BARRIOS' HURRICANE SHELTER DELAYED ONE MORE YEAR; SOUTHMOST COMMUNITY SHAFTED YET ONCE MORE

By Juan Montoya
If you attend tonight's meeting of the City of Brownsville Commission you will see an item on the agenda that requests the approval of that august body to ask the Federal Emergency Management Agency through the Texas Emergency Management Agency for a one-year extension on the construction of  the Community Safe Room Project 9DR-1791-361) located at the Southmost Library.
The request for the extension, the backup letter written by City Manager Charlie Cabler explains, is because is "due to the delay in the delay in approval of a community safe room project specifications and, consequently, clearance to proceed with procurement of construction services."
The so-called safe-room project refers to the Community Safe Shelter "Domes" that were to be constructed at the Main Public Library and the Southmost Library more than a year ago.
Initially, the safe-shelter dome was to be constructed at the First Baptist Church on Boca Chica Blvd., but an outcry from the silk-stocking neighbors from the Rio Viejo Section of town put a stop to that. Apparently, they objected to the thought of their poorer brethren from around town like Las Prietas and the inner city barrios crowding in the vicinity of theie exclusinbve neighborhood.
As a result, the construction was moved to the main library on Central Boulevard, a respectable distance from their well-to-do enclave. That's why that project was delayed.
The Southmost project – despite the well-scripted excuse that Cabler put out to FEMA, came about not because the plans weren't there. In fact, the plan prototypes are provided architects in the TEMA website. The only thing that the architects to who the project was awarded (Leland A. Gray Archiects, of Salt Lake City, Utah) has to do is apply the prototype design to the Brownsville site.
In the Request For Proposals, the city asked that the architect provide construction design services shall meet the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) criteria and provide “near-absolute
protection” in extreme weather events, including tornados and hurricanes.
The cut-off date for the opening of the RFPs for the projects was April 17, 2013.
Well, just two months later, the city filed a "Substantial Amendment to the 2012-2013 Annual Action Plan" for funds the projects it is proposing for funds it receives from the state under its Community Development Block Grant. The changes should make everyone take notice.
The city had originally announced that it would allot $750,000 for the construction of a Sports Park Community Center on city-owned land in the Southmost area, most likely Gonzalez Park. As you have probably heard, this is a dome-shaped building that doubles as a hurricane shelter and as a sports gymnasium and center when no hurricanes threaten the coast.
It had also allots $107,692 for improvements for the Portway Acres Community Park on Austin Road in front of Perkins Middle School, a worthy project. That park is already in use by a community soccer league and the people in the general area.
Another $150,000 were allotted for the construction of a skate park on Oliveira Park, across the street from Pace High School.
Well, once the initial public hearings were held, city planners found out that there wasn't enough money to fund all the projects and decided to move some of the cash around. Guess what they decided to do?
They decided that – even with the with hurricane season on the near horizon – they would gut the Southmost area hurricane shelter project budget and dole out $300,000 of those $750,000 bucks to build a newer, better, and improved skate park for the "skating community."
And they moved another $235,308 from the $750,00 to make more improvements on the Portway Acres Park.
They promised to make up the $535,000 they took from Southmost from the 2014 CDBG budget in October 1. By then, of course, if a hurricane had struck Brownsville, Southmost residents could drive to the dome at Charlie Atkinson's Sports Park off Stillman Road for shelter. Oops, there not one there either!
Apparently, the hearing that the planners held in April that included contractors who would ultimately build the skating facility at Oliveira Park convinced them that the $150,000 planned for the skating ramps were "dangerous for skaters, as the sub-layers of the ramps can rot and/or become brittle in the heat. Concrete ramps are much stronger and safer. In addition, concrete ramps allow increased 'skateable' features that what is offered in pre-fabricated designs" and if built, their reasoning went, would end up costing the city more than it was spending.
With the additional $300,000 they took from the Southmost Dome project, the Skate Park will cost $450,000, $107,000 more than the entire budget  for the Portway Acres Park even with the $235,000 infusion from the Southmost project.
Parks and Recreation Director Chris Patterson submitted a letter of support for the "substantial amendment."
The city's planners also justified the "substantial amendment" by stating that part of the reason for the proposed changes in funding was because there had been a "delay in procuring architectural services" for the Southmost Community Service (Dome)."
Well, that delay has been broached and the new delay will mean that – if FEMA is acquiescent to its request – it will be October 2015 before the domes are built, just in time for hurricane season.
The city commission has shafted the Southmost barrio with Lincoln Park already and moved the new location of the planned (as of yet nonexistent) park directly in front of a sewage treatment plant to satisfy the UT System.
It has now delayed the construction of the hurricane shelter for two years.
The recreational needs of kids with $250 skateboards (and the contractors) who didn't want a run-of-the-mill skate park worth a measly $150,000 already took priority over the lives and safety of poor families – some without transportation – from the Southmost area who need a place close to home to get protection from a hurricane.
Does this community (District 1) have any political representation? Or are we saddled with a city commissioner (Ricardo Longoria) who is willing to roll over and play dead whenever Da Mayor Tony Martinez and the city administration ask him to?