Last night I sent the following letter the the Brownsville City Secretary:

Ms. Von Hatton:

I’m attaching the memo I was provided by your office in response to my request for information on how much the city has spent on Pablo Kisel Boulevard. I appreciate the effort that seems to have been involved in producing it, but it does not seem to match reality very well.

Among other things, Mr. Torres says “Repairs were made from the North Main Drainage ditch to the frontage of HWY 77 all being on the south bound lane. These repairs consist of spot repairs to ranging from area of 8’ x 8’ to 8’ x 30’ in measurements.”

But, if you observe the photos I made of the street (at http://www.nunnayerbizness.com/2008/03/20/a-tour-of-pablo-kisel/) you will see that the very first of these is a half-mile repair in the westernmost lane (southbound) that is just around a half-mile long, exceeding Mr. Torre’s statement that the largest patch was eight by thirty feet. There are photos of a second repair on the southbound side of at least a quarter of a mile in length and two lanes width running from the corner behind Gold’s gym to the expressway access road which appears to be older than the two and a half years cited in Mr. Torre’s memorandum.

Perhaps it was the language of my request that caused a problem. I asked for the costs of repairs. Perhaps Mr. Torres considered the half-mile stretch a replacement rather than a repair and therefore not reportable under the request I made. It may also have been that the work was contracted out and not done directly by city personnel, although I seem to remember many trucks and vehicles marked as city property as well as people with public works shirts on.

In any case, the report does not match observation and I would like an explanation. Do I need to make a new request for information?

Further, I had made a second request for agreements made with the developers and contractors concerning the construction of Pablo Kisel and have heard nothing of it. Could you please inquire about its status?

Thank you for your help.

Sincerely,
Stan Raines

PLEASE NOTE: I publish my correspondence with public officials on public matters. I do not do so in order to malign or embarrass but to do my part to help the city run. I am genuinely concerned about the costs of maintaining this and other streets and would like to see things arranged so that once the repairs to streets are made, they are maintained.

We shall see what response we get. There has been some action. Many of the problems I documented in “A Tour of Pablo Kisel” have been repaired. I’ll walk it again and present an update Wednesday or Thursday.

In the meantime, the Taxman cometh.