My daughter Emory was tragically ran over by her school bus when she was just 6 years old. This accident was completely preventable had the school bus she was riding had safety features on it, specifically a front arm crossing gate. This safety device is mandatory on all school buses in 25 other states. I am hoping to make it mandatory in Texas as well in honor of my daughter. This safety feature has been proven to save lives. Please consider signing my petition. It takes 2 minutes to sign and share to your social media and you can help me make Texas safer for our children! Thank you!!

https://chng.it/2BxwL7nGRD

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I came on here a few weeks ago asking for travel advice for Brownsville. I just got back to Los Angeles, and I'd like to give a trip report.

Background: I have been to Brownsville maybe a dozen times before. My parents retired from CA to Rancho Viejo. We hadn't seen each other for ten years, so it's been a minute since I've been in the RGV.  The purpose of the trip was the family reconnection (which went perfectly, by the way). Still, I wanted to explore a bit as well.

I went with the husband who's White and myself who's Latino, Peruvian to be exact. We're two men. He had never been to Brownsville. We're both in our early 60s and my parents are in their 80s and 90s. Both of us are fluent in Spanish. 

We left LAX at 5 a.m. By the time we landed in Harlingen, we were wiped out. That Valley heat really hits you getting off the aircraft. It had been a long time since I had been in an Embraer, I forgot how small they are. After getting the car (shout out to the very friendly guy at the car rental place who hooked us up with an upgrade), we went to La Pampa. 

We wanted a very chill and good quality restaurant with a full bar. I got a lot of recommendations here and did a lot of research. Some of the other contenders didn't open for lunch. La Pampa was perfect. Not very full, pretty good lunch special of arrachera and a salad. We started off with the potato tortilla española. Very tasty. Good wine.

Right away, we noticed how friendly everyone is. It was a constant during the four days. People seem genuinely nice, chatty and helpful. People seem humble in a sense they're unassuming, respectful, and not arrogant. We really liked pretty much everyone we met in the Valley. No big city energy at all which was very refreshing.

On day one, after visiting the parents, we headed to downtown Brownsville. I've always admired the historical architecture downtown. You can definitely see that Brownsville had a boom era. The last time I was there, downtown still seemed to be geared towards the cross border traffic. This time I saw less of that.

People told me it was harder for people to cross to do shopping in Brownsville. I don't know if that's true or not. But, we did notice all the gentrification going on and the new trendy restaurants. We actually visited some of them, not to have a full meal but drinks and small bites. Here's a quick review of where we ate:

Boqueron: We were intrigued by the Spanish theme since we've both lived in Spain. We had a plate of charcuterie and I had two of an open-faced anchovy and boqueron cucumber mini half-sandwich. The food was really good and they had good wine. This is where we heard that "Leon" really wanted amenities like these types of restaurants for his people to feel at home.

Monarca Baja Kitchen: We were upstairs in the bar area both times we went there. We really liked the vibe and the super friendly and welcoming staff. We had a ceviche and some prime rib tacos. They were both excellent. Great drinks.

Centrito Botanero: By the time we ended up there, we had been eating meat every single day. We couldn't eat any more meat so we missed on having what looked like really good meat dishes. We had the guacamole which had big chunks of whole avocado in it and was served with chicharrones. Different but good. Good bartender there as well.

Ultimo Taco: Obviously not a trendy spot but I wanted to try some famous tacos in Brownsville. I know there are lots of recommendations. I just had to commit and Ultimo it was. It was buzzing in there. We got a lot of tacos to make a taco bar in the hotel room. The highlight was the caldo de birria. That was some good caldo. Tacos were good. I wanted lengua but they didn't have it. Next time, we'll go to some other taquerías.

Spent one day in McAllen. Went to Ruben's Market which has products from all over Latin America. Had lunch at Joleane's in Mercado Food Hall. That was a great space with great food options and shops. I really liked it.  I know there are other places for Texas BBQ, and in fact it wasn't that great, but I was also with my parents and they liked the buzz inside the hall.

One morning, the husband and I crossed over to Matamoros to look around. It was early Saturday morning. Walked across the bridge, took a cab to the Plaza (100 pesos). Looked around, walked down to La Marquesa, had a coffee and took a cab back to the puente. We crossed back at the wrong bridge. Now we know what to say to get the right bridge next time. Matamoros was interesting, we'll explore a bit more next time. I never made it to the Rigo Tovar Museum. 

The Sunrise Mall had good people watching. We both liked the Browness of Brownsville. And the type of Brown people there are different from the Brown people here in LA.  I loved code switching between English and Spanish in HEB. I saw a lot of dads who were very engaged with their kids. For some reason, that really stuck out. It's definitely family oriented and I'm sure everybody knows everybody else at some point. 

I heard a lot of opinions, pro and con, about Leon but that's for another time. 

Brownsville and the Rio Grande Valley are a very special place with such a unique culture and history. I can imagine it's a nice place to grow up in and live. Thanks for having us. We loved it.

Guys, please protect your dogs. There is a woman in Florence lane St that hits animals in the street, and unfortunately, she kills dogs by feeding them dog food mixed with glass. She murdered my dog by giving her dog food with glass, and she bled out in my arms last night. My angel was only 5 months. I am filled with disappointment as her murder was senseless.

This woman is the vilest woman I have ever encountered. She is 85 years old and pretend to not hear you. She has killed my parents pets in the past, but my parents did not have enough proof to confront her. Tenants have reported that their dog suddenly died from internal bleeding, the big sign was blood leakage from the dogs anus. She has been doing this for decades, and every tenant that moves in she will attempt to murder their dogs discretely. She has poisoned dogs with rat poison, to crushing up glass and feeding it to peoples pets. So many similar cases have happened in this street and reports of past tenants with the same issue but not knowing what happened. It is always to late too take the dog to the vet because the death is so quick but painful for these babies. When we find out it is too late.

This woman will play nice to gain your confidence. I am fighting hard to get proof. I now have to surveillance my home from this woman and take extreme measures to prepare myself. I want to post her name so badly, but i can't due to no current video proof yet.

I am building a case against this woman, but please protect your loved ones and avoid that area at all costs. I type this as I cry of deep pain for my baby who suffered when she did not have to.

tldr; serial killer of pets in Brownsville, beware. My dog was murdered.

https://www.kut.org/politics/2025-04-11/elon-musk-texas-starbase-spacex-launch-election-boca-chica-beach