Choices to be made

Two of the three mayoral candidates for the City of Brownsville spoke at UTRGV Student Media’s first-ever public forum to inform voters about their choices for the upcoming municipal election.

More than 45 people, including students, faculty, staff and community members, attended the forum last Wednesday in the PlainsCapital Bank El Gran Salón.

Incumbent Tony Martinez and one of his challengers, former City Manager Charlie Cabler, answered questions from the public.

Candidate Trey Mendez did not attend, citing a prior commitment.

The public forum consisted of three phases. In phase one, the candidates answered previously prepared questions, each in a time frame of
two minutes.

Attendees and social media watchers asked the candidates questions during phase two.

Lastly, each candidate gave a two-minute closing statement as part of the third phase.

Adhlemy Sanchez, an administrative coordinator for the UTRGV Information Technology department, said she recently moved back to Brownsville and wanted to do her part in being informed on the candidates before casting her vote.

“I felt that it was my duty to know who the candidates were, why they were running and make the right decision as opposed to just making a decision based on popularity or signs out in the city,” Sanchez said. “It’s more of an important decision.”

During phase two, Sanchez asked the candidates what companies that are coming to Brownsville are offering in terms of salaries and wages.

“We continue to lose people, students, more the younger generation, to larger cities like San Antonio and Austin,” she said, adding that the same job here pays less than in San Antonio or Austin.

In his response, Martinez said, “The reason that we have focused all of our efforts on the types of industry that really pays well, if you are looking at SpaceX and again, you have 60 engineering jobs that will pay in the six figures just for starting salary. … The idea here is, focus yourself on the industry that you know is going to pay well.”

Cabler then replied, “We are in an area that we are persistently in poverty. Obviously, we have low wages in our community. … We need to work on that.”

He said the city needs to work in collaboration with local corporations to increase salaries in the community.

Early voting begins today and ends April 30. Voters may cast ballots between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. in the Student Union’s La Sala on the Brownsville campus.

Also on the ballot are races for the Districts 1 and 2 city commissioner positions.

For a complete list of early voting sites, visit co.cameron.tx.us/Elections/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/cbr-ev2.pdf.

Election Day is May 4.