By John McPhaul
jpmcphaul@gmail.com
Cayey Mayor Rolando Ortiz Velázquez had not as of press time on Thursday responded to requests for information regarding properties declared a public nuisance that he allegedly acquired through corporations.
According to journalist Carmen Enid Acevedo of Bonita Radio, several properties in Cayey that are said to have been declared public nuisances by the municipal council passed into the hands of Ortiz Velázquez through a corporation and also in a personal capacity between 2016 and 2022. All are identified under the same address in the El Polvorín neighborhood of that municipality, according to the public registry of the Municipal Revenue Collections Center.
In addition to the two lots on Núñez Romero Street that were purchased in the name of MCBRIDGE LLC in last July, two others, one at No. 41 on that street and another on José De Diego Street in the same town, and a third, in the Jájome Alto neighborhood of the municipality, reportedly appear in the registry. The latter was purchased in 2016 and those in the urban center were purchased in March 2019 and November 2021, respectively.
Ortiz Velázquez has a total of seven properties to his name in Cayey, a municipality he has led as mayor since 1997, after winning election for the first time in 1996. There are two plots of land purchased in the 1990s in the Cercadillo and Sumido neighborhoods and another from 2001 in the Lapa neighborhood of the municipality he runs.
In February of this year, the municipality of Cayey circulated ads on social media and on a YouTube channel making available to the public an inventory of properties declared public nuisances.
In March, the property on José De Diego Street had a movement of ownership in its name. It was on March 4 when MCBRIDGE LLC was incorporated in the mayor’s name.
Four months after its creation, MCBRIDGE acquired two lots at 324-034-070-15 and 070-14, from plots 01 and 06.
The amendment document to the corporation states that its resident agent and administrator will have the address of 26 Calle Evaristo Vázquez, Bda El Polvorín, Cayey, P. R. 00736-5032 and offers a telephone number that begins with 615.
Bonita Radio called that number Sunday night and the man who answered acknowledged being from Cayey but did not want to identify himself. He did not answer when asked if he resides in the El Polvorín neighborhood of that municipality, a contact address that is included both in the corporation owned by Ortiz Velázquez and in listings of his properties in a personal capacity.