Billy Graham addressed our nation on July 4th, 1970, in Washington, D.C. He reflected on the legacy of faith that runs through the history of America and gave thanks for God's blessings on our country.
CHICKEN BUCKETS BLOG: Filling the Rio Grande Valley with Buckets of Chicken!
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Monday, January 31, 2011
How To Communicate if Your Government Shuts Off Your Internet
How to Communicate if Your Government Shuts Off Your Internet:
This is what happened in Egypt Jan. 25th prompted by citizen protests, with sources estimating that the Egyptian government cut off approximately 88 percent of the country's internet access. What do you do without internet?
Step 1: Stop crying in the corner. Then start taking steps to reconnect with your network. Here’s a list of things you can do to keep the communication flowing.
Scenario: Your government is displeased with the communication going on in your location and pulls the plug on your internet access, most likely by telling the major ISPs to turn off service.
Make your network tangible
Print out your contact list, so your phone numbers aren’t stuck in the cloud. Some mail services like Gmail allow you to export your online contact list in formats that are more conducive to paper, such as CSV or Vcard, and offer step-by-step guides on how to do this.
Broadcast on the radio
CB Radio: Short for "Citizens Band" radio, these two-way radios allow communication over short distances on 40 channels. You can pick one up for about $20 to $50 at Radio Shack, and no license is required to operate it.
Ham radio: To converse over these radios, also known as "amateur radios," you have to obtain an operator's license from the FCC. Luckily, other Wired How-To contributors have already explained exactly what you need to do to get one and use it like a pro.
Phone
Set up a phone tree: According to the American Association of University Women, a phone tree is "a prearranged, pyramid-shaped system for activating a group of people by telephone" that can "spread a brief message quickly and efficiently to a large number of people." Dig out that contact list you printed out and follow the steps on the AAUW website to spread the message down your pyramid of contacts.
Enable Twitter via SMS: Though the thought of unleashing the Twitter fire hose in your text message inbox may seem horrifying, it would be better than not being able to connect to the outside world at all. The Twitter website has full instructions on how to redirect tweets to your phone.
Alex Jones and infowars.com have a telephone number for people to listen to his radio show by phone, in case the internet goes down, or if you don't have internet. The phone in listen line is 512-646-5000.
Fax
If you need to quickly send and receive documents with lengthy or complex instructions, phone conversations may result in misunderstandings, and delivering the doc by foot would take forever. Brush the dust off that bulky old machine, establish a connection by phone first with the recipient to make sure his machine is hooked up, then fax away.
You may not need a fax machine to send or receive faxes if your computer has a dial-up fax application.
Getting back online
While it might be relatively easy for a government to cut connections by leveraging the major ISPs, there are some places they wouldn't get to so readily, like privately-owned networks and independent ISPs.
Find the privately-run ISPs
In densely populated areas, especially in central business districts and city suburbs there are multiple home WiFi networks overlapping each other, some secure, some not. If there is no internet, open up your WiFi by removing password protection: If enough people do this it's feasible to create a totally private WiFi service outside government control covering the CBD, and you can use applications that run Bonjour (iChat on Mac for example) to communicate with others on the open network and send and receive documents. **needs more clarification
If you are a private ISP, it's your time to shine. Consider allowing open access to your Wi-Fi routers to facilitate communication of people around you until the grid is back online.
Return to dial-up
According to an article in the BBC about old tech's role in the Egyptian protests, "Dial-up modems are one of the most popular routes for Egyptians to get back online. Long lists of international numbers that connect to dial-up modems are circulating in Egypt thanks to net activists We Re-Build, Telecomix and others."
Ad-Hoc Networking
Most wireless routers, PCs, laptops, and even some ultramobile devices like cellphones have the ability to become part of an "ad hoc" network, where different "nodes" (all of the devices on the network) share the responsibility of transmitting data with one another. These networks can become quite large, and are often very easy to set up. If used properly by a tech-savvy person, such networks can be used to host temporary websites and chat rooms. There are many internet tutorials on the internet for ad hoc networking, so feel free to google some.
Apple computers tend to have very accessible ad hoc functionality built in, including a pre-installed chat client (iChat) that will automatically set up an ad hoc "Rendezvous" chatroom among anybody on the network, without the need for an external service like AIM or Skype. Ad hoc network-hosting functionality is built in to the Wi-Fi menu.
Windows computers have several third-party ad hoc chat applications available (such as Trillian) and setting up an ad hoc Wi-Fi network is almost as simple as on a Mac.
Linux operating systems, of course, have plenty of third-party apps available, and most distros have ad hoc network-creation support built in.
Get satellite access
You can have very, very slow internet if you have something similiar to an Iridium phone, which would allow you to do dial up at 2400 baud, which at least gives you e-mail. This will also work when your government has shut down GSM and telephone access, and will work pretty much anywhere on the planet. If you're in the right place, get yourself KA-SAT access (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KA-SAT) which is satellite broadband and will not be routed through any internet exchange that certain local governments may monitor or block (unless that government is part of EU or er ... Uncle Sam.
Packet Radio
Back to the '90s: There do exist shortwave packet-radio modems. These are also excruciatingly slow, but may get your e-mail out.
Back to Basics
Have an air horn or other loud instrument handy. It may just come down to being able to alert people in your local geographic area, who would otherwise be unaware of an emergency. You may also want to learn a bit about Morse code and have a cheat sheet available.
Additional Resources
The online activist group known as Anonymous has posted a crowd-sourced document titled "20 Ways to Circumvent the Egyptians Governments' Internet Block" that includes specific connectivity details like ham radio frequencies and ip addresses for social networking sites.
Why Socialists Hate America's Founders-Alan Keyes
Why socialists hate America's founders
Posted: January 29, 2011
1:00 am Eastern
© 2011
This week Chris Matthews threw an adolescent fit, calling Michele Bachmann a "balloon head" because she claimed that America's founders "worked tirelessly until slavery was no more in the United States."
Matthews' petty tirade must be viewed against the backdrop of the socialist-leaning left's longstanding inclination to diminish the standing and putative authority of America's founding generation. These people never miss an opportunity to point out that some of the founders were slaveholders. Some of the founders drank too much. Some of the founders were sexual libertines and adulterers. Not only were they no better than we are, their racism and bigotry make us their superiors. We are,therefore, no longer bound to think their views about politics or government have any special status or deserve any special consideration.
Though couched in terms of personal disparagement, this denigration of the founders isn't at all about personal feelings or sensitivities. Sure, many on the socialist left still feel obliged to pay lip service to the U.S. Constitution. Like Obama, they even occasionally mouth the language of rights, as if to echo the famous affirmations of the AmericanDeclaration of Independence. But the idea of government limited by the moral requirements of unalienable right contradicts the efficient pursuit of socialist goals. Structural constraints like federalism or the separation of government powers inhibit the imposition of socialist change. People who view politics as the realm of "Yes we can" have little patience for an understanding of government that tells those with power what they can't rightly do on account of the God-endowed rights and responsibilities of natural individuals and families, or the communities (like our religious institutions or our states and localities) they voluntarily comprise.
As I have frequently pointed out in articles here and onmy blogsince Obama took up residence in the White House, the key leaders of the Obama faction Democrats have, from day one, signaled their contemptuous impatience with constitutional constraints. Obama sloughs off the Constitution's "natural born Citizen" requirement for the office of president. Nancy Pelosi laughs off the question of Obamacare's conformity with the Constitution's limitations on the U.S. government's powers. And as for voters being intimidated by leftist blacks, Eric Holder waives off the requirement that all citizens be accorded equal protection by the law.
These attitudes illustrate the deep animosity for limited government that gives the leaders and pundits of the overtly socialist faction the motive to assail the respectability of founders like George Washington. Who cares what slaveholders thought about rights? Who cares what racist imposers of human bondage thought about the limits on government power? Discredit the people and you discredit the notion that people should bother to consider what they thought. Discredit the founders and you can banish from public discourse and education any serious consideration of what they introduced as the basis for justice in political life.
There's no denying the effectiveness of this deployment of the tried-and-true ad hominem attack. It has worked so well that many people in the black community actually believe silly slurs like "The founders thought blacks were only three-fifths of a person" as if the oft cited phrase in the Constitution applied only to black slaves and not, for example, to noncitizen permanent residents. And, of course, this slur entirely ignores the fact that the whole point of the provision was to prevent the states with large slave populations from getting more votes in Congress on that account, thereby empowering and encouraging slavery in the states.
People unwilling to think through relatively simple matters like that surely don't want toconsiderthe profoundly difficult challenge faced by those in the founding generation who sincerely held to the truth that God-endowed right pertains to all human beings, and whothereforetrembled for their country (as Jefferson said) when they remembered God's justice. Given the age-old roots of slavery, what's truly remarkable about the American founders is not the injustice they practiced or tolerated, but the fact that they acknowledged, and enshrined as the basis for America's political life, principles that revealed and condemned that injustice.
In this respect, they were in fact very different from left-leaning pundits like Chris Matthews. Such folks vociferously oppose people who claim the right to discriminate against or enslave others based on the physical characteristics of race. But they adamantly insist that all people have the right murderously to discriminate against their helpless offspring based on the progress of their undeniably human development. As most of us sometimes do, America's founders violated a standard of justice for all that they acknowledged to be true. Today, people like Matthews passionately connive at getting all of us to deny the true standard of justice so that some of us may violate it with impunity.
Is it just coincidence that this recants the premise hat forbids a few to oppress all the rest? Is it just a coincidence that it re-establishes the assumption that when some people have others in a position entirely dependent upon their power (as mothers have their children in the womb), they may dispose of them at their convenience, with no rule of right to hinder them? When they promote the oxymoron of "abortion rights," do elite talkers like Matthews serve the freedom of women, or do they quietly restore thepremiseof age-old elite tyranny?
However that may be, given a choice between America's founders and folks like Matthews, Obama and the rest of the "abortion-rights" crowd, the right choice is clear: Better to have people with the will and courage to establish thepremiseof right, though constrained by lack of power from its fulfillment, than powerful people who treat wrong as right in order to free their power from all constraint. Through the founders, God helped America to be born in justice. As for the others, well, God help us all!
For more from Alan Keyes visit http://loyaltoliberty.com. Once a high-level Reagan-era diplomat, Alan Keyes is a long-time leader in the conservative movement, well-known as a staunch pro-life champion and an eloquent advocate of the Constitutional Republic, including respect for the moral basis of liberty and self-government. He staunchly resists the destruction of the American people's sovereignty by fighting to secure our borders, abolish the federal income tax, end the insurrectionary practices of the federal Judiciary, and build a banking and financial system that halts elite looting of America's wealth and income. He formally severed his Republican Party affiliation in April of 2008 and has since then worked withAmerica's Independent Partyto build an effective vehicle for citizen-led grass-roots political action.
Small Cities Stop McAllen’s ‘power play’ On Council
BOSWELL ADMITS HE IS A PIG!
Boswell said. “But all of us are guilty of being piggies at the trough and trying to get as much as we can for our cities.”
Small cities stop McAllen’s ‘power play’ on council
By JARED JANES, The Monitor
01/31/2011 4:43 AM
01/31/2011 4:43 AM
McAllen city officials said they only laid out “mathematical facts” in a failed attempt to change the voting structure of the Rio Grande Valley’s regional association of local governments.
But La Feria Mayor Steve Brewer, who stood to be outvoted 133-9 by McAllen’s representative if the proposal passed, characterized McAllen’s attempts to change the bylaws of the Lower Rio Grande Valley Development Council as a “power play.”
An attempt by McAllen to change the structure of the council failed after vocal opposition from Brewer and other officials from the smaller governmental entities in Willacy, Cameron and Hidalgo counties.
“This is going for total control, and you can’t have that. We’ve come a long way to look at projects regionally,” Brewer told the 25 other members of the council Thursday during its biannual membership meeting. “We can’t go stepping backward where all the power is in one power base.”
The voting structure of the council hasn’t changed since it was formed in 1967 to coordinate regional development in land use, transportation, housing, economic development and other issues. McAllen City Attorney Kevin Pagan said changing the board’s structure would address an inequity where 12 governmental entities who represent almost 85 percent of the council’s constituents only have 47 percent of the total votes on the board.
The council is composed of cities, county government, educational institutions, special purpose districts and special interests groups who use population counts to determine who gets a seat on the 26-member board of directors. But once the board of director seats are apportioned, those directors have equal voices in council activities under its one-person, one-vote structure.
That means McAllen City Commissioner John Ingram, who represents 132,204 McAllen residents, has as much say as Brewer, who represents 8,098 La Feria residents, in how the Valley should distribute millions in federal and state funds that flow to the council.
McAllen sought to move the board’s structure toward one wherein the power of each director’s vote is based on population. Pagan said using population to determine votes ensures that residents are fairly and proportionally represented on the council.
But Pagan’s proposal failed 825-314, with its only support coming from representatives of the cities, school districts and economic development corporations in Brownsville and McAllen. Opponents of the proposal said it would have unfairly shifted a majority vote on the council toward the Valley’s nine largest cities, eliminating the voice of smaller governments who count on a share of the millions in federal and state dollars distributed through the council.
Governmental entities contribute $215,000 annually in membership dues to the council, which has an annual budget of $20 million from federal and state funds that are distributed to the Valley on formulas that include population. The board of directors also is periodically tasked with splitting up larger sums, most recently when it oversaw $175 million in Hurricane Dolly disaster relief funds.
Harlingen Mayor Chris Boswell, who is president of the council, said McAllen’s proposal was in reaction to disagreements in how the board divided funds between cities and selected consultants, ignoring recommendations of technical committees.
“What Mayor Brewer said is right about how we need to think regionally and try to achieve things regionally,” Boswell said. “But all of us are guilty of being piggies at the trough and trying to get as much as we can for our cities.”
However, the board’s current structure forces each governmental entity to work together to secure votes, said Edinburg City Commissioner Gus Garcia, who voted against the proposal despite his city’s potential to have the fourth-most votes on the board. Changing the board’s structure to one where voting strength was based on population would make some votes meaningless.
For example, under the proposal, Hidalgo County governments voting together could approve anything without the support of governments in Cameron and Willacy counties.
Boswell and Brownsville City Commissioner Edward Camarillo said the council should appoint a committee to recommend other ways to align the board’s voting structure more closely with population. But the committee proposal was also rejected by the board.
Edcouch Mayor Pro Tem Eddy Gonzalez said the council should be evenhanded in how moneys are distributed in the Valley. In 2009, Gonzalez successfully lobbied other small city representatives to split a $1.7 million Justice Assistance Grant equally, rather than making each cut proportional to population. Under Gonzalez’s plan, Edcouch gained about $20,000 more from the federal grant, which was sent to the regional council through a formula that accounts for population and crime rates.
“I work within the system they have established,” Gonzales said of the council. “(McAllen officials) are trying to change the system to benefit themselves.”
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Harlingen City Commission Doublespeak-Downtown Parking Controversy!
A brief history so you know what is going on:
The Heritage Manor (Reese, Wil-Mont, Wagner Project) sat empty in downtown Harlingen for several years. Jo Wagner, a local developer, decided to take on the $4 million dollar task of refurbishing the building to its former glory and develop a restaurant, condos, and office space in the structure. The only problem was not enough off street parking was available to accommodate the owners of the 20 plus condos and office space renters. City Manager Craig Lonon sat down with Wagner and came up with a plan for the city to purchase 2 lots adjacent directly south of the Reese building. One was called the Toler Garage property and the other was called the Water Works property. Those 2 lots would be cleared and the city would then build a spacious parking lot with some covered parking spaces specifically for the condo owners and other VIP's of the Reese building. A total of $500,000 dollars was committed to the project by the city (taxpayers money). The other $250,000 for the project was to come from the Harlingen EDC and/or the Harlingen Community Improvement Board. Lonon presented the above plan to the Harlingen City Commission on February 4, 2009. The commissioners had a lengthy discussion on the issue and then agreed to purchase the 2 lots and build the parking area specifically for the Reese Project with taxpayers money.. The vote was unanimous and this committed the city to fund this project. You can read the actual minutes from that meeting directly below. As you can see the deal was approved and the money was allocated to build the parking lot. Now fast forward to January 5, 2011 and read the minutes of that Harlingen City Commission meeting (below) and you will see that the commission for a second time is allocating funds to purchase 2 lots and build a parking lot in the exact same location. The difference this time is that the city is not building the parking lot specifically for the Reese-Wagner Development, but just parking space for the general downtown area. it is the exact same 2 lots and the same area where the parking spaces will be built but now it is for general downtown parking purposes. You will see in the January 5th minutes that City Attorney Roxann Cotroneo stresses and makes clear that the parking lot is not for any specific downtown project. A direct contradiction to what was agreed to in the February 4, 2009 city commission meeting. Between the two meetings a total of $1,250,000 city taxpayers money is committed to this parking lot project and another $250,000 is implied to be spent by EDC/Harlingen Community Improvement Board at the February 4, 2009 meeting for a total of $1.5 million dollars. This money is being spent to directly benefit the Reese-Wagner Project as clearly stated in the February 4, 2009 meeting. In the January 5, 2011 meeting the city is trying to totally deny this fact. Why?
OFFICIAL MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 4, 2009 CITY COMMISSION MEETING:
REGULAR MEETING CITY COMMISSION, HARLINGEN, TEXAS, FEBRUARY 4, 2009
A Regular Meeting of the Harlingen Elective Commission was held on Wednesday, February 4, 2009 at 5:30 p.m. in Town Hall, City Hall, 118 E. Tyler Street, Harlingen, Texas.
Those attending were:
Those attending were:
Mayor Chris Boswell
Larry Galbreath, Commissioner Place 1
Bobby Farris, Commissioner Place 2
Jay Meade, Commissioner Place 3
Robert Leftwich, Commissioner Place 4
Tom Hushen, Commissioner Place 5
Staff Present:
Craig Lonon, City Manager
Brendan Hall, City Attorney
Sylvia R. Trevino, City Secretary
AGENDA ACTION ITEM-CITY COMMISSION MEETING FEBRUARY 4, 2009:
ITEM #7) Consider and take action to approve participation in the Heritage Manor
ITEM #7) Consider and take action to approve participation in the Heritage Manor
Redevelopment Project (Reese-Wagner Project) and to commit funding to purchase property and increase parking for the project.
PARTICIPATION APPROVED IN THE HERITAGE MANOR REDEVELOPMENT PROJECT (REESE-WAGNER PROJECT) AND FUNDING COMMITTED TO PURCHASE PROPERTY AND INCREASE PARKING FOR THE PROJECT
Craig Lonon stated that Jo Wagner had submitted a proposal to the Harlingen Housing
Authority to purchase and redevelop Heritage Manor (REESE-WAGNER PROJECT). The redevelopment proposal requires that a third party provide adequate parking to meet the needs of their redevelopment plan. The development proposal calls for a fine dining restaurant, a coffee shop, up to 10 offices and 22-23 luxury condominiums. The investment is anticipated to be nearly $4.0 million. Mr. Lonon stated that to make it happen and for us to do the parking we need to secure 50 open parking spaces to support the offices, restaurant and coffee shop and 50 covered parking spaces for residents. “Downtown parking at night is not a problem other than lighting might be required. We have got to secure two areas of parking, one controlled and one none controlled. One way to solve this would be to build a parking garage estimated at $1.5 million and a second option would be to acquire additional parking in the areas---50 spaces at one and 50 at another.”
Why should the City participate? Mr. Lonon explained that for the past three years the City, the Housing Authority, Harlingen Downtown and many others have exhausted their ideas for the redevelopment of Heritage Manor. No one else is interested in a redevelopment project that complements downtown. The proposed project supports Harlingen First and Harlingen 100. It increases the critical mass downtown, increases the night time population, and adds fine dining and professional office space. Mr. Lonon stated that the project does exactly what we want it to do for downtown.
Mr. Lonon further stated that currently the property is not taxed. When it is developed it is anticipated that over $150,000 annually will go to taxing jurisdictions. Mr. Lonon stated that for the first ten years after completion, the project should generate between $1.5-$1.7 million in local property taxes. The project should generate between $750,000-$850,000 in sales tax for the City over the same period. Total financial return to the community during the first ten years is between $2.25-$2.55 million.
Mr. Lonon recommended that the City Commission approve participation in the Heritage Manor redevelopment project and commit up to $500,000 towards this project from the General Fund reserve. At the same time, that the City Commission instruct the staff to seek partner funding from the Economic Development Corporation and the Harlingen Community Improvement Board to reduce the use of the General Fund reserves for this project. Further, that staff be instructed to prepare the paperwork to secure the funding for this project. This action will commit the City to this project and encourage the developer to proceed immediately with this redevelopment project.
Commissioner Farris made a motion to accept staff’s recommendation.
Commissioner Galbreath seconded the motion.
Commissioner Galbreath seconded the motion.
Under discussion Commissioner Leftwich stated that he totally supports the project to get
momentum downtown in terms of revitalization but he wants to make sure that the taxpayers are covered on the acquisition of the corner lot and the Waterworks lot. Commissioner Leftwich asked that the investment by the City coincide with the investment by the developer so that the taxpayers are not stuck with a covered parking lot and a 40-year lease when the development does not get off the ground. Commissioner Leftwich suggested an initial 10-year lease on the parking and then entering into a longterm lease as the project matures.
Commissioner Farris stated that a ten-year lease would unfairly tie the hands of the
developer because someone might not buy one of the condos knowing that in ten years he/she could lose their parking space. He commented that if the developer is putting in $4 million and all the City is doing is agree to lease the land for long term 40-years to the
developer, the lease could include safe language that the property would revert back to the City in the event the project was not developed.
Commissioner Leftwich stated we’ve set precedence in other parts of the city where we only offered 10-year leases but for the protection of the taxpayers we would need to have an initial short term lease for 10 years with promise of a longer term.
Mayor Boswell commented that it would be best to allow the lawyers to, in their best
way, prepare the lease to protect the City even though Commissioner Leftwich’s point is
very well taken. Mayor Boswell stated that the lawyers could prepare the lease that will protect the City if the development does not occur, as it should.
Commissioner Leftwich reiterated his point to make sure the City’s investment coincides
with the investment of the developer so that the infrastructure then becomes value for the
contractor and does not put in any more of his money into the project.
Craig Lonon commented that in his discussions with Jo Wagner the City would secure
the parking, they would design the parking and then it would be built with their facility.
Ms. Wagner is talking about moving rather quickly and wants to open in November.
Commissioner Hushen stated that the City needs to step forward as this is a real
opportunity.
George Merrill commented that it is a great plan but his only concern, in serving in other task forces, that funding is necessary for development and redevelopment but long term there should also be future funding to increase the City’s police force and not forget the issue of public safety.
The voting was unanimous on the motion.
At this time Mayor Boswell gave special recognition to Blas Cantu, the Executive Director of the Harlingen Housing Authority, for his leadership in this project.
** NOW FAST FORWARD TO THE JANUARY 5, 2011 CITY COMMISSION MEETING **
MINUTES OF JANUARY 5, 2011 CITY COMMISSION MEETING:
REGULAR MEETING CITY COMMISSION HARLINGEN, TEXAS JANUARY 05, 2011
A Regular Meeting of the Harlingen Elective Commission was held on Wednesday,
January 05, 2011 at 5:30 p.m. in Town Hall, City Hall, and 118 E. Tyler Street, Harlingen, Texas.
Those in attendance were:
Mayor Chris Boswell
Gustavo C. Ruiz, Commissioner District 1
Robert Leftwich, Commissioner District 2
Kori Marra, Commissioner District 3
Jerry Prepejchal, Commissioner District 4
Joey Trevino, Commissioner District 5
Staff Present:
Carlos Yerena, City Manager
Roxann P. Cotroneo, City Attorney
Sylvia R. Trevino, City Secretary
AGENDA ACTION ITEM-CITY COMMISSION MEETING JANUARY 5, 2011:
ITEM #4-e) Consider and take action to adopt an ordinance on final reading to amend the city's 2010-11 fiscal year budget to purchase real property, demolish a structure and construct a parking lot for use in the downtown area.
ORDINANCE ADOPTED ON FINAL READING TO AMEND THE CITY’S 2010-
11 FISCAL YEAR BUDGET TO PURCHASE REAL PROPERTY, DEMOLISH A
STRUCTURE AND CONSTRUCT A PARKING LOT FOR USE IN THE DOWNTOWN AREA.
Commissioner Marra made a motion to adopt the ordinance on final reading.
Commissioner Prepejchal seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.
The City Attorney clarified to the public that the property being referred to is outside the downtown district. Commissioner Leftwich added that the properties are the two corner lots that were discussed at the last meeting.
Chuck Lee stated that in the appraisal on the Toler property reflects possible contamination and that the property owner did not provide the environmental assessment. He stated that there are three (3) monitoring wells on the property. Mention was made that the underground tanks have been sealed. Mr. Lee commented that the EA report was not given to the appraiser and the client is being urged to hire an environmental investigator. It was noted that should such
contamination be found the appraiser could re-evaluate the property. Gabriel Gonzalez explained that Compass Bank did provide an environmental report and as long as they don’t do a water well the property is OK. He further explained that the tanks have been buried according to TCEQ regulations. He also added that TNRCC also knows that the tanks are buried and some of the reports have been submitted to EPA.
Joe Rubio reminded the Commission that Sonny Villarreal, the owner of a local seafood restaurant, was ordered to remove the tanks that were on his property. Mr. Rubio was not
in agreement to amending the budget for a $4 million project and he asked where the
money for the purchase of the property was coming from. Roel Gutierrez, Director of Finance, replied that $500,000 was coming from the general fund balance and $250,000 from EDC.
"Roxann Cotroneo explained that the purchase of the property was for downtown use and not specifically for use by the Reese project. If it were for a specific project, a lease agreement would need to be drawn up."
"Roxann Cotroneo explained that the purchase of the property was for downtown use and not specifically for use by the Reese project. If it were for a specific project, a lease agreement would need to be drawn up."
JANUARY 5TH 2011 CITY COMMISSION MEETING
(video courtesy of Joe Rubio)
AND THE BIGGEST CONTRADICTION IS BETWEEN THE FEBRUARY 4, 2009 CITY COMMISSION MEETING AGREEMENT (ABOVE) TO PURCHASE THE LAND AND BUILD A PARKING LOT SPECIFICALLY FOR THE HERITAGE MANOR (REESE-WAGNER) PROJECT AND THE ACTIONS BY THE CITY COMMISSION ON JANUARY 5, 2011 TO PURCHASE THE LOTS AND BUILD A PARKING LOT IS SUMMED UP BY THE HARLINGEN CITY ATTORNEY ROXANN COTRONEO AT THE END OF THE JANUARY 5TH MEETING:
THE OFFICIAL MINUTES REFLECT, "Roxann Cotroneo explained that the purchase of the property was for downtown use and not specifically for use by the Reese project. If it were for a specific project, a lease agreement would need to be drawn up."
WHAT A BUNCH OF B.S.!
WHAT A BUNCH OF B.S.!
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