The candidates vying for a seat on the McAllen city commission took part in another virtual candidate forum Thursday, making their pitch to potential voters as early voting carried out in full swing.
During the event, which was hosted by the McAllen Citizens League and the McAllen Chamber of Commerce, the candidates running for District 1, District 3 and District 6 laid out their vision for the city.
“Being on the border has its challenges, but it also has its benefits,” said Antonio “Tony” Aguirre, who is running to be next District 1 commissioner. “There’s a lot of good potential coming for our city. If it can be controlled right, if it can be beautified, if we can stay as a low cost of living area, it has a tremendous amount of potential.”
Aguirre added that education was vital, as well as working with the county to eliminate drainage problems.
“I love this city,” he said, “it will stay growing if we really put our minds together.”
His opponent, Lucia “Lucy” Thompson, said she wanted to see McAllen as a destination city of sorts.
“I think we’re ideally situated to accomplish that,” Thompson said. “I think we need to start thinking vertically considering our land restrictions that we’ve got.”
She added the city needed to collaborate more with the school districts in an effort to attract doctors and other professionals.
“I think we need to increase our police force,” Thompson said. “We’re lacking, I believe, 28 police officers at this point that they’re budgeted for and we definitely need to become more business friendly.”
Another candidate for District 1, Timothy “Tim” Wilkins, did not participate in the question and answer portion of the forum, but said he was the most passionate candidate in the race who was willing to ask necessary questions.
“I’m the type of person that will sacrifice myself to ask the questions, the appropriate questions, and demand the appropriate answers so we get to a better place,” Wilkins said.
On his vision for the city, District 3 candidate Mario Reyna stressed the importance of the business community.
“What I see for the city in the next 20-25 years is that we will have absolutely more prosperity,” Reyna said, “and the way we’re going to do that is by making sure that the way the city does business with the business community is that we need to become more efficient, and we will set up plans to do that.”
He envisioned a city with more attractions, like theme parks or something to that scale, as well as a new airport for more capacity.
“We will see more parks,” he said. “We need to see better traffic systems because if it takes forever to get anywhere in McAllen, then businesses will decide to do something different.”
Thelma Tamez, who is also running for district 3, noted the importance of investing in the community and retaining talent.
“We need to make sure that we have the best people and provide them the best service,” Tamez said. “And it’s extremely important that anything that we go ahead and do … if we want to continue to grow, that we know that there’s going to be challenges with it.”
Current District 3 Commissioner Omar Quintanilla said he saw the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine playing an important role in the city’s economic development.
“It’s going to continue to expand. We’re going to see it explode over the next 10, 15, 20 years and that industry is going to be very impactful to our community,” Quintanilla said. “Also technology — there are technology companies that are in our area that we need to continue to foster because that’s really the way of the future.”
Quintanilla added that he saw the Anzalduas Bridge as facilitating commercial traffic which would, in turn, spur development on the north and on the south side of the border. Further, he said, he saw the city as an entertainment hub.
“In 2019, we were big in McAllen and it’s going to continue,” Quintanilla said.
Running in the District 6 race, Lawrence “Larry” Esparza also said he saw McAllen as a destination city in the future.
“What that requires is a lot of involvement from our community, not just our residents but our business community, our medical community, all parts of life here in McAllen, to see what their needs are and what the needs are for our residents,” Esparza said. “And then we sit down as a group and formulate ideas about how we can do that.”
One of the main issues he pointed to was the city’s traffic flow.
“We’ve seen the improvement on the highway system over here at the interchange in Pharr, which directly affects McAllen. We see all the traffic backups there,” he said. “Hopefully with the improvements, that will make life easier and better for people trying to get in and out of the city. So a lot of it has to do with planning and I’m prepared to do that for our residents.”
One of his opponents, Jose R. “Pepe” Cabeza de Vaca, did not stay in the forum to share his vision for the city, but during the introductions, he highlighted his experience as an asset.
Cabeza de Vaca is currently assistant chief of staff for Hidalgo County Precinct 1 Commissioner David Fuentes and has served on McAllen’s planning and zoning board for 12 years.
“This experience is experience that counts because all of this has been focused on the city,” Cabeza de Vaca said.
Three candidates running for District 6 city commissioner did not attend the forum: businessmen Andres Fernando Salinas and Andrew Perez, as well as Mayra Gutierrez, a licensed insurance agent and state director for Latinos for Trump.
Early voting continues Friday through April 27 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at three polling locations: Firemen’s Pump House at 201 N. First St.; Palm View Community Center at 3401 Jordan Ave.; and Lark Community Center at 2601 Lark Ave.
Election Day is May 1.
