WHAT'S KEEPING BROWNSVILLE BEHIND THE REST OF THE VALLEY?

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Wanna achieve equitable economic development? Don't do what Brownsville does.

When news that the City of Brownsville Commission had appointed one of their own – At-Large "B" commissioner Rose Gowen – as chairperson of the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation, everyone knew that business would continue as usual.

The BCIC, which controls its share of sales tax revenue to the tune of almost $6 million a year for "quality of life" projects, has long been a source of public cash for a select section of pretentious, well-to-do residents who have formed their own social club with public funds to which they believe they are entitled. Gowen, a gynecologist,  is one of the worse, funneling public funds to her nanny government causes such as hike and bike trails, so-called wellness projects like the Cannery Project, and other gentry pursuits trying to get the city – the poorest in the state and nation – to emulate Austin, the wealthiest in the state.

As head of the BCIC, expect the same type of direction from that bunch. After 16 years on the city commission, Gowen passed ordinances that required 10 percent of any transportation bonds (Certificates of Obligation) issued by the city to go toward trails and bicycle-friendly projects and businesses. In this way, she has overseen the detouring of millions to her pet projects on the backs of local taxpayers, the majority of whom don't use them. All that time she paid no city taxes on her residence shielded by a historical designation on her house. Neat.

Her justification? That it would lower diabetes and obesity rates. She claimed – without any clinical proof – to have achieved that through the trails during her last campaign.

True? Of course not. But who's going to call her on it? Now, as head of the BCIC ATM, she has a majority on that well-heeled board to do her bidding. The so-called Cannery Project, for example, is way over budget through numerous change orders. And you will notice that most of the companies and the workers on the projects are not local.

At best, this can only be called the provincialist sociopolitical incest that has cursed this border city. People of Gowen's ilk actually believe that only they know what is best for the rest of us mere mortals whose reason for being is to follow them as leaders and kick into the public kitty.

That's the reason why the local boards and their staffs – from the City Commission Public Utility Board, the BCIC, the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation (GBIC), and others like Texas Southmost College, the Port of Brownsville, the Brownsville Housing Authority, and the Brownsville Independent School District – are filled with their clubby members and dole out goodies and jobs to their friends and political cronies.

Take the PUB, for example. It's often referred to by locals as the Primos, Uncles, and Brothers for its insularity, and once you get on the staff, like the city, you are on there for life if you toe the line and don't misbehave. 

Once the board of the PUB had the son of a local university president elected chairman whose only qualifications to run the utility was that he was her son. He later went on to become a major vendor to the PUB before his ineptness was made public and he limped away with only one lucrative contract. And so it goes...The $125 million Tenaska electric plant debacle paid with artificially-high utility rates by local residents was partly fueled by inept yes-men and yes-women on the board who sat by while the residents were fleeced and no plant was ever built. 

The result is that local qualified administrators and professional staff who seek employment with the city and these boards are also bypassed by this socioeconomic incest and provincial thinking that pervades the city and they move on to other places where their talents are appreciated. Meanwhile, Brownsville stays with mediocre administrators and professionals whose only claim to fame is that they are the Primos, Uncles and Brothers of local politicians and members of the "club," and the city's resources hemorrhage to other communities instead of benefitting local residents and the taxpayers who fund the city. 

Everyone but the residents made money from the Tenaska scam. 

And, to the woe of local businesses and vendors, they have developed a knack for using buy boards to bypass local providers – even with a five percent local preference – in favor of vendors and providers from outside. Everything from building maintenance to security services are being handled by outside providers even though there are plenty of local vendors who hire local workers. 

So while local vendors and businesses pay their taxes, hire local workers, and are part of the community, they see the contracts go to outside providers. They cringe when they see their services bypassed by these boards, and the city commission, and handed to outsiders, even when their fees for their services are lower than theirs.

"I go and sit in on the BCIC meetings and see the same people get the grants, and when you look for the BCIC staff to help you, they are never there," said a local businessman. "The worse is when these city-appointed boards dole out money to the city itself. It's like you already paid taxes to the city and then they get even more money from these boards. It's double dipping."

Even so, the city and BCIC and GBIC, not to mention the port, periodically are awarded prizes for excellence by their industry group to who they pay exorbitant membership fees. So while the city has a hangdog appearance to casual visitors, their walls are filled with plaques attesting to the "excellence" of their performance. 

Doing business in the city – despite promises from every politician at an election cycle – remains a mine field, with some business waiting for months (we know of one case where it took 8 months) to get the right permits from the permitting department and beguiled by the thicket of rules and regulations about which they are not told until their applications are rejected. And they pay months of rent awaiting their approval without being able to do a cent of business. Many just give up in discouragement and move somewhere else.

The use of buy-board purchases over local providers is another sticking point for local vendors.  

We remember when Cameron County commissioner David Garza inquired about a buy-board purchase of sheriff department patrol cars and asked why they were going to a firm in Central Texas instead of local car dealers. The purchasing department told him it was part of a buy board, but upon comparison – including shipping and other costs – it was discovered that the cost of local units was the same, if not lower, than the buy-board purchase. The award was voided and the local car dealer got the bid. Why can't the city, BISD, PUB, etc., do the same?

Until this system of socioeconomic incest and the grandiose illusions to emulate other municipalities which have nothing in common with ours are abandoned, we will remain comfortably dragging the rear in economic and professional development.