Dissent over GI Forum settlement
Veterans Pavilion may be included in Destination Bayfront: Price $35-40 million.
Thursday, April 15, 2010, the Johnny Canales Chapter of the GI Forum called an emergency meeting. When members arrived a number of non members were in the room. David Loeb and Trey McCampbell were there to present the Destination Bayfront concept. George Clower had been invited but didn’t know why. Most surprising, Rudy Garza the City’s lobbyist and City Manager Angel Escobar were there with lobbyist Hugo Berlanga.
Members say after the Destination Bayfront was presented McCampbell, Loeb and Clower left. After a brief discussion members said many of them left and were not aware of any other decision. The next morning member Ray Madrigal got a call saying there was going to be a press conference that afternoon. Madrigal then called Commander, Joe Ortiz who said that was not true and he was on his way to Premont. Calling the first party back Madrigal was directed to go to City Hall. When he got there Ortiz was getting out of his car.
Madrigal followed him into the building and a room where Berlanga, Mayor Joe Adame, Escobar, Garza, Trey McCampbell, Johnny Canales, Ortiz and a couple of their close friends in the GI Forum were present. Madrigal asked what was going on and was told to leave the meeting. When he protested, he was told to leave the room that it was an executive session and he was not welcome. When he protested some more, he was told he would be forcibly removed by security if he did not leave.
After leaving he later found out that very afternoon, the GI Forum and the City announced they had reached an agreement. Supposedly the agreement would have the GI Forum withdraw from the suit and the GI Forum would get a seat on a veterans committee to design a new memorial and that it would include materials from the Coliseum.
Interestingly enough, it seems they negotiated no changes in the original plan. The plan to include veterans groups and to reuse parts of the Coliseum were not new, they had been talked about extensively with the council before. In fact, Escobar had described the same arrangements four days before the GI Forum negotiations at the meeting where the Nueces County Historical Society voted to recommend it for inclusion into the National Register of Historic places.
Joe Ortiz was quoted as saying it was all a big misunderstanding as if the building of a memorial was the issue. The suit however was not about the memorial at all, but supposedly because Adame had illegally involved himself in the decision making process when he should have recused himself. GI Forum attorney Les Cassidy stated he was not informed of or included in the negotiations. Members stated there was no vote taken nor has there been any vote taken since.
The following Tuesday at the April 20 City Council meeting Ortiz, Berlanga and others presented a resolution for Council to sign off on a planned memorial. When the discussion of money for the memorial came up Hugo Berlanga suggested that lots of private contributions would be available. He also suggested that it be included in Destination Bayfront which he estimated would cost at least "$35 to $40 million.
Ironically Council also discussed a pavilion in the area of the street to be closed between Sherrill and the old City Hall parks. The conversation became more ironic when Councilman Brent Chesney suggested that the reserve fund could be used to build a monument. The Council refused to use reserve fund money to fund George Clower's proposal for an open air pavilion at $3.2 million. Rudy Garza then entered the land of Oz by explaining that they were going to Washington D.C. in a few weeks and that there was lots of money available for Veterans Memorials it was just a matter of, "starting the conversation." That was the same staff and city council who said there was no money for restoration of Memorial Coliseum.
