Daniel Lenz Encourages the City of Brownsville to Embrace Democratic Principles

Daniel Lenz

Brownsville Citizens need to wake up and pay closer attention to what is transpiring within our City Government. Last I knew, our form of Government was a Democracy, but that is not the case with our current City Officials, it appears that we have a Dictatorship that has been festering for some time now by one or more City Officials. 

So here is the definition of what our City Government should be: “Democracy” as defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary 1 a: government by the people; especially: rule of the majority b: a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections I find it not surprising that many decisions made within our City are totally against the wishes of the majority of the Citizens, but equally find it amazing that we accept this as the norm. At some point this needs to change and it needs to change soon. Years ago, I was the Chairman of Rio del Sol Alliance, a homeowners association for a subdivision located near the Port of Brownsville. We formed this association when the City was annexing our subdivision into the City limits. This was a true Democracy, as the majority of the people made the decisions. 

However, if you wanted to have a say, you needed to show up for our town hall meetings. We had as many as 400 people attend our meetings, great participation. As the Chairman, I represented the people of our subdivision at City Commission meetings, and I did what they wanted me to do. 

I may not have agreed with all the positions they wanted, and certainly I had a chance to sell my views, but I always represented them on what the majority wanted. When will our current City Officials understand this form of Government? 

The people have the power here, and the Commission should do what the majority of the populous wants, whether they agree with it or not. If they are true leaders, then they will present their views and try to sell their views on any issue. 

But in the end, it should be the people’s decision! And one last message to our City Officials, STOP trying to pull the wool over our eyes because everything eventually gets exposed, and when it does you all will pay the price. The supreme power is vested in the people! I encourage all of our Citizens to become more involved on issues that affect our City and our well being. If you choose not to get involved, then there is no room to complain later. 

Daniel Lenz