Business Owners Meet at Market Square to Discuss Improving Downtown Area

It was not a City of Brownsville meeting, but one arranged by downtown property owners concerned about lagging business, crime and cleanliness downtown.  Close to 50 locals attended the meeting held Wednesday evening at the Market Square Conference Room.

"We know Mayor Martinez has an agenda," offered one business owner after the meeting, "but it has nothing to do with Brownsville.  His vision concerns other interests, making deals to benefit himself and his friends."

The meeting started with a young woman trying to sell downtown business owners on the idea of a glossy magazine similar to Shopping en el Valle de Texas.  Her half hour presentation as well as the rest of the meeting was presented in Spanish.  District 4 City Commissioner John Villarreal became the first city official to travel to a meeting by bicycle.  City Manager Charlie Cabler also spoke at the meeting as did BISD Board Member Cata Presas-Garcia.

The organizers, designating themselves as the UNION DE EMPRESARIOS DEL CENTRO DE BROWNSVILLE, handed out a position paper in English and Spanish, the English version obviously generated by a translation website.  There was this suggestion to improve downtown parking:  "Offer us as owners to seek alternate parking to allow more spaces for visitors, and authorities so you can support us through the construction of parking lots to drop, and the possibility of parking parallel to diagonal.  Brownsville authorities center to agree to allow to have a Saturday and Sunday without charge parking."
We asked City Manager Charlie Cabler about the progress of remodeling 609, 611 and 615 E. 11th into a police substation as the city-authorized sign on the window of 615 has advertised for the last two months.

"That will be a decision made by the Brownsville Police Department," stated Cabler.  "Officers working the multi-modal bus station have intercepted illegal drugs.  They may go that route or add officers on bicycles.  It's up to them.  We don't have much violent crime downtown, mainly theft."

We asked about the office space leased at 1101-A E. Washington St., initially for a mayor's office, but now called the Brownsville Downtown Revitalization Information Center.(This blog has reported the mayor craved this building as a mayor's office, then changed his mind.  The taxpayers have been on the hook for the lease since October 8, 2013.)  When I suggested to Cabler that I just assumed the city would drop the lease since they were building another office for "Downtown Revitalization" across the street.  Cabler stated:  "That would be a good assumption." 

When I mentioned the 13 grand the city had spent to remodel the office the mayor thought he wanted, Cabler said: "Yes, it was a lot more money than I thought it would be."  When I added that amount was for materials only, not labor, Cabler quickly added:  "We've remodeled Goodman's office too, but for a lot less."  Yes, Peter Goodman's office has a new laminated wood floor, but that work was done in the last two weeks.  Tony's "office" was leased and remodeled over 6 months ago and the cost of labor was never mentioned.  As many as 4 city trucks could be seen last September in front of the office space.   Insiders tell us the office has been used 3 times since last October, meaning taxpayers likely paid approximately $10,000 per meeting including the year lease and remodeling.(Cabler thinks the office may have been used more frequently, but has no actual information.)