The McNair supporters countered that the counting had been "manipulated" and that the city's policy had been a "convoluted interpretation" and did not give multiple lot owners a vote for each lot.
The city's policy allotted one vote per person listed by the Cameron County Appraisal District as owners of the property abutting the street. Attorney Michelle Sanchez, representing the McNair family said the city's policy resulted in using a methodology of manipulated math.
Fronton St. resident Ernesto Hernandez Chapa told he commissioners that the residents paid a total of $93,000 in taxes yearly on an appraised value of $3,500,000. On the other hand, the McNairs have a 100 percent historical exemption on the two warehouses and pay zero taxes to the city.
The McNairs own three properties on East Fronton which are historically exempt and, unlike all other property owners in the area, pay no taxes to the city. In fact, the last time they received the exemption was for the years 2016 to 2020 and included 100 percent tax historical exemptions not only from the City of Brownsville, but also from the the Brownsville Navigation District, Cameron County, and Texas Southmost College.
The buildings themselves are nondescript warehouses, shells of brick and mortar that the McNairs still rent to the highest bidder.
Except for the paint on the outside walls there is little evidence that - as they claim in their inclusion into the list of the National Historical Register "the McNair family has restored many of the old factory and office buildings which date back to the early 1900’s and continue to improve East Fronton Street through their building restoration and beautification projects."
The building at 504 Fronton is listed at an appraised value of $218,800 and the McNairs paid no city, BND, TSC, or Cameron County taxes on the old warehouse, unlike their neighbors who did.
The building on 730 E. Fronton (the one with the Texas logo across the street in the photo above) is listed at an appraised value of $108,641 and the McNairs paid no city, BND, TSC, or Cameron County taxes on the old warehouse, unlike their neighbors who did.
The building at 759 E. Fronton (in the foreground in the photo above) is listed at an appraised value of $108,641 and the McNairs paid no city, BND, TSC, or Cameron County taxes on the old warehouse, unlike their neighbors who did.
In short, the McNairs did not pay city, BND, TSC, or Cameron County taxes on their three buildings on E. Fronton with an aggregate appraised value of $441,871, unlike their neighbors who did.
Harry McNair and his wife Reba also have a 100 percent historical tax exemption on their homestead and pay no city taxes on the $350,828 taxable value.
"Give us back our beloved Fronton Street back," Hernandez pleaded with the commission in a public comment to no avail.
His son Juan Rene Hernandez said the resident had "followed all the rules" and "met all the criteria" in theri petition.
"I request that we follow the guidelines we have in place. We should have a process and we should follow it."
Somehow the majority of the commissioners who voted against returning the street to its historical name decided that 10 votes (12 percent) trumped the 63 votes (78 percent) of residents who wanted their old street name back.
Voting against changing the name to its original, historical name (Fronton name) as was the wish of the majority of the residents were commissioners:
Rose Gowen
Jessica Tetreau
Joel Mungia
John Cowen
Voting to heed the residents' wishes were:
Ben Neece
Nurith Galonsky Pizana
Mayor Trey Mendez