FRUIA-EDGE'S CONVOLUTED ROAD TO $235,000 IN BCIC CASH: DID CEO PEÑA IGNORE POLICY TO FAVOR HER EX-BOSS FRUIA?

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

How did Felicia Fruia-Edge and her husband John Edge – while she was still a board member of the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation – manage to wrest a part of $235,000 in BCIC grants in a short span of three years, despite the fact that at the time the BCIC prohibited the participation of grant applicants to once every three years?

Also, at that time – as it is today – BCIC policy prohibits the participation of board members, relatives, city official and employees and their immediate family from applying for grants from the corporation, a move that was reinforced by the board's denial of a recommendation by now-President and CEO Cory Peña to do just that as recently as April 27, 2023.

The board voted to change its guidelines at that meeting and to allow existing participants like Fruia-Edge – the only one in fact – to apply for grants within 2 YEARS instead of the three years for everyone else as long as it isn't for the same expenditures.

During that meeting, the BCIC board denied Peña's recommendation to change the participation rules in place and denied the participation of immediate family members of city officials, city boards' members, etc., in the corporation's grant programs.

Fruia-Edge, when she was on the BCIC board, went along with the rest of the board to approve a promotion for Cori Peña from Administrator of Grants and Contracts to Director of Community Development and a salary raise from $35,000 to $75,000. Could that have played a part in her subsequent project recommendations? Peña is now BCIC CEO with a hefty pay increase. 

Former Executive Director Josh Mejia had recommended the raise for Peña during a regular meeting May 30, 2019, and was approved during a specially-called meeting a month later (July 1, 2019). 

And less than two months later, on August 29, 2019, Peña's administration recommended that the request for $32,500 by Sharper Edges Investments LLC for 409 E. 13th Street be granted.  Felicia Edge and husband John were awarded $32,500 for: exterior facade improvement,$15,000 for Exterior Facade Improvement, $15,000  for interior capital improvement, and $2,500 for signage improvement.  

(Sharper Edges Investments was incorporated in the state May 22, 2019, eight days before Mejia made the recommendation for Peña's promotion. Felicia Fruia-Edge is listed as manager and her husband John Edge as agent and manager.)

Clearly, the prohibition of giving BCIC monies to board family members was in effect then, but apparently was ignored. The minutes of that meeting reflect the fact that Fruia-Edge abstained from voting for the Sharper Edges Investments grant, but the result was the same, grant money was given to a BCIC board member and her relative.

The awarding of grants to family members was the modus operandi at the BCIC with chairman Michael Limas' brother Fabian, who co-owns Las Ramblas with the board chairman, getting in on the action as far back as June 27, 2019. 

Later, on July 30, 2020, BCIC board member Arturo "Turi" Treviño's brother Alejandro got $10,000 for a start-up as did Pedro Cardenas for his Mi Pueblito Restaurant, before he was elected as a city commissioner. Chairman Michael Limas cashed in on the action, as did his brother Fabian who double dipped for his law firm and Las Ramblas.

And former mayor Trey Mendez and his real-estate business associate Ramiro Gonzalez – then the City of Brownsville's Director of Government and Community Affairs – were on an agenda requesting a combined $280,000 from the BCIC before word got out on social media and the items were removed because they were submitted "prematurely." Cameron County District Attorney Luis V. Saenz's presence at that meeting probably caused them and the BCIC chair and board to re onsider.

And former city mayor Tony Martinez and mayoral candidate Erasmo Castro also got grant money for their businesses from the BCIC.

But Fruia-Edge's going to the BCIC grant well  didn't stop there. BCIC meeting minutes reflect that on December 17, 2021, the board approved a $75,000 application for 409 E. Levee St. to Felicia  Fruia/Edge along with and husband John and her father Luke Fruia for exterior facade, interior capitol improvements, and vertical activation (activate second floor.) 

However, there is no such address in the city. It is really 1257 E. Levee and was owned by Fareed
Hussain, and is now roofless. All that stands is one wall facing E. 13th Street propped by rotting two-by-sixes.

The building was once a car audio distributor owned by Hussain who was last given a Certificate of Occupancy back in March 4, 2013. Currently, it does not have one and cannot be used or occupied. The recent Lucha Libre event held June 2022 by former BCIC board member Arturo Treviño was clearly illegal and exposed participants to a potential wall collapse. That danger still exists.

So was the $75,000 BCIC grant only enough to gut the building and leave it a public hazard?

The Historic Preservation and Design Review Committee of the City of Brownsville voted to recommend that the city's Planning and Development Services give Fruia-Edge a Certificate of Appropriateness (COA) for "Asbestos removal and interior demolition only if the building materials and architectural features do not belong to the significant historical period of the building (1919-1945). *The allowed work described above is the ONLY work that can be done with this COA" 

Not following the city's historical restrictions on historical buildings could hinder the owner's opportunity at getting economic incentives, the committee warned.

However, the contractor not only removed the asbestos, but also removed the steel structural beams and roof altogether. Today, public records indicate that the only permit issued by the Planning Department that exists for what's left of the building is one for demolition, and no electrical plumbing permits have been issued.

The minutes of the December 9, 2022 Historic Preservation Commission Board indicates that – pending specific actions and the issuance of city permits – Historical Preservation Officer Juan Velez recommended the applicants to build an interior structure that could tie up the now-dilapidated facade walls and comply with city regulations and that "facades are now not resistant due to the removal of the roof beams and the need to build an interior structure that consolidates said facades." 

"A drawing showing the location and type of windows that match the windows the building originally had. We strongly recommend contacting the Texas Historical Commission to rehabilitate the facade. Different building permit and COA applications are needed." 

So far none have been acquired for the dilapidated building and none have been issued, despite BCIC Executive Director Peña's assuring the board that the project was OK with the appropriate city permits and Certificate of Occupancy. But according to the minutes of the city's April 28, 2023 meeting of the Architectural Review Committee (ARC), the applicants (Fruia-Edge and Luis Gomez) didn't show up and they tabled the item.  

BCIC BIG 2.0 grants guidelines require applicants to present the CEO (Peña) with permits to start the project within 10 days after it is approved by the board. It is now more than 14 business days since the board approved the project and no permits or certificates have been issued. Will Peña recommend the rescinding of the funds? Or will she remain pliant as ever and favor her benefactors? 

Fruia-Edge came back to the BCIC grants water well for a third time on April 27, 2023, this time for a $125,000 BIG 2.0 grant for the same 409 E. 13th St. building which was granted a $32,500 BCIC grant August 29, 2019 that was dutifully approved by the board. 

Since the second floor of the 409 E. 13th Street is considered a residential apartment, it would appear that it is not eligible for "activation" and that the bottom floor only has the occupation permit for a gallery originally issued to former owner Mark Clark and then to Fruia-Edge on October 10, 2022 limited to a 44-person capacity.

Were the rules requiring three years to reapply changed with Fruia-Edge in mind? And what about the grants given out to former board members and their families?

 Can the BCIC board chair, Peña, and her staff and the other board members claim ignorance? And will the new mayor and city commission allow this to continue? Or do the rules not apply and will be bent if you belong to the St. Joseph Academy fraternity and their circle of well-heeled friends?