As reiterated before on this blog, the purpose of cities in Texas creating 4A and 4B boards, like our own Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation(GBIC) and Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation(BCIC), was to remove monies used for economic development and quality of life projects from being controlled by politicians.
Instead, qualified private citizens, not mayors or city commissioners would control how those monies were allocated and spent, removing even the appearance that politicians were "steering" projects toward companies, tracts of land they owned or controlled, family members, friends, palm-greasers, etc.
It's called transparency, people, a word politicians use, but don't understand.
Yet, this past fall, the Brownsville City Commission essentially disbanded the entire GBIC Board, replacing it with themselves, the Mayor and City Commission.
It was a rogue move. It was a dumbass move, one that I, hopefully, but wrongfully assumed would be corrected by now. It was temporary, right?
Our City Commission not finding qualified replacements after all these months is simply lazy, apathetic and irresponsible.
So, let's do the work for the City Commission and name competent Brownsville citizens, not politicians, who are at least as competent, astute and scam-resistant as anyone on our somewhat dull City Commission. These are simply people I know to be qualified, although I'm unsure of their actual residence or willingness to serve.
Yes, I know Craig Grove lives in Rancho Viejo, but I figured that, with his vast real estate connections, he could find a downtown apartment, boarded-up house or Notary Public Office to declare as his legal residence.
Please, consider this a starting point to find seven willing, qualified, non-politician members to serve on GBIC:
Dino X. Chavez
Dr. Joe Hinojosa
David Hughston
Daniel Lenz
Laura Miniel
Teresa Saldivar
Tom Robinson
Jorge Lerma
Ben Nunez, Sr.
Gilbert Velasquez
Mary Helen Flores
Christopher Tamayo
Matthew Kendall
Michael Garza
Eduardo del Rio
Emilio Crixell
Diana Cazarin
Donald Hamm
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