HISTORIC DOWNTOWN LAMP POSTS BROUGHT DOWN: NEW MUSK-FUNDED LIGHTS, DESIGN UNKNOWN, TO REPLACE THEM

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Local residents who wandered downtown along Elizabeth Monday came upon barricades from 7th to 12th streets with only four shopping days left in the Christmas shopping season.

The work is being performed by Public Utility Board and City of Brownsville Public Works and Traffic Department crews.

We asked several city commissioners whether the workers were simply bringing down the historic lamp posts and distinctive white globes globes for cleaning, but found out that they were to be replaced entirely and were part of the Elon Musk Foundation-funded sprucing up of downtown.

Only commissioner Roy de los Santos was able to confirm that 167 posts along Elizabeth and Washington Streets were being removed and replaced with new lamp posts and lights. 

"As old poles are removed, the bases are inspected o ensure their integrity and ability to support the new poles," De los Santos wrote. 

We also asked what at least three commissioners whether they knew what the new lamp posts will look like, but none had seen the new design of the replacements. No one knew.

One miffed downtown shopper said he was prevented from going to have a bite and a brew the Palm Lounge when he finished work at mid-afternoon but could not get near it because of the barricades and limited side-street traffic.

"That' why I was pissed," he said. "No one knew this was going to be done now." 

Now everyone is asking – including some shop owners along Elizabeth – whether the new ones satisfy the Historical District guidelines and whether those along both streets in the downtown area had been alerted to the changes. Apparently, no one, except for a few people in the administration know who is in charge of the project.

Let's hope it's not the same story as with the murals that popped up downtown where a handful of people decided the design and brought in two outside artists from Los Angeles and Mexico City to paint them on the walls of the historic buildings.

Left no alternative, we are asking someone – anyone – in the city to send us a graphic of what the new lights will look like. 

It would have been nice if the merchants along the route would have been told of the closing of Elizabeth (and later Washington) for removing and replacing those lights and whether it had to be done at the peak of the Christmas shopping season upon which they depend in the pandemic-stricken commerce downtown.