THE LONG GOODBYE: Y TE VAS, Y TE VAS...Y NO TE HAS IDO

By Juan Montoya

City Manager Helen Ramirez's last day with the city was Friday, December 19 and city employees and elected officials showed up to wish her a happy departure.

Ramirez said an illness in the family (her husband's) had prompted her to leave her position.

“My family needs me to be more present in their lives. And so that’s why I’ve taken this difficult decision, but it’s the right decision for me and my family,” Ramirez told ValleyCentral. “I know that the city will continue to have the momentum that they have to continue to be successful in everything that we’ve accomplished.”

We suspect that there was more to her departure, but no amount of prying would let loose the real reason for her goodbye.

She takes with her the "One City" slogan like her predecessor Noel Bernal had the "Total Alignment" buzzword. What does that mean? Only they know. Next 

We would say we will miss her and her lackadaisical performance for the city, but we do have our credibility to protect. We'd be lying.

Nonetheless, we wish her and her family well and breathe a sigh of relief that she will no longer spin her version of reality through Brownsville's Market and Communications Department (the Ministry of Truth) facility next to the old Casa del Nylon, an extravagant investment that she pushed through despite massive costs overruns for the real estate and improvements. A similar facility would cost between $20 to $30 per square foot. Ours cost was about $462 per square foot.

Must be the neighborhood. After all, the city paid the Galonskys more than $2.3 million for the Casa del Nylon shell when appraisals indicted that it was worth one third of that. Oh, well, it's the city's money, not ours, so spend to your heart's delight.

And shall we mention the Wellness Crowd's Cannery building to feed the famished silk-stocking cyclists along Linear Park? That project has had two general contractors, both of who failed miserably and the change orders have bloated the project's budget and have been routinely approved by an inept management and a docile city commission.

We have been trying to get the real numbers, but all El Rrun-Rrun gets is a diversionary one-page set  of "before and after" numbers. We suspect there is much more and will be trying to pry it from the city's cold, dead fingers. So much for the "transparency" of the John Cowen  - Helen Ramirez administration.

And what about Helen's reign at the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation where Mayor John Cowen directed her to have some "quick successes" after he and Nurith Galonsky ran off and bought out former GBIC director Mario Losoya with a $700,000 golden parachute?

We found out that Helen had approved the payment of more than $500,000 to a "space related" consultant that resulted in the loss of the money and not one job created for local residents. GBIC objected and said that their attorneys were trying to "claw back" the cash from the consultant who wasn't even registered to do business in the State of Texas.

We could beat on this dead horse, but we'll just include the link to that sad story below.

https://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2025/10/helen-ramirez-leaves-dont-let-door-hit.html

Don't let the door hit your ample derriere on the way out, Helen.