State of the City: Two Usurpers Position Themselves to Replace City Manager Charlie Cabler. Will Brownsville Do A National Search?

Like a loosely organized tropical storm, Brownsville, a growing city of 200,000+, is headed somewhere.  Forecasters factor in the city leaders' heavy-handed steering toward seldom used bike trails and phony, paid-for national "honors," while sidewalks, street lights, and bus shelters are hit-and-miss and stinky sewer lines continue to stink. The so-called historic downtown awaits ideas, strategy and funding, while 200 hundred year old brick, mortar, pillars and roofing disintegrate.

City Manager Charlie Cabler

City administration under current City Manager Charlie Cabler has been a joke. Able Assistant City Managers have moved on to McAllen and elsewhere. Permitting approval under Permitting Director Evaristo Gamez has been slower than molasses for decades.(Many say a hand-placed mordida will speed things up.)  Similar noises are made about Robert C. Luna heading the city's purchasing department.

But, those city abuses and frustrations are decades old, begrudgingly tolerated as just the way Brownsville operates.  

The eye of the current city storm centers around the promotion,  coddling, protection of former Fire Chief Carlos Elizondo by City Manager Cabler. Cabler became the "enabler" as Elizondo allegedly cheated on his test, then, once in "office," involved himself in the creation of an unlicensed, alternative, ambulance-for-profit scheme.

If Charlie Cabler, the ex-cop, is on the way out, surely a nationwide search for a superbly qualified, educated manager will commence soon.

"No, gringocito!"  That is not Brownsville's way. Our city has two recognized religions; Catholicism and compadrismo.  We hire from within.  It worked with Charlie.  Just think.  If we hadn't promoted Cabler from the BPD, we would might have been stuck with some lily white, know-it-all, college educated bureaucrat from outside Tejas, who would have turned our city into Palm Springs or something.

Anyway, forget a national search for a new city manager.  Brownsville already has two finalists for city manager.  Both are strutting victory laps as we type and read, looking at desk chairs and curtain cloth.

Assistant City Manager Michael Lopez

From the secretarial pool emerges Michael Lopez, originally signing on as City Secretary,  for whom Cabler has already ordered anointing oil, allowing 
the kid to run city meetings as Ol' Charlie stands in a corner like an off-duty policeman, waiting for intruders to run through the door.

Lopez is said to have orchestrated a mini-coup attempt last year, along with Mexican National City Administrator Roberto Baez, pulling municipal court employees out from under the supervision of the court into a new city department, named "Court Services."  That overthrow attempt might have worked, except for the fact that on-vacation Municipal Judge Ben Neece had not left town and squashed the coup.

Ramiro Gonzalez

In the other corner is Ramiro Gonzalez, longtime city planner, but largely a dutiful fetchit boy for Mayor Tony Martinez and Commissioner Rose Gowen. Gonzalez has signed his name to huge exaggerations to procure funding for bike trail projects, taken heat for expounding fibs about the "need" to increase parking meter rates and, quite possibly, kept Commissioner Gowen's hybrid car and Tony's sneakers relatively clean.

We hope the City Commission, seemingly and possibly rightfully, hellbent on firing Cabler, will take a DEEP BREATH and do a national search for an actual, professional city manager.