What Does the Future Hold For Jessica Tetreau?

By Diego Garcia III ★ Editor of The Brownsville Beacon

Ask Jessica Tetreau who the most popular commissioner ever to serve on the Brownsville city council is and she'll shoot you straight. Jessica Tetreau will tell you Jessica Tetreau is the best, most popular city commissioner in Brownsville's 173-year history.

The only person to ever be elected via write-in vote, she defeated an incumbent commissioner and has served District 2 since 2011. She won reelection by a razor thin margin in 2015, but was able to soundly defeat her opponents, a former Brownsville mayor and a former school board member to secure her third term. Tetreau fancies herself the Franklin Delano Roosevelt of Brownsville. Her third, and final, term as commissioner is set to expire in 2023.

Tetreau will no longer be allowed to run for a fourth term. Her office, along with all the other city commission seats, is now term-limited. In the last election, Brownsville voters overwhelmingly approved a change in the city charter which limits commissioners to two four-year terms.

Tetreau was the most vocal opponent to the city charter amendment. She was convinced the amendment was solely proposed to prevent her from running for reelection. During one meeting, she referred to the amendment as the "punish Jessica" amendment.

At the time of the passing of the term limit amendment, I speculated Tetreau would not go quietly into the night.

There are some grumblings and whispers around the proverbial political campfire saying Tetreau will challenge Trey Mendez for the mayor's seat in 2023. Tetreau does not appear to want to retire from local politics just yet. 

Tetreau enjoys the celebrity and clout that comes with being an elected official. She loves the attention and the likes she receives on social media when she poses for pictures in a fancy evening dress and rubs elbows with billionaire space mogul Elon Musk.

She recently took to social media to bemoan the loss of her favorite material possession — her vanity plated black Tesla. She was recently involved in a traffic collision that left her vegicle, affectionately dubbed "Sparky" totalled. But fear not, her social media page immediately followed with a message that she'd soon be receiving a brand new Tesla.

All is right in the world.

The real tragedy is among all the photo ops at SpaceX, the red carpet glitz and glamour, the trips to Floridian theme parks, and new electric cars, she hasn't done a whole lot for the city.

I've said it once, and I'll say it again, I couldn't care less about her personal life, but when the personal and the material comprise the bulk of your presence on the city commission, it's difficult to justify another term as an elected official.

Has she done good things for the community? Sure she has. She has participated in graffiti cleanup drives in her district, I think she's participated in beach clean-ups, and recently she paid over 700 dollars — the adoption fees for an entire group of dogs set to be adopted at an upcoming pet adoption drive at the Olmito Tesla dealership.

These are fabulous acts of community service, not unlike things you'd expect from a high school senior trying to pad the community service portion of her application for consideration for college admittance. But what big picture issues has she tackled for the constituents of her district and Brownsville as a whole?

Some might remember Tetreau's meddling in the Brownsville Police Department's bike patrol schedule after a 21 minute phone conversation between Tetreau and a Brownsville Police Lieutenant was made public. There are also allegations Tetreau tried to interfere with the selection of the new police chief, suggesting she had the authority to endorse, and approve, whoever she wanted to be chief.

Tetreau was also quite vocal during the renaming of East Fronton Street, suggesting she didn't think it was that big a deal if East Fronton was renamed, since there were a handful of blocks on the other side of Palm Boulevard that would still retain the Fronton Street name. Tetreau endorsed the remaining of the street despite the overwhelming majority of the residents of East Fronton being opposed to the change.

Tetreau failed to report a potential conflict of interest during the Brownsville Trash Wars, since Tetreau's car wash held the contract to wash all the refuse collecting trucks belonging to Republic Waste Services, and Tetreau supported the awarding of the trash collecting contract to Republic.

Tetreau is also a huge fan of Elon Musk and SpaceX. She is a frequent visitor out at the SpaceX complex. She has embraced Musk's "Starbase," and has endorsed the naming of a street out by the airport "Starship Road." Will Mayor Tetreau allow Musk to continue his quest to acquire more of Brownsville and Cameron County on his way to privatize SH4 and Boca Chica Beach?

What large-scale project has Tetreau implemented over the last ten years? Has Brownsville seen an increase in infrastructure improvements? Has public safety improved? Has public health improved?

After 2023, Tetreau will have served longer than anybody could serve as President of the United States. She will have served the length of two Mexican Presidential terms. She will have been on the city commission for more than a decade.

Will Brownsville be able to handle another decade of Tetreau in office? Will she announce for mayor? Only time will tell. 

Tetreau's biggest accomplishment is being reelected twice. Her legacy epitomizes the era of the do-nothing city commission. If anything, Brownsville has grown despite her years of disservice. 

Brownsville can no longer afford to  keep reelecting the same politicians who enjoy being in office for the reserved parking spot they get at the intersection of East Elizabeth and 10th Streets.

We need people who are dedicated to serving the community, not serving themselves.



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