ZAVALETA: RECOVER PRIDE OF WEST SIDE NEIGHBORHOODS

(El Rrun Rrun continues its candid conversation with Tony Zavaleta)
Part 2

El Rrun Rrun: Tony you were on the City Commission back in the 1980s and had to make sopme hard decisions on the city budget. You did it then, but can you do it again?
Tony Zavaleta: Over the course of the campaign, I have spoken with a number of citizens concerned over the status of the City budget. For those of you who don’t know, Texas state law requires that cities have balanced budgets. In other words, cities are not allowed to spend money they don’t have, and thus push debt into the future.
While, there is no great mystery to budgeting, doing it well requires a steady hand and the willingness to make the right decisions, whether popular or not. After serving two terms as a Brownsville City Commissioner, and many years as UTB administrator, I have quite a bit of experience successfully creating and balancing multi-million dollar budgets. As City Commissioner for District 4, I would like to offer that experience back to the citizens of Brownsville.
I was recently at a candidates’ forum where a sitting City Commissioner said something along the lines of, We don’t do all that. They just bring us the budget and we approve it.
Friends, that’s just not the way it is supposed to work. The City Commission is responsible for the budget and should be heavily invested in every step of its creation.
City account managers, like department heads, create draft budgets, but they should do so following specific guidelines from the leadership. For example, if elected City Commissioner for District 4, I would insist that the City Budget be a base forward budget with no increases proposed anywhere. I would also require City account managers to prepare budgets for their departments that are minus five percent and minus ten percent of their department’s budgets from the previous year.
Of course, account managers must always be allowed to present their needs and reasons for any proposed budget increases, but those reasons must absolutely be held up to close scrutiny. The City of Brownsville should always have responsibly formulated and balanced budgets. And whether accounts are cut back or increased, the direction they take should always be based on what is best for the overall welfare of Brownsville.

El Rrun Rrun: Now let’s talk about the issue foremost on the minds of the voters of District 4, the West Loop Toll Road: You were the first in your race to go on the record against it can you explain your position?
Tony Zavaleta: Many of our District four voters very concerned about the West Loop Toll Road which is proposed to be built right through the middle of our neighborhoods. As you vote for a new District 4 Commissioner you need to know how the candidates stand on this critical issue.
On two separate occasions, including at the Valley Interfaith Accountability Session on May 1, I went on the record voicing my opposition to the West Loop toll road project.
Additionally, you should know that I was the first of the three candidates for District 4 Commissioner to voice opposition to the toll road at a public forum and will stand firm on my pledge to protect the older neighborhoods and families of West Brownsville.
I am seeking election to save and restore our wonderful West Brownsville neighborhoods, where I grew up and presently live, not to destroy them. I will work hard to develop a plan for the restoration of West Brownsville, including a plan to save our children from gangs, drugs, isolation and despair.
Education gives every child a chance at life and I want all of the children of Brownsville to have a chance to complete their education and to have a well-paying job. Please help me to accomplish this goal.

El Rrun Rrun: The Texas Department of Public Safety lists the 78520 zip code (west Brownsville) as one of the most problematic in the State. Overrun by truancy, gangs, and drugs. What will you do about it?
Tony Zavaleta: Let’s consider the children and the youth of our district. The truancy rate is off the chart and the drop-out rate is at least 50%. What kind of future do these children and young people have in Brownsville?
Right now the way things are they have none. Shouldn’t the District 4 commissioner take on these issues in cooperation with the schools, churches, neighborhood organizations and parent groups. We must take on gangs, and drugs and teen pregnancy head on or we will have a total breakdown of our society.
We are on the verge of that now. I believe that we should know who the children and youth of our District are and where they are and what they are doing. I believe we should hold the deadbeat parents accountable for their children not attending school.
Clearly, parents and especially poor parents cannot do it by themselves they are overwhelmed. I propose a District 4-wide effort to save the children. We need after-school, weekend, and summer programs to assist children, mind, body and soul. Are not our children our future? Right now it looks bleak. Help me to take their future back!

El Rrun Rrun: How can we re-interest the people of District 4 in their community?
Tony Zavaleta: Immediately upon election I will ask the City Planning department to work with the BISD to outline the natural boundaries of the identifiable neighborhoods in District 4.
I will want to then identify the leaders in each and begin a series of meetings intended to identify the neighborhood’s most pressing issues and needs.
The identification of neighborhood issues and needs will be followed by the development of a strategic plan intended to address the issues.
During the development of the regular city budget process I will ask for funds to address the most pressing issues as well as for a multi-year plan. This way we here from the residents themselves, and we create a plan for solution with budget attached.
We have only to care to implement this neighborhood empowerment plan for District 4. Consider it a model which once tested and proven effective may be used in other areas of the City of Brownsville.