Brownsville City Commission

City ordinance in effect

The Brownsville City Commission discussed Tuesday the updates on law enforcement in the downtown area and the recognition from Special Olympics Texas to Police Chief Felix Sauceda. 

Update on soliciting on city property in the downtown area

James Paschall, commander of Fiscal Management for the Brownsville Police Department, discussed updates of the downtown enforcement of car washers.  

Paschall said the police department bike patrol unit along with supervisor, Sergeant Jesus Olvera, met Feb. 6 with a public works stormwater unit and code enforcement to discuss the issue and formulate a plan of action.

“We also worked with legal department who determined that the car washers were in violation of city ordinance which we could use as enforcement tool,” he said.

Paschall said, throughout February, the bike patrol, public works and code enforcement walked the downtown streets together, contacting the car washers and informing them of the city ordinance.

“We contacted approximately 30 individuals over the month who washed cars in the downtown area,” he said. “After the interaction with the team, most of the contacts understood and complied and left the area.”

The police commander added they issued two citations to individuals who had previously been warned on several occasions.

Paschall said the car washers were using the outside water faucet from a city building, as well as a fire hydrant located between 10th and St. Charles Streets. These issues have been addressed by internal services.

“We have significantly reduced downtown solicitation and we will continue to monitor the situation,” he said. 

Recognition by Special Olympics Texas Rio Grande Valley 

The Special Olympics Texas Rio Grande Valley recognized Sauceda for the support he provided to the organization.

Lauro Garza, senior program area director for Special Olympics Texas, said the organization serves children and adults with intellectual disabilities in sports competitions, health programming and unified programming.

“Totally, altogether it’s about 50,000 students that are intellectually disabled and non-intellectually disabled, and Browsville is being the largest delegation that we have in the Rio Grande Valley,” Garza said. 

He said to attend competitions they need money for equipment and other resources that need to be purchased.

“We cannot do it without the assistance of people like Chief Sauceda, who has helped us since he became a police chief,” Garza said. “… We wanted to give a small token of our appreciation to Chief Sauceda for all the help he’s given us throughout the years.”

He said their organization raised over $25,000 in Brownsville for the athletes.

Sauceda thanked the Special Olympics and the Brownsville Police Department.

“We don’t do anything, you know, expecting anything in return,” he said.

Sauceda added one of their missions and objectives when he took over the organization was to make sure they balanced the joys of life.

“We’ll continue to serve,” he said. “We have a caring theme of service from the heart. That’s something that was born with us and we’ll continue to do so.”