"I hope you don't mind I hope you don't mind That I put down in words How wonderful life is while you're in the world"
Bernie Taupin/Elton John
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| Bobby Wightman-Cervantes |
With the resuscitation in recent days of his blog, the Brownsville Voice, we're reminded of the vacuum created in the local blogosphere when Bobby Wightman-Cervantes is not a contributor.
While his dots may not always be connected, his syntax off, Bobby injects a unique, irreplaceable point of view into the written roundtable, valuable, if only to foster debate and discussion.
Brownsville would be the loser should Bobby ever transfer his permanent residence to that obscure, off-grid acreage in the Southwest U.S.A. or take one of the multitude of teaching jobs he says have been offered him over the years.
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| Jim Barton, Juan Montoya |
Juan Montoya of El Rrun Rrun has the cultivated contacts, the leads, to create a steady flow of insight into our city, but, has also mastered the integration of all the relative internet outlets, not to mention "special" contributors to his blog, but vigilant readers must also recognize the "paid" nature of his reporting, not expecting total objectivity.
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| Jerry McHale |
The McHale Report by Jerry McHale feeds off of the local blogosphere, regurgitating much of it, but incorporating and injecting hedonism into the mix. Sexual gratification, yes, but certainly a constant featuring of the notorious characters of the city, from fish plate seller to street walker characterize his blog.
My own contribution, the Brownsville Observer/Mean Mister Brownsville, a dozen years of observations about the city's political machine, has a legacy of its own. When I randomly dig into its content from years past, I'm sometimes surprised by the detail and even the writing I find.
As many have observed, my recent offerings have not been as forceful, information-saturated and relevant.
Being totally honest, only Rene Torres' baseball and historical contributions, coupled with occasional tidbits from Bobby, have kept the blog from rigor mortis in recent months as my life has taken a different direction.
No I am going. I would be gone if it were not for the permitting department with the city. It is a mess. I have held my lawsuit against the city for fear of being accused of trying to influence the city elections. I cannot go any cheaper in settlement than to compel them to do their job and fine the AC company for which their own inspectors found endless code violations and no permit. The state has their own investigation. No one will fix the code violations for fear of being brought into the mess. I cannot sell the house until they are fixed. All I am asking of the city is to enforce the law. They will not. After I demanded in writing Omar Ochoa in permitting be reviewed for continued employment and copied the demand to him, the office manager of the AC company called me and said Omar called her and said they would clear the company if they fixed two of the many code violation. That is § 1983 retaliation for my speech to the city commission. Now as to that southwest property, it is in California in the mountains. It is surrounded by boulders so no one can build anywhere near me. It has a trailer. Well I got an offer I cannot refuse. There is a quarter acre of buildable property. Someone wants it for a house. With the profit from that and my house, I can buy a new construction house in a Purple state, [cash] about 30 miles from a major city and in an area very friendly to the LGBTQ+ community. If the city is smart they will finish the inspection, pay for the repairs and then sue the AC company or just simply enforce the law. He claims to work for the city. The city told me they can find no records of him ever doing work except a note from a contractor who hired him at BUS for a project wherein they assured the city the poor welding job would be redone. The FAA person in charge of permits for state and local projects is investigating if he in fact has done work for SpaceX and if he did demand to see all the permits. As far as I know every candidate running agrees the permitting department needs to be fixed. So no, I am gone as soon as I sort out this mess. As to my syntax, I am sorry the damage done to my brain by the hydrocephalus bothers you. In every writing course in law school I got an A for my precision and style of primary sources only. My masters thesis in juridical methodology won me accolades and admission to law schools I did not even apply to. I cannot control the damage done to certain parts of my brain.
ReplyDeleteBobby WC