Despite evidence presented to the Brownsville Metropolitan Organization by the engineers of the Texas Department of Transportation that the Brownsville area stands to receive millions more if it agrees to a merger between it, the Harlingen-San Benito and the Hidalgo County MPOs, chairman (and Brownsville mayor) Tony Martinez says it will never happen.
During the monthly meeting of the Brownsville MPO policy committee meeting, TXDoT Regional Engineer Pedro Alvarez said that Martinez had written him October 6 that he should stop pursuing the regional model.
"It's the position of this committee not to pursue the regional merger," Alvarez quoted from the letter sent to him by Martinez.
"(We) do not consider the regional model a serious endeavor to pursue," Martinez wrote.
Alvarez said local TXDoT officials had projected that if the three MPOs merged it would result in a 21.4 percent increase in funds over the next 10 years from $510 to $620 million, figured at $11 million more per year than what they receive now.
Under the current funding arrangement, the Brownsville MPO receives $9 million which would increase to $11 million if the merger hoes through.
The Harlingen-San Benito MPO now receives an average of $8 million which would rise to to $10 million.
The Hidalgo County MPO would see its funds increase from $34 million it now receives to $41 million.
Alvarez said that all the nine state representatives (reps and senators) are already on board to push for the merger and that the City of Harlingen would decide after studying the matter.
Martinez derided Alvarez on the funding projections he presented to the committee made up of representatives from cities and other governmental entities in the county.
"Why are we beating around the bush,...it hasn't turned out to be as regional as we thought it would be."
This was the second attempt by Alvarez to present the projected numbers to the policy committee. It was a no-action agenda item. He was on the agenda in the previous meeting, but Martinez did not allow him to fully make his presentation.
Martinez's outright rejection drew a rebuke from policy committee and Cameron County Pct. 1 commissioner Sofia Benavides who asked him why he spoke on behalf of the entire committee when they hadn't been allowed to vote on the issue.
"I kind of resent that you go out in public and say 'no,' 'no," she said. "I have never voted on anything that would lead anybody to to think that I'm against it...I don't know if you take into consideration how we feel about it.
"I would really prefer that you give all of us the opportunity to say how we feel," she said. "You always remind us that you are an attorney," Benavides said. "But we have two other attorneys on the committee, Ben Neece and Alex Dominguez. I'm sure that they could sit down with the (other MPOs) and work something out."
The one time that Martinez – as chairman of the Brownsville MPO – allowed a vote on the MPO merger, Benavides told him, "you brought in everyone who has never voted to vote against it."
There are 14 policy committee members but it is rare that all of them show up to the meetings.
Martinez said that he communicated with Harlingen Mayor Chris Boswell "almost on a daily basis" and insinuated that both were against the merger. But he said he would take the members' commetns into consideration and that he would make sure that "we'll do some of the things that commissioner Benavides is talking about."
Alvarez said that unless the Valley MPOS spoke "with one voice" the four major MPOs in the state could implement a plan they have been discussing to increase their share from the 80 percent of TXDoT funds the now receive to around 87 or 90 percent, leaving only about 10 percent for the three Valley MPOs.
34 comments:
If it's between you and the mayor, juan, I'm with the mayor.
Sounds like Tony is making this decision without taking this policy decision to the City Commission. Seems to reflect his arrogance and disregard for decision making. This issue should be voted on by all our city representatives. Tony has to realize he only has one vote and should not disregard the city decision making process.
Can anyone explain why Tony Martinez doesn’t want to merge Brownsville with the other MPO’s?
Why not $29 million for Hidalgo and $41 for Cameron.
Correction 21 million for Hidalgo and 41 million for Cameron.
Why is be opposed to it?
This is funny. El Mayor pendejo doesn't want or think that a regional MPO is necessary, but he when he needs money for stupid projects like the bike lane across the causeway, then he's all about regional cooperation. Actually, that's not true, he sends the Great Ass-Kisser Ramiro Gonzales to go beg for money. Good thing the County rejected him last time!
Sofia Benavidez should not have been as nice and proper as she was when she spoke and told the mayor how the cow eats the cabbage. Continue and pursue your beliefs and continue to hold him responsible. He must realize that if it helps Brownsville it is time for him to wear pants without pockets. It is obvious there is nothing for him personally.
The problem is that Tony does not realize!!!!! He fails to realize that he is known as a
dictator who lines his own pockets and shares with his beloved friends. I wonder how many times he confesses to the priest, or does he do that through special connections with his son in heaven. I bet he would be embarrassed to hear his confessions. I wonder if he even takes time to read this blog. Maybe that is why he doesn't realize!!
WHY? WHT? WHY? Goddam it, why is the mayor opposed to it? Where is he getting those numbers that don't add up. share them!!! It's our fucking government Mayor, why are you opposed to what looks like a good deal. And you Montoya, ask the goddam mayor WHY???
Maybe because Hidalgo County is bigger than Cameron County ? Be my guess.
None of what the mayor does should be a surprise to anyone. Mayor Mtz is doing what he does best, which is to pursue his own personal agenda. The office is not about representation of his constituents or what is best for the city, it is about control, power, deal making and like a good psychopath without a conscience, he goes to confession and gets absolution for what he does. And then, does it all over again with no regard to what you or anyone thinks or cares, this is who we elected and we should not be shocked or surprised. So, resign yourself to this or do something about it by doing what he did to get elected. Build a slate of good candidates with a platform the people will support and pool all resources together and get them elected. Plain and simple, but it has to be done now, as the slate can serve as a shadow government reporting on the things they would not do if elected. My opinion only.
The answer is simple math.
The larger MSA, which would be McAllen would end up with the larger chunk of the money. Leaving Brownsville with maybe the same or less money than they had access to, to begin with. So wheres the benefit for Brownsville?
The way I see it, is McAllen and Harlingen NEED Brownsville to join, otherwise theres no benefit to McAllen and Harlingen if they combine without Brownsville. WE HAVE BARGAINING POWER PEOPLE!! And thats all you need! - IF THEY NEED BROWNSVILLE IN, BROWNSVILLE NEEDS TO BENEFIT THE MOST.
We were already screwed over with the UTRGV - UTRGV is pouring in millions!! into Hidalgo County, Now Texas A&M is going to pour millions as a result.
IF ITS NOT CLEAR NOW, I DONT KNOW WHAT ITS GOING TO TAKE. McAllen is never going to look out for Brownsville interest.. NEVER! If they want into the merger its for THEIR benefit, ... its all about their benefit, NOT THE COMBINED BENEFIT...PERIOD PERIOD PERIOD!
my 2 cents.
@9:57 am
Where do you get that Brownsville is going to get the same amount of money or even less? Do you have inside info?
All I've heard is that we're going to get 9 million more on top of what we currently get, and the only person who is refusing is Tony Martinez.
Either Tony is freaking a genius (which I doubt it) and he's the only one able to see that we're going to get the short end of the stick in the negotiations or as Pat said , Tony doesn't gain anything from this, so he just refuses to do it.
El Nuevo Director
Anytime McAllen talks valley unity, B'ville gets screwed. Check yr history. The mayor isn't alone. All smart folks in B'ville are with him on this one.
“Individual commitment to a group effort - that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.”
― Vince Lombardi
I was told of a candidate that will run for District 1 by the name of Rodriguez in the Southmost area and from what I hear has no agenda, other than wanting something better for Southmost and the city. Perhaps the blogs can start looking into the viability of this candidate and promoting him so voters in that district get to know who he is and what he stands for.
Other candidates will be needed to run for Distrct 2, At Large A and the mayor's position, but it will not be easy to get candidates. But we must start now by finding new faces with business experience and who will make the city the agenda. Trey Mendez would make a good mayor and has good experience as a TSC board member. Ruben Herrera would be a great At Large A commissioner with experience on the Brownsville Housing Board and TSC board member. These two come to my mind that I believe could do the job to take our city back from the elitist and self serving individuals that now control our city with little to show as moving our city forward.
The mayor ran with a hidden slate with Tetreau and De Leon, both of which have produced little or nothing. Time for change.
Tony Martinez prefers to keep outside eyes and voices away from his continuing ripoff of Brownsville tax payers.
I get it from the same place that says we are guaranteed more money.... WHICH IIIIIISSSSS... you guessed it! NO WHERE!!!
If a gypsy knock on your door and tells you - hey my friend, if you buy this book from me, you will earn $1,000,000 a year without leaving your home. -- Would you buy it on his word?
If McAllen knocks on your door and tells you -- hey Brownsville, if you sign in on this deal with us, you will earn $2,000,000 more in TxDot money -- Would you take their work for it?
What happens if Hidalgo county suddenly says, you know what - we have a thousand of more residents, or says.. you know what we have millions more in sales tax revenues, we want more of the pie?? Do you doubt they'll come back and try to renegotiate the pie?! I don't.
When he says "IT HASNT BEEN AS REGIONAL AS WE THOUGHT" its YOUR "Q" to read between the lines. What I think he is saying, is that McAllen is not behaving in a Regional manner, and is thinking in a "ME ME ME" manner.
My 2 cents.
Just like the new SPI causeway bridge. Brownsville pays for it with our few penny's from TxDot. McAllen driver's benefit. Port Isabel, Laguna Vista, go broke. B'ville also gets hurt.
McAllen always wins.
Commissioner Sofia Benavides has stated what the rest of the MPO committee and COB city council have 'NEVER DARED' to express before PUBLIC EARS. Wake up MPO and COB before we have disastrous
results as currently being experienced by COB (Cabler, Sossi, Deleon).
Let's distribute the bylaws and allow members to vote.
? How is Hidalgo County MPO running their committee ?
We need to learn to compete, which we do not. That is the reason McAllen eats our lunch.
Tony Martinez is not a team player. He seems to believe that cooperating with other cities in the county or with Hidalgo County will take away his power to make independent decisions (as he is in this MPO decision). Tony is an arrogant power monger who can't be depended on to do what is best for Brownsville, but consistently looks out for himself and his friends.
There's always improvements on Mcallen's expressway and Brownsville gets ignored by State Representatives because they think Brownsville is one the other side of the border.
Brownsville has always gone fishing without any bait. These elected morons haven't heard of "an alternative plan". A compromise, a revision a change. No its always if I don' like it I will vote it down. Bunch of MORONS.
Y EL CHEKE 'APA'
And Cesar Deleon is still a crooked POS. You have gone too quiet on Deleon and Magallanes. why is that so?
Is that it? That is how you respond when we all are getting screwed? That is such old news. What about it? Can you prove Anything? No, you can't, so shut up!
@4:42 pm
Pretty good arguments, I have to put a little more research into this. But, I won't take the mayors side just like that because of his past history of screwing Brownsville every time he can.
El Nuevo Director
TxDot doesnt give a crap about Brownsville. Under the expressway by International Blvd/ Lincoln St. it's full of brush and weeds blocking the drainage when it rains from areas of original townsite of Brownsville. This is one of the reasons why flooding takes time to rescind. Go see for yourself.
Michael Rodriguez, el primo.
I once asked Trey Mendez about running for mayor. He did not say yes, he did not say no. I can understand if he is reluctant to run. So much garbage is thrown out there during the election campaign, who would willingly want to be covered in muck and lies? If Trey were to run for mayor, I am confident he would win. As a TSC trustee, would he be allowed to hold two elected offices, TSC and COB?
Brownsville has always come up short when it comes to competing for state and federal funds, because it makes little effort to compete. The Obama Stimulus grants are a good example when the city nor PUB had applied for any of the grants, because it erroneously assumed we had to submit turn key projects with specs and plans, when all we had to do is submit proposed infrastructure projects that were doable and would create jobs.
At that time, on the day of the deadline, I had heard McAllen was getting 90 million in grant funds for projects they submitted. I then asked management at the city and PUB how much we were submitting and the response was zero. I asked why, and the response was the assumption stated in the first paragraph. So, I called Washington and told them that it was unfair to expect us to spend monies on getting engineer studies, plans and specs to submit projects for consideration to fund with no guarantees that we would get the funding. Their response was that we had it all wrong, that we did not need to submit the studies, or plans and specs, but only the projects and how many jobs it would create. Then if the projects are selected to fund, then we were to submit the engineer studies, plans and specs, but only if the projects were selected.
That called was what is now known as the $100 million dollar call and it provided the funding to replace sewer lines and other projects submitted by the city and PUB. Ben Medina and John Bruciak were the ones I contacted and then ordered to submit anything and every project we could submit, including the kitchen sink if it qualified for consideration for stimulus funding.
It was almost noon when I got off the phone with Washington and we had till 5:00 pm to submit the projects, thanks to both Ben and John we competed and were successful. The point is that Brownsville for some reason does not compete and we must learn to compete.
As former chairman of the MPO, I can tell you metropolis cities like Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, and others get the lion share of TX-Dot funding and we will continue to lose out if we do not unite and levereage our resources to compete to get more than what we have been getting. The valley MPO merger is a good thing if structured right, which should include rotating the chair between McAllen and Brownsville, provide us a way out if we are not getting our fair share. We should be able to withdraw from the
merger, but I think over all it would benefit the lower valley cities if it competes aggressively, just as other cities do.
ah yes.. the $100 million dollar call.. we've all had one of those.
lets not forget "el cheke apa"
No le agas caso a Valdez, es un pendejo que te tiene mucha embidia pat.
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