"Poorest City in the U.S." Seeks All-American Status~United Brownsville Board Meeting 2/11/14

Brownsville Public Health Director Art Rodriguez Stands
Behind United Brownsville's Pete Gonzalez,
Laura Matamoros and Mike Gonzalez

At some point I may be forced to accept United Brownsville as an honest-to-goodness city government entity, but not just yet.  They do meet in real buildings, this time in the well-appointed Community Suite on the second floor of the IBC(International Bancshares Corporation) Bank on Ruben Torres Blvd. for their monthly board meeting February 11th.

Cleverly, the United Brownsville Coordinating Board has added actual, elected city officials to their membership; Mayor Tony Martinez and Commissioners Estela Chavez-Vasquez, Rose Gowen and John Villarreal, although none of them were in attendance at today's meeting.

Eerily, United Brownsville board meetings run almost parallel to City Commission meetings.  Do you recall Rose Timmer's presentation about the Curbside Recycling Program at 1/21/14 City Commission meeting?  Well, Laura Matamoros, one of two paid UB staffers, was Rose Timmer at todays United Brownsville meeting, giving an almost identical power point as Mrs. Timmer did last month.  Do you recall Martinez giving a Mayor's Report on the progress of the Resaca Restoration Project? United Brownsville lists the very same project on their agenda, but doesn't have to manage or fund the program, just take credit for it.

Brownsville's Public Health Director Art Rodriguez occupied the first half of the meeting with the city's efforts to again be named an "All-American City."(Brownsville received that designation once before, in 2001.)

While some might think Brownsville had as much chance becoming All-American as the "90 lb. weakling" of the Charles Atlas ads, Rodriguez insists the 2014 award is in the city's wheelhouse with a theme of healthy communities with criteria including obesity, diabetes and physical fitness.

The application deadline for the designation is March 16, with expected feedback coming in April and finalists meeting in Denver for judging.  IBC President Fred Rusteberg asked if the principal benefits to an All-American designation were in marketing the city. BISD Trustee Minerva Pena asked for hard evidence of the award benefiting the city after 2001.  Martin Arambula wanted any presentation about Brownsville to include mention of the economic viability of the port.

Rolando Gonzalez-Barron

Rolando Gonzalez-Barron, President of the National Board of the Export Maquila Industry, A.C., a group representing Matamoros and 22 other cities of Northern Mexico with maquiladoras, commented that the discussion was slighting Matamoros industry, which he said had an economic impact on Brownsville.  Martin Arambula agreed, citing the Port of Brownsville's dependence on goods shipped to Mexico.  Fred Rusteberg, one of the tri-chairs of United Brownsville, asked that Mr. Gonzalez' group officially join United Brownsville.

The hardworking Pete Gonzalez, the city's Financial Director, but also in that role for United Brownsville, submitted a detailed, 4-page financial report.  We chided Gonzalez for his "$200,000 received, $200,000 spent" pretend annual report at the last meeting.  This time he submitted an actual, accountant style document to the board. He also commented that "UTB said their check(for the $25,000 membership fee) is in the mail and two other entities have also promised payment.  Maybe, if we can get Rolando's group involved. . . . "

Two noteworthy handouts, besides the financial report, included a clear plastic covered folder entitled Shared Agenda 2014, mostly academic about the kind of cooperation, skill set and implementation needed to move Brownsville forward.  A sheet of Brownsville numbers, current and projected, by Moody's Analytics, is encouraging, but sobering.  Without dissecting the multitude of financial measurements, here is the blunt, written conclusion: Poverty and low educational attainment will deter diversification in the industrial base, but a large labor supply will attract retail and low-skilled services.  Growth over the next several years will be steady, but it will not be strong enough to reduce the large income and employment disparities with the state or nation.