BLIND LEADING BLIND IN CITY LAND-GIFT TO UT SYSTEM

By Juan Montoya
With the public effectively silenced in their opposition to the giveaway and the majority of the city commission in lockstep behind Mayor Tony Martinez, six members of the Brownsville City Commission voted to give away 76 acres of public property to the third wealthiest university system in the nation to entice it to stay in downtown Brownsville.
The land – some of which the city doesn't even own – includes Lincoln Park and two vacant armories near the UTB-TSC campus.
The UT System has said it needs at least 300 acres to establish a campus here, but Martinez, undeterred that he does not even have one-fifth of that amount if the 17.4 -acre tract that belongs to the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife is not acquired in a land swap with the federal government, persuaded commissioners Estela Chavez-Vasquez, Melissa Zamora, Rose M. Gowen, Ricardo Longoria and Ricardo Villarreal to go along with his plan.
In fact, Zamora made the motion to give away the land to the UT System.
Only one, Jessica Kalifa-Tetreau, abstained.
Kalifa-Tetreau's abstention drew this remark from an onlooker:  "Jessica didn't want the controversy to damage her chances with the city voters. It would have been better for her to vote against the motion. That way, if the deal doesn't go through, she could say she didn't vote for it. By abstaining she effectively deprived the voters ion her district of a voice."
They were not the only ones.
When Martinez was elected, everyone thought he would overturn the gag rule that was imposed on the public by the former Pat Ahumada administration on the advice of contract attorney Mark E. Sossi. Ostensibly to protect the city and the commissioners from getting sued for defamation, Sossi's advice came after comments were directed against him for his performance as the city commission's legal counsel.
The local daily quoted Martinez saying that "should the university decide that they are going to locate in the downtown area, then of course this would void the donation."
Additionally, he said that the donation was in the best interests of the downtown commercial community and the "interest of TSC."
This drew a sharp rebuttal from a TSC adherent who said Martinez – a city and not a Texas Southmost College representative – had no authority to speak on behalf of the college.
"No one told him that he could speak on their behalf," he said. "I think they spoke for themselves before when they voted not to give away any community college assets to the UT System like (UTB President) Juliet Garcia was proposing."
There are other problems. The State of Texas established Lincoln Park along the river levee after it condemned the existing Lincoln Park to extend U.S. 77-83 to Los Tomates Bridge (Veterans Memorial Bridge) to mitigate for the loss of public green space.
Additionally, the East Brownsville Little League is located at the park. Did anyone ask them if they wanted to give up their playing field?
But with one fell swoop, Martinez and the other five city commissioners (six, because Tetreau's vote is inconsequential) have promised the land to the UT System with no public input into the matter. Likewise, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife tract has yet to be negotiated.
"They don't even know if the state and federal governments are going to go along with this plan of theirs," said an opponent at the meeting. "Do they know what they're doing?"