Cities oppose Brownsville

A public hearing held Sunday on the concerns of annexations by the city of Brownsville triggered plenty of response on how the largest city in Cameron County appears to be trying to take over.

Brownsville city officials countered the claim stating they have not done anything illegal and are willing to work with the surrounding small communities, but "at the same time we are not going to give away the farm."

The hearing was called by State Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., D-Brownsville, his son, State Rep. Eddie Lucio III, D-San Benito, and State Rep. Rene Oliveira, D-Brownsville, to hear from the communities and the problems that appear to be occurring because of Brownsville's annexations.

The senior Lucio is a member of the Committee on International Relations and Trade, which is issuing an interim report to the 81st Texas Legislature that recommends reversing "strip annexation, that has ‘landlocked smaller communities along the Lower Rio Grande Valley and which has selectively bypassed distressed communities and prevents smaller communities from growing."

An option under consideration is passing a law that could lead to the de-annexation of the land Brownsville currently owns.

The legislation could also just be geared to the South Texas area. No legislation has been drafted.

Eddie Lucio Jr., said the hearing was an attempt to get a bigger picture of what was going on and "not a Brownsville bashing."

Laguna Vista Mayor Stan Hulse said he respects a city's right to grow, including Brownsville, but in turns wants that same type of respect in return.

Hulse said he would like to see Brownsville "back off" from its current ETJ or extraterritorial jurisdiction, which is preventing Laguna Vista's growth.

"That needs to be gone, we are pretty firm on that," Hulse said.

Inclusive in the Brownsville city limits is the Seven Seas shop on Highway 100, just outside Los Fresnos. When construction of the business began in 2002, it was located on what is often referred to as "no man's land."

It was not in the city limits of Los Fresnos and miles away from the city of Brownsville.

It was a few years later when employees there made an emergency call to the city of Los Fresnos that they were told they needed to call Brownsville police because the business is located with the Brownsville city limits.

"We said what...he said you need to call Brownsville," said Neddy Alamo, who is the finance manager for the business.

The younger Lucio said he is concerned about the safety of the residents and wants to ensure that emergency personnel are responding to call for assistance in a timely manner.

"That is how I am framing this situation," Eddie Lucio III said.

Brownsville City Commissioner Anthony Troiani, said city officials constantly reviewed its annexation deals to ensure they went through the correct process.

He told the state legislators that if they tried to get a statewide legislation curtailing annexation, "it would be shot down," because larger counties or the metroplex would see it as a way of the state attacking their ability to grow.

"That's just a fact," Troiani said.

lmartinez@brownsvilleherald.com