BROWNSVILLE, Texas - A candidate for Brownsville Navigation District Commission wants to see more transparency at the Port of Brownsville, including the live-streaming of commission meetings.
Luis Villarreal, a businessman who is running for the open Place 4 seat, says that while the meetings are currently videoed by BND they are not uploaded to the port’s website until two or three weeks later. “That is too long to wait. They should be live-streamed, just like other governmental bodies.”
Villarreal recently sat down for an in-depth interview with the Rio Grande Guardian. Another thing that would increase the trust of voters, he said, would be to stop a sitting commissioner from doing business with a tenant at the port.
“I’m not saying the commissioners are doing something wrong. I say everybody should know about it. That way, when you go and take a vote, we know that you do business there. Right now, what we basically have is a pinky swear, I don't do business there, and that's about it.”
Another change Villarreal would like to see happen is for the port administration to develop a permitting process. At the moment, building permits are handled by Cameron County. Villarreal said he would like the Port of Brownsville to handle its own permitting, water and electricity issues, just like SpaceX does at Starbase.
One of Villarreal’s top issues on the campaign trail has been to highlight a property tax BND levies on Brownsville voters. He said the tax may have been necessary when the port was built but it has outlasted its usefulness.
Here is the interview:
