How is everyone in Harlingen doing with the potholes in your streets and alleys? Especially after last fall’s heavy rains. How many vehicle repairs have you incurred or twisted ankles trying to clean your alley. Well, my friends, get use to it, because our dear mayor and commission of Harlingen have determined that your needs of your immediate neighborhoods are no longer a priority.
The potential of attracting big monies of wealthier people than you, has taken center stage. Your concerns have been moved so far back of the line that you will need binoculars to see them.
So everybody is all in a panic abut Donald Trump’s eminent domain philosophy. Guess what citizens of Harlingen? Eminent domain is alive and well right here in Harlingen. It has just confiscated all our tax dollars that we were designated for our streets and infrastructure that is falling apart under our feet, to serve outside elite corporations.
Forgive my lack of understanding, but I still cannot see why our homes have to be placed on the sacrificial altar of multimillion dollar corporations.
If they are so wealthy, prominent and good for us, why can they not pay their own way in without a welfare handout from us? No one was there for us when we started our way into life. No tax breaks, CDC funds, Federal grants, Section 8 or daddy’s inheritance. It was blessings from above and our sweat and tears to survive.
How easy is it for politicians to saddle us with more debt by the stroke of a pen? Remember Fruit of the Loom and a parade of broken promises from past corporations that have left us in a hole.
Keep in mind what happened in Flint, Michigan, with the drinking water and other cities around the country that simply went bankrupt. They are not unpredictable incidents. They were the direct result of the community being ignorant of what their city leaders were doing and not holding them accountable.
The state and feds are not responsible for our local issues and we don’t want them to be. A socialist dictatorship begins when you invite outside mandates.
Elections are just around the corner. Remember on your way to the voting booth, when you slam into that pothole you thought had disappeared as your tax dollars have.
Respectfully, Elias Torres Harlingen
