MAYOR JUNKETS TO COLOMBIA AS OUR ELDERLY BATTLE SUN

(Ed.s Note: Sometime back we had a post where we decried the fact that the City of Brownsville and its elected representatives and administrators seemed more preoccupied with pet projects that would contribute toward their self-created legacies. You have Rose Gowen steering millions toward bike trails while whole neighborhoods lack sidewalks, others championing mass zumbas to get into the Guinness World Records, and others using public funds to speculate in downtown properties on behalf of their cronies. Previously, the entire commission approved the giveaway of prime downtown property to entice (bribe) the University of Texas System to stay downtown, and started the process to hand over Lincoln Park for a fraction of its appraised value. Yet, they are willing to ignore the need for basic necessities such as bus shelters to protect riders like this man in a wheel chair from the elements as they go about their merry way. So what good was the money that was spent on Da Mayor's directions to bring Gil Peñalosa, the executive director of the 8-80 Cities, of Toronto, Ontario, Canada,to tell us at a conference at the Cueto Building that we should be ashamed of ourselves for having such bad streets, sidewalks and phantom bus shelters. Following Peñalosa's regañada of local citizens, city administrators, and local bigwigs over the condition of our infrastructure and lack of sidewalks and shoddy streets, the city meekly approved payment to him for $7,974 that included $6,500 for professional services, $988 for air transportation, and $485 for accommodations and meals in good old "American dollars," as he requested, not in discounted Canadian currency.We have also pointed out in other posts that some staffers at the Brownsville Urban System (BUS) have sent us photos of unassembled bus shelters that are still in the box because they are not on the list of top priorities for the company that the city has hired to manage the city's mass transportation system.
And, like clockwork, every time the issue of bus shelters comes up, the directors of BUS show up at the city commission meetings announcing a new grant to buy...you guessed it, bus shelters.
Oh, well, they're just bus riders, so who cares, right? Next time you're on the city's streets see what pass off as bus shelters. If the riders are lucky, there will be a mesquite tree or a building nearby to provide a little protection from the double-digit and 100-plus degree weather. If not, then they'll have to do like the mobility-challenged gent in the photo and bear the heat. Da Mayor recently returned from what can only be described as a junket to several cities in Colombia compliments of the taxpayers of Brownsville. After spending $100,000s there, we have yet to see one Brownsville resident with a job generated by those trips. And we bet Martinez didn't have to wait for the jet under the searing sun.)