Portillo Statement on Agenda Item #13, City Commission Meeting, 10/7. . .Comments For and Against

From the editor:  A few of us were stunned to see Deborah Portillo articulate a counterpoint at the 10/7 city commission meeting on Agenda Item #13, albeit by reading a prepared statement, not speaking extemporaneously. We've been imploring the young commissioners to do just that for several years; present a reasoned alternative, not just rubber stamp.  Even voting "no" or abstaining is meaningless if you haven't laid out your objections, misgivings or viewpoints clearly, concisely.  

The citizens have suffered through what is essentially a high school city commission with two condescending bullies in control.  

There were many opportunities to speak up, taking a stand, protecting taxpayer interests.  The legacy of this city commission will be the purchase of TWELVE unneeded properties for $3,500,000, then having the gall to burden the taxpayers with Certificates of Obligation to pay for them.

Yes, Tony Martinez, in his puppy love for UTB's Juliet Garcia, may have made some of the deals unilaterally, but they could have been rescinded by a competent city commission.

So, Portillo speaking out was a watershed moment, recognized by some of our readers:

AnonymousOctober 15, 2014 at 6:45 PM

Debbie for Mayor! The most sense I've heard out of this commission in my entire life.


AnonymousOctober 15, 2014 at 6:47 PM

Did Debbie Portillo write her own remarks? She is wonderful!


AnonymousOctober 15, 2014 at 7:14 PM

Wow! Debbie thank you for standing up for the citizen of Brownsville


AnonymousOctober 15, 2014 at 7:27 PM

She is a piece of shit. Ask her how Oscar is...and Lincoln park.


AnonymousOctober 15, 2014 at 8:12 PM

I believe she speaks her own mind.


AnonymousOctober 16, 2014 at 2:14 AM

Than why does she have to read them from a teleprompter?


AnonymousOctober 15, 2014 at 8:15 PM

She sounds more like a city manager our current city manager. This is the mind of a business individual. Go Debbie!

Others were not as impressed, even questioning if Portillo wrote the statement herself:

AnonymousOctober 16, 2014 at 2:13 AM

Deborah Portillo has not answered a single one of my calls in at least 8 months. This last time it rained and I had 2 inches of water in my living room and another city commisioner personally brought over sandbags because he felt bad for me. It's not right that we have potholes over 2 feet deep and a major saftey hazard on morrison road and she is traveling all over on tax payer dollars.
It's really sad that I voted for such an irresponsible person who only cares about advancing her own career.
If she was such a successful business person like she pretends to be, why does she make us poor taxpayers pay for her trips? That money shouldd be used on morrison before someone gets hurt.Delete



AnonymousOctober 16, 2014 at 12:51 PM

WELL MOVE TO ANOTHER PART OF TOWN, BABOSO!Delete


Reply



AnonymousOctober 16, 2014 at 1:50 AM

Sorry Jim- but I've heard from at least 4 other commisioners who say very disturbing things about her. She constantly travels on the taxpayer dime- colorado, houston, austin,lasvagas all within the last couple of months and then has the nerve to say she cares about these monies. She is a nothing more than a UB puppet who has her own agenda and only cares about herself . A speech written in advance (no doubt by united brownsville) is not going to earn her any points with us.
Why hasn't she paved SAN MARCELO?????? Why doesn't she answer my calls when I have concerns and questions about why I have potholes a foot deep in my neighborhood? Because she is always out of town! I don't want a commisioner who is "business savy" as she calls herself. I want someone who will tell me why my country club has pot holes 2 feet deep, and she is wasting my tax dollars in las vegas!


AnonymousOctober 16, 2014 at 12:27 PM

B I M B O. Considerd attractive by some in Brownsville who have never left the valley.


AnonymousOctober 16, 2014 at 1:00 PM

The words that Ms. Portilllo read were given to her by Carlos Marin. Carlos Marin funded her campaign. Carlos Marin hand picked her to run for city commissioner, when she had a change of heart, he begged her again until he convinced her. Marin sits on the BEDC board, how convenient that Ms. Portillo read the words that Marin prepared for her, and said that BEDC already had a plan to spend the monies available. She goes after Tony Martinez because the Mayor kicked Marin to the curb and got Marin's puppet Henry Najera out of PUB. Portillo is to dumb to come up with those words by herself and she knows it. Marin is the one that hired her at Imagine Brownsville and he is the one that got her to run. Marin is now paying back the Mayor for breaking off from him. She read Marin's statement word for word. Marin uses the word leverage every other sentence. Portillo said it about thirty times.


AnonymousOctober 16, 2014 at 8:33 PM

Portillo is such a piece of shit she makes the other commissioners look good. At least they don't read off of notecards or ignore us voters.ReplyDelete   


BELOW IS PORTILLO'S FULL STATEMENT:

Commissioner Deborah Portillo

Mr. Barton,

I am sorry I am just now responding. I have been swamped at work. Here is the prepared statement I read at the last commission meeting:

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I have been a part of this project for the past year- working with Mayor Martinez and Commissioner Villarreal. From day one, I have had issue with the spending of these dollars on the renovation of Market Square without leveraging them against other dollars or having it be a part of a larger downtown revitalization plan. I have shared my concerns repeatedly and I feel this is not a wise expenditure of public dollars.




My reservations stem from the spending of public dollars as if they were private monies. We are not leveraging our resources to generate more revenue for our city. We have not sought out grant dollars or private investment to fully leverage the AEP settlement funds. For example, partnering with CDBG to help with the rehabilitation of Market Square or partnering with a private developer to take on portions of downtown revitalization.


The Brownsville Economic Development Council funded the creation of a downtown revitalization plan, a detailed plan providing a blue print and the necessary steps to accomplish sustained revitalization, yet I do not clearly see how this project is part of that greater plan. What is more troubling is the perception of spending money not in accordance with the plan that we paid for, but in support of individual pet projects. There also was no project plan and budget included in our packet and if one exists I have not seen it. If it has not been shared with the commission, then it has not been shared with downtown merchants or the community as a whole. What good is investing in these plans if we fail to use them and put them into action? At minimum, we should consult with the downtown merchants and other individuals that are vested in the success of our downtown.
I equate this spending with the property purchases that were approved by the previous commission. If you will recall, the city spent roughly $2.5 million acquiring various properties throughout the downtown area that have not resulted in any revenue back to the city to date. The city paid a premium for these properties, then took out a loan to purchase these buildings, taking privately owned properties off our tax rolls. Since the city has done nothing with them to date, it has resulted in a net negative in revenue back to the city.


Another issue I have, is that we will be spending this money without leveraging a single penny. If the remaining AEP funds will solely be used to renovate a single building or one square block then we will have missed an opportunity to truly advance the revitalization of our downtown. If we spend this money without leveraging against other grant dollars then I ask you, what will we have for that investment? I’ll tell you what won’t have… We will not have invested in the long-term sustainability of downtown revitalization. We will not have incentivized investment by the private sector, either current or future. We will not have any monies left from the AEP settlement, spending the remaining balance on a single investment. We will not have made an investment that will generate additional revenues for our City nor our citizens. We will only have a pretty building…


I would like to make it abundantly clear. I am not in any way against downtown revitalization. On the contrary, I am huge supporter of downtown revitalization. I come from a downtown merchant family; I have a great passion for bringing our historic downtown back to its days of glory, one that I remember fondly. But, I feel it is our duty to help the downtown merchants that are now struggling, and spending these monies under the guise of downtown revitalization without a plan set in place that will truly generate revenue and aid our downtown community, is unacceptable. I simply ask that we make a fully informed decision that will truly benefit the greater good and drive more business to our downtown.


Thank you!
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Thank you for your kind words and for understanding the point that I was trying to make. I knew my statement wouldn't change the votes, but I felt a strong need to speak up and make a statement as to why I was going to vote "nay" on this particular item. Once again, I am FOR downtown revitalization, but I strongly felt that this decision was being made hastily and without a proper plan set in place- one that would further leverage those monies and truly help our beloved downtown and our diligent merchants.

Please let me know if I may be of further service.

-Deborah

Sent from my iPhone

Deborah Portillo
City Commissioner - District 3

City of Brownsville | Office of the City Manager
1001 E. Elizabeth St. | Brownsville, TX 78520<x-apple-data-detectors://1/0>
Tel: 956-548-6000 | Cell: 956-525-3507
deborah.portillo@cob.us<mailto:deborah.portillo@cob.us> | www.cob.us<http://www.cob.us/>