HOLLYWOOD WILL FEATURE BROWNTOWN'S BEST KEPT SECRETS; AND UNITED BROWNSVILLE REMAINS CLUELESS

By Juan Montoya
When Robert Duvall, the first-rate actor of innumerable movies (my favorite role was when he was the guide for the Army in the movie Geronimo) came to film in Brownsville, he chose two spots that some locals wouldn't be caught dead in.
The first part of the filming was in Market Square with its quaint buildings and raunchy cantinas.
The other jewel was Charlie's Bar on 14th Street.
Now, does Duvall and Hollywood know something that we locals don't?
At Charlies, the joint starts rocking after 10 p.m. and you enter at your own risk. If you are identified as a "mark" by the ladies, get ready to spend some dough for their pleasure of their company. If not, well, you know what walks. At the Market Square, once you dodge the working guys and gals, there are actually some sedate places where one can actually talk over the jukebox in the corner.
While the landed gentry of Brownsville seems attracted by the sterile environments of the plasticized bars and watering holes north of Boca Chica, the well-heeled movie stars in Los Angeles have their eye on what locals consider seedy, blue-collar joints where you don't have to pay more than $2 bucks a brew and the talk is decidedly bilingual.
What do these people know that we don't?

Recently, we have noticed where United Brownsville – a scam looking for a raison d'etre to justify it's $25,000 that it receives as a gift from our various corporations and economic development alphabet soup organizations – has "adopted" several projects initiated by local activists who want to see downtown resurrect.

With its annual budget of $381,000 and a $85,000 executive director in Mike Gonzalez, it has now decided it wants to usurp the downtown revitalization game with its sparsely attended Better Block program. Before that, Melissa Castro had just about single-handedly implemented the Mercadito idea with the aid of local downtown promoters Ben Neece and George Ramirez, whose Crescent Moon was a bona fide incubator for local night scene.

Now, instead of a dark Market Square, weekend nights see throngs of colleges students and visitors to spots like the The Haven, Bora Bora, El Callejon, etc.

Add in a photo contest where the organization will not pay prize money but rather spread the fame of the shutterbugs who fall for the ruse, and you have the quintessential parasite organization sinking its teeth into yet more freebies at the expense of the local yokels. They get a lunch and get to meet Da Mayor and will share a lunch with Brownsville community leaders from the eight United Brownsville entities, which include – among others – the city of Brownsville, Brownsville Public Utilities Board and the Brownsville Independent School District.

The photo contest is only one of the first initiatives United Brownsville will release to get the community interested in the future of the city.

“There will be a video contest and we also want an essay contest for high school students,” said Luciana Morales, intern United Brownsville who is studying public policy and management.

“I think the idea is to engage different segments of the population,”Morales said.

The winning pictures could be used in future United Brownsville ad campaigns and other marketing efforts.

So basically, just as they get their funding for free and with virtually no one to account to except IBC President Fred Rusteberg and UTB President Juliet Garcia, they also want to get their graphics and photos for nothing under the guise of establishing a "dialogue" with the community.

Funding from the public entities and the boards is $25,000 apiece from the city of Brownsville, Brownsville Public Utilities Board, Brownsville Navigation District, Brownsville Independent School District, University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College, Brownsville Community Improvement Corp. and Greater Brownsville Incentive Corporation. That's reallly not a bad take and all they have done so far is copy other peopl's ideas. Nifty, hey?

Although there are members of the private sector on the coordinating board, there has never been any mention made of how much they are kicking into the kitty. Could it be that they also want to start a "dialogue" with the residents of Brownsville as long as it's on the public's nickle and not on theirs?
At least Duvall pays to play.