I read with great interest the follow-up article published in the Oct. 30 issue of The Monitor concerning the Weslaco Water Plant bribery case and I agree the City Commission and city staff need to be held accountable for their actions. Mr. Mike Perez, city manager, is quoted as saying, “Someone needs to be held accountable for what was done,” and Commissioner Greg Kerr agreed.
If this is so, then who should be held accountable for the recent construction of the half street (Dragonfly Street) that the city approved and the developer constructed on Pike Avenue across from WeslacoHigh School? A half street is not allowed by city ordinance and both the city manager and Commissioner Kerr agreed to its construction. Beside being a half street, it has no curb and gutter, no 10-foot right of way and no buffer fencing on its east side. Half streets were a common practice among developers of colonias in the past to save developer’s costs.
The developer tried to justify the half-street construction by asking for a variance, a process that allows the developer to bypass some requirements if approved by the city prior to construction. The request for the variance was submitted after the construction of the street. This particular developer had been given an economic development grant and a tax abatement for this development.
The question for Mr. Kerr is, whom are you holding accountable for this? Just look in the mirror.
Anthony Covacevich
Weslaco
MAGA GOP
draws fire
1. Christian nationalism. I call this Puritanism 3.0. About 20% of the nation does not believe in the separation of church and state but loves QAnon. This group believes their preachers over the real experts. If you like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Jim Jordan, Tom Cotton and Ted Cruz, vote for the local crop of MAGA GOP congressional and state candidates. How many of them report, “Jesus or God told me to run”?
2. Culture wars as a diversion: Banning books, transsexuals represent less than 1% of the student population. Critical race theory is not being taught in Texas and Christians are not victims of discrimination.
3. No policy solutions. They offer no solutions to inflation and gas prices. This is a worldwide problem and the USA is doing much better than other nations including the European Union.
4. Anti-Semitism, racism and anti-woman. Supreme Court Justice Thomas wants to send birth control and LQBT rights back to the states. They plan to ban birth control, insurance and government funding. This will lead to more unplanned pregnancies and abortions. MAGA claims that pregnancies are from God but have no problem paying for Viagra? Let Jesus cure this.
5. Cut taxes on the rich on the backs of social programs including Social Security and Medicare.
6. Restrict democracy by restricting who votes and gerrymandering.
7. Promoting violence or staying silent about it.
8. Negative immigration policies. They oppose the Dreamers. The wall is worthless. It is far from the river. The GOP has opposed all solutions to our immigration policies.
9. Democrats are not out to “defund the police,” but the MAGA GOP wants to defund the FBI. 10. The GOP opposed Biden’s infrastructure, investment in chip manufacturing and Medicare paid for by profitable corporations paying no income taxes.
Kevin Hertz
McAllen
