POTHOLE POLITICS? HOW CITY MATERIALS AND WORKFORCE WERE USED TO FIX A ROAD ON PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHT BEFORE CITY ELECTION

   

By Juan Montoya

It all started as a pretentious claim on social media last April by pompous influence peddler Arturo "Turi" Treviño that a pothole on a private property at the shopping mall was "quite disturbing" and that – regardless of where it was, he would take it upon himself to "fix" it.

By the time it was all over in June, City of Brownsville road crews using city equipment and materials

had entered the property inside the private mall behind the McDonald's restaurant. A sign facing Morrison Road clearly states that the street's maintenance is not the city's responsibility (left).

The "fixing" of the pothole elicited congratulations from at least two city commissioners – Linda Macias and Pedro Cardenas – in a video posted on Facebook. 

And it also signaled the cozy relationship between commissioner Cardenas and Treviño, a political ally who dished himself and Cardenas goodies (grants) while he was on the board of the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation (BCIC). Both are St. Joseph graduates and have businesses in Brownsville and family links to Matamoros.

The road preparation and asphalt work was done before and came as Cardenas was locked in a  runoff election with Daisy Zamora, who had coincidentally made potholes a campaign issue against him.  

"I’ve knocked on hundreds of doors across District 4, and everywhere I go, the story is the same: potholes, speeding cars, and trash piling up alongside overgrown lots that plague our neighborhoods."

(That's Zamora sitting in a man-sized pothole at right in District 4 in a promotional video during her campaign.) 

Cardenas eventually went on to beat Zamora in the June 7 election. 

With city crews working on the pothole as a backdrop, both commissioners signed off on a video where they posted "RIP to McDonald’s & Academy’s Pothole. A big shout out to City Manager Helen Ramirez, City Commission, and city staff who got it done!"

So how did the city administration justify using public employees, equipment and materials to fix a street inside a private shopping center that everyone – including mayor John Cowen, who was supporting Zamora in the District 4 race against Cardenas –  agreed was private property?

The private ownership of the land n question was confirmed by local land developer Reba Cardenas McNair, who posted that:

                                                  

No one is saying how this was justified, or why, and commissioner Cardenas would only say in the video that "by talking to the owner and looking at some easements, we were able to get it done."

Also, no one knows what it cost the city in labor and materials, whether the city administration has ever gone with the agreement (?) before the city commission for approval, whether the private land owner will reimburse the public, and whether this precedent signals a slippery slope where the city will be ready to use public resources to address similar issues on private property. 

For his part, Mayor Cowen said that the city entered the property and performed the road work based on the fact that the Brownsville Public Utility Board has an easement under the street and that PUB conducted tests to determine whether there was a leak causing the erosion. He said one was not found. The road work was done in the interest of public safety, he said, adding that a small car could easily have fallen into the hole.

"PUB went in there and dug a hole to see if there was any leakage and there wasn't," he said. "I'm going to be pushing for the developer to pay for it," Cowen said. "It wasn't a ton of money, but I'm going to push for the city to be paid."

That raises yet another question. If it was a PUB issue, shouldn't it have been the utility's crews and equipment being used, and not the city's? And was there even a  PUB work order issued? In this case, it seems that the formal complaint process wasn't followed. We will be making public information requests from both the the city and PUB to determine who made the decision to send in the city crews.

But going into private property with city workers and equipment is already being questioned by some residents.

But as far as "Turi" Treviño is concerned, it is yet another feather in his cap and he is crowing about his monumental feat on his social page that "they all follow my page" and that he is ready to help when others won't and shows that he has the ear of the mayor. And is it mere coincidence that the work on the road might have been done to aid the political fortunes of his buddy Pedro?

Is it possible that in Brownsville it is the political tail wagging the dog?