by Legislative Media | May 23, 2016 | Politics
Featured: Councilmember David Torres, Mayor Richard García, and Mayor Pro Tem Richard Molina, at the Edinburg Conference Center at Renaissance on Thursday, May 19, 2016, following the mayor’s State of the City Address about Edinburg to about 300 area residents in attendance and thousands more who viewed it on the Edinburg Cable Network.
Photograph By DIEGO REYNA
Edinburg’s unemployment rate for April 2016 of 4.5 percent marked the fourth consecutive month that the city posted a monthly figure of less than five percent, the Edinburg Economic Development Corporation has announced, The April 2016 figure of 4.5 percent is the best showing for that month in almost a decade, when the city posted a 4.0 percent unemployment rate in April 2008. According to the Texas Workforce Commission, there were 36,636 people employed in Edinburg during the month of April 2016. That performance represents an increase of 758 jobs in Edinburg when comparing the employment figures for April 2016 (36,636) and April 2015 (35,878).
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by Legislative Media | Mar 9, 2016 | Politics
Featured, from left: Precinct 1 Hidalgo County Commissioner A.C. Cuellar, Jr. of Weslaco; Hidalgo County Judge Ramón García; Mayor Richard García; Councilmember J.R. Betancourt; and Mayor Pro Tem Richard Molina. This image was taken on Tuesday, March 8, 2016 in the Council Chamber of Edinburg City Hall.
Photograph By MARK MONTEMAYOR
The Mayor and Edinburg City Council on Tuesday, March 8, 2016, gave their initial approval to provide a maximum of $30 million – to be spread out over up to 30 years and without raising the city property tax rate – to help in the construction of a $150 million Hidalgo County Courthouse, the Edinburg Economic Development Corporation has announced. If all goes as planned by the county, construction on the courthouse may begin near the end of this year, if weather permits. The county anticipates a completion date of October 2018. The action took place following a 2 p.m. joint work session with the Hidalgo County Judge and Hidalgo County Commissioners Court, held in the Council Chamber of Edinburg City Hall, and sets into motion a plan that will eventually lead to the construction of a state-of-the-art judicial center, which will be located in downtown Edinburg, next to the current county courthouse complex.
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by Legislative Media | Mar 5, 2016 | Politics
Featured, from left: Precinct 4 Hidalgo County Commissioner Joseph Palacios; Hidalgo County Judge Ramón García; Mayor Richard García; and City Councilmember Homer Jasso, Jr. In the background are, from left: Agustín García, Jr., Executive Director, Edinburg Economic Development Corporation, and Noé Hinojosa, Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer for Estrada • Hinojosa Investment Bankers of Dallas, which is the city’s financial consultant. This image was taken at Edinburg City Hall during the Monday, February 8, 2016 joint work session on the proposed $150 million Hidalgo County Courthouse, which will be built in Edinburg.
Photograph By DIEGO REYNA
Edinburg and Hidalgo County leaders are set to meet on Tuesday, March 8, 2016 to consider approving a financial agreement that could result in the construction of a $150 million Hidalgo County Courthouse in the city’s historic downtown, the Edinburg Economic Development Corporation has announced. In addition, the elected leaders and the public will receive an update on the architectural details for the proposed courthouse from ERO Architects of McAllen. If all goes as planned, work could begin on the new courthouse before the end of this year, with a completion date of October 2018, weather permitting. The existing courthouse would continue to function while the new facility is being built. The March 8 joint session, which is open to the public and will begin at 2 p.m., will take place in the Council Chamber of Edinburg City Hall, 415 West University Drive, which is two blocks west of the existing Hidalgo County Courthouse complex.
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by Legislative Media | Feb 11, 2016 | Politics
Featured: An illustration of the proposed $150 million Hidalgo County Courthouse which would be built in downtown Edinburg, and, weather permitting, be completed by October 2018.
Graphics Courtesy ERO ARCHITECTS
The City of Edinburg would contribute a total of $30 million towards the construction of a $150 million, six-story Hidalgo County Courthouse, which would reshape and revitalize the city’s historic downtown, under an initial agreement authorized by the Mayor and Edinburg City Council on Monday, February 8, 2016, the Edinburg Economic Development Corporation has announced. 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. If all goes as planned, work could begin on the new courthouse before the end of this year, with a completion date of October 2018, weather permitting. The existing courthouse would continue to function while the new facility is being built. The $30 million city contribution would not result in any city property tax rate increase or take funding away from other major city projects, Mayor García said following the joint work session, which began at 2 p.m. at Edinburg City Hall. “After hearing from our financial advisors, I feel very comfortable that we’re in a sound financial situation, where we can contribute to this worthy project, without raising taxes and without it affecting the other projects we have going on around town,” he told the Edinburg Cable Network. The mayor added that Edinburg hasn’t raised city property taxes in 21 years and he doesn’t plan to start raising them now. In addition to Mayor García, Mayor Pro Tem Homer Jasso, Jr., Councilmember Richard Molina, and Councilmember David Torres participated in the event. Councilmember J.R. Betancourt was excused on important business. Hidalgo County Judge Ramón García, Precinct 1 County Commissioner A.C. Cuellar of Weslaco, and Precinct 4 County Commissioner Joseph Palacios of Edinburg represented the commissioners court. Precinct 2 County Commissioner Eduardo “Eddie” Cantú of Pharr and Precinct 3 County Commissioner Joe Flores of Mission were excused on important business. Mayor Richard García and Hidalgo County Judge Ramón García are not related. Final details for the courthouse project, as well as the formal signing of an interlocal agreement setting out the financial contribution by Edinburg, are both scheduled for a joint session on Tuesday, March 8, of the Edinburg City Council and the Hidalgo County Commissioners Court. During the Monday, February 8 joint work session, the city and county leaders reviewed the architectural and financing details provided, respectively, by Eli Ochoa, PE, AIA, who is Partner and Architect with ERO Architects of McAllen, and Noé Hinojosa, Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer for Estrada • Hinojosa Investment Bankers of Dallas, which is the city’s financial consultant. “This is a historic moment in our county’s history,” the county judge said in his opening remarks during the joint work session. “We are here today to discuss the possibility of entering into an agreement with the City of Edinburg to properly fund an adequate courthouse to provide safety and security for our constituents, our residents of Hidalgo County.” Edinburg city officials are optimistic that the new courthouse complex is on the right track. Mayor Pro Tem Jasso said key issues relating to the planned courthouse complex have been resolved for him. “From the time we began this, I am really happy with the outcome, with what we have today,” said Jasso. “Eli (Ochoa) has addressed many of our concerns, such as the facade of the building, the landscaping. I am really looking to moving forward.” Councilmember Molina, who also serves on the Edinburg Planning and Zoning Commission, predicted the new courthouse complex will have a beneficial impact that will help businesses located along East University Drive and beyond. “We have been trying to help the east side of Edinburg, and when people see this mammoth building all the way from the expressway (Interstate Highway 69C), it’s going to catch people’s attention,” said Molina. “We are going to have all kinds of businesses go up in the area.”
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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.
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