Trey Mendez - The Man with the Plan!

"Brownsville's Own Legal Eagle"

Photo Credit: Cindy Mendez-Kendrick

Today's People Profile is about Trey Mendez a local boy who went to UTB, graduated from UT Law and came back to his home to practice law and eventually take up leadership positions such as TSC Board Member.  I have been fortunate enough to call Trey a friend for about 7 years now. We met online due to our mutual interest in revitalizing downtown. I will never forget the first interaction I had with him. He posted on a thread something like this and I paraphrase... "If I have to I will spend my own my money and revitalize downtown myself!" That was literally the first thing I had ever seen or heard of him. I remember thinking... wow who is this guy? Sure right. A lot of people talk but few back their words with action. Trey is one of those that not only talks he acts... in fact in most cases his actions do the talking.

Photo By Eddie Sanchez

Trey and I became friends due to this mutual interest and he even permitted me to host Brownsville Living parties in his building, the Fernandez Y Hermano building on East Adams. Which is a perfect example of him putting his money where his mouth is. He and his partners bought that building as well as a number of other buildings in downtown and invested in them to beautify the area and protect the structures.

When we met he was running for his first term as TSC Board Member. He was relatively unknown at the time but had built a reputation as being a standup guy that wasn't afraid to speak his mind. Once he got elected his metal was really tested. Trey felt strongly that the UT system was taking advantage or our community and not giving us the benefit of the true financial resources of the system.  As you can imagine and some of you know first hand, this was extremely controversial and caused a tremendous uproar in town.

Trey felt it was his duty to represent the community college and he felt the best thing for the community was to have two separate institutions. In some ways this has already proven to be true and other effects remain to be seen.  He stood and fought for what he believed and has garnered a huge amount of respect from many people for doing so. I venture to say even some of his opponents on the issue developed respect for him despite their difference of opinion.

"Rubio Building" Photo Credit Brownsville Herald

Trey is now in his second term as a TSC Board Member so he has done something right. Beyond being an avid supporter and promoter of higher education, Trey is also a huge Cubs fan and a staunch supporter of local historic architecture. At this time he is the Chairman of the Brownsville Historic District. In that position he took an unpopular stance to protect the Rubio Building from demolition. He and several people on the committee felt it should be evaluated for usefulness before it was demolished. The City of Brownsville was unwilling to accept the committees recommendation to do a 60 day feasibility study and demolished the building to satisfy public ire. 

Photo by Omar Landeros

Aside from all he does in the community Trey has also refurbished and sold a few historic homes in West Brownsville. He has done this for the love of doing so and in the process has provided some very happy families with exceptional homes that would not exist or would be much less desirable without his efforts and funding. He went above and beyond on the quality of work and the investment and when it came time to sell the home his primary concern was that the buyer's were happy and loved the homes as much as he did.
In summary Trey is very respected in the community. He is a registered Democrat but is respected by both sides sides of the isle. He votes for and supports people he believes are right for the job and will do right by the citizens not what party they are affiliated with but don't tell his Democrat friends. They think he is tried and true blue... He is beyond reproach when it comes to ethics and will fight to the end for his legal clients or an issue he believes to be just. I see many years of success and leadership in his future. The sky is truly the limit for this man with a plan... I am just glad I have had the chance to Be part of it.

Author Craig Grove

https://www.facebook.com/CraigGroveRealtor

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