(Ed.'s Note: They get generous salaries, car allowances, parking spaces, and now, their own private water closet, we mean bathroom. Take a gander at the "family" restroom in the photo above. That bathroom is one of three on the lobby of City Plaza on Levee and St. Charles streets. One is for men, another is for women. The family restroom, we would guess in this age of transgender controversy, is for families; that is, in case a dad or mom wants to take one of their kids (male or female) and change their diaper or help them do their business.
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But if you go by the plaza try the door. It's always locked. We asked a staff member who works in an office on that floor how one could access the restroom and they replied that they had never seen any families use the restroom and that it is always locked. In fact, the only individual who has ever been seen using the bathroom is Asst. City Manager Michael Lopez who has a personal key and apparently is the only one who has one.
Lopez used to be the city secretary with offices down the hall before City Manager Charlie Cabler bumped him up as his assistant with a commensurate salary increase. But he retained his space in the city secretary's office. As far as anyone knows, he is the only one with a key and is entitled to a private privy. Those are the perks of office in the City of Brownsville pecking order, we guess.
Oh, Mr. Lopez, aside from this perk, is granted a $128,400.06 salary and a $461.54 monthly car allowance which amounts to $5,538 annually on top of that. We guess that entitles him to go about doing his business in solitary peace.)
