THERE GOES THE NEIGHBORHOOD: FIL JR. MOVES INTO NEW (FREE) DIGS

By Juan Montoya
The partitions in the office above the parking garage at the City of Brownsville Municipal Court are being moved to make room for a new tenant at the former Duffy Bank Building at 1034 E. Levee St.
All preparations are being made to welcome newly-elected District 34 Congressional winner Filemon Vela Jr. to his new digs.
We are trying to elicit information from city administration on the terms of the rental agreement with the new congressman.
So far, all we've been able to find out is that such an agreement has not been finalized between the parties and that no such "agreement between Congressman Vela and the City of Brownsville (has) been approved. The agreement you are inquiring about will possibly be placed on the City Commission Agenda on December 4^th or December 11^th."
The improvements going on now, then, are being done in the assumption that the full approval of the rubber-stamp commission is  a bygone conclusion.
In the past, Democrat Solomon Ortiz and Republican Blake Farenthold rented from Bill Hudson in his office complex off Bob Torres (FM 802).
And State Senator Eddie Lucio Jr. rents his office space in the mall where El Globo is located. His son the state rep also rents his office, as does Rene Oliveira.
But we are told (and we will confirm once we get the documentation) that Fil Jr. will take over the space now occupied by Asst. City Attorney John Chosy for a mere $1 a year courtesy of Mayor Tony Martinez's largess with the public's resources.
Average rental rates in town average about $1 per square foot, and in the case of Farenthold, with some 1,800 square feet in Hudson's building, rent would average somewhere about $2,000 monthly with other amenities included. That's part and parcel of the beast and congressional budgets take that into account.
Now, what makes Fil Jr. so different from the rest of the public officials? That he is a wealthy attorney? That his father was a federal judge? That his mother is a former City of Brownsville mayor? That Martinez is angling for some kind of appointment with the federal government?
Does that pedigree entitle him to get the choice space in a downtown public building at a steal?
With the scarcity of parking space downtown, we wonder how many reserved spaces will be allotted to Fil and his staff free of charge from the city while the rest of us have to scurry around fighting for a precious space to park?
At $1 a year, that wouldn't even pay for parking for a day to the rest of us mere mortals.
And does the $1 include the utilities and maintenance of his office?
All this, we hope, will be included in our request for information from Asst. City Manager Jeff Johnson or barring that, his secretary Rachel. If not, we might be put through the hoops to elicit information from the city as usual.
That much we can confirm because in the reply from the city for our questions, we were told that "Please note that "any documentation request will need to be referred to the City Secretaries (sic) office for an open records request."
With the 10 days that the city has to answer our request, Dec. 4 and Dec. 11 might well go by before we get an answer and it's a done deal.
Mayor Martinez has been currying the favor of the current Obama administration, and Vela, who ran as a Democrat despite his Republican track record, just might provide the leverage the mayor needs to land a position in Washington.