The business of Brownsville is logistics. Always has been, always will be. Indeed, it’s our bread and butter, the reason our town was born, the reason we exist and the geographical “niche” we have to offer both Mexico, the USA, and the world.
GBIC has finally hired someone with an appropriate resume. Wow. A college degree in “maritime supply chain management.” That’s logistics.
Another plus is that he’s from the “real world” private sector. A businessman, and from a maritime business at that. Two strong credentials for success at bringing more jobs to our area. Welcome aboard, Mr. Pablo Montero.
I hope this will bring in a new era of the city of Brownsville working together with our greatest asset, our seaport, to create more and better jobs for Brownsville. They must. These two political entities serve the same voters; they must work together. Back in 1988, the Port of Brownsville opened a trade office in Monterrey, the boomtown that is not only Brownsville’s largest single trading partner, but also Laredo’s. Now it’s also McAllen’s, Harlingen’s and even Port Isabel’s as well.
Recently the McAllen area’s international trade has boomed, and now surpasses even that of Brownsville. Laredo took it away from us more than a century ago; it currently handles more than 150 million tons per year of cargo, many times more than Brownsville. Big city Monterrey’s industrial strength has always accounted for some 80% to 90% of all cargo at the Port of Brownsville. Our port is thriving, projected to handle more than 5 million metric tons of steel slabs this year to Ternium near Monterrey, much of which is for auto bodies. Imagine how their cargo should grow with the addition of Tesla there. GBIC and the Port of Brownsville should join forces and reopen a trade office in Monterrey.
The port’s Monterrey office was very y successful. It was largely responsible for the dramatic financial turnaround of the port’s dire financial situation in 1988. Within a year, business generated by that office helped reverse several previous years of financial losses of millions of dollars, turning it into a profitable port. A fast, dramatic financial turnaround story. Our good friends and customers in Monterrey would be very pleased if we fly our flag in their beautiful city once again, just as they were when we flew it there in 1988.
Joseph Linck
Brownsville
Voting:
No use
To vote or not to vote: That is the question.
It’s getting harder to determine if voting makes any difference. The bad behavior of lawmakers in office just does not make it that appealing to vote anymore.
Politicians are like snake oil salesmen who are selling us an image about themselves, not a true image because no one will vote for them but a fake image of themselves. A more appealing image that will attract votes in their direction, and use millions of dollars of your $5 donation to make it happen.
Once in office you won’t hear from them until the next election in a town hall meeting where you get free coffee and sweets for your vote.
Should I bother to vote? At this point, I feel that is pointless.
Rafael Madrigal
Pharr
LETTERS — Limit letters to 300 words; all letters are subject to editing. Mail: P.O. Box 3267, McAllen, TX78502-3267; Email: [email protected]
