EMPEROR MARTINEZ LIKE DUTCH BOY PLUGGING LEAKS

By Juan Montoya
Chagrined at the fact that his strategy of spending the people's money cavalierly and without prior approval from the city or its elected representatives, Brownsville Mayor Tony Van  Martinez has now embarked on a witch hunt to trace the leaks aboard the worm-eaten SS Brownsville.
We have learned that he has taken to suspect underlings for the dissemination of information concerning his dubious real-estate purchases at pubic expense to entice Juliet Garcia's UTB to remain at home in downtown Brownsville even after the big boys at the UT System have made it abundantly clear that they will set up their administrative HQs in Hidalgo County.
The information requests to the city on behalf of this blog indicates Hizzoner is plunking down some serious public cash on this quest, more than $4 million and counting in the past two years. All this has been done with minimal public input or with the concurrence of the tag-along-to-go-along city commission which has been reduced to a rubber stamp.
He has also (and this is not the indictment of King George by the colonists, albeit it does read that way in retrospect) taken it upon himself to invite outside "tecnicos" to set the city's administration and its direction of development on a course that will ultimately benefit those associated with the shadow government known as United Brownsville which is accountable to no one and acts in the misty background where they concoct new (and expensive plans) to benefit from the mayor's actions.
I refer, of course, to the likes of IBC President Fred Rusteberg, UTB President Juliet Garcia, Carlos Marin, Pablo Perez-Rhi, and now, Dan Sanchez, Cameron County Pct. 4 commissioner who is listening to the sweet nothings of this bunch to establish a United Cameron County in the image of the infamous United Brownsville in return for a shot at the Cameron County Judgeship brass ring.
Martinez, an attorney who is used to doing everything discreetly and behind the scenes, apparently doesn't know that the public has the right to know what their representatives are up to and what they are doing with their money. If he wants to spend money at will, he can always spend his own and no one will question him. But when he spends and then delivers the fait accompli to the city administration and expects them to pay the piper, he's got another thing coming.
To clear the record, every bit of information we have posted has been the result of public information requests (and there are more pending) This includes the real-estate purchases, the contracting of outside consultants for the Better Block, All In, buildingcommunities WORKSHOP, United Brownsville funding, etc.
Just as we have made requests to the city, we also have made requests to the county, the school district, the university (we have some pending there, too) and the Port of Brownsville as well as some to the BEDC, GBIC, BCIC, etc.
Some of his questionable expenditures without prior approval from anyone include:
– In July he had City Manager Charlie Cabler authorize the payment of $1,500 to one R. Steven Lewis, a licensed architect and self-described "UTB Relocation Consultant." In a previous email, Lewis had said that he would just require payment of his air fare from California and his room at the Marriott Courtyard for "Mayor Martinez." Then, just five days later on July 31, Lewis apparently had a change of heart and Cabler received another email invoice from Lewis, this time for $4,500 for his "UT Brownsville Relocation Consultation." Martinez ordered the city staff to pay it.
– The Complete Streets Workshop" held May 16 featured Kevin St. Jaques, a member of the Complete Streets Speakers Bureau which was held at the mayor's initiative and which required the Brownsville Community Incentives Corporation (BCIC) to fork over $5,000, of which $2,300 was paid to Freese and Nichols, of Ft. Worth, to have Jaques tell us that our things as they were in Browntown left much to be desired.
–  Gil Peñalosa, the executive director of the 8-80 Cities, of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, came on Tony's behalf and told us on August 28-30 at a conference at the Cueto Building that we should be ashamed of ourselves for having such bad streets, sidewalks and phantom bus shelters. Almost a month (August 1) before Peñalosa browbeat the citizens, city administrators and local bigwigs over the condition of our infrastructure and lack of sidewalks and shoddy streets, the city meekly approved payment to him for $7,974 that included $6,500 for professional services, $988 for air transportation, and $485 for accommodations and meals in good old "American dollars," as he requested, in not in discounted Canadian currency.
– The  building communityWORKSHOP of Dallas which includes four principals of Design/Program and another four support assistants have been working for Tony on his UTB proposal to entice the Hidalgo County-bound UT System to "please stay in little old' Browntown and we'll give you all kinds of land to do it."
The mayor has convinced a way too pliant city commission to approve real estate purchases in the downtown area totalling more than $4 million to be paid by future taxation on residents' property and "some surpluses" from the city landfill and airport.
– buildingcommunityWORKSHOP has made Tony's pipe dream an industry. It's first invoice for the ongoing work for Tony's UTB proposal is going to cost us a tidy sum.
We have learned that their first invoice landed on Cabler's desk with a thud. The hit for putting together a Request For Proposals which could have been done in-house by a planning intern: Would you believe $27,803.12 which included round-trip flights from Dallas to Harlingen for its principal at a cost of $541. 20 (Sept. 21), $347.20 (Oct. 3), and $535.20 (Oct. 8). Among the items in the invoice is the $475 monthly rent on an apartment (Sept. 21).
Does Martinez really think that this type of excessive spending binge would go on unnoticed and uncriticized when the city is borrowing money on future (ad valorem) property taxes to fix its streets?
The only reason he didn't give newly-elected congressman Fil Vela Jr. a $1 a year rental deal for his congressional offices at the municipal court building was because people found out about the plan before he pulled it off.
Mayor, you have no one to blame for people finding out what you're doing with their money but yourself. The reason something is leaking is because there is something there to leak. In your case, the torrent of questionable expenditures behind the dam is being created by you and the schemers behind you who stand to make a pretty penny from you.
We'll keep on asking.