KING MARTINEZ MELTS DOWN OVER CASA DEL NYLON SALE

By Juan Montoya
Did you hear about the near meltdown of Da Mayor Hizzoner Tony Martinez Tuesday after a handful of commissioners asked the city to put up the Casa Del Nylon for sale?
The item was titled: A) ACTION to authorize staff to list the real property on East Adams Street, between 13th and 14th Streets, for sale with a broker for a commission of no more than 5% of the sale price.(Commissioners R. Longoria, Jr./J. Villarreal)
Now, this is the first time that we've heard the city consider putting the building on the selling block after Martinez engaged the rest of the commissioners in a shopping spree to issue millions in certificates of obligation ostensibly to use the downtown real estate to entice the University of Texas System to stay downtown.

Some commissioners have complained privately that they were bamboozled to approve the purchase of the Casa Del Nylon at 13th and Adams streets for an astounding $2.3 million price tag when a building like the old Greyhound Building went for millions less.
They have complained that Martinez assured them that the University of Texas System was ready to plunk down good bucks to keep the University of Texas at Brownsville in the downtown area. Then, after the UTB administration said "thanks, but no thanks" the questions started in earnest.
We hear that at least three commissioners - John Villarreal, Ricardo Longoria, and Jessica Tetreau - had the unmitigated gall to question the administration on why not try to get  rid of the useless building. Wasn't that supposedly already taken care of?
The fact that they pushed for the proposed sale and questioned whether the administration could find anyone in their right mind to shell out the $2.3 million that the city paid to get it apparently upset Martinez to no end and some says that Da Mayor was visibly shaking with anger at the upstarts' questions. At one point, one witness said, a visibly outraged Tony rose to his full imperial height and questioned the intelligence of some of the commissioners, specially when Tetreau persisted.
At one time, Martinez was said to have been so exasperated wiht the pesky commissioners that he referred to Tetreau as a witch with a "b" and Longoria as a "boy."
Tsk, tsk, touchy, touchy, King Tony!
When the level of public discourse reaches this low, something is not kosher.
It's getting more and more difficult to justify this huge outlay of moolah for a building of questionable use to the university, or for that matter, to the city.
The questions that started soon after the property was appraised at the outrageous sum of $2.3 million, and the fact that Da Mayor's law partner Horacio Barrera negotiated with the city on behalf of owner Abraham Galonsky - who happened to be his neighbor - have gained legs and validity.
Was this an insiders' deal that benefited the principals for the city and the owners and their attorneys at the expense of the city taxpayers who have to shell out the bucks for the real estate? And if there is something shady in this sale, could there have been other suspicious dealings in the rest of the real estate speculation that saw properties in the Market Square area and others included in the CO issue?
The fact that there is a growing number of members of the city commission that is beginning to question this rampant speculation in downtown real estate indicates that not everything may have been above board.
This makes the city look like it doesn't know what it wants to do and that it's winging it on matters of real estate. With the musical chairs being played with the Stillman Ranch House moving it from here to there and then deciding to leave it where it's at, who knows what Martinez may want to do with the Casa Del Nylon?
Regardless of what the city administration does, someone should remind Da Mayor and City Hall that it's the people's money they're splurging on these real-estate speculation.
Is Martinez's tiff simply a confirmation that no one will ever pay what he paid his law partner's neighbor for it?