BROS. PHILLIP AND SEIFERT FETED FOR CAMERON PARK WORK

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

On Thursday, the Cameron park community celebrated the contributions of Brother Albert Phillip and Brother Michael Seifert to improve conditions in the colonia, a small city outside the City of Brownsville city limits bigger than Olmito.  Phillip (third from left) who poses here with his real brothers (one on his right and two on his left) and his sister in law and his staunch supporter Mike Hernandez Jr.

Brother Seifert, who assisted Phillip in advocating for the colonia dwellers is not pictured in this courtesy photo. The two were instrumental in establishing Proyecto Juan Diego by donating the property, according to Sister Phyllis Peters, its executive director.

"We want to recognize all the gifts he's got and he has helped this community so much. They gave us a piece of property when we started and it was like they gave birth to us."

When Brother Phillip - an original founder of Proyecto Juan Diego - got to Cameron Park, most streets were not paved, drainage was non-existent, and there were no sidewalks or street lighting.

The colonia is now surrounded by the City of Brownsville which has so far resisted the call to annex it. Instead, it lies within Cameron County's Precinct 2, which has spent millions in state grants and manpower trying to upgrade its infrastructure despite the fact that the original development came up before the city for consideration and was allowed to happen.

Now that the infrastructure is in place, colonia residents are resisting entreaties by the city to annex them, and to pay city taxes. How things change and yet remain the same, in a sense.