WHAT WILL BECOME OF BROWNSVILLE?

Will Brownsville escape its ignominious reputation as one of the most impoverished and ignorant cities in the United States?

Will the few continue to prosper at the expense of the many who will be sentenced to wallow in misery?

Will the exploding population spread like a cancer and turn this once tropical paradise into a wasteland of cheap housing and potholed streets?

Will the blind lead the blind off the banks of the Rio Grande into its polluted and poisonous waters?

Will the powerful Mexican-Americans treat their powerless brothers and sisters worse than the white masters treated their slaves before the Civil War?

Will Brownsville build a 10,000-seat arena and promote the living museum that is downtown or will the economic development corporation repeat fast failures by subsidizing more boondoggles with millions of taxpayer dollars?

Will the county judge, mayor and the rest of the zombies finally die or are they destined to haunt Brownsville streets forever?

Will Brownsville become an extension of Matamoros where a destitute populace depend on crime and violence to eke out a dismal existence?

Will the Catholic Church remain faithful to the ruling interests with its serendipitous sermon that the poor will spend eternity in heaven while the rich--with the exception of the Stillmans--burn forever in hell?

Will the grapefruits and oranges rot on the limbs and the trees topple to the ground?

Will the cats and dogs cower inside their owners' homes because opossums and nutrias feed on people's pets?

Will the palm trees lose their fronds and stand like abandoned telephone polls?

Will fathers become pimps and force their daughters into prostitution?

Will the dead give thanks that they are no longer living?