After Careful Examination....

Most of the East/West traffic in Brownsville is horribly screwed up. I don't mean to state the obvious, but some of the why bears closer scrutiny.

I am not a half bad shirt-sleeve engineer, and from looking at it over and over, I can state now with absolute certainty that the destruction at the junction of FM802 and US 77 was done FOR NO REASON!

This project is a CCRMA project. Did they do it to fatten some buddy's wallet, or is this just some justification for their West Loop? Are there pressures to force through a westward expansion of Morrison Road that may prove easier if the other cross-town arteries are blocked?

If this is an example of CCRMA doing their job, I want the group disbanded for incompetence, if not bribery and graft, for you see IT WAS UNNECESSARY. This is an engineering certainty.

Some of FM 802 was lowered due to intentionally poor engineering the last go round in order to satisfy a harebrained scheme to keep Hudson's artificial resacas full.
The first time we had a gully washer of a rain, the intersection of FM 802 and Central Ave was under 2 feet of water and dozens of cars stalled out at night in the middle of the road. The road had never flooded before they lowered it.

In the latest round of unnecessary road destruction, they are lowering it again in front of the mall and near the intersection of Old Alice Road and FM802. Why do they want traffic stalled in high water at those fairly major intersections?

I am not so much of a conspiracy theorist to believe that that is their goal, but it most certainly will be the effect. So if the downside of the effect is so bad, what is the upside of the goal that would outweigh sound engineering practices? It has to be money involved, because no licensed Professional Engineer would sign off on such moronic stupidity.

Now, who gains from the roads becoming flood ways? The city for one. TxDOT builds the roads, but other than a drainage ditch, the city is responsible for storm drainage. With the roads as low as they have become, the storm waters will have to run uphill to keep the roads from flooding. This means that the city can get away with installing inadequate drainage for the roads, because it will be handling less run off BECAUSE THE ROAD ITSELF WILL BE UNDER WATER.

In Brownsville, we have been spared a major hurricane for so long, I fear we have rolled straight 7's too many times to expect another one. By the time a call for evacuation comes, the city will have already had some heavy rains preceding the hurricane. Our evacuation routes will be under water. Who do we blame then? During and after the hurricane, emergency vehicles will not be able to move because these major roads will be under water. What do we do then?

The truth of the mater is that there is nothing we could do then, there are some things we can do now, however. Get to the bottom of the UNNECESSARY reconstruction of the road at 802 and 77, and fire/prosecute/impeach whatever, every single person involved with that decision. Find out who profited and prosecute them, too. Since the whole CCRMA signed off on this wallet fattening proposal, disband the whole thing. It would have the added benefit of the end of toll road talk around here.

"Of course I know. It is my business to know." -The Merovingian

For a friend....

Fans of The Righteous Brothers will recognize the tune.


You never smack your lips
Anymore when I crack the lid.

And theres no chocolate sauce
On the end of your fingertips.

You say to "Please waffle cone it, baby."
But baby, baby I know it:

You've lost that ice cream feeling,
Ooh! That ice cream feeling.

You've lost that ice cream feeling,
Now its gone, gone, gone,whoa..whoaoo.

We are subjected to traffic BS by idiots

Recently, I was on US 59N between Goliad and Victoria, which is under as much revision as US 83 and down here. The difference is that the contractor doing that job would appear to have some real concerns for the existing traffic. The attack plan for that highway expansion does not do the concrete cattle chute for endless miles, nor jerk people off and on to semi-complete sections.

The incompetent traffic flow management planning during construction in our area looks almost intentional in its malicious implementation. I wonder if it is?

Would we really have such a traffic problem if they would just finish what they are presently doing and get the hell out of the way?

History is replete with examples of problems being created or blown out of proportion when it was in someone's interest to promote an unnecessary solution.

Right now, I am thinking that our Regional Mobility Authority is just such an unnecessary solution.

One of my favorite books is Malice in Blunderland which defines a committee as, "A collection of the unfit, chosen from the unwilling to do the unnecessary."

We seem not only to have a committee, but a committee with the name Authority in it's title.


"Of course I know. It is my business to know." -The Merovingian

From a comment in BATB

At May 29, 2008 11:51 AM, Anonymous said........
Do you all just look at Brownsville stuff? Because it looks like there's a potential firestorm about to develop in Port Isabel. I understand there's a new mayor and new set of commissioners after a decade long control of a certain faction. Based on this special meeting scheduled (http://www.portisabel-texas.com/city/commission/May312008SpecialCityCommissionMeeting5B15D1.pdf), it looks like they might be cleaning house.


I think this is the agenda item being referenced:

3. Personnel Matters pursuant to Section §551.074 of the Texas Government Code to deliberate the
appointment, employment, evaluation, re-assignment, duties, discipline, or dismissal of a public
officer or employee:
�� City Manager
�� Assistant City Manager
�� Finance Director
�� City Secretary
�� Building Inspector
�� Police Chief
�� EMS Director
�� Fire Marshal
�� Museum Director
�� Library Director
�� Public Works Director
�� Municipal Judge

Argh !!!!

There are THREE sections marked Latino and one Hispanic.
In addition, following the Asian section, there are two gondolas with imported Mexican products, that I guess they didn't know how to classify. It seems to me by what I saw with the imports that Walmart classifies foodstuffs imported from Mexico as neither Latino, nor Hispanic. Why is Asian squeezed in between the imported Mexican and Hispanic? If there was no buffer zone, would fist-fights break out in the aisle? Is it of some utmost importance that there are THREE classifications for people who trace their ancestry to south of the border?

As near as I can figure it, there are a lot of Latinos, enough Hispanics to warrant their own section, and the rest are Mexicans who don't even get one of those aisle markers that have been driving me crazy. But Walmart please, if you are reading, don't add one on my account, I'd have to visit the pharmacy section for some calming medication.

You may think that I obsess on this issue, and you are right. It is just too weird for me and I would really like to hear Walmart's thinking on this. I am worried, however, that their explanation would be stranger than my imagination running wild could have invented.

"of course I know. It is my business to know." The Merovingian

A few minor changes

I was getting a bit miffed at reading my blog using only the middle 25% of my monitor, so I widened it. If this causes problems, let me know.

Music. (by choice, not obligatory)
When cruising the local scene, I open them all at once (cool trick on IE 7) and the cacophony of ensuing caterwauling was driving me crazy, so I didn't wish to add my own to the mix. It was also driving me crazy to pop into comments and the song blowing up, so I use the pop-out player first, then comment away without musical interruption. Give it a try, it is especially helpful if the musical tract gives you some inspiration for what you are going to write.


Besides, some of the selections are crude and offensive, and as anyone who has read here knows, I am never crude. Offensive,maybe, but never crude. Play for your own amusement.

M.

Lawyer Jokes

A friend asked......



Did you hear they are going to start replacing lab rats with lawyers?

1) Lawyers are more plentiful.

2) No one really cares what happens to a lawyer.

3) There are just some things a rat won't do.




Q: What do you call a ship with 5000 lawyers stuck in it at the bottom of the ocean?

A: A good start.


The devil visited a lawyer's office and made him an offer. "I can arrange some things for you, " the devil said. "I'll increase your income five-fold. Your partners will love you; your clients will respect you; you'll have four months of vacation each year and live to be a hundred. All I require in return is that your wife's soul, your children's souls, and their children's souls rot in hell for eternity."

The lawyer thought for a moment. "What's the catch?" he asked



How many personal injury attorneys does it take to change a light bulb?

Three--one to turn the bulb, one to shake him off the ladder, and the third to sue the ladder company.


What is a criminal lawyer?

Redundant.



What's the difference between a good lawyer and a bad lawyer?

A bad lawyer can let a case drag out for several years. A good lawyer can make it last even longer




A junior partner in a firm was sent to a far-away state to represent a long-term client accused of robbery. After days of trial, the case was won, the client acquitted and released. Excited about his success, the attorney telegraphed the firm: "Justice prevailed."
The senior partner replied in haste: "Appeal immediately."


The lawyer (thinking he'd trap the witness): "Well, sir, will you tell the jury how you knew it was exactly that distance?"
The witness: "Because when the accident happened I took out a tape and measured it. I knew some annoying lawyer would ask me that question."


Two lawyers were out hunting when they came upon a couple of tracks. After close examination, the first lawyer declared them to be deer tracks. The second lawyer disagreed, insisting they must be elk tracks.

They were still arguing when the train hit them.



What's wrong with Lawyer jokes?
Lawyers don't think they're funny, and nobody else thinks they're jokes.

There is a campaign to make my head explode

What is next, a contract with J.D. Powers and Associates? This has got to be one of the sillier things that I have ever seen PUB spend advertising money on, let alone getting those guys to pose for the picture holding it. This is an award received for form over substance. An award for how pretty the package was wrapped.

I saw this and had a flashback to the movie A Christmas Story and images of the box arriving containing "a major award". What does it cost them to belong to the association that presented this award? What does this association actually do? Are there meetings, or merely annual trips to the post office box to collect dues and mail out a bi-annual newsletter and a few plaques once a year?

If they were awarded a Leaky Bucket, would they also take out a 1/8 page add with photos holding it up (properly bandaged and with makeup to hide the bruising, of course)?

I wonder......

"Of course I know. It is my business to know. -The Merovingian

Imagine Brownsville Public Forum

Yes fans, I was there.

What we were presented with was classic urban planning, which was just a narrow sliver of the scope of the Imagine Brownsville study.


I found that curious, as I had expected far more be presented to the public before the next phase of the study was implemented. If I had to make a guess, and unfortunately I have no choice but to do so, I would say the urban planning was given to the public because it was more comfortable and recognizable to the general citizen who was invited to participate.


Each audience member had a little electronic polling transmitter, that I did not have time to disassemble. The explanations of the different urban planning strategies were well explained by experts in that type of scenario.

On each question, we were given four options:
1) Strongly agree
2) Agree
3) Disagree
4) Strongly disagree


The types of urban planning scenarios offered were:
Regional
Village
Ecological
Downtown centric


Each has its pros and cons and the final plan will have elements of each.
I did find it a bit of a letdown that some of the polling questions were "no brainers" for answers. Having a, shall we say, better than average knowledge of statistical methodology, I found that intellectually insulting, but then again, I do insult quite easily when it comes to matters of the intellect.

Some of the responses that the consultants clearly thought would be 75%+ Strongly agree brought in the low 50's and they were visibly shocked that it wasn't higher.
I don't recall the exact question that caused the biggest shock, but the way it was worded touched on landowner rights vs. eminent domain. That was what I felt at the time and was one of the "Agree" votes when they expected far heaver in the "Strongly Agree" category. Your mileage may vary, but that was how I explain it.



The walls were plastered with the major objectives from all the different sub-committees. An usually high number of the objectives from all the subcommittees began with the word "Want". I again was a touch bothered by this because I associate "want" with "wish" and the word "objective" has military overtones of "do" to me. "Want" is a wishy-washy word in my mind. I'll still have to see how that plays out as the rest unfolds.

Overall, it was professional and concise. I had expected a broader scope, but then the meeting would have taken at least 6 more hours. There were water and cookies, but no coffee. If I had my desire for full involvement, there would have been major casualties as the night wore on and I wore out, so perhaps it was for the best that a small sliver of the overall schema was presented for polling to the public.

I will answer any questions that I can on the presentation.

"Of course I know. It is my business to know." -The Merovingian

I found this funny, I do not know why.

Cameron County Hillbillies

I know you all know the tune, so lets all sing along!
(The theme song from the Beverly Hillbillies)






Come and listen to my story about Armando V.
Needed Gilbert’s blessing when he had to take a pee.
Then one day the Port’s money he had found,
And squeezed Dannenbaum when no one was around.

Graft it is. Power-play. Perry’s stooge.

The date on the check and indictment didn’t jive.
The Grand Jury’s page he did hastily contrive.
“No way they will buy it down in Cameron County.”
So the big load of crap was read by Mattingly.

Lies it was. Fabrication. Balderdash.




"Of course I know. It is my business to know." The Merovingian

She's Back!!!!!

Bloggin' All Things Brownsville
I have not the words to express my joy and happiness. So here is a picture I stole.

This little piggie went to market.....

Mayor asks commissioners to repay city for benefits
May 10, 2008 - 11:18PM
BY EMMA PEREZ-TREVIÑO/The Brownsville Herald

.......
Present Brownsville City Commission members that receive insurance at taxpayers' expense: Commissioners Carlos A. Cisneros, the family of Ricardo Longoria Jr., and Charlie Atkinson.

Photo not part of the original article,unfortunately.

The day of the Corpus Christi ruling, you would have thought these people would have seen the writing on the wall and requested immediate removal from the "program" themselves. But no! They have to wait and push until they get the same bad news for exactly the same reasons as given in the Corpus ruling.

I know that when you were little, mama told you that you were special and not like the other little children. Guess what? Mama was wrong again!

There appears to be a long list of things that mama was wrong about during your formative years. Your personal agendas seem to be high on this list.

"But mama says..but mama says....", no! Fix the streets. Quit pushing debt on future generations. Put qualified people on boards. Lower the number of these boards. And for God's sake, quit micro-managing! We have a city manager form of local government. Turn off your cell phones during meetings: The Heads of State that you seem to be advising can get your "sage wisdom" after the meeting concludes.

"Of course I know. It is my business to know" -The Merovingian

Readers Choice

Since many of us are hard core news and fact junkies, and BATB is on hiatus, I would like to make my site more friendly and useful to you all.

My first poll question really applies to PDA's. Fewer main posts make the page load a lot faster. The downside is for the desktop user who needs to click archives instead of scrolling down the page for the past few posts.

I personally find it annoying to access my blog with a PDA because of this, but I didn't do this blog because I like to read my own stuff. Let me know how you, the readers feel about this. If there are other PDA issues, let me know and I'll try to accomidate.

Guest Posting
I am not a prolific poster of articles, as you all know. I don't wish to bore everyone who is checking 4 times a day just to see that I have posted nothing new within the last 3 days. Are there some people that you would like to have guest post here? They don't have to be the 'usual suspects', and it would not keep me from writing about them, should they be, shall we say, lacking in the personal privacy department.

Is there more of a type of posting you would like to see? My usual MO is when something strikes my fancy, or I come across something peculiar or stupid, I simply write about that. I am not promising to go wiretap phones, or setup camouflaged video feeds on certain somebodies, but I keep this blog so you can have access to the same information I do, which some of you may have noticed is pretty extensive.

In short, I am doing what most newspapers won't or don't: Asking what you want, then doing my best to deliver the content that satisfies you and doesn't waste your time.

In no way could I ever replace BATB. No one could. But I am suffering withdrawals here, as all of us are. I just want to help.

M.

Ran across this, for anyone who has older kids