MARTINEZ SPLURGES TO BRING AUSTIN SPIRIT TO BROWNTOWN

By Juan Montoya
We have commented before on this blog of the munificence and largess that Hizzoner Da Mayor Tony Martinez has displayed toward out-of-town consultants and specialists that he has single-handedly ordered brought down from the urban Olympia to enlighten the locals citizens of our potential for greatness if we would only "Imagine Brownsville" as the the next Austin On-the-Border-By-the-Sea.
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 the usual imperious Martinez style, he deigned the hiring and payment to Lewis without the piddling details associated with pesky formal agreements, his signature and royal seal the only approval required. 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's secretary Rachel Figeroa received another email invoice from Lewis, this time for $4,500 for his "UT Brownsville Relocation Consultation."
After the city staff kicked it around a bit, they gave in and did the mayor's bidding and cut a check for Lewis on the mayor's order.
Hizzoner was just getting started.
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.
Then, to add insult to injury, 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. Argentinians in general think they are God's gift to the world, and Peñalosa di his part to prove it.
Almost a month (August 1) before Peñalosa browbeat the citizens, city administrators and local bigwigs over the condition od 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.
Enter building communityWORKSHOP of Dallas. This bunch 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.
Dated October 26, it includes charges dating back to September dealing with air fares, printing and paper purchases for said proposals. as of last week, the city had balked at paying it and we will be submitting a request for information to the city administration of whether and when it will be paid and if – as has proven to be Martinez's style – it has also failed to go through the regular purchasing process and Request For Proposals for professional services.
Here's the lowdown on the charges listed for professional services from the organization's invoice;

DESIGN/PROGRAM:
Julia Lindgren: 225 hours at $40 per hour = $9,032
Maggie Winter: 30.5 hours at $50 per hour: $1,525
Justin Tirsun: 204 hours at $40 per hour: $8,160
Brent Brown: 56 hours at $85 per hour: $4,760

SUPPORT:
Iona Bruckner: 8.5 hours at $25 per hour: $212.50
Laura Muñiz: 3 hours at $40: $120
Trena Lechietner: 5 hours at $65 per hour: $325
Omar Hakeem: 5 hours at $50 per hour: $250

GRAND TOTAL OF INVOICE SO FAR: $24,803
Project Costs Detail (flights, paper, printing, etc.) $3,418.62
GRAND TOTAL: $27,803.12

Good help, we understand, don't come cheap.
And neither does air travel, especially for principal Lindgren who apparently must react to a fluid situation and whose round-trip flights from Dallas to Harlingen will cost us (or someone) $541. 20 (Sept. 21), $347.20 (Oct. 3), and $535.20 (Oct. 8).
And, understandably, for her extended stay in our fair city she needed a place to stay and charged the city $475 for monthly rent on an apartment (Sept. 21).
Mind you, this is only the invoice for their services up to the end of October and we're almost at the end of December.

Will the city commission and the city administration continue to give Tony what Tony wants? Where, we ask, are the usual checks and balances of municipal government?