Friday, October 21, 2016

WHILE DA MAYOR IS FEASTING, MCALLEN STEALS HERMANITA

"Nations and women are not forgiven the unguarded hour in which the first adventurer who came along could violate them." The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte. Karl Marx 1852

By Juan Montoya
Well, while Da Mayor and his cast of fellow travelers were off to celebrate the wedding feasts of commissioner John Villarreal and Lynette Benavides in Sintra, Portugal, that mean old McAllen usurper upriver swooped down and made off with Brownsville's sister city, Miguel Allende, Mexico.
And since McAllen is now Miguel Allende's sister city, we guess than makes that city our step sister as well.

Oh, well, you can't choose your relatives.
Yesterday, Thursday, Oct. 20, a delegation from San Miguel de Allende inked a pact that officially sealed the deal that they have become sister cities.

San Miguel de Allende, nestled in the east of the state of Guanajuato, roughly a four-hour drive north of Mexico City, is home to nearly 12,000 people from the United States.
McAllen Mayor Jim Darling and San Miguel de Allende Mayor Ricardo Garcia signed a Sister City Agreement inside the commission chambers.
 Six days before, Darling and Garcia signed the initial Sister City Agreement in San Miguel de Allende’s city meeting room.

But it was just oh, so recently, in  January 20, 2004, that a similar vow of sisterhood was inked between the then mayor of Brownsville and the then-mayor of San Miguel Allende that made Brownsville and that city sisters. La traiciĆ³n!

How quickly they forget.
McAllen, known to many in Mexico as a shopping market, has been exploring the arts and culinary elements for many years while San Miguel is known as a vacation spot with beautiful sites, smells, art and food.

Brownsville, on the other hand, has little in common with San Miguel Allende excepting for the fact that it is a favorite haunt of now-Brownsville Navigation District commissioner and self-appointed Brownsville Ambassador of Goodwill Ralph Cowen. If anyone knows about good food, it's Ralph.

The local daily waxed eloquence as its reporter bubbled over the deal.
"Both mayors on Thursday keyed on how both places are international cities, with San Miguel having a strong international visitor presence while McAllen, being a border town, brings people from across the world for the maquilas over in Reynosa.
“We learn a lot from all the people from all over the world,” Garcia said. “I heard someone say that 75 percent of people in McAllen are not from McAllen. That’s very much like San Miguel – you embrace them.”

Well, McAllen can keep that little two-timing strumpet. We remember the Jimi Hendrix tune "Red House" where Jimi wails:
"Wait a minute, something's wrong, lord, have mercy
This key won't unlock this door,
Something's goin' on here
I have a bad bad feeling
That my baby don't live her no more.."  

 But, Jimi, being the carouser he was, took it with a grain of salt by saying:
'Cause if my baby don't love me no more
I know her sister will
Yeah.
Well, take this San Miguel. You ain't got nothing on Browntown. You ain't the only one. Take a gander at all the "sisters" we got.

1. Lin An, China July 31, 2001
2. San Miguel de Allende, Mexico Jan. 20, 2004
3. Aguascalientes, MX. April 06, 2004,
4. Santa Catarina, Mexico,
5. Villa Capri, Italy, Nuevo Leon, NL, Mexico,
6. Santiago, NL, Mexico, Huejutla De Reyes, Hidalgo, MX ,
7. Sept. 08, 2009, Tampico, MX May 20, 2011,
8. Saltillo, Coahuila, MX April 2011, which the city commission never got around to present.

Now, we don't put anything past Da Mayor, known for being a romantic sort, if while he was off carousing in Portugal he didn't cast his roving eye (That's him in the graphic at right casting that famous glance.) and convince the authorities in Sintra with his sliver tongue that they could hitch the sisterhood wagon to Browntown while he was there.

Mud in your eye, San Miguel.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

That white head with the bald spot looks a lot like John Wood...from the back. John is always ready to schmooze and hob-knob with other politicos....just like 'Da Mayor. Tony knows little about the people of Brownsville, but we have more step-sister cities than the family can afford. None brought a dowry to Brownsville. At least the city will run smoothly knowing Da Mayor is away.

Anonymous said...

Just saw that the City is now selling pumpkins....where will the money go? The city has gone into competition with the Methodist Church which donates the sales from pumpkins to the Good Neighborhood Settlement. Why is the city going into competition with a long standing charitable activity?????

Anonymous said...

Obviously there is no leadership in Brownsville

Anonymous said...

Monopolies are not fair business practice, competition is good for the consumer.

rita