THE PERKS OF OFFICE, MERE COINCIDENCE, OR A WELCOME FOR MARTINEZ COURTESY OF THE CITY BUREAUCRACY?

By Juan Montoya
Right after Hizzoner Tony Martinez overwhelmingly defeated four other candidates for mayor of the City of Brownsville, his neighbors on Ebony Street woke up to front-end loaders and backhoes breaking up the roadway.
The PUB, probably utilizing some of the stimulus funds distributed by the Obama administration, got the utility upgrades underway.
Now, Brownsville folks love a conspiracy and they started coming in fast and furious.
"Isn't it a coincidence that right after Martinez got elected the city decided to start work on his street?" asked one.
"How come they started working on his street so fast and not on the others?" asked another.
Now, those of us who have lived here a spell know that the city, PUB and Public Works have worked out tearing up the streets to a fine art.
The scenario goes something like this: The city hires out the paving job to some contractor from Harlingen or San Benito. After the paving is done, PUB announces that it will have to do some gutter or utility work under the surface. They break it up, do their thing, and then, after the paving job is a shambles, Public Works comes in with its state-of-the-art pothole techniques (tar dripped out from holes drilled in the bottom of a five-gallon pail), throw some asphalt on top of that and wait until the first rain comes along to wash it all out and the process begins anew.
We don't know whether Hizzoner is is for the same treatment, but until the drought is over and the first rain comes along, we'll know the real truth.
For the meanwhile, let the honeymoon begin.