I Hope the Water tastes Better

As the Southmost Regional Water Authority brackish water desalination plant gets ever closer to production goals, the cost of the water you are drinking has been creeping up. Yep. When it is running at full capacity, it will provide 40% of the water requirements of the partner entities (read PUB, which owns 94%). The production costs for water from this plant are far higher than those of PUB Water Plant #1 and #2. So naturally, plant #1 is scheduled to be decommissioned.

Folks, in an earlier posting I told you that there was an actual plan in place to raise the cost basis of drinking water. I am sure that some of you out there thought I was just being alarmist or silly. I assure you that this is not the case. Just look at it. The more they run the desal plant on FM 511, the higher the drinking water production cost. That is an absolute fact that cannot be argued nor spun with one of their famous number juggling acts.

They were originally talked into this by Dannenbaum Engineering. The project was picked up as the "Poster Child" for NRS Engineering, who have sucked it for all it is worth. Now they are blasting full speed ahead, damn the torpedoes for an seawater desal plant. They are doing it in partnership with the Port of Brownsville, and that should make anyone nervous. They are not slowing down to look around the landscape to see if anything is more cost effective.

Well, ok, they did try to send some people to Spain to look at this, but I have a hint for them: They have phones in Spain now, just call. If this is just to un-hip, could I suggest a virtual presence via video teleconference? Yes, we can actually do that from here. It is very hip and now and you don't need an engineering study to accomplish it. You don't even need lawyers. If it is too much to handle I suggest sending someone to hang around a video arcade and hire a promising looking eleven year old to set it up for you.

I don't know how else to say this. They don't care what you have to pay to live here. These are people who are trying to look hip and cool and with-it on the engineering scene without any regard for the costs to the people who have to ultimately pay for it. The cost basis for water is rising and PUB is the one raising it.

It isn't carved in stone. It is built with brick and steel and your money.

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

How I Spent my Summer Vacation (sort of)

There have been rumors to the effect that the Merovingian is a Unix based AI program that has run amok, delving into databases and making cognoscente connections among the bits and pieces thought buried safely away by those that would steal the very shirts from our backs. I wish to lay these rumors to rest.

I spent the evening where there were no agendas, no gavels, no lying, and maybe just a little cheating. Where I spent my time may be a bit of a shock to those who feel they have come to know me, however it was a story and I am glad that I was there to be able to tell it to you. I spent the evening at the Sixth Annual Stiletto’s Erotic Ball in McAllen.

The number of other people from Brownsville (who I will not name, as it is none of my business) surprised me at first, but as the evening progressed it felt just as natural as being at the Jazz Festival or Sombrerofest . It was so refreshing to be among people just being people. The unwritten agenda was to simply be, and that we did with wild abandon. The crowd was unusually smart. I do not mean to say that it was anything like a geek convention, oh so far from it. The creativity of the costuming said so much about the people enveloped in them. The many people that I engaged in conversation, or who sought to engage me were all well read and witty. In that brief time I learned so much about so many of them. It was not my usual quest for facts and figures. People were sharing who they were and what they were about. The only thing I can compare it to would be a family reunion, where you meet people you may not have even heard of, but share stories of people you have in common. The theme of the party was lewdness, but the people there simply saw that as an excuse to ditch the social walls and barriers that surround every one of us in our day to day lives and just be. The party was a good colonic for the soul and it was one of the most satisfying times I have had in recent memory. If I were limited to one word to describe the experience, that word would have to be “existential”.

As I drove home at two in the morning, I reflected on the evening remembering each and every one of the hundred or so people in attendance that I interacted with out of the vast number that were there. I want that feeling again.

The Merovingian

By request

What others are saying

Gobs of content, kind of the "Port Deal in a Basket"

It is Paul Burka but I was most fascinated going through the comments.

Perry Appointee to UT Regents Linked to Scandals

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

Newtonian Physics

Historically, when Brownsville needs something from Solomon Ortiz, it is a pretty fair bet that Corpus Christi will get it. In a stunning upset of the status quo, I find the passage of a bill where Brownsville and the Lower RGV get the lion’s share of the goodies and Corpus Christi got the crumbs. Of a $6 million appropriation, the Port gets $3.4 million, $2 million for RGV canals and drainage, and a paltry $500 thousand for the Nueces River Authority and the City of Corpus Christi.
This is the first time I can remember where Corpus Christi and Brownsville were in the same bill where the amounts of money discussed were not the other way around.

Not that I am complaining: The Port needs dredging work, like yesterday. But as is my wont, there is that little nagging question of why. The Newtonian Laws of Motion apply to politics as well.

For those who need a refresher, I'll tell you the one about inertia: "Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it."

We also know from living in a political environment that politicians are no different than anyone else in this respect. They keep doing what they have been doing until external influences force them to change what they have been doing. This is the nature of people and probably always will be.

So that finally brings me to the question that should be on everyone’s mind when something in politics is different: What were the external forces or influences that caused this change of direction? Maybe these forces are something that we can bring to bear again. Maybe they are not. I won’t know until I know what the nature of those forces or influences are.

Solomon Ortiz Press Release

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

Perry Puts Thumb in Eye of Brownsville, AGAIN.

From the Daily Texan:

Four expired terms at the UT System Board of Regents have attracted a pool of at least 100 applicants, including a civil engineer, attorneys, investment managers, oil and gas executives and company presidents.

Three of the applicants cited current regents in their references, according to documents obtained through an open records request. The three are UT-Austin alumni, and they've all donated thousands of dollars to Gov. Rick Perry, who appoints all public university system regents.


Dannenbaum has donated $247,000 to Perry since 2000, records indicate. Regent Caven appears on his list of references.

A civil engineer, Dannenbaum's company has done work for the Texas Department of Transportation and General Land Office.

If it isn't bad enough that James Dannenbaum's operation took the BND for a $15 million dollar ride, here Perry goes and appoints him as a UT System Chancellor.

The most disgusting thing about this, to me at least, is that now Dannenbaum is one of Juliette Garcia’s bosses. Of course, she is a well known fiscal conservative who will be in a good position to protect us from further predation. (Yea, right!)

I wonder if when he is sworn in if he will raise his right hand, or his middle finger.

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

PUB to Conduct Rate Study

Oh Boy! I can't wait!

The results are foreordained. They are brain-dead and on autopilot.

Let me quote from the report that has yet to be written:

“The Brownsville Public Utilities provides services at the lowest possible cost to the customers in its service area. In comparison to other utility providers, we at BPUB are lower in cost while providing a wider range of services than utilities in other service areas.”

Pretty good, isn’t it? Of course this was simply some crap I made up, but they are going to pay for a study to someone to make up the same crap you read here first for free.

They need to scream and holler how they are the cheapest right now, but mark my words well:

The debt levels they are chomping at the bit to swallow will make the results of the glowing study absolutely irrelevant. The present pursuits of stalled and/or expensive projects are keeping rates far higher than they need to be.
“We are the cheapest.” It just doesn’t cut it for me anymore.

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

Late Breaking Border Security Appropriation

Looking to 2008

Poll: The Most Important Issue For 2008 Voters

Submitted for Your Approval

October 16, 2007, Brownsville, Texas

Over 8 months since the settlement between the Brownsville Navigation District & Dannenbaum Engineering Corporation, and over 2 months since a number of taxpayer plaintiffs sued Dannenbaum in Cameron County, with engineering plans yet to be produced, taxpayers today have asked a state district judge to grant “summary judgment” in their favor.

“There is ‘no evidence’ that Dannenbaum Engineering Corporation has performed, much less completed the ‘tasks’ and ‘deliverables’ it contracted to perform over 8 months ago,” said Peter Zavaletta, himself a Plaintiff, and lawyer for the Plaintiffs. “As we prepare this case for trial, I have today filed a motion asking the court to rule on the obvious – that Dannenbaum has failed to do what it contracted to do – including producing the engineering plans that were alleged to be worth $2.9 million,” Zavaletta added.

Bay Bridge?

After a very noisy and heated public discussion about Bay Bridge wanting to open up shop in the Port of Brownsville, I have to ask: Well?

With much harrumphing, posturing, references to moratoriums, complaints about stealing from the labor pool (in the poorest city in the US as per the census?), front door, back door claims, counter-claims, etc. the further handling of the matter was claimed by the Port Director. And?

It has been quite a while and it doesn’t seem to me that we are exactly planning the Temple at Karnack or Mount Rushmore. So?

There have been no further agenda items, no ribbon cutting, no hiring notices in the classifieds, no “sorry it doesn’t work for us.”, nothing.

Is there some stare match waiting for someone to blink happening? Is anything going on? Do commissioners on the phone want to be someone’s friend? Did everyone forget about it, and if so, why?


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

Where are the Engineering Plans?

More than enough time has passed since Port Director Eduardo Campirano made written demand of Dannenbaum Engineering for the engineering plans for the Bridge to Nowhere. If during all this time Dannenbaum had indeed been diligently working on them, where are they?

That sweetheart deal that they cut with the Port should have had boxes of unsorted crap flooding in the front door of the BND building with delivery guys in shorts all shoving clipboards in front of the receptionist for delivery signatures. No deliveries to date.

Are they buying time to actually dummy up some plans, or are they afraid that they will be sued for the quality of the work they have actually done? That would be a separate issue, not covered nor protected by the sweetheart good night kiss that they received from 4/5 of the BND commissioners. Are they in the middle of a Catch 22 with their own counsel wondering if what they have actually complies with the letter and spirit of the agreement? Did the deal get offered simply to buy time to engage in furious rounds of CYA?

I know I won’t forget that the agreement included over two million in extra work to be performed in the future. This was in the spirit of goodwill, but doesn’t everybody realize that future goodwill from that company with BND is (or should be) worthless? If so, why did they offer it? I would have been far happier with the difference in cash. BND would not have been able to use the money for other purposes, like the dredging they need, but they could have used it to retire some of the outrageous bond debt on the Bridge to Nowhere.

The deal was supposed to be in the flavor of “Half a loaf is better than none” but we have only gotten the heals (colas), and those are moldy. Maybe criminal fraud should be “El Cristal con que se mira.”

Go Peter Z!

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

Tired of it All?

Here is a thought. The Port of Brownsville is protected by Congress. But guess what? The Brownsville Navigation District is not. What say we simply remove it as a taxing entity and let the place stand on its own feet, if it is such a great thing.

It should be fairly easy, lets just look at the charter here...Hmmm? Well, lets just look in this drawer here. AH HA! It must have slipped behind the file cabinet. Huh, not there either. Well....Hmmm....I don't seem to be able to find one.

Ok, fun time is over! Which one of you has the charter that establishes the Brownsville Navigation District as a taxing authority? Come on now! Give it back! This isn't funny anymore! Guys,GUYS!

Well, anyway, once we can find the charter, I am sure we will find the mechanism to dissolve it.

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

Border Wall Important Notice

Immigration: The Human Cost

THE Question for Imagine Brownsville

In The Know: Should Brownsville Return To A Simpler, Stone Age Lifestyle?