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| Commissioner Cesar de Leon |
That disclaimer and its implications set the tone for Thursday's GBIC Board Meeting at the Itec Center. BEDC Board President/CEO Jason Hilts got the subtle message: "We want to work with you," he replied.
Jessica Tetreau, one of three city commissioners, along with De Leon and Debbie Portillo, now on the five member board, was emboldened to state: "I don't know why we are spending all that money on an office in Colombia. Why can't we work more closely with Mexico, our neighbor?"(El Rrun Rrun reports $314,438 spent to date renting and staffing the Colombian office.)
"We no longer have an employee in Colombia," Jason Hilts blurted out. "We've been having some of these same conversations among ourselves. There was a time when if we tried to cultivate industry in Matamoros, the City Commission would say 'Why aren't you doing this in Brownsville?'"
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| Martin "Bob" Metzger |
Cesar de Leon chastised the BEDC(The BEDC's role is to vet items for the GBIC to approve and fund.) for not providing documentation for some of the items presented for approval: "I don't care if Jesus Christ wants something approved, I'm voting 'No!' without some kind of report."
Oscar Garcia, Jr., the "Project Engineer" for Jacobs Engineering, called to ask that the agenda item asking for more funding be tabled, possibly being spooked by De Leon, Tetreau et al.
Hilts in between pumping Project Sizzle, Project Roman, Project Ranger, etc. mentioned Project Front Door, a new commercial mall planned for across the interstate from Rancho Viejo.
I may have found info on Project Front Door, and if they ever manage to pull this off, it will be a game changer for not only Brownsville, but all of Cameron County as it will be located at the intersection of I69E and Highway 100 - this will end up becoming the retail power center in Cameron County that has been lacking for so long. There has been a 1400 acre master-planned mixed-used-development project called MAIDERA that has been in the works on-and-of now for almost 15 years, but it appears that recent legal actions against the Public Utility Commission and the announcement of SpaceX, SATA, and the billions in pending investment by the LNG plants may have moved this development into the advanced stage. If you know who Dennis Sanchez is, he is a managing partner for MAIDERA, LTD. out of Brownsville Texas. All roads lead back to him.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.madeiratexas.com
ReplyDeletePay no attention to the out of date web-site, this project is still a go.