JUST LIKE THE GOOD OLD DAYS IN MATAMOROS?

 (Ed.'s Note: Well, not really. It's actually flooding at 9th Street and Monroe during last week's rains. Brownsville paid good money to get an All-American City designation, is preparing for the announced coming of SpaceX whose owner billionaire Elon Musk promises to send me to Mars one of these days. Meanwhile, a pile of money (some say rising up to $90 million or more) piles up at the Public Utility Board coffers as a result of raising utility rates by over 30 percent to build a $500 million power plant that might not get built.

God only knows what is in the muddy water where the kids are cavorting to get some relief from the nearly 100-degree weather we have been experiencing. Oil, sludge, and runoff from nearby homes probably carries all types of unhealthy liquids and substances.

The city has invested millions in hike and bike trails and other amenities. But one might ask if they will ever address the basic services like drainage and good streets. As long as the city's priorities remain on window dressing and pretending we're the Austin-on-the-Rio Grande, residents will continue to live in a city that floods after a steady rain, streets will continue to deteriorate because of the rain water, and we will continue to flush the city's resources down the drain. The silver lining in all of this is that the hike and bike trails didn't flood.)