Keeping Downtown Clean

Picture at left is Elizabeth St facing east.

For all its splendor and architectural beauty, downtown Brownsville has something working against it. Trash! It’s interesting how the city of Brownsville markets itself as a historic city with many dozens of registered historic buildings but when you actually walk the sidewalks, which by the way looks very nice with the colored brick, there is trash to be seen. Not in huge amounts but still present.

One site in particular that does have me worried is the water fountains located on the corner of Elizabeth St and International Blvd right in front of the Gateway International Bridge. The last few times that I walked that area I noticed diapers, leaves, and other trash accumulating inside these broken, waterless fountains. It was pretty much a dumping place for all kinds of trash. What kind of message is the city trying to convey? What if you went to say Chicago, Dallas, Houston, or any other city for that matter and saw trash, broken water fountains and/or benches? What would be the first thing that comes to your mind? Certainly a bad image if nothing else. A picture is worth a thousand words and is true for any city with a trashy, dirty downtown. Tourists and locals who go to downtown do not want to see diapers on the floor or trash flying about your head in gusty wind. Locals and especially tourists want to see a clean place to go shopping without the worry of stepping on something less desirable.

Fortunately, I e-mailed Mr. Camarillo (City Commissioner for District 4) about the situation with the broken water fountains and the trash dumped inside them. Mr. Camarillo returned my e-mail the next day and told me that he would call to have this situation remedied as well as fix some broken lights in the area. I’m glad to see that something action will be taken but there are other areas that need remedy.

This other area is the little plazita with benches that are located right in front of the Gateway International Bridge. People use this area to wait, rest, and play and are in bad shape and need of repair. The benches are drooping as well as the tables. There is trash and often time smells awful (last time it reeked of urine. Yuk!). Not to mention the ungodly amount of bird droppings caused by pigeons who use the trees above the benches. You’d be lucky to find a bench free of the sh!t. It’s just a depressing area and needs to be cleaned up and new benches and tables put in. But before doing that, the trees need to be trimmed and maybe adding roofs over the benches and tables to keep the bird crap off. New telephones are needed as most are not working. Is this the Historic Brownsville, Texas the city wants to portray? I hope not and certainly do hope that the city invests a little more in the downtown area. I mean, com’on, City Hall is but a few blocks from the Gateway Int’l Bridge. The city leaders must have at one point walked through this area. There is no excuse for this one. Tourists must leave with there noses closed and complain to their friends and neighbors about our city. When I visited Dallas a couple of months ago, it was clean and little if no trash flying about. The parks are clean and very beautifully kept. Why can’t Brownsville be clean like Dallas?

There is a lot of work to be done and hope that our city leaders read this and take action. And I do hope that our city leaders do not take this as a direct criticism to them but as a concern that has existed for many years. I’m tired of waiting for someone else to complain. Most times, people don’t complain about this and nothing gets done. So, if anyone of the City Commissioners and/or Mayor reads this, please take a walk around downtown and take note of the things that I mentioned. There maybe other problem areas that I may have not covered but doesn’t mean that these areas should not be looked into and remedied as well. If the City of Brownsville wants to market itself as a historic city with historic sites, don’t let the site of trash be the reason that people leave disappointed and with their noses closed. Image is everything in this world and the last thing our city needs is to have tourists picturing trash in their minds when they think of Brownsville; On the Border, By the Sea.