COME TOGETHER Local mayors collaborate on Valley’s future

By Dr. Kimberly Selber Photography by Cliff Ranson

But water untamed and unrestrained can lead to devastation, especially in neighborhoods with drainage issues. The June storm of 2018 left the drought-ridden Rio Grande Valley with 18” to 3 feet of water that flooded thousands of vehicles and inundated several thousand homes and businesses. Damage estimates were in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Drainage prompted the mayors of Edinburg, Pharr, McAllen, and Mission to join forces in 2022. Ambrosio Hernandez, MD (Pharr) was elected to office in 2015 and is the senior most elected official of the group. Javier Villalobos (McAllen) began serving in 2021. Ramiro Garza (Edinburg) took the oath of office in December 2021, and Nori Garza, the first woman to be elected mayor of Mission, took her post in June 2022. But what started as a conversation about drainage has become an ongoing partnership designed to grow the region.

“Drainage issues began our conversations,” said Edinburg Mayor Ramiro Garza. “We started meeting to let each other know what we were doing.” Discussing the specific challenges and solutions each city faced, the mayors quickly realized that moving the region forward not only on drainage but on economic development would take collaboration.

“By working together, we can assure that we aren’t duplicating efforts,” said Mission Mayor Nori Garza. “This saves everyone time and money.”

Her colleagues agree on that and have spoken about other related aspects of the situation.

“This conversation is long overdue,” stated McAllen Mayor Javier Villalobos. All four mayors said that finding common ground and ways that the cities can support each other is a new way of approaching issues. “This is the first time the mayors have ever regularly met,” said Pharr Mayor Ambrosio Hernandez, M.D. “The timing is right. We have really good karma together.”

Now, the four have invited other cities in Hidalgo County to join their quarterly meetings. “The last time we met, about half of the cities in our county showed up,” said Villalobos.

Drainage

For decades the Rio Grande Valley has suffered from drainage issues. One way to combat the problem is to establish standards for new subdivision drainage across the Valley. Edinburg, Pharr, McAllen, and Mission are leading the way by requiring all new developments to have the same requirements and encouraging the smaller cities to join them. “Don’t let contractors pressure you [the city] to install sub-standard drainage by threatening to go to another city,” Hernandez said. “If we all have the same standards, everybody wins.”

McAllen has demonstrated how effective these changes can be. “In June 2018, McAllen had 2000 homes that were gravely impacted by a tremendous amount of rain over two-days,” Villalobos said. “In 2000, we had a similar storm with the same amount of rain, but only 200 homes were affected. We’re making progress.”

Economic Development

The drainage issue is one of several the group of Valley leaders have come together to discuss in recent months. That issue can be tucked into the larger context of overall development.

According to the US Census Bureau, the metropolitan area of McAllen-Mission-Edinburg-Pharr grew approximately 13% between 2010 and 2020. And with this growth comes the need for services—water, electricity, parks, entertainment, etc. “To provide these services, we need to maximize our resources. And to do that, we must come together,” said Ramiro Garza. For the region to flourish, we have to focus on economic development, and to maximize our efforts, we need to market our region together, suggests Hernandez. “We are stronger together,” he said. “Economic development is key to our growth and prosperity,” said Nori Garza.

Partnerships and collaboration across the region with The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and South Texas College are key components to driving economic growth in the Rio Grande Valley. “McAllen and Mission are working together on a project that will provide approximately 1,400 jobs for engineers,” said Nori Garza. “This means jobs for our engineering students.”

And jobs mean home sales in Mission and Pharr, meals out in McAllen, and tickets to concerts and sporting events in Edinburg. Jobs mean growing families and a need for healthcare, green space, and cultural events. And with this growth, a responsibility to provide the community with neighborhoods that do not flood.

Gone are the days of one-school towns that battle it out under football’s Friday Night Lights. A new era of collaboration, trust, and growth is in the making.