The Image Problem: Brownsville Wallows Because It Knows How To Wallow...Mayoral Candidates Do Not Impress...

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
Editor-In-Chief

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - In another time, this drowsy town at the end of the submissive Rio Grande may have been another Constantinople, a flourishing metropolis fattened by bountiful trade, its art rivaling that of Paris, its economy as healthy as any the world has known, its people proud to honor and defend it.

If only.

Today's Brownsville is the picture of poverty and dreams melting at residents' ankles. There is no more of a give-up town in Texas than this one. Faces come up at you from the cracked sidewalks as if headed for the morgue, bodies moving as if on low batteries, words thrown out as if without regard for the brain. God never has been kind to this piddling bordertown of some 140,000 love-starved souls.

Last night, at a debate featuring the five stiffs seeking the mayorship, including current Mayor Pat Ahumada, the citizens arriving to hear their thoughts received what could be said was merely the latest mininum installment mailed-in to pay for that familiar used car that passes here for city government. Rarely in the history of the planet has one community sought solace from a fivesome such as this one. It's not that they are not human; it's just that they cannot spring forth with new & novel ideas on how to get this under-achieving Rio Grande Valley town moving. If fog is the favored color here, then a super-sized tamale is the meal of the laggard. Brownsville has run out of food.

Said candidate Antonio "Tony" Martinez at the debate: "I want you to believe in Brownsville because when you believe in Brownsville, we can achieve for Brownsville."

His words, thoughtful as they sounded, sailed out like crooked darts aimed at a damaged dartboard inside a Vato bar on 14th Street. What does it mean? That may have been the response from any of a hundred locals in attendance at the local college's venue where the alleged debate was held to no laughter.

Another candidate opined that the city's failure to attract business - to pump-up its sluggish economy - has to do with Brownsville's "image." Good point, good read, good catch; now what? It's true. No truer words were ever spoken in town, not even those thrown-out by any of the dozens of Mr. Amigos who have wandered into Brownsville for that annual veneration of the Charro. Blogger Jerry McHale, himself once a candidate for mayor, often notes that the problem with this community is that it believes it is always at the crossroads. Only he never elaborates. At the crossroads of what - doom and damnation?

When City Commissioner (and candidate) Edward Camarillo spoke about his goals for Brownsville, another challenger quickly chided him on having been lost for the past six years. The issues are well-known. There are no jobs in town, other than, everyone says, that of drug mule or blogger. No Big Time companies are asking about possibilities in Brownsville. No major retailers want anything to do with this town. No sports outfit or entertainment conglomerate has inhaled and said, "Sure, we'll give it a shot."

It's always the ridiculous, cockamamie ideas, such as a Bridge to Nowhere, or a commuter airline that will risk it all flying into drug war ack-ack in Mexico, or a French Quarter in the city's stenchy, decaying downtown. Detritus has no rival aside from this town.

Perhaps someday, a baggage-less leader will waltz into town and show the community a better way. The roll call at last night's mayoral debate read like a calling of some mediocre Tejano band merely out to find a quick opportunity for self-serving posturing. Mayor Ahumada singing lead, Tony Martinez on bass, Camarillo on drums, etc., etc.

There's a sun over Brownsville again today.

Maybe residents should be thankful no local politician is in charge of that...

- 30 -