MEANWHILE, AT THE BISD, A CHANGE OF RULERS

By Juan Montoya
Well, Minerva Peña must have known the honeymoon couldn't last forever.
Peña was beside herself when the new majority that came in last November whispered sweet nothings in her ear and convinced her she should vote with them to replace Otis Powers as president of the board.
Not realizing that she who sacks could get sacked, too, she is now realizing that she has served the majority and she, too, must be discarded in favor of one of their choosing.
Word is that the January agenda will have an item calling for the reorganization of the board and that Peña is going to be replaced from her cherished spot as president of the board by either Cesar Lopez, Hector Chirinos, Carlos Elizondo and – as a last resort, Joe Rodriguez. Caty Presas, who defamation lawsuit is still alive against Peña, Lopez and board counsel Baltazar Salazar, needed not apply.
The rumors circulating the BISD Glass Palace on Price Road is abuzz with the rumor of Minnie's impending dethronement and now the guessing game is on on who the next reigning trustee will be president.
Rodriguez, who has managed to steer multimillion contracts to artificial turf vendors and engineering firms of his choosing almost at will, prefers to stay in the background and does not cherish the spotlight. Chirinos – an abysmal failure as budget committee chair – is in no hurry to have the glare of the spotlight on him either. Elizondo has been whittled down to size after he threw in his lot with the majority and his focus running a small business (Beans and Rice), trying to make captain in the fire department, losing weight, and fending off the retaliation of city commissioner Ricardo Longoria keep him busy enough without taling on the thankless task.
Elizondo, who as firefighter union president, came in as an outsider who would flush out corruption, has found out that one can live with a little wiggle room. Everyone needs to wet their beak once in a while.
From what we hear, Longoria – a BISD employee – is blaming Elizondo for the principal at his school making him punch in and out of work, an inconvenience for the commissioner cum DJ cum teacher who was used to showing up (or not showing up) at work as he wished.
Now, apart from having to report ot his duties, he is also unable to travel on city business and get paid by the BISD. He blames all this on Elizondo and is making life hell for the firefighter at the city.
It's a kind of tit-for-ta game so much enjoyed by Brownsville residents.
Meanwhile, the athletic-spending keeps on rolling. More has been spent on these athletic-related projects than what was gained from the Tax Ratification Election. And observers find it curious that the bulk of the money is going to vendor Paragon who was introduced to the board by none other than Rodriguez, a former BISD Athletic Director who was also registered as a vendor for an athletics-supply company.
During the December meeting alone, $2.135 million in contracts went to Paragon. To keep local vendors happy, a $416,890 bone was thrown to Carlos Marin's Ambiotec Civil Engineering Group.
Everyone is happy!
Well, not quite everyone. We understand that the BISD was nearly rebuffed by the Brownsville Board of adjustments when it went before them for approval to let BISD build a weight room in a landlocked piece of the Rivera High School parking lot. You know the parking lot. It's the one that got flooded recently when we got a sudden downpour.
Apparently one of the board members is one Roy de los Santos who objected to granting nthem the variance. The Board of Adjustments can authorize, in specific cases, a variance from the terms of a zoning ordinance if the variance is not contrary to the public interest and due to special conditions, a literal enforcement of the ordinance would result in unnecessary hardship.
Well, after De los Santos' objections were considered, the board decided that it was not their place to decide for the BISD board what it could do with their property or resources. The weight room will be built, but it will be required to meet numerous mitigation requirements to offset the flood-prone qualities of the property.
With the weight room proposal already out for bids, the BISD would have found itself in the awkward position of letting them out and then cancelling if the board had voted against it.
Minnie may not be aware how lucky she is that she is being dumped by her former suitors considering the way things are going at the BISD. Maybe being removed as the head cheerleader to a pom-pom girl isn't as bad as it sounds.