By AL VILLARREAL and ADRIAN VILLARREAL Special to the Star
For decades, economic growth in the Rio Grande Valley has consistently marched forward because of the unique convergence of a number of key factors. This growth has brought with it more prosperity throughout our communities, delivering jobs, more opportunity and a higher quality of life.
We are fortunate to have a diversified economy driven by health care, retail trade, international trade, tourism and growing higher educational opportunities. Our proximity to Mexico provides important access to supply chains for manufacturers and distributors. In 2018, approximately 1 million commercial trucks carrying supplies and goods from Mexico crossed the Rio Grande Valley’s six international bridges.
Our region is often noted for its affordable housing stock, inexpensive cost of living and mild weather, in addition to having the business- friendly environment found across Texas. We provide an abundant workforce and are known for our affordable and reliable electrical and water utilities.
But the Rio Grande Valley has suffered recently. First, the global coronavirus pandemic brought havoc to our region. The pandemic has crystalized how dependent we are on the hard work of our neighbors — jobs that cannot be done from behind a computer at home. It also laid bare challenges we face with access to health care, mental health care, food, education and the internet, among other issues.
Then, the historic winter storm struck in February and exposed weaknesses in our grid, which was compounded by the cascading effects of prolonged power outages. While a major reckoning is underway, it’s important to underscore just how important it will be for our region and the entire state to work diligently in addressing the failures we all experienced.
On top of these events, our communities have suffered from more than a year of border closures. These closures to so-called non essental travel have separated families and friends. They have also devastated local businesses. The approach of another Holy Week with the border closed reinforces how much our communities are in fact one city in two countries.
The February event wasn’t the first storm that has impacted our way of life, and it won’t be the last. Meanwhile, Washington is temporarily focused on a border crisis, but not the one that has done so much damage to our communities – the border closure. While our communities certainly need federal assistance in dealing with the increase in migrants, the most important step the government can take to help us is to re-open the bridges to normal traffic.
It’s time that we all come together — our neighbors, the business community, and the public sector — to strongly advocate for practical and necessary improvements to our infrastructure that strengthen our resiliency, and to advocate for sensible, long-term management of border issues.
Beyond physical infrastructure, we must strengthen our public health system, increase the capacity of social-service providers to address the challenges of hunger and domestic abuse, expand access to the internet, prepare our workforce for the jobs of the future and advance educational opportunities for all our children. And we must look to sensible, cost effective solutions to border security, including ending the restrictions on non-essential travel at our ports of entry.
At IBC Bank, we live where you live, and we work where you work. We’re passionate about our role as a community partner across the Rio Grande Valley, and we support the progress that’s being made here. While the collective events of the past year have been difficult, straining every corner of our lives, we’re confident that our communities will rise, and that with the proper investments and policies, our cities, region and state will secure a future that provides better health, a higher quality of life and more prosperity.
Al Villarreal serves as the CEO of International Bank of Commerce — Brownsville. Adrian Villarreal serves as the CEO of International Bank of Commerce — McAllen
