A comment from Stan

We note a powerful letter from our friend José Pérez in this morning’s Brownsville Herald on the irregularity of building permits in recent (recent meaning the last five years or so) construction and the consequent problems. We heartily recommend Mr. Pérez’s letter to your attention.

Mr. Pérez provides us with as concise information as he can in a case where eight building permits were issued to an un-named but well-known developer over a period of two years based on an abandoned 1926 plat that, as an afterthought, was re-instituted in relatively secret proceedings by our county board. The consequences are that houses are going up in lots that met standards in 1926 but do not in 2008. Standards have changed not because of whims but because our experience and understanding have changed.

In the Olmito case, Cameron County is apparently going to get stuck with building platted roads that the developer never got around to and the new residents are placing mailboxes next to the road on county right-of-way, creating hazardous driving on overly-narrow streets.

This is a major problem in Cameron County: our so-called public officials taking care of their developer friends at the expense of the rest of us. My family lives in a neighborhood that has experienced periodic flooding since Drainage Ditch Number One was dammed up to act as a collection pool for the artificial resacas that grace the former flood plain now known as the Paseo de Resaca development and which increased the value of that land by at least ten-fold.

Cameron County has much to offer its citizens and residents, but until its citizens start paying attention, we will not have worthy government. Our founders premised the whole enterprise on an assumption that citizens would actively inform themselves and actively prevent corrupt practices from becoming “normal”.  We hope this soon becomes the case for our beloved county.