The Downtown Office Martinez Just Had to Have Goes Unused, Remodeling on Second Office Stops

Map of Brownsville's resacas fell off the wall over
three weeks ago and remains there inside unused office

We've documented in pictures and with Public Information Requests the furious remodeling activity, that continued for several weeks at 1101-A East Washington Street, a property leased originally to serve as Mayor Martinez' downtown office.

Included in information sent to us by the city was a reported lease running from October 8, 2013 to October 7, 2014 at $500.00 per month plus $3,505.91 in materials to refurbish the office.  An invoice was paid for a $7,247 interactive video screen, that has subsequently been moved to the Market Square conference room.(An attempt was made to move the screen to the Planning Department on the third floor of El Tapiz Building, but the elevator is broken.) The office's furnishings were said to belong to Tony Martinez except for the chairs which came from city storage.

At the 1/21/14 City Commission meeting, during a discussion of an agenda item designed to curb the mayor's dipping into the $3,060,000 AEP Texas settlement, several commissioners seemed out of the loop about this office, which has now morphed into the Brownsville Downtown Revitalization Information Center after the mayor became aware of our Public Information Requests.  Here is our report on that meeting published in Mean Mister Brownsville 1/27/14:
Commissioner Jessica Tetreau-Kalifa: "What is the Brownsville Downtown Revitalization Information Office?" she asked. Cabler went on to explain that this office would be used for meetings about downtown. What he did not say, but this blog reported several months ago was that this office at 1101-A E. Washington was originally planned to be Mayor Martinez' downtown office. A Public Information Request we received from the city showed that a lease was signed by the city to run from October 8, 2013 to October 7, 2014 at $500.00 per month. $3,505.91 was paid out for materials to refurbish the office. That modest figure did not include labor. As many as four City of Brownsville trucks could be seen outside the building for several weeks with many workers laboring feverishly. The furnishings were supplied by the mayor, except for the chairs which were from storage. (The office is not used daily basis and is not open for public access. At least one meeting has been held there, but in any event, even with a modest lease, it was a foolish waste of tax dollars considering the available space owned by the city.)

609, 611 and 615 E. 11th.  Remodeling started last month
with huge dumpster on the street in front.  Now, the work
has stopped.

After our original articles on Tony's downtown office were published, the mayor's original office became the Brownsville Downtown Revitalization Information Center and the mayor looked across the street at three properties on E. 11th for his "Central Office" downtown.  Two of these properties(611 and 615 E. 11th) had been purchased in 2012 when the mayor went on a speculative real estate spending spree, acquiring 11 downtown properties with $3.5 million in taxpayer money. The mayor evidently used AEP Texas settlement funds to buy the third adjacent property(609 E. 11th).  A sign on the window of 615 E. 11th indicates the properties are being refurbished for a police substation and a central downtown mayor's office. 

Before the commissioners questioned the mayor's allegedly unauthorized use of AEP Texas settlement funds, a huge dumpster was parked in the street directly in front of these three properties and refurbishment started.  Since that meeting the dumpster has been removed and activity has ceased. 

The office space, originally refurbished to be the mayor's office at 1101-A East Washington St., now called the revitalization office, has apparently been used only once since the lease was initiated October 8th.  So, while $500 per month is a modest lease, it was a foolish, unnecessary expense, given the large number of empty offices owned by the city.  Besides, one meeting in five months works out to $2,500 per meeting.