BROWNSVILLE DIESEL-ELECTRIC HYBRID BUS FILLED WITH GASOLINE? "NEVER HAPPENED!" SAY MECHANICS AT BUS SHOP

Brownsville Metro's 5 Hybrid Diesel-Electric Buses Purchased with $3.5 Million Tiger Grant

A reader messaged to say he thought he'd seen Brownsville Metro's new hybrid buses parked behind the BUS shop on 700 Jose Colunga Jr. Street for the past two weeks.  He wondered how long the buses had been parked there out-of-service.

Since Brownsville Metro Director Norma Zamora did not take our calls and moving down the chain of command brought no results, we decided to head out to the shop on Jose Colunga Jr. Street to see for ourselves.

Two mechanics, just clocking in at the shop, were very forthcoming.(They asked that their names not be used in the story.  "I want to keep my job," stated one mechanic.)

Both said the new buses had not been parked on the grass for nearly a year since approved by the City Commission in March 2019.

One worker recalled seeing them for the first time after returning from vacation "the first part of January 2020."

"It can take almost a year to get buses after ordering," stated the mechanic.

Neither mechanic knew when the new hybrid buses would be pressed into service or were aware of anything holding that process up.

Both mechanics were eager to correct what they said was an incorrect report in Juan Montoya's El Rrun Rrun June 25, 2019 blog about one of the diesel-electric buses being accidentally filled with gasoline possibly ruining the engine.

"That never happened here," stated one of the men.

"That happened in McAllen fueling one of the Metro Connect orange buses, #237.  Our hybrids hadn't even  been delivered," he stated.

"These hybrids CANNOT be fueled with gasoline.  The connection does not allow it.  They are fueled with a Fast-Fill connector similar to what is used on jet planes," continued the mechanic.  

"I knew the story was out there.  My brother sent it to me, but it never happened.  We're happy to get this finally cleared up."

  

MY MOM, BEVERLY MARIE FOLSOM, PASSES AWAY(1924-2020)

Beverly Marie Folsom(1924-2020)

Just a few weeks from her 96th birthday, my mother passed away on Wednesday.

Quick-witted, a voracious reader and fan of the TV show Jeopardy, mom was the tolerant counter-balance to a tyrannical religious hypocrite of a father, a "don't do as I do, do as I say!" sort of guy.

I still recall the euphoria I felt at 11 years of age when dad left on Monday for a weeklong sales trip through eastern Oregon with the Gates Rubber Company, followed by the dread on Friday of his pending return.

Thanks mom for making those years tolerable and for being such a kind, gentle soul.

WHO WAS MISSING FROM POPULAR CITY EVENT?

Several hundred stood patiently in line in the chilly air outside the Brownsville Event Center Monday evening, forming a close approximation to the snake-like curves of the Rio Grande, as former beauty queen and restaurateur Celia Galindo worked her way downstream affixing wristbands on the arms of attendees.

Ana was glad she'd brought a wool sweater with her from Cagayan de Oro, but tolerated me hugging her shoulders periodically to see if she was comfortable.

As we filed in, we greeted longtime political warrior Ernie Hernandez, who greeted Ana in Spanish, then confided that he'd "lost 40 or 50 lbs," had "given up drinking" and was following his doctor's suggestion to not eat anything past dark.

Ernie added that he'd been "surveying the scene," hinting that he might indeed run again for something.

Navigating through the crowd of those who wanted to see and be seen, it became obvious who we were not seeing;  none of BISD's infamous trustees, not even the ubiquitous Erasmo Castro, no TSC trustees other than Delia Saenz, no mayor or City Manager.

It was not a surprise that Charlie Cabler was a no-show as we hear he's taking his mayoral defeat as a personal rejection, but when has there been any city event without a single Cowen, not even the loquacious Ralph towering about the crowd?

Remember when John Cowen so longed to be an unpaid City Commissioner that he gave Rodrigo Moreno of Pink Ape $100,000 to advertise his campaign?  Now, he and equally reticent Commissioner Joel Munguia sit like mannequins, only untying their tongues to honor a rich white man with a street name ignoring the will of the electorate.

Anyway, here are a few pics from the event, some by Ana, some by me:

GBIC BOARD CHAIRMAN GUERRA COMMENTS ON POSSIBLE LAND PURCHASE FROM BPUB

In 2018 the so-called FM 511 corridor became a real battleground again, no, not another tardy Civil War skirmish, but a real tussle between those wanting to utilize a couple hundred acres for affordable housing(CDCB) and the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation, desiring to add the Community Development Corporation of Brownsville's 200 acres to their land holdings for another industrial park.

Creating industrial parks, essentially an aggregate of plots of land with utility connections in a designated area for manufacturing and other industry, has achieved mixed results, at best, for the GBIC.

GBIC Board Chairman Steve Guerra

The 55 acre North Brownsville Industrial Park, built at a cost of $4.2 million, has sold 2 of the 11 lots since its ribbon-cutting in 2011, with yet another lease tentative, according to GBIC Board Chairman Steve Guerra.

In 2017 San Diego developer Sam Marasco, whose had successes and failures in development projects, offered to take control of the North Brownsville Industrial Park, if given the necessary "exclusivity and confidentiality," but that didn't materialize.

Currently, GBIC holds about 400 acres near 511 with which they hope to build another industrial park.

An agenda point for the Closed Session of the Brownsville Public Utilities Board's scheduled Monday meeting hints at GBIC adding to their 400+ acre FM 511 holdings by adding 80+ acres of PUB land.

The agenda point, under "Closed Session" on the BPUB agenda for Monday's meeting, reads:

"Update by GBIC Regarding the Current Status of Its Economic Development Plan Which Includes Possible Acquisition of BPUB Real Estate for Its Negotiations with Business Prospects."

"Has that been approved by the City Commission?" we asked Steve Guerra.

"No, it's not even been put in front of the GBIC Board," answered Guerra.

"Our intent is to share our five year plan for economic development with PUB," continued Guerra, hinting that land acquisition may be down the line although not imminent.

As to whether or not another industrial park is needed with the one built in 2011 underutilized, Guerra hesitates to criticize current industrial park, but admits "the plots are only 5 acres and it's in a cul-de-sac."

When asked potential customers have complained about the size of plots in North Brownsville Industrial Park, Guerra says:  "We had a steel mill considering us last year that needed 1200 acres."

Guerra indicates the need for GBIC to have close cooperation with BPUB and, yes, if necessary down the line, possibly purchase acreage.

"By the way, Harlingen has three industrial parks," Guerra added.

GBIC BOARD MEMBER PEDRO CARDENAS DODGES EXPULSION WITH "EXCUSED ABSENCES"

As Agenda Item #7 was being announced by the City Secretary during Tuesday evening's City Commission meeting, calling for the removal and replacement of one member of the GBIC Board, GBIC Executive Director Mario Lozoya rushed to the podium to set the record straight.

City Commissioner Nurith Galonsky had complained at the last meeting on December 10 that commission had been given conflicting attendance reports with respect to board members.

"What I submitted initially to the commission was simply a record of attendance, much like is done with at the City Commission," Lozoya explained.

"Later, I received from (GBIC Board Chairman) Steve Guerra information showing that absences by certain members had been excused," added Lozoya.

Commissioner Neece wondered aloud if the absences by one commission member were connected to "four family emergencies," while Commissioner Rose Gowen indicated that, "even if the absences are excused, how many absences can be allowed?"

Gowen added that there comes time when "the board member must acknowledge" they simply can no longer serve the community in that capacity.

Pedro Cardenas

Despite the explanatory information by Director Lozoya, Commissioner Galonsky made a motion that Board Member Pedro Cardenas be removed, naming the board member publicly for the first time in the meeting.

Commissioner Galonsky and Neece supported the motion to remove Cardenas with Commissioner Tetreau voting "nay!"

No audible or physical vote by Commissioners Munguia, Cowen or Gowen was discernable.

One city insider claimed that Cardenas "only shows up to vote on issues important to Carlos Marin."

IS SOFIA BENAVIDAS UP TO THE CHALLENGE OF REPRESENTING CAMERON COUNTY PRECINCT ONE'S DIVERSE POPULATION?

The map above, indicating the individual precincts of Cameron County in faint blue, green, pink and yellow, seems almost intentionally obscure, difficult to figure out.

Who would discern from the map that Precinct 1, represented in pink, encompasses heavily-populated Southmost, then goes east to include the Port of Brownsville and rural areas with no towns, bypassing Port Isabel, Laguna Vista,  Laguna Heights, Bayview, but then incomprehensibly takes in South Padre Island?

County Commissioner Sofia Benavides

What gerrymandering zealot is responsible for this convoluted "precinct," represented since the death of her husband, Pete Benavides, by Sofia Benavides?

Mrs. Benavides, a quiet lady, who dutifully hands out push cards at every political event, seems particularly out of touch with the South Padre Island side of her district.  She certainly does not share their vision of our region promoted as a tourist destination including one of the last remaining untouched natural beaches and a carefully developed barrier island.

Benavides, along with her three visionless compadres on the Cameron County Commissioners Court, has bought into the glib salesmanship of the petrochemical industry that has our county faced with the ugly prospect of none one, not two, but THREE highly toxic liquefied natural gas plants in close proximity with a rocket launching facility a few miles downwind. Talk about braindead planning!  What other government entity in the US would be short-sighted enough to allow three highly toxic LNG companies side-by-side in their community?

Sofia and her foolish cohorts on the commission, have compounded their sins by allowing these multi-billion dollar LNG companies to skip paying property taxes to the county, and will likely end up giving each of the three companies tax abatements in the $400,000,000 range, shifting that tax burden to the citizens of Cameron County including the hardworking men and women of Southmost.

All of this has been described as environmental racism, where the black and brown people of our country get saddled with highly polluting industry other areas don't want in the name of "jobs" in numbers that are frequently greatly exaggerated and misrepresented.

Interestingly, when the Cameron County Commissioners Court recently approved the second huge tax abatement, this time for Annova LNG, any promised number of jobs by the company included in the agreement was kept secret.  Cowards!