eye:  "Discussion and  action regarding creation of administrative position to manage and implement various economic development strategies or plans to include possible issuance of requests for professional qualifications to fill such a position." 

This item was eventually tabled, but not before Board Member Ruben Gallegos, Jr. expressed some frustration:  "This is  not the first time this has come up(the creation of a new position in GBIC).  Now, I'm not necessarily opposed to this, but it's been brought up two or three times during my tenure.  Right Jason?"  BEDC CEO Jason Hilts answers:  "Three"  "I just think before we do this, we need to find out, what it is that's not being done right or followed up on."

A commenter feels he or she understands the motivation for this agenda item:  "Marin is behind this corridor also Jim. He owns interest all around the corridor. He is the biggest thief in Brownsville. He is pushing now to make Oscar Garcia Jr. the director at GIBIC,..his trusted puppet. The item was tabled in yesterday."

Odds & Ends

We're still curious about the final cost to Brownsville taxpayers if the GBIC decides to purchase the Needham-McCaffrey & Associates, Inc. Greater Brownsville Infrastructure & Development Plan. We inboxed a GBIC board member with this question and placed a call to City Planner Ramiro Gonzalez.  The board member misunderstood our question a little, discussing the overall, eventual cost to implement the plan, not specifically the charge for Needham-McCaffrey's services:  

Hi Mr. Barton,
I'm sure that ultimately the price to implement a plan like that would be a couple of billion but that would include private public partnerships. It's a good plan I'm sure, I just don't know that all the entities involved will cooperate. With regard to that agenda item, I knew nothing about it until I reviewed the updated copy of the agenda. I'm not in the loop with the new majority in the board so I'm not being included in any discussions. I will be asking questions. I'll let you know as soon as I hear something.

City Planning Director Ramiro Gonzalez returned our call this afternoon.  When asked the actual charge for Needham-McCaffery's services, he said he would have to check the paperwork.  He said it was "no where near the Imagine Brownsville level($900,000) and payment was shared by the Port of Brownsville, P.U.B. and GBIC.

When we attended the United Brownsville/City Commission meeting on October 23, UB and City Financial Officer Pete Gonzalez gave a very simple financial report for the fiscal year that ended 9/30/2013.  He simply said:  "$200,000 received, $200,000 spent."  The report was adopted unanimously, quickly.

I accidentally stumbled across a financial report online that invalidates Pete's report.  The report is just as concise as Pete's but with one important difference.  The report is for the fiscal year preceding the one in the report Gonzalez gave.    It shows $200,000 received, but only $155,120 spent(the last zero didn't copy.)  That should have left a balance of $44,880, but Pete didn't mention anything about a balance brought forward.

Anyone who follows the financials reported by CFO Pete Gonzalez at the City Commission knows this United Brownsville financial report is not indicative of his work.  I doubt he ever saw any books.  Like most things about the shadowy, unelected entity, United Brownsville, the facts are hidden from the taxpayers paying for everything.

UNITED BROWNSVILLE COORDINATING BOARD INC

Brownsville, TX  Annual Revenue & Expenses 

Fiscal Year Starting: Oct 01, 2011
Fiscal Year Ending: Sep 30, 2012

Revenue

Total Revenue	$200,000

Expenses

Total Expenses	$155,12