The Brownsville City Commission tabled action to rename McNair Family Drive to its original name, East Fronton Street, after inconsistencies were found with signatures on two different petitions.
A petition was submitted to the city to reinstate the street’s original name, Fronton Street, and included 61 signatures of the total 78 property owners, which met the criteria for the city’s Street Naming Policy.
The request was made because East Fronton Street has historical significance to the city and was the “desire of the majority of property owners,” according to agenda binder documents.
However, City Engineer Carlos Lastra said that on Monday, a different petition was submitted by Harry McNair with signatures to keep the name McNair Family Drive.
Lastra said about six signatures on the McNair petition also appear on the Fronton petition.
“There are signatures that are supporting the name change to Fronton and now they’re signing in favor of McNair,” Lastra said.
Mayor Trey Mendez said he wants to make sure everything is done properly.
“If there is a discrepancy, I want to make sure that those people that you speak to them personally and we figure out, really, where they are at because I noticed the first time, this happened before I was on the commission, I noticed the second time around that there was some people that were on both, so … that needs to be figured out,” Mendez said. “And, I know that there’s an issue as far as how do you actually designate who’s a property owner and the percentages. I think we need to nail that down as well.”
District 2 Commissioner Jessica Tetreau said she did not understand if someone who owned three properties received three votes or if someone who is renting is entitled to a vote.
“Well, that’s another issue because I don’t know if you’ve verified or whoever is in charge of verifying signatures, whether everybody that signed on there is the actual property owner and not a renter,” Mendez added.
City Attorney Rene De Coss said the way the street naming policy was written, owners of properties abutting the streets.
“So, there may be a hundred lots but only ten owners, well … we only have ten votes and in looking as, into guidance on how to interpret that language, we were able to find a case right on point where the statutory rules of construction in regards to interpreting contracts are the ones that are applied here,” De Coss said. “And, every single word in the genesis document is to be given meaning so when it says 75% of owners, that’s exactly what we must apply, exactly what it says.”
Juan Rene Hernandez, a Brownsville resident who lives on the street, said he was there as a property owner and requested the historic street be changed back to its original name.
“We’re not here to question your guidelines or city policies to change or rename streets within the city boundaries but rather we are here because we have met all the requirements requested,” Juan Rene Hernandez said. “You guys set up the requirements, 75%, we got all that. … I mean the only thing in question is those six residents but even then, we still got more than 75% of the people, of the residents, in favor of the name change.”
Mendez said the issue is that if those owners are on the side of keeping the name McNair, then that would “knock off” the 75%.
“The process we did is we first went door-to-door of each property on East Fronton Street,” Juan Rene Hernandez said. “We visited the owners who live in different parts of town. A mail out was done for owners who live in different cities or even countries.”
He later added some reasons why they requested the name change, that include the will and the desire of the current property owners and residents for the sentimental value, memories of past, present and future generations that have called the street home and for the preservation of the history of the City of Brownsville.
“I believe East Fronton Street is protected by Ordinance 2015-16-06, which replaced the old ordinance adopted by the city in 1971,” Juan Rene Hernandez said. “The new ordinance’s objective is to the historic preservation of the City of Brownsville and Fronton Street falls within its statement of purpose section, being to strengthen the economy of the city, to strengthen the civic pride through neighborhood preservation and to promote the use of historic resources for culture, prosperity, education, enjoyment and the general welfare of the people of the city and visitors of Brownsville.”
In an interview with The Rider earlier today, Ernesto Hernandez Chapa said they were told the city had new guidelines to change a street name and if they complied with those, they could get the street name back.
Asked about the petition process, Chapa said they went from house-to-house.
“We went from house-to-house to look for the residents there, the property owners,” he said in Spanish. “The ones we didn’t find, we sent an initial letter, not certified. They did not respond to us. We went to look for the ones who were around us in the city but lived in other parts of the city and then we sent 20 certified letters to people who lived outside, that lived outside the city, that lived in another country, that lived in another state.”
The reason he wants the name changed is because it is historical and holds sentimental value.
“It is historically important for the City of Brownsville and … historically sentimental for all the people, previous generations, generations that live there … they want their street back and also, if they do not want to listen because of the sentimental value of the people, the property owners that have lived there for generations, then they have to listen to the current property owners that are presenting the application and pay our taxes. And, I think, even if I bought my property last week or one hundred years ago, I have the same right to comment and express my unconformity.”
Chapa said they are going to keep trying to change the street name back to Fronton.
Matthew Ivan Castañeda addressed the commission during the public hearing and said he was one of the signatures on both petitions.
“Ask me why,” Castañeda said. “McNair is my neighbor. He came up to me one day very mad. What do you think I’m going to do when a millionaire comes up to me, a property owner? I’m scared, I’m shaking. I’m against the name change. I love the name Fronton. If he wants something else, he can have it. McNair is actually my friend. … So, I’m not opposed to naming something else McNair. That would be amazing, but let’s keep Fronton.”
Michele Sanchez, an attorney, opposed the name change. Sanchez also said it should be one vote per lot.
“It should be one lot per vote, one vote per lot,” she said. “That’s the number of lots affected by the change and that’s how the percentage should be applied, so it’s my contention that the [Street Renaming Policy] is apparently vague since it’s being interpreted to count owners only as opposed to lots or [Cameron County Appraisal District] account numbers.”
District 1 Commissioner Nurith Galonsky said given the policy that was adopted, the commission is supposed to decide on that.
“It’s our contention that the votes are not being counted justly,” Sanchez said. “You’re disenfranchising the majority of the lot owners.”
She said the least reliable information on CCAD is ownership because ownership is not static.
The Rider tried to get in contact with Harry McNair but, as of press time, an interview has not been scheduled.
