IMAGINE TO UNITED BROWNSVILLE...A CONTINUING CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE?

By Juan Montoya
The seeds of Brownsville's destruction and plundering were laid way back when Eddie Treviño was the mayor of this ravaged city.
Using the dark arts of his lawyer's profession, Little Eddie was able to persuade a pliant city commission to foot the $1 million bill for something called Imagine Brownsville, a so-called "comprehensive" development plan for the city.
The $1 million tag is still in debate because former mayor Pat Ahumada said that not only did the city fork over the cash, but that also provided staff an city resources to complete it.
It all started well enough, as commissioner Ricardo Longoria told local blogger Jim Barton:
"We revisited the idea of a Master Plan after a lobbying trip to Washington D.C. in 2006 when then Congressman Jim Oberstar of Minnesota told us that he had money for our Downtown Revitalization, but we needed a plan in print that identified our projected plans and a sort of needs assessment for our community. That was when we came back and went out for proposals and through a fair process (Carlos Marin's) Ambiotec Engineering was awarded a contract to begin this plan so we could return to Washington and Congressman Oberstar and secure funding.
The plan was created, Congressman Oberstar as well as Congressman Ortiz was unsuccessful in being re-elected, so we had to come back and begin anew. In my personal opinion: the plan has been created, the projected targets and needs have been identified. Thank you for your service ladies and gentlemen of our community."
But Marin and his buddies saw the opportunity to turn this boondoggle into real money and refused to let Imagine Brownsville die. Thus what would eventually become United Brownsville was born.
In its website, Imagine Brownsville described itself this way:
"The Imagine Brownsville Comprehensive Plan was delivered by the Task Force to the Brownsville City Commission on Tuesday, July 21, 2009, and it was adopted. In addition, the City Commission passed a resolution at that same meeting that acknowledged all the work done by the community and the many volunteers involved...
"The implementation plan is now beginning with the launch of the newly created United Brownsville Coordinating Board and the signing of the Brownsville Borderplex United Proclamation on January 21, 2010 by representatives from the City of Brownsville, the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation (GBIC), the Brownsville Independent School District, the Brownsville Navigation District, the Brownsville Public Utilities Board, the Brownsville Community Improvement Corp (BCIC) and the University of Texas-Brownsville/Texas Southmost College."
The Coordinating Borad is made up none else than IBC President Fred Rusteberg, UTB President Julieta Garcia and UTB VP Irv Downing.
And who was going to fund this new beast? Why the eight publicly-funded entities which in turn pledged to give $25,000 each yearly to keep it alive.
Now, based upon the Imagine Brownsville wish-list that was never used for its intended purpose, the vultures started surrounding the fresh kill.
United Brownsville invented something called high-sounding called the Bi-National Border Economic Development  Trojan horse. Under this "plan," the usual suspects – Rusteberg, Marin, Martinez, FINSA's Sergio Arguelles, and Garcia – are in the process of hijacking the direction of this region's economic development to benefit a select cabal of their fellow travelers.  In fact, Treviño is a United Brownsville board member, too.
"Central to the BiNED concept is establishing advanced manufacturing locally to serve the electronics and automotive manufacturing industries that are booming in Mexico's interior."
How is encouraging maquiladoras going to benefit U.S. workers when it's these very runaway industries that gutted our national and regional manufacturing industries to begin with?
"By funding a study," said Tony Martinez, another United Brownsville member, told Mexican reporters.
Actually, the public already has funded these private interests since the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation, PUB and the Port paid nearly a half million dollars($454,592.08) for a plan for the industrial corridor, including areas within the Port of Brownsville.
A recent report from Barton stated that:
"Robin McCaffrey of Needham-McCaffrey and Associates, Inc. moderated the third leg of a slide show presentation to the GBIC on October 31, outlining an overall plan for a 22,000 acre industrial corridor including the Port of Brownsville. Earlier, the Port of Brownsville and Public Utilities Board heard the same proposal."
Now we have learned from other sources that the Robin McCaffrey is the same person who worked on the City of Kyle Comprehensive Master Plan, under the name of Mesa. McCaffrey was hired when Mayor Mike/Miguel Gonzalez was still in office in Kyle. Gonzalez is now the executive director of United Brownsville, a rather tidy arrangement.
Enter Oscar Garcia Jr, the son of Juliet Garcia, one of the three legs of the United Brownsville Coordinating Board.
Garcia Jr. was the chairman of the PUB until he resigned to enter private business, an admirable act. But this is Brownsville, and there is always something going on behind the sleight of hand behind the public act. Garcia Jr. left o become the local operations manager for San Antonio-based Jacob's Engineering.
At one time, the young Garcia was the operations manager for Su Clinica Familiar, a federally-funded health provider whose director is none other than the wife of Carlos Marin, also listed an at-large board member of United Brownsville. City commissioner Rose Gowen is a member of the clinic's staff and also – you guessed it – an at-large member of United Brownsville.

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Jacobs initially submitted a bid to implement all three phases of the Small Area Plan for $750,000. With a copy of the McCaffrey study in hand, all Garcia had to do was to whittle down the 35 small area sites to 10 and collect his $185,000. It's something akin to shooting fish in a barrel. You just chose 10 sites in the plan. The next time you choose another 10 and so forth until you get the full $750,000 smackers.
As Jim Barton reported in his Mean Mister Brownsville blogspot, Garcia was accompanied by the honchos who have allowed United Brownsville to hijack city government and to look upon the GBIC as their personal cash cow: "Jason Hilts, Brownsville Economic Development Council Director, introduced to the GBIC Board, represented by 3 actual board members along with Finance Director Pete Gonzalez and legal representative Mark Sossi, to Garcia, Jr...
Hilts explained to the board that Jacob's Engineering ...had agreed to work for only $185,000 by breaking their initial bid up into 3 phases. Phase 1 will find "funding" for the industrial corridor project and also locate investors during a 4 month timetable."
Three members of the sales-tax funded GBIC board – commissioner Jessica Tetreau, David Betancourt and Al Villarreal – voted to give Garcia the cash. Tetreau's motives are easy to understand. She is running for reelction next year, so having friends with pockets that you made deep never hurts. Betancourt had never had a private-sector job so giving away the the public's funds is no skin off his nose. Villarrreal want sto look god to his potential benefactors at United Brownsville.
We are told that finding the funding to "implement" the first phase of the McCaffrey study is no bid deal since representatives of the Hunt brothers, the same who are now dredging the port (also a member of United Brownsville) were sitting in teh audience.
Let's do the math:
So far the citizens of Brownsville have footed $1 million for Marin's Imagine Brownsville, $454,592.08 for the McCaffrey plan drafted by United Brownsville Executive Director Mike Gonzalez's buds, and now are posed to award Juliet's son another $750,000 for the three phases of the implementation of the McCaffrey plan. That's $2,204,592 and counting...
And how many jobs for local residents – not counting those going to Marin, Gonzalez and Rusteberg's cronies and Juliet's son – have been created?
Would you believe zero?