IF A SABAL FALLS IN BROWNTOWN, AND NO ONE HEARS IT...

By Juan Montoya

Fernando Ruiz loved to address the Brownsville city commission on any number of sundry subjects.

Whether it was taxation, bond issues, certificates of obligation, or just the basic services the city provided (or didn't), he had a strong opinion and didn't hesitate to share it with the public officials.

"They're here to listen to us and to do what the people want," he used to tell anyone within earshot.

His friend Dagoberto Barrera was the same, as was Letty Garzoria, the Rev. Alex Resendez, Roberto Uresti, or one of the half-dozen local residents who wanted to give the commissioners an earful.

And, since the meetings were live-streamed, all the people in the city who tuned in to the city channel got to listen to their complaints. Some agreed, some didn't. Some though they were concerned citizens, others thought they were demagogues.

Alas, all that came to an end after contract attorney Mark Sossi gave the commissioners his recommendation that the citizen comment period be censored from the airwaves, citing some legalese about how gagging the citizenry from the mass medium would increase the diversity of the comments and protect the city from potential lawsuits. This happened during the Pat Ahumada administration.

Only one city commissioner, former journalist Melissa Zamora (now Landin) voted against Sossi's recommendation. She is gone to Harlingen now, but Sossi – and his questionable edict – remains.

Ruiz has passed on but the ban on citizens using the public airwaves during the meetings survived him. To the end, Ruiz maintained that having the commissioners' vote to prevent the citizens' comments from being broadcast was an infringement on the people's freedom of speech.

"They're the public's airwaves, not theirs," he railed. "They got the constitution wrong!"

On Wednesday, the Harlingen City Commission decided – after deleting the citizens comment period Aug. 3 because it would extend the executive session late into the night –  that it would be included at the end of the meetings. Harlingen does not broadcast its city commission meetings.

Mayor Chris Boswell said the city moved its citizen communication period to the end of meetings because cities such as McAllen, Brownsville and Corpus Christi held their public comment periods then.

Moving the citizen communication period to the end of the meetings makes meetings “more efficient” because people who come on business can more promptly complete their discussions with commissioners, Boswell said.
In McAllen, officials removed the city’s public comment period, Assistant City Attorney Victor Flores said.
In its place, Flores said, city commissioners make themselves available to speak with citizens after meetings.
The city used to hold its public comment period at the beginning of its City Commission meetings.
In Brownsville, after the airing of the public comment was abolished, and when Ruiz or others commented, it was usually to an empty room because the public usually left the room as did the members of the city commission.
"You were left talking to yourself," said a frequent speaker. "What's the use of airing your concerns if there was no one there to hear you?"
The mayors since the cyber gag was instituted on Sossi's recommendation, have not acted to restore it even after one – Tony Martinez – promised during his first campaign that he would restore their broadcast. Like other promises Martinez made – including establishing a code of ethics for city employees, commissioners and administrators – he never delivered.