BROWNTOWN'S EASY MONEY ($140,000) FOR OLIVEIRA'S COUSIN

By Juan Montoya
Would you pay someone $140,000 to designg that simplistic logo piggy-backing on the SpaceX cult by an Austin firm whose local connection is none other than State Rep. Rene Oliveira's cousin?
That's what the City of Brownsville has done.
The result? A plagiarized version of Elon Musk's SpaceX. Now, no one has ever accused Ronnie Oliveira of having a creative thought in the world and the logo will  not lead anyone to that erroneous conclusion.
But with city commissioner Deborah Portillo taking this – as she has carrying water for Tony and Tenaska and the LNG pollution barons – as her pet project as a mother hen would her baby chicks, the new logo remained hidden until commissioner Cesar de Leon demanded that the public be shown the results.
She had even instructed the city administration not to allow anyone to have a look-see at the design on pain of death. All that intrigue for that? Apparently, this, ahem, creation was to be unveiled during a city commission meeting with mariachis and dancing girls.
The effect on seeing the logo, so far, has been underwhelming. About the only one who is championing the simplistic "Igniting the Future of Texas" idea is Mexican Consul Rodolfo Quilantan, a lover of the avant garde art movement, we think.
Portillo and her allies on the city commission give the image of Romans fretting over trivialities while serious issues go by the wayside.
Someone likened them to Nero playing his harp while Rome burned.
In this case, they have been fiddling around with $140,000 of the public's money while Brownsville flooded.
"How can something ignite anything while its under 3 feet of water?," asked an incredulous city worker. "It is a Believe in United Brownsville miracle!"
This is the way that Oliveira's outfit got the $140,000 smackers.
Despite coming in a full 10 points behind the Atkins Group on the City of Brownsville criteria score sheet for its Branding and Marketing Services, Hahn Public Communications of Austin walked away with the $139,980 contract to come up with a catchy slogan and logo to sell the city.
With the evaluations ranging from a 90 to Atkins, an 80 to Hahn and a 77 to Brownsville's Breeden McCumber, the evaluating group put together by the city were apparently bowled over by the presentation put together by Hahn associate Ron Oliveira.
Yup, that's Oliveira as in State Rep. Rene Oliveira. In fact, they's cousins, a fact apparently not lost on the evaluators.
After the five firms were whittled down to three – Atkins, Hahn and Breeden McCumber – the ranking suddenly shifted and ended up with Breeden McCumber (3),  Atkins (2), and Hahn (1).
And so the evaluating team – Deputy City Manager Pete Gonzalez, Brownsville Chamber of Commerce CEO Maria C. Hall, Brownsville Community Incentives Corporation board member Ruben O’ Bell, Gilbert Salinas, Brownsville Economic Development Executive Vice-President, Michael Jones, Business Development Manager for the Brownsville Airport, Arvin Tucker, City Auditor, and Camilla Montoya, UTB- Director of Marketing – chose to award the contract to Hahn.
Oliveira is listed as part of the Hahn "team," but in fact runs a one-man operation as Oliveira Public Communications where he specializes in having a "deep anchorman voice and his deep roots deep in the heart of Texas and in deep South Texas, (which) makes him a natural at emceeing events, managing media relations and training his clients for TV interviews."
His specialty, according to his "associates" at Hahn's is "On-camera Storytelling. Media Training,  and Event Planning and Emcee."
They forgot to add that he was the state representative's cousin and that the majority of the members of the evaluation team have a longtime established relationship with the esteemed state rep.
Was it his sonorous voice, twinkling eyes, and boyish charm that bowled over the evaluating team? Hardly.
Gonzalez knows the city needs Rene to keep its hand in Austin. Hall, over at the Chamber known better than to go against Rene's Cuz. Ruben O'Bell is the assistant to Eddie Lucio III, Rene's fellow legislator. Salinas owes Rene for helping out with SpaceX. Jones, from the airport, was one of the denizens who brought in AeroMexico (who left after the incentives ran out), and Tucker, the city employee, went along because that's what city employees are supposed to do. Montoya (no relation to the writer) is under the tutelage of UTB President Julieta Garcia and Oliveira is one of her gang.
Funding for this contract will be derived through the BCIC in the amount of $25,000, BEDC in the amount of $25,000 and the General Fund account # 01-9110-876-292 in the amount of $89,980. That well never seems to dry up for these type of projects for the family, do they?
In fact, Hahn – maybe as a quid pro quo for the group giving Ronnie the gig – even gave the city a generous $10,000 discount.
Now, we have seen the kind of work that the Hahn (and Ronnie, we would assume) have done for another Texas city. In fact, they list only one other city in their portfolio, and that is Garland, Texas.
Now, quick, what do you remember Garland for?
Shame on you for not remembering.
According to the company's website, Hahn  came up with "The Garland Wheel logo, (a tribute to the firewheel, a wildflower native to the area) and the tagline 'Texas Made Here' (a nod to the manufacturing base the city has cultivated). Uniting the community’s successful heritage of industry with the beauty of nature, the new Garland brand tells a story that has impact and resonance for economic development, for reaching visitors and for communicating Garland pride."
Ooh! That send chills up our collective spine.
Let's see. What other slogans have been manufactured for our fair city. We had the "Crossroads of the Hemisphere," which wasn't all that bad. Then we had "On the Border, By the Sea," which was descriptive, if not that original. Then there's Speedy Bean Ayala's lame "WOW! Brownsville, Always a Fiesta."
This Igniting the Future of Texas is a little lame for so much dough. A better one to signify the $140,000 would be Brownsville Dough Goes Up in Smoke.