No sooner did we ask our seven readers if they knew of other cases where Building Permit Dept. staffers had asked for money to smooth the way for the issuance of their permits than we got another one in addition to the initial case being investigated.
In this case, the a permit applicant said that he had paid a permit dept. staffer the $2,500 permit fee, but that he had been asked to throw in an additional $1,000 to grease the skids.
Seven months later, no permit, no water, and no permission to hook up the lights.As a result, the man's investment and hopes of starting a business have been delayed for that long and there seems to be no hope in sight of acquiring the necessary permits for the hookups.
In another part of town, a local resident who wanted to open a small business has been trying for three months to acquire his permits, only to face roadblocks from the same department.
"My dad even had someone who works for city engineering and does work on his own time because he would know the building codes and requirements and he is still being denied the permits that would allow him to start doing business."
Several commenters to this blog have written that that is about par for the course and say the hurdles placed before aspiring businesses here have deterred or driven away many entrepreneurs to greener pastures like McAllen, for instance.
"I did not realize the magnitude of the corruption that has, and is taking place in the building dept. Just ask any local contractors who's palms you have to grease to get your work approved or even get your project off the ground. People wonder why McAllen is booming and Brownsville lags behind ?
Maybe if everyone just did his/her job instead of looking to get PAID !!!"
And, another said:
"Brownsville has "NEVER" had a real city manager. That position has always been filled by someone's puppet. In order for Brownsville to progress, we need degreed people in key city positions like city manager and until the happens, we are just spinning our wheels.
And hell yeah to April 10, 2016 at 8:43 pm. So many people that wanted to start a business here have told me the same thing. Too many roadblocks and hands to grease, they go somewhere else."
We have been also told that the permit dept. staffer in question has been given an ultimatum to resign or face the legal consequences.
This is about par for the course for a city which is willing to turn a blind eye to wrongdoing by city employees to spare the blemish on the city's image.
That sucking sound you hear is the sound of businesses headed out of town to avoid having to deal with the city building department.
22 comments:
"Chingalos a todos"
I wondered how the permit depth head afforded his $350k home
I figured he bought it out right at a count tax auction but now I know how.
Thank you JMon!
Which permits staffer? My experience with the building permit people was about par with what I have come to expect from the City of Brownsville, rather unprofessional from the receptionist to the staffer, did not even give me his name or contact info. It was really frustrating and then there were others that sucked even worse. One experienced woman was helpful and professional. I believe her name is Cruz. She should be in charge of that department. She knows
what customer service is all about.
BROWNSVILLE HAS 'NEVER' HAD A REAL CITY MANAGER.REPLY....CABLER NO ES PUPPET DE NADIE. El controla todos los depts el agarra de todos las chingaderas que hacen en en todos los departamentos todos los directores han sido puestos por el y a todos los tiene amenazados si no se mochan los corre, en purchasing ahi todas las ordenes de compra abajo de 35000 son aprovadas por el y luego vienen los change orders el tambien las aprueba es un rata con licencia no se porque los federales no le han caido pues en muchas obras se usan fondos federales. para que brownsville crezca como mcallen necesitan quitarse de esta rata
Cabler Rata? quitarlo? he just a got a big fat raise, not a big as Donald trump money but why would he want this small change anyway? Ah ya se para los chicles.
Finally, business people is starting to fight back, those assholes in the permitting department are always looking for excuses to deny the permits, like if it was their real function.
They say his time is limited and his raise was for the next one in line.
If our COB's bribe practices are anything like that of our sister of Matamoros, the bribes flow up to the top bosses. It is not in their interest to become aware or do anything about them unless you get an attorney to sue.
Darn that sounds like SAN BENITO.
Yes maybe the cob requirements are hard this people just want the easy way to get their permits ard don't want to comply with requirements so they try tarnished the staff and city mgr.
Unfortunately theirs some bad apple's
I agree that Mrs. CRUZ goes beyond her duties to help the community as much as she can. She was very helpful with questions that other inspector would give us the round a round unfortunately she's not allowed to help more.
The picture of permit "denied" is not from City of Brownsville's Building Permitting Department. Please correct your records.
Your photograph of denied permit is NOT from the City of Brownsville's Building Permitting Department. Please correct your records.
That is a shame Ms. Cruz is not allowed to help anymore. She is the one that helped me get my permit because that guy Buentello was a typical machista full of himself useless POS.
This man is a complete ass
It's time people came forward.
The only person that passed with flying colors was the sister
They are both garbage
No, buentello is an ass
He was as corrupt as they get, hijo DE su pinche
As long as you can suck dick real good you should have no problem getting a permit
Bullshit comment city hall has always known the problems but they keep tonto Gamez because he's on strings and Cabler pulls them
Ever heard of a "stock photo"?
Pobre chavo. My mom owns a small building which is zoned commercial that she has been trying to rent out. There has been several potential renters that would've liked to rent from her to open a business but for some reason they were all denied permits. Go figure. Ya salio el peine. Even though he looks like he's got a face like "chingao, ya me chingaron" , I'm sure he will get off easy. He probably knows the right guys to bail him out. Almost 13 years in a position like that , I'm sure he knows a lot of people. Both of whom are pissed but some who he helped. Aver como le va. Ni pedo. No le deseo mal pero si me da coraje that my mom can not rent out her place cause she or the potential renters won't pay "la mochada" that is required. And I don't know if that is the case with my mom's place but it does make you wonder.
Well his sister is helping trevino, yes I guess he knows a few.
Bunch of crooks
No. Explain
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