NEECE, DE LEON HEAR RESIDENTS AT TOWN HALL MEETING

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Just as he promised during the election campaign, City of Brownsville District 4 Commissioner Ben Neece held a Town Hall meeting at the Brownsville Public Library where he gave a report and listened to the a report of activities and to address citizen concerns.

The meeting was held on Wednesday, August 16.

Neece and At-Large "A" District Commissioner César De León, who was invited to speak, also fielded questions from the audience.

At the door was a questionnaire for citizens to list their top five issues and concerns. The meeting was opened with Cub Scouts from Pack 777 leading the Pledge of Allegiance.

Neece addressed the activities of a group called Main Street USA consisting of 23 entities that share interest in the downtown area and was formed to pool resources and to eliminate duplicated and sometimes conflicting goals and methods to redevelop downtown infrastructure.

The citizen concerns voiced by the residents weer of the bread-and-butter variety of nay urbanized area: Streets, drainage, police protection, and ineffective public transportation for the poor and elderly in the district.

Neece and De León stressed that the newly formed Budget Committee approved by the commission at a recent meeting is working to trim costs from the upcoming budget which goes into effect October 1st. It will then be presented to the city commission for approval.

"Beginning in January, the Budget Committee will begin working on a Citizen’s Budget, based on the desires and needs of the people," Neece told those attending.

Both Commissioners stressed that frequent Town Hall meetings, website feedback, and open workshops were the key to making this change in direction in budget development a success.

A downtown property manager expressed his frustration at the various city departments’ red tape involved opening a business that often resulted in being shuttled back and forth among departments and PUB to acquire the necessary permits and certificates of compliance. That red tape results in additional costs in time and money, he said.

One citizen stood to specifically address the problem of over-staffing and nepotism.

“Look at the City HR (Human Resources) Department," he said. "There are 17 people working there. Seventeen and most of them related! There are so many that they don’t even have desks for all of them. General Motors in Detroit doesn’t have 17 people in its Human Resources Department”!

After the meeting, Neece and De Leon said they would continue to have Town-Hall style  periodically and special meetings when and issue merited the public's input.