By Juan Montoya
In the photo above of the Cameron County Commissioners Court, it seems like County Judge Eddie Treviño is merely placing his hands upon the table.
But if you were at the meeting or go to the county's video of the meeting, you can see that at about 5 minutes and 15 seconds into discussion of the item titled "Consideration and Adoption of the Lower Rio Grande Valley Active Transportation and Tourism Plan," Treviño was really slapping his hands on the table in frustration because the other commissioners weren't buying the proposal by the City of Brownsville for it to adopt the plan.
At about 20 minutes into the discussion, Treviño made a motion for the court to adopt the plan and failed to get a second to his motion. At bout 30 minutes, the motion died for lack of a second and was tabled. Treviño's anger boiled over shortty into the discussion as he and the city's envoy, planner Ramiro Gonzalez, tried to downplay the financial responsibilities that the county would incur if it adopted the plan.
Gonzalez and Treviño said that the mere adoption of the plan did not commit the county to spending "one dollar," an assertion disputed by county legal counsel Frank Martinez who said that the adoption would require "significant contributions by Cameron County to this plan."
This set of a heated response by Treviño who asked Martinez where in the backup document the county was required to spend any money or contribute any resources.
"Where in this plan is the county committing to spending one dollar, where?," Treviño asked Martinez pointedly. "If in the future there is some request for funding from the county, they will have to come back to the court and make this request."
But Martinez – along with commissioners Sofia Benavides and Alex Dominguez – remained skeptical of the representations by Gonzalez and Treviño and questioned the extent of the support that the city was asking the county in adopting the plan.
"When the city first came to the court, there were two pages," she said. "Then you come back with a 179-page document I never thought I'd finish."When Martinez and Dominguez balked at the vagueness in the plan concerning the county's participation if they adopted the plan, Treviño exploded and slammed both hands on the table.
"This is ridiculous, golly!"
To which Dominguez commented: "Is this the way we're going to have a quorum in Cameron County? I think that our legal counsel is giving us advice and we should consider it."
Included in the plan, Martinez said, was the future hiring of an executive officer and assistant by the Rails to Trails Association, a national bicycle advocate group that would be put in charge of implementing the plan. The cost for that was estimated to be between $90,000 and $110,000, he said.
"(Adopting it) leaves the county open to making commitments to something the county does not know when or how much it would be required to contribute."The adoption of the city plan – which Gonzalez and Treviño said had been supported in resolution by 10 Cameron County cities – is part of an ongoing attempt by bike advocates in the city to connect the communities in the county with bike and hike trials.
The city's website explains that "on February 13, 2015, Valley Baptist Legacy Foundation awarded $100,000 to the City of Brownsville, in partnership with The University of Texas School of Public Health Brownsville Regional Campus, for the Lower Rio Grande Valley Active Transportation and Active Tourism Plan (previously the Cameron County in Motion: Active Transport Master Plan) project.
"The LRGV Active Transportation and Active Tourism Plan will evaluate the connectivity possibilities between neighborhoods and cities within the Lower Rio Grande Valley, and provide an outline for interconnected pedestrian and bicycle routes. These routes would not only connect the cities, but also encourage physical activity and bicycle tourism.
This Plan will establish guidelines for current and future land use, pedestrian circulation, vehicular circulation, parking and natural features of the partnered communities. The Plan will strengthen the overall vision of the biking communities along the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Soon, Brownsville will enjoy a 21st century biking metroplex with the addition of 129 miles of hike and bike trails, lanes, and bicycle boulevards within the city limits."
However, adoption of the plan would – in effect – scrap the plans for a West Rail Loop road that has been singled out as a project by the Brownsville Metropolitan Organization (MPO) and the Texas Department of Transportation for the better part of a decade and where millions of public dollars ahve been spent. A vocal group in west Brownsville has vowed to stop the road and have a hike and bike trail. Treviño – when he ran for office – pledged support to stop the road to court their political support. He is counting on that support for his selection bid in 2018.
The county is the main landowner of property and right-of-way, including the abandoned Union Pacific Railroad grade. Hike and Bike Trail have failed to convince commissioners that they should abandon the pan for a road and install a hike and bike trail