When Julian Castro, the Secretary of the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development visited Cameron Park in Brownsville this past week, he mentioned something about progress being made in the improvement of illegal subdivisions – or colonias – along the border.
Now, no one has ever called Castro the master of the understatement, but in the case of Cameron Park, he was.
The picture above is a photo of the conditions in the colonia as recently as the 1970s.
At the time, running water was not available to all the subdivision's dwellers, and the streets, as can plainly be seen in the graphic, were for the most part unimproved. Sanitary sewers, also, were nonexistent. For years, this eyesore festered within sight of everyone who drive by on Paredes Line Road.
It took numerous county administrations and commissioners for Pct. 2 for the necessary improvements, through state and federal grants, made a dent in the deplorable conditions.
There were plenty of people to point a finger at for the conditions found here. The City of Brownsville, through abeyance or ineptness, allowed the colonia to be platted and the sale of lots to proceed an unincorporated area despite the fact that it was well within the extra-territorial jurisdiction (ETJ) of the city. For years after, the county commissioner for the area exercised a kind of benign neglect, partly because the colonia dwellers did not vote and didn't really affect the political outcome of elections.
That has changed over time and today there is an active political core of people – including Valley Interfaith – that have attracted candidates to its community center and local Catholic and Baptist churches to air their needs and demands.
There is much to be done yet there. When will the colonia be annexed to the City of Brownsville, which disowned it so long ago and now virtually surrounds the small city? Not only are city officials wary of taking on that money pit, but colonia dwellers also fear the imposition of taxes on top of the county property taxes they pay. . Former county judge Gilberto Hinojosa use to say on the hustings that Cameron Park was larger than Olmito to point out the size of its population.
We once attended an event where former Texas Gov. Ann Richardson made a pit stop in her unsuccessful run for governor against one George W. Bush (Put a fork in George, he's done!).
Until the city, county, state, and now the federal government pitch in and clear up this blotch on the city, we will continue to receive visitors from the capital deploring our "Third World" conditions.
7 comments:
Juan Pobre Jente, pinches politicos nomas cunado les conviene.
If there is one person who we should thank for the over $50 million of improvements to the fourth largest community in Cameron County, that would be Br. Albert Phillipp, a Marist brother (yes, of the St Joseph Academy brand) who lifted the voter participation from 113 out of 1,500 registered voters in 1996 to more than a 1,000 by 1998 and brought curb and gutter, sidewalks and streetlights to the poorest community in These United States (US Census 2000 and 2010 for communities of over 5,000 residents). And--much yet to be done.
Montoya, why doesn't Brownsville annex Cameron Park? For that matter, why doesn't Harlingen annex Juarez and La Palma subdivisions?
Too many "Meskins" !
Yes Br. Albert was a participant in getting the streets paved with curb and gutter and sidewalks and improved drainage, but it started with former Judge Gilbert Hinojosa, working with TxDot for the funding. It should have been Commissioner Carlos Cascos working to get the money but he did nothing toward the projects, Then comes Commissioner Wood and with the help and input from Br. Albert, Pastor Alvarez, community activist Gloria Moreno, Alma Rendon, Sister Phylis of Proyecto Juan Diego and many more, not only did the streets get paved with curb and gutter and sidewalks and improved drainage, but street lights got put in place. Representative Oliviera got a grant from AEP to put in the street light infrastructure in the area of Cameron Park that they serve, and Commissioner Wood and Sister Phylis worked with Magic Valley to get a reduced cost for Magic Valley to put in the infrasructure for the rest of Cameron Park that they serve. Proyecto Juan Diego, Sister Phylis, paid for the Magic Valley infrastructure from their own monies. Is the city of Brownsvile ready to annex? They should be, but it would then eliminate certain funding from the Feds and State for further improvements if the area were inside the city limits, and the taxes collected would not make up the difference.
Cities, including Brownsville, can only do what the state of Texas tells them they can do through laws. For many years, subdivision platting laws favored the original landowners, not the cities. Cameron Park and all other colonias in the RGV are the fault of the state of Texas, not the cities. Why not ask Cameron County why they allowed Cameron Park to subdivide and sell lots without water and sewer?
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