COWEN WANTS "FACT-BASED" LOGIC TO CONSIDER E. FRONTON TO MCNAIR STREET NAME CHANGE. HERE'S SOME.

By Juan Montoya

It was somewhat amusing to read the discussion by City of Brownsville commissioners when a group of residents of a newly-renamed street  showed up in the commission chambers to protest the renaming and question the process by which E. Fronton was changed to McNair Family Drive.

"It's an emotional decision and I'd rather have it be fact based," opined newbie commissioner John Cowen.

Well, let's go over some of those "facts":

Fact 1: There were numerous forms "missing" that were sent in by residents against the renaming

Fact 2: There were residents who said they had never received a notice of the proposed change

Fact 3: Some of those attending the meeting said they never got a visit to their home as the city staff had asserted

Fact 4: And there was factual evidence that at least 15 pro-change forms were unsigned and only bore the stamp of the McNair Company, a sure indication of the McNairs "packing" the vote.

Fact 5: That the notices were sent only in English and not in Spanish and that the majority of residents on E. Fronton are elderly people who don't know English.

Fact 6: That when a group of Fronton residents did a door-to-door survey on July 15 they collected 46 signatures opposed to the change

Fact 7: That the city staff said a list of 30 pro-change signatures were submitted with the original petition and in the next few an additional 15 forms (among them the ones stamped by the McNair Company) were submitted by Enrique A. Melguizo who had originated the change. Even taking those suspect forms into account, it is still one less than the ones against the street name change.

Fact 8: Harry E. McNair is a member of the Brownsville Historical Society (BHA) whose mission is "to preserve, educate, and promote the history, heritage, and cultural arts of Brownsville, Texas and its environs through exhibitions, educational programs, publications, cultural events, and archival collections." Changing the name of a 169-year-old street to his family name doesn't seem to further those goals.

Fact 9: Commissioner Nurith Galonsky was right when she said that "It was an injustice for the people who live on Fronton Street (and) the residents were opposed to it. The process was very flawed against them, they were not given proper notice and now they are not even given an opportunity to voice their dissent. There is something really wrong about that."

Fact 10: Fronton street resident Ernesto Hernandez Chapa said that their survey confirms that 90 percent of the E. Fronton residents are against the name change because of "personal, economic hardship, cultural, ancestry and historical loss." In fact, it's the only street in the downtown historical district with a Spanish name.

Is this too emotional for you, John?

Don't let the "facts" get in the way of the "fact" that McNair is a narcissist megalomaniac who is using his family name and his position on the BHA to ram the name change down the residents' throats and do exactly the opposite of what he was appointed to be on that civic board to do, preserve our city's history.