MUSK, HERNANDEZ: WHY LOOK A GIFT HORSE IN THE MOUTH?

 By Juan Montoya

Who can blame local residents for having a jaded perception of outsiders bearing gifts?

Whether it's Titan Tire, Tony Martinez and Juliet Garcia's UTB-TSC, OP 10.33's Mike Hernandez, and now SpaceX's Elon Musk, there has always been a kind of  healthy distrust of strangers bearing gifts that ultimately will cost us...something.

But those of us who have grown jaded to these offerings are more discerning. It's hard for the uninitiated to sort out the good stuff from the snake-oil offerings of the flatlanders.

Musk says he is giving $20 million to Cameron County schools, but doesn't get any more specific than that. Now, $20 million smackers spread across 10 school districts and charter schools and 93,600 students thins out real quick. 

For example, Brownsville Independent School District has 44,402 students at the high end, while Santa Maria ISD has only 636. If Musk decides to dole out the $20 million on a per capita basis, BISD would get 47.43 of the loot, or about $9,486,000.

Santa Maria, at the bottom of the food chain, would get $134,000.

And the Point Isabel ISD, which is already clamoring for the cash, ranks fifth in per capita with a student count of 2,352, which, if our formula is used, would garner $501,991 bones. They want to set up a STEM program to provide tech-savvy workers for SpaceX. Oh, well.

But who's counting?

Certainly not us.

Sometimes the healthy distrust can turn into jaded cynicism. But there are good reasons for it. 

How many times have we been lied to?  Too many times to count, we're sure.

But let's not allow the cynicism to rule. Both Hernandez, and Musk – who wants to build his Emerald City by the Gulf off yellow brick road Highway 4 – brought their own earnest money to the table. No one else has. And what's more, they didn't have to. 

In return, we have been critical of Musk's intentions thinking that he has taken over Boca Chica under false pretenses. And one of our city commissioners – our friend Ben Neece – was so distrustful of Hernandez's OP 10.33 motives that he refused to sign a proclamation thanking Hernandez for his contributions to the city. As I said, we have become jaded of outsiders bearing gifts. That bad blood still roils on the waters of the Rio Grande.  

Granted that Musk knows how to milk the state and local development dollars for his pursuits while Hernandez uses his own hard-earned cash, but both, for reasons only they know, harbor a love for our God-forsaken city.

I mean, geez Louise, we got two billionaires cheerleading for us!

Why look a gift horse in the mouth?

What have they taken from us?

Musk came offering 500 jobs at $55,000 salaries and 12 satellite launches a year that didn't materialize. And now the only time we can use Boca Chica Beach – the people's beach – is when he lets us. But he's got a lot of our folks working, and that means something to the workers and their families, and the people who rent them houses, sell them cars, furniture, and their kids new shoes and clothes. 

And they didn't have to leave Brownsville to make a good living. Quien te quiere?

We can always go to South Padre Island to feel the sand between our toes. As long as he doesn't tear down the sand dunes and keeps people working, we're cool. 

Hernandez came offering hope and set up a workforce development center to encourage local students to excel. He is now a regent with the Texas A&M University System. Need something to do with higher education? Mike's your man. Yeah, as a venture capitalist he has not only stepped on some toes, he has squashed them. Both guys work in the real world. And we'll get over our bruised feelings with time. We always have. Somos humanos. Tenemos sentimientos.

And knowing us, we're like the proverbial elephants, we never forget.

But it's time we did.

Yeah, BISD's share of Musk money – on a per capita basis – equals only 1.70 percent of BISD's $558 million annual budget.  And the scores of vocational student graduates at Hernandez's OP 10.33 are just a drop in the bucket of local need.

But can you question their good intent?

I say, son, don't look a gift horse in the mouth.