By Juan Montoya
Hate him if you will, and there is plenty in his recent political history to do so.
But whether you agree with him or not, Moses Sorola, who called off his petition drive to stop the city commission from issuing $9.4 million in Certificates of Obligation after the $3.1 million destined for the Sports Park was deleted, single-handedly did Brownsville taxpayers a favor.
He saved us $3.13 million in debt (more with interest) by launching the drive.
Even his staunchest supporters were not happy when – after skewering former city commissioner Carlos Cisneros in the local daily – he turned around and endorsed him against Melissa Zamora, the novice politician who eventually defeated Cisneros.
Ironically, it was Zamora who engineered the deletion of the $3.13 million for the Sports Park and made the motion in city chambers.
Sorola first gained the empathy of voters when he and Capt. Bob Sanchez and two other residents sued the City of Brownsville to stop the entity from giving health and life insurance benefits to the city commissioners in violation of the city charter.
According to Emma Perez-Treviño, of the local daily, the premiums paid by the city on these alone amounted to more than $300,000. This did not include the medical payments made by the insurance carrier to local providers.
The city had already held an election where such a proposition was included that went down to resounding defeat. That proposition included the granting of salaries (the amount not specified) to the commissioners.
Yet, the commissioners continued to get the benefits which included a $300 auto allowance without the benefit of documentation. Sorola and his companions took the issue to Janet Leal's court and their views were upheld.
In Friday's Brownsville Herald, a pared down COF issue of only $5.25 million "for the purpose of paying...to construct street, sidewalk, and related drainage improvements in various areas of the city and acquiring highway rights-of-way for highway construction projects...was mentioned in the required notice of intent to issue."
"Some people wanted me to continue the petition drive, but that would mean that we would have to start getting the signatures all over again because the issuance had changed," said Sorola. "I don't have anything against the city using these moneys to improve our streets and drainage," he said.
"But we have already spent $33 million on the Sports Park and people I spoke with during this petition drive told me they had had enough of it."
Atkinson, for his part, denies that the petition drive had anything to do with the rest of the commissioners not going along with him on the additional $3.13 million for the Sports Park. Characteristically, he blames the personal animosity and small-mindedness of his fellow commissioners for the failure of the issuance to pass.
Regardless of what part the petition played in the votes of the city commission, it is fair to say that it played a significant part in the results, although perhaps not as important as did Atkinson's own abrasive and abusive manner of public representation.
Friday, July 9, 2010
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4 comments:
Juanito, this is inaccurate: "He saved us $3.13 million in debt (more with interest) by launching the drive."
The money, interest and debt, is not going to be SAVED. It's going to be SPENT on something else. It's a shell game, Juanito. Wasn't the petition about DEBT not just the Sports Park? You'll write anything for food.
thanks, for keeping your readers informed!
While some heavy, premature chest-beating is occurring in other media, we here at the Tip of Texas Tea Party website commend Moses Sorola and others for their petition drive to stop government waste. After alterations made by the city commission with regard to their attempted Certificates of Obligation offering at Tuesday’s regular meeting, the formerly active petition drive was made irrelevant. The potential petition motion before the city commission would be deemed defective.
Many people signed the petition, or would have signed the petition, over their anger at spending more borrowed money on the Brownsville Sports Park, which some have dubbed the Charlie Atkinson Sports Park. The majority on the city commission knew that and probably wanted to prevent the petition drive from succeeding. Manipulating the system to target streets, what people complained most about, would at least seem palatable and less offensive than continued splurging of our precious tax dollars.
Because they altered it the way they did and when they did, the city commission created a whole new set of Certificates of Obligations it would appear that they restarted the clock. In essence, all the signatures gathered before Tuesday’s vote would be null and void especially because of the wording and justification printed on the petition proper, which include the Sports Park debt.
Sorola did the right ethical and legal thing in suspending the petition drive.
The majority on city commission heard the voice of we the people and our collective disgust with their continuing plan to incur massive debt for the Atkinsonian Sports Park. Their, or should we say his, former rationale was the money was needed for a UIL tournament (of which there appears to be no contract or documentation). The 3.13 million dollar renovation plan for high school playoff games made it seem like Brownsville would host the Olympics.
So thank you, Mr. Sorola for being a man of conviction, honor, and a voice of Brownsville.
¡FELICIDADES!
Way to go, now we are going to have to pay for port a potties and rent a facility for the soccer teams to dress and shower. UIL board will come down and be convinced that they made a mistake in allowing the valley to host the event. BISD will not give it to Weslaco so portable everything will be added to the field turf field at the Sports park. This will be embarrassing and not representative of what Brownsville is really about. We are the largest city in the valley and we will be laughed at for hosting a prestigious event without having the basic necessities in place. With two state championship soccer teams in Brownsville, one would think that we would step up and be the ideal host not only for this tournament but for the Bravos and other potential pro teams who want to play down here. I hope the commissioners can see how our city will be seen as if this project does not get done.
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