by Legislative Media | Jan 30, 2016 | Politics
Featured: Rendition of the planned Resaca Market, a major retail and entertainment complex, complete with a hotel, to be located by U.S. Expressway 281/169C and Monte Cristo Road, three miles north of downtown Edinburg. The Resaca Market will feature 500,000 square feet of retail, restaurants, hotel, shopping, entertainment, movie theaters, and more.
Graphics Courtesy of BURNS BROTHERS, LTD.
A hotel and movie theater with a combined value of more than $10 million are under negotiations for the privately-owned and planned 500,000 square-foot Resaca Market retail and entertainment complex in north Edinburg, the Edinburg Economic Development Corporation has announced. In addition, a third residential subdivision in the upscale La Sienna community – which neighbors the 60-acre Resaca Market site – is approaching final approval from the city to begin construction. The updates about the 726-acre La Sienna Master Planned Community and Resaca Market, which represent the grand vision of Burns Brothers, LTD of Edinburg, came on Tuesday, January 26, 2016, during the public meeting of the EEDC Board of Directors. Todd Gilliland, Project Director of La Sienna, provided the latest news on La Sienna and Resaca Market to the EEDC leadership, which was meeting in the Council Chambers of Edinburg City Hall. The EEDC, of which Agustín García, Jr. is Executive Director, is the jobs-creation arm of the Edinburg Mayor and Edinburg City Council. The EEDC Board of Directors is comprised of Mark Iglesias as President, Harvey Rodríguez as Vice President, Ellie M. Torres as Secretary/Treasurer, and Mayor Richard García and Richard Ruppert as Members. Agustín García, Jr. and Mayor Richard García are not related. La Sienna is located along U.S. Highway 281/I69C near Davis Road and Resaca Market is located along U.S. Highway 281/I69C near Monte Cristo Road. Following his presentation during the public portion of the EEDC board meeting, Gilliland provided additional details to journalists who were in attendance. Reporting on what already has taken place at La Sienna and what is in the works for La Sienna and Resaca Market, he expressed optimism that big things will continue to take place for Edinburg which will boost economic development, job growth, and tourism. “I think when the announcements (on the hotel and movie theater) are made, assuming it all comes together, it will be very exciting and (La Sienna and Resaca Market) becomes a true destination,” said Gilliland, crediting Kent Burns of Burns Brothers, LTD of Edinburg with helping promote the family’s inspiration for the ambitious commercial and residential undertakings. “We are not looking to copy what anybody else has done,” Gilliland emphasized. “We are following an idea of creating something different and exciting like everybody talks about but it’s very challenging to put the pieces together.” Regarding Resaca Market, he made it clear that, as in the case of the residential La Sienna, all goals are legitimate and well-thought out. “What we really strive to do is not hype something that is unattainable,” Gilliland emphasized. “That is never our intention. We’d rather work the deals and get them going and make the announcements, rather than promise something that is very difficult to bring about.” Around late spring 2016, movement should accelerate on the hotel/movie theater plans, he predicted. “We would like to see things really start clicking within 90 days,” he said of those two building projects, which will then bring in more retail firms, even residential housing, targeting consumers with money to spend and invest in Edinburg. “Part of Resaca Market is not just commercial shopping and restaurants and hotels and theaters. It’s condominiums and apartments, more of the high-end than you would typically see,” Gilliland explained. “That brings you into the level of having a destination where people will perhaps stop or perhaps come in from Monterrey and want to locate out there.” Tapping into consumers from northern Mexico, specifically Monterrey, which is Mexico’s ninth-largest metropolis with a population of more than one million, is part of the Resaca Market/La Sienna growth strategies, he said. “We know that a tremendous amount of our financial growth comes from Monterrey,” Gilliland said of that economic powerhouse, which is the second-wealthiest city in Mexico and located 140 miles south of Edinburg. “We have some designers who are very familiar, who do business there and who have lived there. We are trying to offer those people an alternative to other places that are overbuilt and very congested at the moment.” Resaca Market has the potential to generate as much as $5 million a year in local sales tax revenue for key public services – additional money that can be used by the Edinburg City Council and EEDC for a wide range of its duties, from public safety, infrastructure improvements and youth programs to economic development and job-creation efforts. The EEDC estimates that once Resaca Market reaches completion, its presence could bring in as much as $300 million a year into the city’s economy.
•••••• (more…)
by Legislative Media | Jan 29, 2016 | Politics
Featured, from left: Congressman Rubén Hinojosa, D-Mercedes; Hidalgo County Judge Ramón García; and Texas Secretary of State Carlos Cascos, on Thursday, January 21, 2016, at the Edinburg Conference Center at Renaissance.
Photograph By MARK MONTEMAYOR
A proposal by Rep. Sergio Muñoz, Jr., D-Mission, which would allow a statewide vote to require that half of all future gubernatorial appointments go to qualified women, has been delivered to Gov. Greg Abbott by Texas Secretary of State Carlos Cascos. Under the Muñoz measure, Texas voters in a statewide election would have the power to create a law that women receive half of all gubernatorial appointments to powerful state boards, commissions, and agencies, such as the Texas Transportation Commission and The University of Texas System Board of Regents. During a four-year term, a governor will make about 3,000 appointments, according to the governor’s office. Muñoz would file the proposal when the Texas Legislature begins its regular session in January 2017. If approved by lawmakers, state voters could see it on the ballot as soon as November 2017. There are more than 200 state boards, commissions and agencies whose members are appointed by the governor, with the consent of the Senate. “Under this proposal, if approved by the Legislature and Texas voters, every time vacancies occur in each state board, commission and agency which requires a gubernatorial appointee, the first vacancy shall be filled by a qualified woman, the next vacancy shall be filled by a qualified man, and so on,” Muñoz said. “This method will guarantee that women will receive their fair share of the most powerful gubernatorial appointments.” Cascos, who was in Edinburg on Thursday, January 21, 2016, was provided with a copy of the Muñoz plan, and the Secretary of State, who was formerly county judge of Cameron County, agreed to present it to Abbott. Cascos was the first gubernatorial appointment announced by Abbott in November 2014. The Texas Senate confirmed Cascos as the 110th Secretary of State on Wednesday, February 18, 2015. In agreeing to take Muñoz’ plan to Abbott, Cascos shared his own commitment to increasing the roles and number of women in leadership roles in Texas. “I think it’s important to have a diverse representation of qualified women and men of different origins,” Cascos said. “I don’t think there is anyone who does not welcome diversity: male, female, Hispanic, African American, Asian American. Diversity is good.” The Secretary of State, who serves as the chief elections officer for Texas, reflected on the importance of Muñoz’ plan. “I think it’s something that’s noteworthy. There are a lot of groups that are not that well -represented,” Cascos said. “In my office alone, we have African American, Hispanics and Anglos. So my office, since I have been in there, has become more diverse than what it was before I got there.” Muñoz said the time has come for Texas to build on its international reputation as a leader for all people. “I believe Texas is ready to take this remarkable step forward in democracy, and in doing so, show the world what we are doing to make sure that women are equal to men in legal, political and social rights,” said Muñoz. Women are underrepresented on most state boards and commissions which require gubernatorial appointees, and many of the state agencies they help lead have annual operating budgets of hundreds of millions of dollars, up to $10 billion and even higher. Abbott, a Republican, has the opportunity to demonstrate his support for women by endorsing Muñoz’ plan, which would most affect one of a governor’s most significant legislative powers. “I encourage Gov. Abbott to support my plan because it affects his office specifically, but more important, it is the right thing to do,” said the House District 36 lawmaker. Abbott recalled that on Election Night in November 2014, Abbott said “I made a promise to the people of Texas that I would begin work immediately to keep Texas the beacon of opportunity and the best state in the United States of America.” The governor pledged that he “would fight for all Texans, I would unite our great state with key appointments that reflect both the geography and the diversity of our great state. Texans from every corner of the state need to feel that they are a part of the state’s leadership, that they are coauthors of our future.” Muñoz said the idea was brought to him by David A. Díaz, a legislative consultant from McAllen. Díaz and Miriam Martínez had worked together on the issue when Martínez, a South Texas broadcast journalist and business owner, ran for Texas governor, seeking the 2014 Republican Party nomination, which was won by Abbott. Martínez said if elected governor, her gubernatorial appointments would be been divided evenly between women and men, and she would have asked for a statewide vote to make that practice a permanent requirement. “My duties as a state lawmaker include searching out and recognizing bold ideas from the people of Texas, and helping transform their vision into the laws of the land,” said Muñoz. “I happen to also agree with the famous remarks by Sen. Robert Kennedy: “‘Some people see things as they are and say why? I dream things that never were and say, why not?’ This is my inspiration for all legislation.” Kennedy’s timeless comments came on March 18, 1968 during his speech at the University of Kansas. Kennedy credited George Bernard Shaw, an Irish playwright who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1925, for the quote. Muñoz said his proposal is not a quota, which favors one group at the expense of another. “Under this plan, a majority, in this case, men, would not lose out to a minority – women – because the population of Texas is, and most likely will always be, about half men and half women,” Muñoz said. “Any Texas governor would find no problem whatsoever finding women who are very qualified for half of all gubernatorial appointments.” The UT System Board of Regents, which is currently operating under a $16.9 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2016, has two women and seven men on that governing board. The Texas A&M System Board of Regents, which is currently operating under a $4.2 billion budget for Fiscal year 2016, has two women and seven men on that governing board. The Texas Ethics Commission, which is responsible for administering and enforcing laws that require financial disclosures of state lawmakers and legislative employees, has one woman on its eight-member commission. The Texas Department of Transportation, which has a $23 billion two-year budget, is governed by the five-member – and all male – Texas Highway Commission. Only three women have been appointed to this powerful commission since 1993. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission, a seven-member board which oversees the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and its 2016-17 $719 million budget, is comprised of all men. The three-term lawmaker, who serves on the powerful House Appropriations Committee, which shapes the state’s $209 billion, two-year budget, said his proposal is consistent with his professional and legislative work. “I am a champion for women, who make up half of our adult population, with a proven record of promoting equal pay for equal work, and through my leadership roles on the House Appropriations Committee, supported and voted for hundreds of millions of dollars for women’s health care, protecting victims of family violence, and much more,” said Muñoz.
•••••• (more…)
by Legislative Media | Jan 27, 2016 | Politics
Featured, from left: Rep. Ryan Guillen, D-Rio Grande City, and Rep. Sergio Muñoz, Jr., D-Mission, on Thursday, July 9, 2015, following their presentations before the McAllen Chamber of Commerce’s 84th Legislative Wrap-up Luncheon, held at the DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Hotel in McAllen.
Photograph By MARK MONTEMAYOR
Plans to build the South Texas College Regional Center for Public Safety Excellence in Pharr received final approval from the STC Board of Trustees on Tuesday, January 26, 2016, a move that will result in a multi-million dollar economic impact for the city while improving law enforcement throughout South Texas, said Rep. Sergio Muñoz, Jr., D-Mission. On a unanimous vote – with District 5 Trustee Dr. Alejo Salinas, Jr. of Edinburg excused on important business – the remaining six board members present for the public meeting approved an interlocal agreement with the City of Pharr and the Pharr San Juan Alamo Independent School District that will result in a major presence by STC on a 113.9 acre site located between U.S. Highway 281 and South Veterans Boulevard. “Obviously, this is a huge step for the people of Pharr and the PSJA school district because it brings one of the most prestigious higher education institutions in Texas into our community,” said Muñoz, whose House District 36 includes a large section of Pharr. “This is a landmark event, the latest success story in the Valley, and I congratulate the many people who worked long and hard to help make this happen.” The STC Regional Center for Public Safety Excellence was made possible in large part by Muñoz, who successfully authored House Bill 1887 last spring before the Texas Legislature. HB 1887 led to statutory authority for the STC to undertake the development of regional law enforcement training. “The Regional Center for Public Safety Excellence will increase necessary access to training opportunities for officers in the Rio Grande Valley region and, in turn, improve public safety and border security,” Muñoz further explained. “The training provided at the regional center also would provide officers with college credit toward either an associate’s or a bachelor’s degree, while the four police academies in the area would not.” The importance of establishing the STC complex in Pharr was emphasized during the State of the City Address on Wednesday, December 23, 2015, by Mayor Ambrosio “Amos” Hernández. “We are proud to announce that we have entered into a partnership to have a South Texas College facility in Pharr,” proclaimed the mayor, who was elected to his first term in May 2o15. “The facility will bring $9 million in economic impact and approximately $3 million in payroll.” Hernández shared Muñoz’ vision of the potential for the complex, with the mayor calling it “an STC Branch for PSJA ISD students.” Muñoz, a three-term state legislator who serves on the powerful House Appropriations Committee, which shaped the current $200+ billion state budget, praised his fellow Valley lawmakers for helping pass the state law authorizing and helping fund the South Texas Regional Center for Public Safety. “Sen. Juan Hinojosa was the Senate author of my House Bill 1887, while Rep. Terry Canales, Rep. Bobby Guerra, Rep. Eddie Lucio, III, and Rep. Ryan Guillen were joint authors in the House, and they all deserve credit for this huge accomplishment,” said Muñoz. “There is no substitute for experience when it comes to getting what we deserve from the Texas Legislature.” According to STC, with the interlocal agreements with the city and school district be approved, it will take between 18 months and 24 months to build the 21,800 square-foot facility, which will be the initial heart of The Regional Center for Public Safety Excellence. The project will include classroom facilities, vehicle driving range, outdoor shooting range, firearms simulator, mobile firearms simulator/live firing range, driving simulator, obstacle course, fitness rooms, and administrative offices. The estimated initial construction cost is $6.782 million, which includes $4.2 million from South Texas College’s Series 2013 Bond Issuance, $1.5 million provided by the Texas Department of Public Safety, and $1 million provided by the PSJA school district. The City of Pharr will contribute 59 acres and the PSJA school district will contribute 10 acres to begin the project. Within two years, the City of Pharr has proposed contributing another 32.24 acres, and within five years, the City of Pharr proposes contributing 12.55 additional acres.
•••••• (more…)
by Legislative Media | Jan 26, 2016 | Politics
Featured: Rose Benavidez, Member, Board of Trustees, South Texas College, and Rep. Sergio Muñoz, Jr., D-Mission, in the underground annex of the Texas Capitol, during Community College Day on Thursday, February 3, 2015.
Photograph By PETER SALINAS
Pharr could soon see construction begin on the South Texas Regional Center for Public Safety, to be located on a 113.9 site located between U.S. Highway 281 and South Veterans Boulevard, as a result of House Bill 1887 by Rep. Sergio Muñoz, Jr., D-Mission. On Tuesday, January 26, 2016 (today), the STC Board of Regents are scheduled to review and approve an interlocal agreement with the City of Pharr and the Pharr San Juan Alamo Independent School District that will see the landmark complex take shape, and with it, improve the quality of public safety in deep South Texas. The pending action is part of the STC Board of Trustees’ regular monthly meeting, which will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the Ann Richards Administration Building Board Room at the Pecan Campus in McAllen. Muñoz predicted the planned STC facility and site also will pave the way in the future for a branch campus – and possibly more – in Pharr, which is part of his House District 36 legislative district. “South Texas College is one of the best college systems in Texas, it is only one of a handful of community colleges in the state which offer university-level bachelor degrees, it is poised for greater growth, and it has helped transform the South Texas economy through its outstanding graduates who are as skilled and talented as they are numerous and in demand,” Muñoz said. “This is just the beginning for STC in Pharr.” The three-term state legislator, who serves on the powerful House Appropriations Committee which shaped the current $200+ billion state budget, praised his fellow Valley lawmakers for helping pass the state law authorizing and helping fund the South Texas Regional Center for Public Safety. “Sen. Juan Hinojosa was the Senate author of my House Bill 1887, while Rep. Terry Canales, Rep. Bobby Guerra, Rep. Eddie Lucio, III, and Rep. Ryan Guillen were joint authors in the House, and they all deserve credit for this huge accomplishment,” said Muñoz. “There is no substitute for experience when it comes to getting what we deserve from the Texas Legislature.” According to STC, once the interlocal agreements with the city and school district are approved, it will take between 18 months and 24 months to build the 21,800 square-foot facility which will be the initial heart of The Regional Center for Public Safety Excellence. The project will include classroom facilities, vehicle driving range, outdoor shooting range, firearms simulator, mobile firearms simulator/live firing range, driving simulator, obstacle course, fitness rooms, and administrative offices. The estimated initial construction cost is $6.782 million, which includes $4.2 million from South Texas College’s Series 2013 Bond Issuance, $1.5 million provided by the Texas Department of Public Safety, and $1 million provided by the PSJA School District. “The Regional Center for Public Excellence in Pharr shall increase necessary access to training opportunities for officers in the Rio Grande Valley region and, in turn, improve public safety and border security,” said Muñoz. “The training provided at the regional center also would provide officers with college credit toward either an associate’s or a bachelor’s degree, while the four police academies in the area do not.”
•••••• (more…)
by Legislative Media | Jan 21, 2016 | Politics
Featured, from left: Dr. Kelly Cronin,Vice President for Advancement, the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley; Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen; Verónica Gonzáles, Vice President for Government and Community Relations, the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley; and Dr. Guy Bailey, President, the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, at the main campus in Edinburg on Wednesday, January 20, 2016.
Photograph By PAUL CHOUY
From the fields of Peñitas to the jungles of Vietnam to the halls of the Texas Capitol, Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen, says he has created a political legacy he could never have achieved without family, friends and supporters. Now, he is “paying it forward” by helping first-generation college students, like himself, at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. (Paying it forward is an expression for describing the beneficiary of a good deed repaying it to others instead of to the original benefactor.) On Wednesday, January 20, 2016, Hinojosa presented UTRGV a $50,000 gift to support “The Cotton Fields of Peñitas” Senator Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa Endowed Scholarship, an endowment he began in 2013 at The University of Texas-Pan American, a UTRGV legacy institution. “For me, education is the best equalizer we have in our society,” Hinojosa said during a press conference at the UTRGV Performing Arts Complex on the Edinburg Campus. “Education is knowledge and knowledge is power. Education is a way out of poverty.” The scholarship supports first-generation college students pursuing degrees in all majors at UTRGV. UTRGV President Guy Bailey called Hinojosa “a true ambassador for The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley” and “one of the best public servants in the state of Texas. “Sen. Hinojosa exemplifies excellence in giving back to our community, state and our nation, and always supporting education,” Bailey said. “I don’t know where we would be without him. If you look at what he has done for the institution and what he has done in the last Legislature, we all owe him continuous thanks for what he has done.” The longtime legislator/attorney offered himself as an example to others that almost any obstacles can be overcome to reach personal and professional successes. “If I myself, (an American citizen) who was deported (to Reynosa) when I was 5 years old, who couldn’t speak English until I was 7 years old, who grew up the oldest of a family of eight can graduate from Pan American University, become a lawyer, and now be Texas senator, that means any young person can also do the same thing,” he said.
•••••• (more…)
by Legislative Media | Jan 20, 2016 | Politics
Featured: Edinburg Mayor Richard García addresses the community on Thursday, January 22, 2015 at the Edinburg Conference Center at Renaissance as he prepares to welcome Gov. Greg Abbott to the city, which was part of a legislative tour organized by the Rio Grande Valley Partnership. A year later, Edinburg’s economy continued its strong performances, including reaching $139.5 million in total construction activities in 2015.
Photograph By MARK MONTEMAYOR
Construction and related building activities in Edinburg totaled more than $139.5 million in value in 2015, almost $20 million ahead of the figure reached in 2014, the Edinburg Economic Development Corporation has announced. For the month of December 2015, all construction activities totaled more than $11.7 million, also ahead of the pace for the same month in 2014, which came in at almost $7.4 million. The value of construction of new homes during 2015 led all year-to-date categories, amounting to almost $48 million, compared with more than $35.7 million during 2014. The EEDC, of which Agustín García, Jr. is Executive Director, is the jobs-creation arm of the Edinburg Mayor and Edinburg City Council. The EEDC Board of Directors is comprised of Mark Iglesias as President, Harvey Rodríguez as Vice President, Ellie M. Torres as Secretary/Treasurer, and Mayor Richard García and Richard Ruppert as Members. Richard García and Agustín García, Jr. are not related. The most valuable construction project to receive a building permit in December 2015 was a facility, classified as Multi-Family Residences New Construction/Addition/Remodel, valued at $5 million. The facility, whose owner is Edgeware LLC, will be located at 615 South Sugar Rd., Phase II Subdivision. Four single-family residences rounded out the top five most valuable projects issued building permits in December: $ 371,000 – Reynold and Angelien Martínez, 4804 Oxford St., Bentley Estates Subdivision; $ 280,000 – Pin Point Investments LLC, 2522 Terranova Cir., Emerald Pointe Subdivision; $ 260,000 – Pin Point Investments LLC, 2510 Terranova Cir., Emerald Point Ph. 2 Subdivision; and $ 250,000 – Jesús González Clemente, 4806 June Dr., Summerfield Manor Subdivision. Three hundred forty new homes, valued at almost $48 million, led all construction activities in 2015. The top categories in Edinburg during 2015 were: $47,969,918– Single-Family Residences New Construction; $27,756,178 – Commercial New Construction; $24,519,797 – Non-Taxable New/Alterations (government, religious, but not including the value of construction activities at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley or its School of Medicine); $18,761,863 – Commercial Alterations; $14,314,122 – Multi-Family Residences New Construction; and $6,237,533 – Residential Alterations. A building permit includes the estimated value of the work, but does not include the costs of the lot, equipment and furnishings. In general, a building permit is legal permission given by the City of Edinburg to erect, construct, renovate, maintain, or conduct any other specified activity on any building or structure, or on any installations or facilities therein. The term “building permit” includes but is not limited to building permits, electrical permits, mechanical permits, and plumbing permits.
•••••• (more…)
