IT'S TIME FOR CITY/P.U.B. TO STEP UP TO THE PLATE; AND WHEN WE NEED PUB MOST, A DISMAL PERFORMANCE

(Ed.'s Note: This morning we called the BPUB telephone number for power outages and were told of a massive outage around the Rio Viejo area extending all the way across Boca Chica Blvd. to Barnard St. At this time when the community is about to go to the bunkers due to the "shelter in place" edict from Cameron County Judge Eddie Trevino, it is the last we expect from this utility. Just when we need PUB most, this. Also, a recording says that the PUB will have a telephone system update starting Friday for an indefinite time. Time to take the bull by the horns mayor and city commissioners.)

By Juan Montoya

The federal government has done it.

It has moved filing your income tax for months from April until July.

It has also stopped federal home loans foreclosures through Fannie Mae and other obligations and halted evictions of borrowers because of the coronavirus crisis.

At the state level, Gov. Greg Abbott has followed similar steps. Abbott announced March 18 that he had directed the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) to temporarily waive expiration dates for driver's licenses, commercial driver's licenses and other identification forms.

Among other suspensions of fees and rules, Abbott suspended penalties for failure to timely title or register a vehicle, or renew a parking placard.

Now is the time for the Brownsville Public Utilities Board to suspend or halve utility payments, suspend disconnections of water and electricity, or stop charging residential utility charges altogether.

This not out of the goodness of their heart. As a result of the Tenaska debacle, PUB has piled up more than $100 million accrued due to the utility increases that have been in place since mid-2012.

About the only beneficiaries have been the top three PUB executives who generously gave themselves each a $100,000 raise over three years after the increases went into effect.

It would be height of despotism and cynicism if people's water and electricity would be cut off after they have been laid off from their jobs at restaurants, bars, stores and small manufacturing affected by the crash of the local economy resulting from the COVID-19 crisis.

This would be the only Christian and American thing to do as local residents' income plummets as a result of the COVID-19 virus. Can you really deprive a family of a worker who has been laid off while the PUB executives live in the lap of luxury thanks to their fat salaries and raises?

Are they up to it? And if they are not, will the City of Brownsville Commission step in and nudge them in the right direction?