If you get a chance to see the taped coverage of today's Brownsville Metropolitan Planning Organization meeting, make a point to see it.
Then you'll see a classic Tony Martinez meltdown in all its glory.
The meeting Wednesday morning came after a full-page ad signed by the county judge and the county commissioners appeared in today's issue of the Brownsville Herald containing some rather pointed statements directed at the City of Brownsville and its officials and administrators.They used to tell us in the advertising class in Journalism school that when you design and ad, you must keep it simple and avoid making your message so wordy as to lose its impact.
Well, the ad was two blocks of single-spaced solid print running the whole length of the newspaper page.
It is doubtful that most local readers of the daily were able to sit through it or read it in its entirety.
But it is obvious that Da Mayor did.
In fact, he seemed to take out some of his frustration over the veiled criticism of Brownsville in the ad with County Administrator David Garcia and Pct. 2 commissioner Alex Dominguez.
The first criticism in the ad was about Brownsville MPO's reluctance to join the other two MPOs (Hidalgo, Harlingen-San Benito) to get a bigger bite of the transportation pie.
Brownsville – and Martinez particularly – has been adamant about merging with the other MPOS because it feels that it's needs would be given second shrift by Hidalgo County. Texas Department of Transportation commissioners have been belaboring the need for a merger arguing that it would give the Valley Region with more than 1 million residents a seat at the table where the transportation monies are divided.
"You have to crawl before you walk and you have to walk before you can run," Martinez has told officials including members of the other MPOs, city county and state officials as well as representatives of the Texas Department of Transportation.
Martinez's reluctance to pitch in and pool the region's resources has been a sticking point with the merger talks because if the Brownsville MPO does not joint, it will substantially impact the leverage for transportation funds that the RGV MPO will be able to garner in Austin.
For some reason or other, Martinez said that the city needed more time to "straighten some things out" before it can decide whether to join.
A metropolitan planning organization is a federally mandated and federally funded transportation policy-making organization in the United States that is made up of representatives from local government and governmental transportation authorities.
Brownsville has one MPO that has three seats for cities, one for Cameron County, the Brownsville Independent School District, the Port of Brownsville, the Brownsville Chamber of Commerce, the Brownsville Economic Development Council, the Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority, the Brownsville-South Padre Island International Airport, and TxDOT.
The Harlingen MPO has 9 cities with seats, Cameron County, and TxDOT.
In contract, Hidalgo County has 22 cities with seats, Hidalgo County, the Hidalgo RMA, TxDOT and one transit agency.
Ideally, the combined clout of all the valley cities could significantly increase the political clout of the region in Austin. A Valley MPO would put it right behind Austin, San Antonio, Houston and El Paso when it comes to distributing funds. Instead, the co9unt ad runs, the three MPOs have to fight over "crumbs" left over by the big MPOs in the state.
However, the wet towel in the plan continues to be Da Mayor.
"I don't want to rain on anyone's parade," he quipped as he did just that.
The county's ad also stated that even as Martinez – and commissioner Rose Gowen in particular – have advocated that the abandoned eight-mile, 100-foot-wide railroad right-of-way for a hike and bike trail, millions of dollars have been spent by the county on building a West park Boulevard that they say would relieve congestion, foster economic development, increase the values of properties along the road and bring development to the downtown area.
The county ad states that until the county determines the "purpose and need" for the project in that area, they cannot commit to the hike and bike trial exclusively.
"Ideally, the right-of-way is wide enough to accommodate a combined road and bike and bike trial that is secure, safe and provide recreational access to local residents," said a boulevard supporter at a recent Town Hall meeting.
The county commissioners court say that they are "ready to take on another historic project like the West Park Boulevard" and "working together with the city" is certain of success.
But then the ad goes on to point out that the county had to step in to save the city losing $4 million in federal funds because they had not done their homework on Morrison Road East and West, much to the umbrage of Martinez.
"The county recreated the process going back a number of years and locating property owners and make them whole," it reads. "Thus we were able to acquire the nearly lost funds and the city did not have to tap into its own coffers to finance the project saving the taxpayers millions of dollars."
The ad goes on to point out that the county had created a Transportation Reinvestment Zone that will generate millions to cover the cost of opening the road and the railroad crossing.
The ad also cover the issue of the East Loop that would remove overweight and hazardous truck traffic from the heart of downtown Brownsville saying it was now in the process of securing funding for its construction. The route will take 18-wheeler traffic from Veterans Memorial Bridge and divert it east to the Port of Brownsville. So far, the ad states, the county has secured $45 million from the State of Texas for the project.
Then, the dig at the City of Brownsville.
"We hope that the City can provide some financial assistance to this project in the near future," the ad states.
And then, it takes a swipe at the city again saying: "Doing for the benefit of one group or cause will never be our way of doing things but instead watching out for those who work hard every day, live paycheck to paycheck and need to have the proper infrastructure and amenities to make their daily commute easier and more efficient as they go about their daily routine. This is our number one priority."
"The County, despite what is said will continue to work on a regional approach and on behalf of every community in Cameron County and the Rio Grande Valley now and in the future."
It is signed by county judge Pete Sepulveda, Pct. 1 commissioner Sofia Benavides, Pct. 2 commissioner Alex Dominguez, Pct. 3 commissioner David Garza and new Pct. 4 commissioner Gus Ruiz.
The county's ad also stated that even as Martinez – and commissioner Rose Gowen in particular – have advocated that the abandoned eight-mile, 100-foot-wide railroad right-of-way for a hike and bike trail, millions of dollars have been spent by the county on building a West park Boulevard that they say would relieve congestion, foster economic development, increase the values of properties along the road and bring development to the downtown area.
The county ad states that until the county determines the "purpose and need" for the project in that area, they cannot commit to the hike and bike trial exclusively.
"Ideally, the right-of-way is wide enough to accommodate a combined road and bike and bike trial that is secure, safe and provide recreational access to local residents," said a boulevard supporter at a recent Town Hall meeting.
The county commissioners court say that they are "ready to take on another historic project like the West Park Boulevard" and "working together with the city" is certain of success.
But then the ad goes on to point out that the county had to step in to save the city losing $4 million in federal funds because they had not done their homework on Morrison Road East and West, much to the umbrage of Martinez.
"The county recreated the process going back a number of years and locating property owners and make them whole," it reads. "Thus we were able to acquire the nearly lost funds and the city did not have to tap into its own coffers to finance the project saving the taxpayers millions of dollars."
The ad goes on to point out that the county had created a Transportation Reinvestment Zone that will generate millions to cover the cost of opening the road and the railroad crossing.
The ad also cover the issue of the East Loop that would remove overweight and hazardous truck traffic from the heart of downtown Brownsville saying it was now in the process of securing funding for its construction. The route will take 18-wheeler traffic from Veterans Memorial Bridge and divert it east to the Port of Brownsville. So far, the ad states, the county has secured $45 million from the State of Texas for the project.
Then, the dig at the City of Brownsville.
"We hope that the City can provide some financial assistance to this project in the near future," the ad states.
And then, it takes a swipe at the city again saying: "Doing for the benefit of one group or cause will never be our way of doing things but instead watching out for those who work hard every day, live paycheck to paycheck and need to have the proper infrastructure and amenities to make their daily commute easier and more efficient as they go about their daily routine. This is our number one priority."
"The County, despite what is said will continue to work on a regional approach and on behalf of every community in Cameron County and the Rio Grande Valley now and in the future."
It is signed by county judge Pete Sepulveda, Pct. 1 commissioner Sofia Benavides, Pct. 2 commissioner Alex Dominguez, Pct. 3 commissioner David Garza and new Pct. 4 commissioner Gus Ruiz.
5 comments:
I find it comedic that stories published that are longer than 3 paragraphs rarely get any comments because of how lazy the population is here. I agree with the Mayor. Why should we join an MPO and have Brownsville carry the load for these other piece of shit towns.
Is there any way you could post a legible copy of that ad? It would be appreciated.
"Other piece of shit towns"? You could make your point without being insulting, but that would not be in line with your narcissistic personality, would it? Does putting people down make you feel superior? People like you is the reason we can't have nice things.
Because helping our neighbor helps them help us. When are we going to learn it is not just about us? If the nearby surrounding communities flourish, so will we.
I'm all about a community effort here, but surrounding communities seem to always bite the hand that feeds them.
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