MARTINEZ, GOWEN MOVING FAST ON CITY PLAZA-UTB PROPERTY DEAL

By Juan Montoya
City insiders say that the rumored move by Mayor Tony Martinez and city commissioner Rose Gowen to sell, lease, or transfer title free of charge to the UT System to anchor the university to the downtown area is not only true, but is moving through the rear rooms at city hall in record time.
No sooner had Texas Gov. Rick Perry signed Senate Bill 24 unifying the Edingburg Pan-Am campus with UT-
Brownsville, than the wheels were set in motion by Martinez and his real-estate speculation cadre to to acquire the City Plaza One-Stop Municipal Service Center to the university.
The move has bveen confirmed by some city commissioners, but no one wants to step forward to acknowledge the negotiations with UTB.
In Tuesday's 5:30 p.m. city commission meeting, in an executive session item, there is this description:
A) Discussion pursuant to Section 551.072, of the Texas Government Code regarding real property (A. Martinez, Mayor and Commissioner R. Gowen  20 min.).
Now, notice that it is not an action item, but the upshot of this item in the agenda – in fact, the only onelisted  – indicates that Martinez and Gowen want the rest of the commissioners to approve whatever course Martinez and Gowen may have concocted with UTB.
"I'm hearing that it may be as early as August that they want us out of here," said a city employee who works at City Plaza. "That doesn't give us much time to move everything and have the Case Del Nylon ready for all the departments to move in."
When the Casa Del Nylon was purchased for $2.3 million through the issuance of Certificates of Obligation, city administrators said that the purchase of the structure and the lots around it was made to provide parking for the Inter-modal Terminal at the corners of Madison, Adams and International Blvd. However, now that the university is looking for space on which to build its new facilities, it has targeted City Plaza, apparently with the acquiescence of Martinez and Gowen with the support of a majority of their colleagues on the commission.
Now even that has apparently changed.
"Let's see now," said a longtime city politics observer, "the city bought the City Plaza (Duffey Plaza) from the university because they said that it would not serve the school's needs. Now the mayor and some city commissioners want to move the main income-generating functions of the city to a place where there is no parking and which, in comparison to the City Plaza, is much less impressive to visitors. It's more like bargain basement store front than a municipal building. We're going one step forward and two steps back."
Other observers say that the availability of parking at City PLaza gives the One-Stop Center an advantage in the convenience for city employees and local residents to take care of business all at one time with plenty of parking available for all departments. There is no possible way, the say, for all the amenities to be
Since there is no action item on the agenda, it is probable that commissioners will take action to approve of the deal with the university at a later date. Whether it will be a sale, a lease, trade, or an in-kind gift from the city to UTB, is yet to be seen or decided.