BCIC HAS BEEN VERY, VERY GOOD FOR MENDEZ, LIMAS, ET AL

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Hidden in a maze of Limited Liabilities Corporations (L.L.C.s) the presence of City of Brownsville Mayor Trey Mendez can still be discerned reaping the benefits and perks of office through grants by the board of the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation (BCIC), which he and the rest of the city commission appointed.

Mendez's behind-the-scenes maneuvering came to light after social media revealed that he and former Government and Community Affairs Director Ramiro Gonzalez  – through the Urban 8 Properties LLC – had applied for $200,000 to renovate the historical Coca Cola Plant building downtown. After they withdrew the request, Gonzalez resigned from his $82,900 position.

That was on the BCIC board agenda for September 30. But records indicate that this is not the first time that Mendez and his associates have gone to that well.  

On August 26, 2021 BCIC meeting an LLC named Victura Properties L.L.C. was awarded a grant for  $80,000 from the BCIC to remodel a building at 1015 East Washington Street. 

On the graphic at right, the date 12-1-2021 indicates the projected completion date for the renovations and the expenditure of BCIC Business Improvement and Growth (BIG) 2.0 Program grant money. 

The graphic below it indicates that Mendez lists its mailing address at 647 St. Charles and the registered office address at 611 W. Levee. 

But there are other links to Mendez on other applications that came before the BCIC and were awarded $100,000s by the BCIC. 

Take , for example, another award granted to OZRTCH LLC for  $122,000. Listed as its owners in a corporate search were none other than BCIC chairman Michael Limas and his brother Fabian.

Now, when the vote was taken on this application, did Michael Limas abstain from the vote? But more directly, can the chairman of a city-appointed board that dispenses sales tax-generated funds apply for its funds? It should be noted that BCIC chairman Michael Limas was appointed by Mayor Mendez and the city commission. 

The presence of Cameron County District Attorney Luis V. Saenz and his cadre at the September 30 meeting where the $200,000 grant application from Mendez was to be considered apparently loosened the tongue of the BCIC board members, one of which – Michael Limas – said he would abstain from another application for $160,000 to improvement to a historical building next to his business, Las Ramblas, because he had planned to rent it from her after the improvements were made.

"The BCIC's BIG grants seem to be awarded to a close-knit number of friends," said a participant in the meeting. "It's a little club giving each other the public's money like it was theirs."

There are, believe it or not, yet more ties to Mendez and other BCIC grants. there is, for example, the application by Dennis and Marianne Sanchez for $32,500 for Las Ruinas Properties II LLC. It also should be noted that Dennis Sanchez was appointed by Mendez and the city commission to another sales-tax funded entity – the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation – as a board member.

And a corporate search of the Las Ruinas II LLC reveals that Mendez was listed as the contact person for the LLC.

Mendez is still listed as the Las Ruinas Properties II LLC contact person in the corporate listing. Texas Secretary of State records show Mendez relinquished his place as managing member and Dennis Sanchez replaced him this past March.

The handing out of sales-tax generated money by the board of the BCIC to elected officials and board members and their families is not only inappropriate, but should also be illegal. 

And current board members and elected officials aren't the only ones benefiting from the BCIC largess. Former mayor Tony Martinez – of La Casa del Nylon fame (or is it infamy?) – has found them to be very generous to his business, even though it's located miles from downtown. During the infamous August 26 meeting, he was the recipient of $30,000 through the BIG 1.0 version of the giveaway.

And so was former city commissioner Harry McNair, whose warehouses on McNair Family Drive (whose name he changed from historic Fronton Street) are designated historical buildings and exempt from property taxes, also got a piece of the pie with a $7,705 grant for interior repairs.

If we had the time and the expertise to scour through all the grants and subsidies that the BCIC has given to current and former city elected officials and their relatives and associates, we'd have to spend the rest of our days with a sunshade and magnifying glass to ferret out the true movers and shakers milking the public treasury.

But the city has a city attorney (interim Victor Flores who wants to be permanent and who has not said anything about these shenanigans so far) and the county has a Cameron County District Attorney with a staff of corruption and Public Integrity Unit who we are told are experts at it. 

Why should we do their job?