WHAT HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO GBIC MEETING? IS GBIC GIVING UP THE NORTH INDUSTRIAL PARK BOONDOGGLE?

By Juan Montoya
By all accounts, the meeting of the board of the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation that was held last week was suddenly postponed and the where Oscar Garcia Jr. was to make yet another pitch for  $454,592 of  a recommended three-phase small-area plan was dropped and replaced by another proposal that would have resurrected the abject industrial park funded with the corporation's money.

Actually, it's the quarter cent sales tax share of the 8.5 cents that puts some $4.5 million not the GBIC's coffers. Over time, local sharpies have discovered that the board is pliable and that if enough movers and shakers with United Brownsville, Ambiotec, and relatives of influentials show up, it can be used as a their personal ATM machine.

Garcia  has already gotten $185,000 of the $750,000 recommended by (The Mother of All Plans) plan to "implement" the $454,592 plan that identifies 32 small-areas to develop. For that $185,000 Garcia, a "project manager" with Jacobs Engineering, turned over 90 pages of diagrams and gobbledygook that included 50 pages of index cards filled with arrows and notes from a meeting and phone conference with "stakeholders."

All that pilferage of funds was based on the Brownsville Comprehensive Plan that cost the city another $900,000. That was started under the administration of Eddie Treviño, now the legal counsel for the Brownsville Public Utility Board. That instrument, in turn, was used by IBC President Fred Rusteberg, UTB President Julieta Garcia and UTB VP Irv Downing to justify a United Brownsville Coordinating Board who self-appointed themselves to provide "a forum" for public projects and to "lessen the burdens of government" of elected officials.

Since then, there has been a feeding frenzy at the PUB, the Port of Brownsville, and the GBIC by the socially and economically well-heeled of the city.

Garcia Jr. was on the PUB when the board approved its participation in the $454,592 study and latched on with Jacob's Engineering as project manager. He resigned two years early from his term on the baord to cash in on the "plan." His was the only proposal the board considered when they approved giving his outfit the $185,000. After whetting his hunger on that little morsel, he was back for another $407,000 of taxpayer dollars on Phase II.
Theoretically, Garcia Jr. should never have been considered by the GBIC since he had gone through the Brownsville Economic Development Council and had been turned down by the full board. The BEDC vets projects to be funded by the GBIC. In Garcia Jr.'s case, however,this would have been the second time that he had bypassed the BEDC vetting process. 

(We thank MeanMisterBrownsville blogger Jim Barton for the details he provided on the maneuvering going on behind the scenes  at the meeting.).

With Garcia Jr.'s item postponed and changed, no one was expecting the next move contemplated by the GBIC board and championed by the city commissioners who attended, including City Manager Charlie Cabler and his crackerjack staff.

The plan seems to be rather simple (and generous).

The board planned to give total and exclusive control of the The North Brownsville Industrial Park which cost taxpayers $4.2 million, covers 73 acres with 11 sites with full utilities built some four years ago. In those four years, they has been no visible movement and industries have not flocked to the site.

It now serves as a rest area for truckers who use its unused concrete.slabs to park overnight and save on truck trailer stop charges.

BEDC Director Jason Hilts introduced the new and improved item #3 at Monday's GBIC Board Meeting. Sam Marasco of LandGrant Development, wants full and exclusive control of then ill-conceived industrial park to entice potential tenants to the nsite. Exactly what it is going to cost the city no one knows because GBIC members grew uncomfortable with the wording of the contract that was set to be approved. Is Marasco in cahoots with Garcia Jr.'s Jacobs Engineering and have the developer apply for a "feasibility" study that will tap the GBIC in an end-around?

Being, as he calls himself, a super developer, it was obvious that Marasco – through Garcia Jr.? – had lined his ducks in a row. Barton writes: "Commissioner Debbie Portillo read a prepared statement in support of the GBIC working with Mr. Marasco. Essentially, she said she'd seen such partnerships work in the past. Commissioner John Villarreal said he'd attended the ribbon-cutting for the industrial park, but not seen any progress since then. He praised Marascos skill in working through problems "on another project with the city."

We have made a request for a copy of the contract so we can have our three readers peruse it and decide for themselves whether handing over the $4.2 million park to the private developer. We also have questions about why the GBIC (through vetting of the BEDC) built the park in the first place. IS this just a way of diverting attention away from the ineptness shown in spending the people's money on yet another White Elephant?