A fascinating discussion is beginning to occur in Amarillo regarding whether to name a new bridge after a former county commissioner who, depending on your point of view, was a stalwart champion of his constituents or was a nuisance who didn’t know when to keep his mouth shut.
The late Commissioner Manny Perez died a couple years ago after suffering post-surgery complications. He was, to say the least, an unforgettable guy. He also had a habit of picking some inopportune times to say certain things to certain people.
Some Amarillo residents want the City Commission to name a new bridge at Third and Grand after Perez. They say he was their champion and fought to have the bridge built as way to alleviate traffic congestion near some railroad tracks. The traffic would get clogged beyond all reason when freight trains would creep along. The city decided to act after hearing gripes for many years from residents in the neighborhood.
Perez was one of them.
But here is where the issue gets a bit sticky from the city’s standpoint. First of all, the bridge was built by the city, not by Potter County, which Perez served as commissioner for more than two decades before his death. Amarillo also got some help fromĀ federal government stimulus money — yes, the money that so many folks around here said they opposed, but were rather eager to stretch out their hand when it became available.
Yes, Manny Perez raised some ruckus over getting the bridge built. He also raised more than a bit of a ruckus over other city-sponsored projects, such as downtown redevelopment. Perez opposed the strategy the city had employed in moving the downtown effort forward. The disliked the tax increment zone for downtown. He argued that Potter County shouldn’t dedicate a portion of its tax revenue to the downtown taxing district.
But worst of all, he would stand before city commissioners and rail against the downtown project, suggesting that the city was ignoring “my people” who live on the east side of the town.
Let’s face a grim reality here: Manny Perez angered a lot of people at City Hall. My guess is that the anger hasn’t subsided too much even after his death.
So now Manny’s friends and political allies want the city to name a bridge in his honor?
Someone will have to explain in detail what precisely what Perez did to make the bridge a reality and why the city should just forgive the obstructionism Manny displayed when it sought Potter County’s support in rebuilding its downtown district — which, by the way, is located with Potter County’s boundaries.