Tuesday, September 1, 2015

IS THIS ANY WAY TO MANAGE A CITY, DRAINAGE DISTRICT?

By Juan Montoya
It doesn't matter how pretty a face one puts on a zumba dance-off involving thousands, how many people you get hooked on a
mass fish-off.
When a heavy rains falls on Brownsville, the All-American City, it shows its feet of clay.
On the city's north side, Janie Sandoval (as were thousands of other parents) was rushing to get her daughter from her Oliveira Middle School after buses were running late in the deluge of Monday afternoon.
She could hardly see and parked on the side of the road only to have her tires spin without traction when she tried to pull out. Another motorist having the same predicament helped her push the small compact out,
Across town, Juan Flores was trying to get on the expressway and decided to go in the turnaround under the overpass to head toward town on the Price Road-Frontage Road near El Globo. His car stalled and Flores took off his shoes, socks, rolled up his trouser legs and pushed the car into the old Shell gas station. After a few tries on the ignition, the car started. He finally took Paredes south toward Boca Chica and onto the expressway near Palm Blvd.
There was a front-page story about Drainage District No. 1 and all the improvements it had made on the system. They felt comfortable enough to set aside that mission and construct a water theme park as a legacy to the board members. They also said they felt the need to expand the jurisdiction of the district to get more tax money.
Monday's rain will set in motion the mechanism that guarantees job security for the city's Public Works Dept. It rains, potholes appear, workers spend the next three weeks patching them up. And then...the next rain sets the wheels in motion again.
It's time the city implements what FEMA has constantly told it to do: Construct a bona fide drainage system, not a system superimposed on the old irrigation system constructed by the Public Works Administration to bring water to the crops.
Will the Charlie Cabler legacy be one of a chronic cycle of floods and potholes? And will Ernesto Gamez be celebrating  a legacy of cascade parks while the rest of the city sinks?

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

We got that with a simple thunder storm, imagine when we get a hurricane!!! Ah, but we are getting the liquid gas company at the port and Space X (right Mr. Martinez, oh, I forgot, they will bring jobs). If and when we get a hurricane and we will, our nature resources get contaminated; if and when Space X explodes a rocket at Boca Chica beach, and it will happen, I hope our commissioners remember that THEIR children will also breath the contaminated air, drink the contaminated water and the money the mayor and they got will be gone with the companies that will run out of town as fast as they can, leaving the natives trying to survive the best that we can.

Anonymous said...

The drainage study and fixing the problem should have been done 25 years ago. Like the Weir Dam and fixing up the streets and Wahington Park too,

Anonymous said...

MONTOYA.... cuando tienes a un guey de director de "public works". que lo unico que sabe es poner sheetrock. de drenaje pluvial no sabe una chingada es un lambehuevos del otro inepto vale madre del city manager y cuando tienes un mayor que le vale madre y falta de huevos para quitar a estos pendejos, claro con cualquier meada de perro esta cuidad se va inundar. ahora viene lo bueno,el pavimento va a empezar a joderce y la gente inepta que tiene la cuidad pues va a valer madre.

Anonymous said...

Where the fuck was Tetreau? My house was under water and the damn fat bitch is on Facebook talking about pendejadas. Get off your ass and do something bitch! Nobody cares about your car or fake jewelry and purses. No vales verga vieja dientuda

Anonymous said...

Sorry but nothing flooded in east Brownsville where Tetraeu is. You must either be mistaken about who your commissioner is, or just an asshole who has to talk shit about a lady because you're just that kind of man. I'm guessing the latter.

Anonymous said...

This town is run my Mexicans; and this is what you get.

Anonymous said...

Where is united Brownsville now and all there fking studies,no mames

Anonymous said...

New Orleans was run by Gringos and look what happened !

rita