TONY: MAYBE FOR $148 MILLION MORE WE'LL MERGE MPOs

By Juan Montoya
Remember at the last regular meeting of the Brownsville Metropolitan Planning Organization when Mayor Tony Martinez pulled a fast one and stacked a vote to let the Texas Department of Transportation that Brownsville wasn't interested in merging with two other MPOs to get more transportation funds?
Da Mayor included that item on the MPO agenda and forced a vote, but only after making sure that enough supporters of his idea were present to give him the result he wanted.
"There were people at the meeting that never show up for the MPO meetings and they voted with the mayor not to merge," said a member. "The vote was to notify TxDOT staff that the proposed merger of the Valley MPOs has been determined not to be in the best interest of the Brownsville urbanized area."
However, there was no vote taken to do away with the MPO Merger Study Committee committee formed by the BMPO and several of its members – including a Brownsville Asst. city manager and an assistant – attended the June 28 scheduled merger study committee held days later and reported back to Martinez.
During that meeting, TxDOT staff reported that if Brownsville, Harlingen and Hidalgo County merged, the result would be some $148 million more available to the merged MPO.
This committee was formed because Martinez, who chairs the Brownsville MPO, said he had to know these specific facts before he could vote on whether to merge with the Hidalgo and Harlingen MPOs to form a mega MPO which would have more than 1 million inhabitants, and which could sit at the table with the MPOs from Houston, San Antonio and Austin when they cut the state and federal transportation pie.
Without going into specifics, Martinez stated that he was tired of all the people (didn't say who) calling his office telling him that the MPO merger is a good thing. The mayor stated that there is too much that he does not know such as the specifics or potential dollar amounts from TxDOT and that he needs more information.
He disregarded the fact that Homer Bazan, representing TxDOT, said that there was another MPO Merger Study Committee meeting on June 28 to discuss those things and for all interested parties to discuss the details of a potential merger.
Wood, who is one of the three on the Merger Study Committee representing Brownsville said that Brownsville should not close the door on the discussions.
Dominguez, also one of the three on the Merger Study Committee told Martinez that nixing the merger idea before the study is over was premature. City Commissioner Deborah Portillo, who is also on the Merger Study Committee was conveniently not present at the MPO meeting. Only Martinez, Wood, Dominguez, and Bazan spoke on the issue.
Martinez asked for support saying that the MPO merger is not in the city’s best interest. Motion passed with Wood, Bazan, Dominguez, and Cameron County Pct. 1 commissioner Sofia Benavides voting nay and in favor of continuing the study.
The mayor then presented the MPO members with a seven-page letter he sent to Sen. Eddie Lucio and State Reps. Eddie Lucio III and Rene Oliveira basically saying that he wants more info on how it will affect the Brownsville MPOs funds, but at the same time saying he didn't want to wait it out to get more input. He was under the pressure of too many phone calls to merge, he explained.
Among the things he listed on his letter to the state reps, he mentioned that the hike-and-bike trail planned for Los Fresnos, Olmito and Brownsville might not be funded by a merged MPO and that Brownsville would have to share Category 2, 5, and 9 dollars if the merger went through.
For the past year, the Merger Study Committee committee had been studying the issue's pros and cons.
Now that the data on the proposed merger indicates that Brownsville would benefit from the merger, will Martinez now relent and end his autocratic control over that body for the city's benefit?
Or will he pretend he was just kidding in informing TxDOT that he (and those who voted with him) are not interested in the additional dollars that would come with the merger?
In any case, TxDOT told those present that if Brownsville still decided to stay out, the combined population of Hidalgo, the rest of Cameron County, and Harlingen would come pretty close to the 1 million residents needed to have a place on the TxDOT table.
"TxDOT said it could work with the rest to get them in the cutting of the transportation pie even if Brownsville still decided it didn't want to be a part of the merger," said a participant. "Right now it seems that Martinez's stubbornness is going to cost the city millions."