Candidate, Texas State Rep., D-38
Brownsville deserves more than promises. It deserves solutions.
For more than three decades, I practiced medicine. As a physician, I learned very early that before you can treat a problem, you first have to understand what is causing it. If a patient wasn't getting better, I
I believe government should approach problems with that same seriousness.
Brownsville faces challenges that affect families every day: flooding that repeatedly threatens homes and businesses; young people struggling to find a pathway from the classroom to a good-paying career; rising property taxes; healthcare access; aging infrastructure; and the long-term security of our water supply.
These problems didn't develop overnight, and they won't be solved with slogans.
Over the coming weeks, I want to use this column to examine the issues that matter to Brownsville families and to ask some basic questions:
Over the coming weeks, I want to use this column to examine the issues that matter to Brownsville families and to ask some basic questions:
*What is actually causing the problem?
*What has already been tried?
*What worked?
*What didn't?
*Who is responsible?
*And, most importantly, what can we do differently?
Brownsville residents have watched familiar streets flood after heavy rainfall. We repair roads, reconstruct intersections and build new projects, but families understandably want to know whether the underlying drainage problems are being solved.
Flooding remains one of the most persistent concerns facing Brownsville families and businesses.
Take flooding.
Brownsville residents have watched familiar streets flood after heavy rainfall. We repair roads, reconstruct intersections and build new projects, but families understandably want to know whether the underlying drainage problems are being solved.
Flooding remains one of the most persistent concerns facing Brownsville families and businesses.
We need to look beyond temporary fixes and ask whether our road, drainage and infrastructure investments are addressing the underlying problem – and what additional resources and coordination are needed from Austin.
Education
The same approach should apply to education.
If a young person repeatedly struggles to pass a college-readiness examination, our first response shouldn't simply be, "Take it again."
We should ask why.
*Is the student academically unprepared?
*Was there an unidentified learning disability?
*Does the student need a different instructional approach?
*Are we unintentionally creating barriers between capable young people and careers in which they could excel?
Those are questions worth asking.
Those are questions worth asking.
Economic Development
Economic development deserves the same scrutiny. When we celebrate millions – or billions – of dollars in new investment coming to our region, we should also ask:
* How many Brownsville residents are being trained and hired for those jobs
*What those jobs pay, and
*Whether that investment is improving the lives of families who already call this community home.
Answers, not the "blame" game
This isn't about finding someone to blame.
It's about finding what works.
As your State Representative, that is the approach I would take to Austin: listen first, gather the facts, bring the appropriate people to the table, identify solutions, fight for the necessary resources, and then measure whether those solutions actually worked.
In the coming weeks, I will discuss some of the challenges affecting our community and the practical role state government can play in addressing them. I won't pretend that every problem has an easy answer. But I do believe every problem deserves serious attention.
And when something isn't working, we shouldn't be afraid to ask why – or to find a better way. Brownsville's future deserves that kind of effort.
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