PEDRO CARDENAS AND JESSICA PUENTE BRADSHAW NO SHOWS FOR CAMPAIGN FORUM, NEECE AND DE LOS SANTOS PARTICIPATE

Frontera Progressives, described on their Facebook page as an "independent organization that educates and engages the energy of the community to support progressive values," held their zoom candidate forum last night for City Commission runoff candidates in Districts 3 & 4 with only District 4 incumbent Ben Neece and District 3 candidate Roy De los Santos participating.

District 3 Candidate Roy De los Santos

District 3 candidate Jessica Puente Bradshaw and District 4 candidate Pedro Cardenas declined the invitation to participate.  

For young Pedro Cardenas, the owner of Mi Pueblito Restaurant in Brownsville, this meant that he missed all five candidate forums scheduled, leaving the voters to guess if he can even construct a single sentence to address the needs of voters in District 4.  Cardenas did use his own or someone else's money to scatter campaign signs across and beyond the district, but has yet to utter a peep to articulate his platform in a campaign forum.

District 3 candidate Jessica Puente Bradshaw stated that she chose not to participate because, in her words,  Frontier Progressives' moderator, Mark Kaswan, "had endorsed my opponent publicly before all the forums were done.  I find this to undermine the democratic process and devalues any statements I make on the forum to the general public."

The two attendees, Ben Neece and Roy De los Santos, gave detailed answers to five questions from April Flores.

Neece said, that after serving 32 years as Municipal Judge, he felt the city was in a "downhill spiral," plagued by "corruption" and "incompetence at the highest levels" with a need to "reorganize its debt and city departments."  

Neece also cited the city's B.I.G. Grant and E-Bridge programs as contributing to observable improvements in downtown businesses, mentioning Main Street Deli and Terra's Urban Mexican Kitchen as specific examples.

De los Santos sees a need to streamline the city's much-maligned permitting process and mentions improving responses to Brownsville's 546-HELP line, admitting that he's been "very disappointed" in his personal experience accessing that tool.

Brownsville's horrific voter turnout, less than 5% of registered voters in the last municipal election, needs to be addressed, according to De los Santos.  He suggests free bus service during elections.

Neece felt that city elections are not "advertised well enough" and also faults the Brownsville Herald for poor coverage of city elections and issues.

Both candidates see Brownsville morphing into a "space city," but recognize the need to prevent gentrification or seeing lower income families priced or taxed out of their old neighborhoods.

De los Santos mentioned freezing the ad valorum taxes in certain situations, while Neece hoped the Tenaska audit might free up monies for infrastructure.

"We need a more reliable grid," said De los Santos.

Early voting for the municipal election runs from June 7-15, while election day is June 19.