Rio South Texas Region Landing on 'Best Places' Lists in a Number of Areas

Best Places You May Never Have Heard Of
Rio South Texas Region Landing on 'Best Places' Lists in a Number of Areas
SOURCE Rio South Texas Economic Council
PR Newswire

EDINBURG, Texas, April 6 /PRNewswire/ -- A largely unknown and often overlooked area of the United States is not only starting to get noticed, but is also earning national rankings as the place to live, get a job, go to college and start a business. One of the fastest growing areas in the U.S. with a total population of 2.3 million, Rio South Texas encompasses the southernmost tip of Texas and the northeastern part of Mexico. The region is currently the third largest market in Texas, the 23rd largest market in the country and the largest U.S./Mexico border region in America.

Over the past six months, the region has been ranked nationally in the following areas:

•America's Best-Bang-For-The-Buck Cities. McAllen -Edinburg- Mission ranked 7th for its solid housing market, stable employment, enviable cost of living and quick commute. (Forbes.com, November, 2009)

•America's Fastest-Recovering Cities. McAllen-Mission-Edinburg ranked 48th in this list of 100 most economically secure U.S. metros based on diversified industry and stable housing market. (Forbes.com, November, 2009)

•Safest Hospitals in America. Hospitals in Brownsville (Valley Regional Medical Center), Edinburg (Doctors Hospital at Renaissance and Edinburg Regional Medical Center), Harlingen (Harlingen Medical Center), and McAllen (Rio Grande Regional Hospital and McAllen Medical Center/Heart Hospital) ranked among the best 5% in the nation based on low complication and mortality rates. (HealthGrades, Inc. January, 2010)

•Deep Seaport handles record waterborne in-transits. The Port of Brownsville placed 3rd among the Top 20 U.S. Ports handling Foreign Waterborne In-Transits ahead of the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. (U.S. Corps of Engineers – Transportation Facts, December, 2008)

•Most Secure U.S. Places to Live for 2009. McAllen metropolitan area ranked 7th in large metro areas (500,000+) in the sixth annual ranking of safest cities. (Farmers Insurance Group, December, 2009)

•America's 10 Next Recovering Job Markets. McAllen ranked 3rd and Brownsville ranked 4th based on Economy.com's projected job growth in the first three months of 2010.

•A+ Rating. Fitch Ratings gave the City of Harlingen an "A+" rating based on the city's stable financial history, healthy fund balances, increasingly diversified economic base, below average unemployment and moderate debt ratio. (Fitch Ratings, October, 2009)

•50 Best Places to Launch a Business. McAllen ranked 16th among the best midsize places in the U.S. to launch a small business. That same study showed that small business start-ups in McAllen-Mission-Edinburg grew by 13% from 2004-2007, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. And McAllen and Brownsville ranked 1st and 2nd among metros with the lowest wages. (CNNMoney.com, October, 2009)

•America's Best Public Colleges. University of Texas Pan American ranked No. 32 in the top 100 list for "America's Best Public Colleges" and was ranked 218 in the complete list of 600 "America's Best Colleges". (Forbes.com, September, 2009)

"These rankings and ratings indicate that Rio South Texas is fast becoming recognized as a healthy market for more than job creation," said Miki McCarthy, Director of San Juan Economic Development Corporation. "This area is proving itself to be among the best and safest places in the country to live, work, learn and do business. We have a lot to boast about, and that's just what we're doing!"

Rio South Texas Economic Council, a public and private association of economic development interests, was formed in 2008 to promote the collective assets of the Rio South Texas region to attract private sector investment, economic diversification and business expansions. RSTEC – with its tagline "Two Countries. One Region. Many Choices." – is aggressively pursuing six core industry segments: automotive manufacturers and suppliers; aerospace; metal products; medical devices; electronics manufacturing and assembly and renewable energy.
Media Contact:


Sofia Hernandez
Toll Free Line: 1-888-RSTEC01 (888-778-3201)
Direct Line: 956-607-1197
news@riosouthtexas.com
SOURCE Rio South Texas Economic Council

Manufacturing Jobs Alive and Well Here, Says Rio South Texas Economic Council

Press Release
Manufacturing Jobs Alive and Well Here, Says Rio South Texas Economic Council

Forbes.com  03.31.10, 09:27 AM EDT

EDINBURG, Texas, March 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Jobs. Jobs. Jobs. That's what Rio South Texas has in more plentiful supply than most U.S. cities. In fact, Forbes.com recently ranked McAllen and Brownsville the 3rd and 4th fastest growing job markets in the United States, respectively. Manufacturing jobs are front and center stage.

To ensure continued job health, the 21 economic development members of the Rio South Texas Economic Council (RSTEC) are collaborating to compete on the world stage to bring new manufacturing jobs to the region.

"We know what manufacturers want, and Rio South Texas delivers the goods," says Alma Colleli, Executive Director of San Benito Economic Development Corporation. "We are ideally located to offer the competitive advantages and global logistics companies are demanding. We have the low wage, skilled workforce in Mexican maquiladoras (assembly plants) across the border. The region also has the infrastructure and multi-modal transportation and distribution systems required to compete in the global market - international bridges, rail, seaport, major highways. We have the industrial parks and land to offer build-to-suit solutions. Finally, Rio South Texas has the capital, research base, favorable taxes, incentives and low cost of doing business in a business-friendly area that offers great quality of life."

Extensive research has uncovered six core industry segments that RSTEC will be targeting:
-- Auto manufacturing & suppliers...

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Little Known Area One of Nation's Largest Regions

Little Known Area One of Nation's Largest Regions

Region is 3rd Largest Market in Texas and 23rd Largest Market in United States

EDINBURG, Texas, March 23 /PRNewswire/ -- What region of the United States straddles two countries, has a total population of 2.3 million, is the 8th fastest growing area in the U.S. and is located within 150 miles of 10 million people? What is being described here is Rio South Texas, the largest U.S./Mexico border region that is also among the country's largest metropolitan areas.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Rio South Texas is the 23rd largest market in the country. The region encompasses the four southernmost counties in Texas – Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr and Willacy – along with the cities of Reynosa, Matamoros and Rio Bravo in Tamaulipas, Mexico. The market is not quite as large as Pittsburgh, but bigger than Portland/Vancouver.

Rio South Texas is also the third largest market in Texas, behind Dallas/Fort Worth/Arlington and Houston/Sugar Land/Baytown, respectively 4th and 6th largest MSAs in the United States.
The Cities of Rio South Texas

The major U.S. cities of Rio South Texas include: Brownsville, the region's largest city located at the very southernmost tip of Texas; Harlingen, which is roughly 25 miles north of Brownsville; and McAllen, located some 35 miles to the west of Harlingen. The region also includes the Gulf of Mexico beach resort city of South Padre Island and a number of other communities such as San Benito, Port Isabel, Weslaco, San Juan, Pharr, Edinburg, Mission, Roma and Rio Grande City.

Reynosa, just across the border from McAllen with a population of 750,000, is the largest Mexican city in the region. Rio Bravo lies in the center of the regional border and has a population of about 84,000 and Matamoros, just south of Brownsville is home to 423,000. All of these cities are in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas.

"What's interesting is that few people know about this area, which happens to be not only one of the largest population centers in the country, but also a fast-growing business hub," said Keith Patridge, President of the McAllen Economic Development Council. "The Rio South Texas Economic Council (RSTEC) is charged with first – getting this huge area on the map in terms of awareness, and second to tell our story about why this is a viable region for locating anything from a small business to a global manufacturing facility."

To promote the collective assets of the region, RSTEC was formed in 2008. Representing all economic development interests in the region, the 21 RSTEC members are collaborating to attract private sector investment, economic diversification and business expansions in six core industry segments.

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Media Contact:
Sofia Hernandez
Toll Free Line: 1-888-RSTEC01 (888-778-3201)
Direct Line: 956-607-1197
news@riosouthtexas.com

SOURCE Rio South Texas Economic Council

http://www.riosouthtexas.com/

Santana Textiles receives $10M loan to build plant in Edinburg

Santana Textiles receives $10M loan to build plant in Edinburg
Published: Tuesday, March 9, 2010 3:48 PM CST
The Edinburg Review
Full Article

AUSTIN -- Santana Textiles has been awarded a $10 million, 15-year loan for its upcoming Edinburg facility, State Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen, announced on Monday.

The award comes from the Texas Product Development Fund, a Texas fund administered by the governor through the Texas Economic Development Bank, and funded by bonds issued and backed by the state.

Loans made available through the Texas Product Development Fund may be used for working capital, machinery, equipment, and fixtures. Awards range in size from $500,000 to $10 million. Hinojosa praised the award as a continued investment in South Texas' economic generating capacity.

"In the past year, South Texas has seen sizeable investments in our transportation infrastructure, health care service delivery systems, and institutions of higher education,” Hinojosa said in a statement. “This latest award to Santana maintains our momentum. Edinburg and the entire Rio Grande Valley stand to benefit from the jobs and service contracts Santana will bring to the region. The Texas Product Development Fund chose well in awarding a loan of this size to our fast growing county."

In July 2008, Texas Gov. Rick Perry announced plans to invest $1.65 million through the Texas Enterprise Fund (TEF) to assist Santana in building the denim manufacturing plant in Edinburg. But a significant size increase of the plant, by more than 200,000 square feet, coupled with an economic recession in 2008 left city officials and Santana representatives scrambling to finance the project in four phases.

The project had been delayed for nearly a year and half before high level discussions with Perry in Austin in December finalized the project for construction. Meetings with the Governor focused on production details, global economics, market share, labor costs, transportation costs, and economic stability, according to attendees present at the meeting. Among those in the series of meetings were Santana representatives, Edinburg Mayor Richard Garcia, Texas Economic Development Bank CFO Michael Chrobak, Michael Bryant, an assistant general counsel in the Governor’s Office, and Jerry Haddican, from state Sen. Hinojosa’s Austin office.

Santana, a denim fabric manufacturer with operations in Brazil and Argentina is expected to create 800 jobs and bring $80 million in new investment. Construction of their proposed 500,000 square foot complex is slated to begin this spring, and will be completed...

Full Article

Edinburg mayor delivers state-of-the-city address

Edinburg mayor delivers state-of-the-city address

The Monitor February 03, 2010 11:42 PM

By Jared Janes

Click Here for Full Story

EDINBURG - The growth that has marked this city since Mayor Richard Garcia’s first stint in office has come with its share of challenges.

First and foremost, the mayor said Wednesday during his state-of-the-city address, has been finding jobs for its newest residents.

With an eye on growth, the city established a Monterrey office to attract foreign investment, traveled to conventions to lure a mall development and offered innovative incentives to interested investors, said Garcia, a board member on the city’s economic development corporation since May 2003. While the rest of the nation was hit last year by a deep recession, Edinburg’s sales tax collections grew by 2 percent, it saw a large increase in home construction, and its credit rating went up.

But Garcia said the real proof that the city was resilient enough to withstand the recession was the year-end unemployment rate of 6.7 percent, well below the county, state and national averages.

“Job creation,” Garcia said on numerous occasions Wednesday. “We got it then. We get it now.”

Speaking in the historic school auditorium housed on the grounds of City Hall, the mayor touted Edinburg’s financial stability, infrastructure improvements and quality-of-life improvements.

In his first state-of-the-city address since re-assuming the mayoralty last year — he first held the position from 2003 to 2006 — Garcia initially highlighted projects that began his first term, including a new City Hall, police and municipal court facilities and a water plant.

But he moved quickly to the city’s ongoing projects, most notably its efforts to revitalize its downtown.

The city hired a consulting firm to develop a master plan that could bring life back into a downtown area that dies after the regular working day, Garcia said.

The city is gathering input for the master plan, which would incorporate plaza and street improvements, a pedestrian connection to the University of Texas-Pan American and arts, culture and entertainment options.

Saying he wanted the city to continue to be a college town that remains culture- and family-oriented in its development, Garcia envisioned a downtown venue focusing on the arts for residents of all ages and walks of life.

The mayor also emphasized the partnerships the municipality is building with other entities.

The city is partnering with the university on several projects, including

McAllen-Edinburg-Mission Metropolitan Area is Number One in the Nation in Positive Job Growth!

McAllen-Edinburg-Mission Metropolitan Area is Number One in the Nation in Positive Job Growth!


Friday, January 15th, 2010
Written by: Dr. Gilberto de los Santos
Professor Emeritus The University of Texas—Pan American
www.texasborderbusiness.com

The prestigious Brookings Institution released in its 2009 third quarter MetroMonitor, a “quarterly, interactive barometer of the health of America’s 100 largest metropolitan economies.” In this report it cites the changes in employment of the 100 largest United States Standard Metropolitan Areas.

From the 2nd to the 3rd quarter of the year 2009, only 11 of the 100 metro areas experienced positive increase in jobs. The other 89 metro areas lost jobs during this time period. The McAllen—Edinburg—Mission metro area is the number one in the United States in job creation with an increase of 1.3% in one quarter! The 1.3%, if annualized, would be 5.2%! Below is a list of the top five metro areas with their percentage increases in jobs:

McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX with a 1.3% growth

New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner, LA = 0.6%

New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA = 0.5%

Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE, IA = 0.5%

Columbia, SC = 0.3%

The MetroMonitor also compared the largest 100 metro areas’ peak employment quarter to the most recent 3rd 2009 Quarter. Only one metro area in the United States, The McAllen—Edinburg—Mission metro area increased job placements with an increase of 1.4%! Since their peak employment, the 100 largest metro areas have decreased an average of -4.3%, compared to a -4.6% decrease in employment for the entire United States.

The McAllen—Edinburg—Mission metro area is the only metro area in Texas that achieved an employment growth rate from October 2008 to October 2009!!! (See Table 1)

There seems to be much healing to go—and the McAllen—Edinburg—Mission metro area is leading the way in the entire United States—and in Texas.

While most of the major metro areas in the United States are suffering loss of jobs, our metro area is number 1 in job growth. One can rightfully ask, what are the reasons for this unique growth in employment? Someone else might give a different answer, but this writer’s impression is that some of the reasons include that The Rio Grande Valley has wonderful people who have created a high quality standard of life which has attracted a higher than average increase in population growth.

We are blessed with great weather, a good school system from the K-12 grades levels to the post secondary education level, a family-oriented community, and a reasonably low cost of living. Although most local residents think the real estate prices have “sky rocked” we are considered a “bargain” compared to other metro areas.

The public schools, The University of Texas—Pan American, and South Texas College are among the fastest growing institutions in the country, and continue to increase programs and in number and quality.

Our excellent weather and shopping facilities encourage Mexican and Winter Texan tourists to continue coming. Our job growth is also fueled by the only three industries which experienced growth in Texas—Education and Health Services, Government, and Other Services.

Being adjacent to Mexico is an asset for our retail growth which also spurs jobs. The Maquiladora industry has promoted a huge increase in jobs in our sister cities near us in Mexico, and has also helped create jobs for us in the United States. Our agriculture market is strong, and we are attracting more manufacturing industries. We are also experiencing a huge increase in capitol influx from Mexican investors.

The fact that our metro area increased in jobs, does not mean that unemployment has decreased. Our metro area has been the first, second, or third fastest growing area in the United States for the past two decades, and we also have been the leaders in decreasing the unemployment rate. In the 1980’s and early 1990’s the unemployment rate was in the high “teens” and it was gradually lowered to less than 10%. At this time our metro unemployment rate is 11.2%, still among the highest unemployment rates in Texas. (See Table 1) So if the population growth rate is faster than the job creation rate, the unemployment will increase.

Nonetheless, we should definitely celebrate being number one in the United States and in Texas in job creation, and to hopefully be at the forefront of economic recovery!

UT System begins planning for Valley medical school

UT System begins planning for Valley medical school
Regents also consider enhancing science, engineering offerings at Brownsville, Pan American campuses.

By Ralph K.M. Haurwitz
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Updated: 8:55 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 27, 2009
Published: 8:49 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 27, 2009

Responding to demographic realities and some prodding from the state Legislature, officials of the University of Texas System have begun to sketch out the prospects for establishing a medical school in the Lower Rio Grande Valley.


UT System officials also will consider expanding programs in science, technology, engineering and math — the so-called STEM fields that state officials have deemed a high priority — at the Valley's two public universities, UT-Brownsville and UT-Pan American.

The Valley, which is heavily Hispanic and one of the fastest-growing parts of the state, has long been something of a stepchild when it comes to higher education. Neither the Brownsville campus nor the Pan American campus, which is in Edinburg, has a full complement of graduate-level programs.

The region has a shortage of physicians and high rates of poverty, and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board says the need for a medical school serving the Valley and other parts of South Texas is well-documented.

Earlier this year, state lawmakers approved a measure that authorizes — but stops short of requiring — the UT System Board of Regents to establish a medical school in Cameron County, whose major cities are Brownsville and Harlingen. A bill mandating creation of a law school did not advance.

At a retreat for UT regents and campus presidents this month near Austin, a rough consensus emerged on the educational, economic and political merits of expanding the UT System's offerings in South Texas. Regents Gene Powell and Robert Stillwell said the time might be ripe for the system to announce some sort of major initiative — or, as they put it, "plant the flag."

William Powers Jr., president of UT-Austin, urged officials...
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Nelsen: Rio Grande Valley is biggest education lab in U.S.

Nelsen: Rio Grande Valley is biggest education lab in U.S.
Posted: 12/16/2009
Author: Rio Grande Guardian

EDINBURG, Nov. 18 - Robert Nelsen says the Rio Grande Valley is the biggest education laboratory in the United States, which is why he wanted to be president of UT-Pan American.

Nelsen will become UTPA’s eighth president on Jan. 1, 2010. He explained how humbled and thrilled he was to be taking the new position in a brief but passionate speech to students, faculty and staff in the Student Union auditorium on Wednesday afternoon. He has big ambitions for the university.

“I am humbled and thrilled to have this opportunity to partner with you to make UTPA the shining star of education, in the Valley, in Texas, in the nation,” Nelsen said. “We will be the university that everybody else wants to emulate. We will be the one that they will say, ‘we got it right,’ because we will do it together.”

Among those listening to Nelsen’s speech were UT System Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa, UT System Regent Janiece Longoria, and UTPA Interim President Charles Sorber. Longoria was on the search panel that recommended Nelsen to the UT System Board of Regents. She described him as “formidable, articulate and charismatic.” She said he spoke compellingly “from the heart.”

Nelsen threw out a lot of statistics in his speech showing just what a challenge the university and the region face. The Valley covers 116 square miles and has a population of 700,000 people, he said. The region is slated to grow by 15 percent by 2015, he pointed out.

Nelsen said nine out of ten kids in the Valley want to go to college. The good news about those entering UTPA is that 80 percent arrive college-ready, he said. The “sad part,” though, is that 42 percent of them will end up in developmental education class. The Valley is also socio-economically challenged, he explained, stating that 66 percent of its people earn less than $30,000 a year.

“At UTPA last year $100 million went in financial aid to these students. Eighty percent of the students were on aid. Fifty eight percent of the students needed Pell grants. We are reaching out there and offering opportunities to a generation that is going to be able to change this Valley and this world and we are doing it because we care about them,” Nelsen said.

Nelsen said that when he was asked why he wanted to be the president of UTPA, the first answer he gave was because it was in the middle of the Rio Grande Valley. “It was in the middle of the biggest lab there is for education in the United States. It was an opportunity to come to that lab and see education blossom and see people’s lives change.”

He said he wanted the job also because of the students. “Because of the chances and opportunities they will have and because of all of the other children in the Valley and in Texas,” he said.

Nelsen said there is no more important a region than the Valley when it comes to education.

“As the Valley goes, so goes Texas. I’ve heard that so many times and I really believe it. But I also believe something else. And that is if we don’t get it right in Texas we aren’t going to get it right anyplace. And if we don’t get it right in the Valley, we aren’t going to get it right anyplace whatsoever,” Nelsen said.

Nelsen said he and the faculty and staff will make UTPA the nation’s “shining star” through collaboration, cooperation and partnerships. “They will be the road to our success and they will be the road to getting it right in South Texas. Instead of building walls we need to be building bridges,” he explained. He then went on to describe where those bridges are needed.

“We need to build bridges to the industries, we need to build bridges to families, we need to build bridges to politicians, we need to build bridges to school districts, we need to build bridges to the community colleges, we need to build bridges to moms and dads out in the Valley so that their kids want to come here,” he said.

“And we as faculty members need to be building bridges amongst the various disciplines, tearing down silos, creating new and exciting things that are out of the box; that are going to allow those students to have opportunities.” There was applause from the audience after that line. “These bridges are the pathways to our success and to the students’ success,” he added.

Nelsen was accompanied by his wife Jody, who is also in higher education. He explained that he was born and raised in a Valley, but one very different to the Rio Grande Valley. In the Montana Valley he grew up in, there were 30 kids in his senior class. That was the highest number the school had seen, he said. Everybody worked on ranches and dreams were hard to come by, he said. He said he got good at tests and was “lucky” to get out of his Valley.

There has been a lot of lip service paid to the Rio Grande Valley over the years, Nelsen said, but there has also been ...

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Edinburg breaks ground on new Boys & Girls Club

Edinburg breaks ground on new Boys & Girls Club

December 02, 2009 10:23 PM
Jared Janes
The Monitor

EDINBURG — Alba Escobedo credits the Boys & Girls Club of Edinburg with where she is today. Escobedo, 21, joined the club when she was 7. It kept her out of trouble while growing up in a neighborhood full of drugs and gangs, gave her scholarships to get through college at the University of Texas-Pan American and kept her in the area with a full-time job as a grants administrator.

“I wouldn’t be here without it,” she said Wednesday at a groundbreaking for the club’s expansive new facility. “Now there’s no limitations for what (younger club members) can do.”

City officials, community leaders and a busload of schoolchildren gathered Wednesday to break ground on an $11.4 million project that will be the face of the city for many drivers heading south on U.S. 281.

The 20-acre plot of land near the intersection of U.S. 281 and Rogers Road will soon feature a full outdoor park with athletic fields, playgrounds and a walking trail.

The interior of the 32,700-square-foot facility — twice as large as the club’s old one on South 18th Avenue — will feature all the traditional club spaces, including a game room, cafeteria and gym.

Mayor Richard Garcia also announced Wednesday that the Edinburg Economic Development Corp. and IDEA Academy are planning new locations nearby.

The muddy groundbreaking on a chilly afternoon will put the Edinburg club close to its goal of opening the new facility by November 2010, the club’s 40th anniversary, said Sabrina Walker, the chief professional officer for the nonprofit. Fundraisers are $500,000 shy of the initial goal they set when they kicked off the capital campaign five years ago.

The club is raising the last of the money by selling sponsorship of square feet in the building, which will serve over 16,000 youth.

The city of Edinburg has contributed $2 million to the project using proceeds left over from when it sold a city-owned hospital in the 1990s.

City Councilman Gene Espinoza said the municipality’s investment shows it wants to improve the quality of life of local residents.

The large park surrounding the club will be..

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America's Best Bang-For-The-Buck Cities: McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX Metro Area Ranks 7th Out of 100

America's Best Bang-For-The-Buck Cities
Forbes.com
Francesca Levy, 11.30.09, 06:00 PM EST

Solid housing markets, relatively stable employment, enviable cost of living and quick commutes make these metros among the country's most affordable to live.

1 - Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE-IA Metro Area
2 - Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR Metro Area
3 - Jackson, MS Metro Area
4 - Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA Metro Area
5 - Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC Metro Area
6 - Wichita, KS Metro Area 
7 - McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX Metro Area
8 - Chattanooga, TN-GA Metro Area
9 - Colorado Springs, CO Metro Area

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Peña: Santana Textiles manufacturing plant propels Edinburg into the global marketplace

Peña: Santana Textiles manufacturing plant propels Edinburg into the global marketplace

By Steve Taylor

Rio Grande Guardian

Click Here for Full Article

Picture: State Representative Aaron Peña, D-Edinburg. (File photo: RGG/Steve Taylor)

EDINBURG, Nov. 25 - When state Rep. Aaron Peña, D-Edinburg, was growing up he used to sell copies of the Edinburg Review on street corners.

Remembering back to those days he always thought of his hometown as a sleepy little college town, totally divorced from the hustle and bustle of big cities like Houston and Monterrey.

He now believes all that has changed and the realization that Edinburg is very much part of the global economy was reinforced this week when he participated in high level discussions in the Governor’s Office in Austin over plans to bring a state-of-the-art denim manufacturing plant owned by Brazil-based Santana Textiles to his city.

“We had an amazing series of meetings in Austin. The meetings were complex and sometimes technical and I came to realize just how much my community is affected by the global marketplace,” Peña said.

“The number of countries affected by this single enterprise is truly global. We will be using cotton from Texas. We will be exporting to markets all over the globe. We talked about China, Europe, Argentina. It really struck me that Edinburg is now in a global economy and we are no longer some provincial little town in deep South Texas.”

Gov. Rick Perry visited the University of Texas-Pan American in July 2008 to announce the state of Texas would be investing $1.65 million from the Texas Enterprise Fund to lure Santana Textiles to Edinburg. He said the $180 million manufacturing plant would employ 800 people when fully operational.

Many Edinburg residents have questioned whether the project would go ahead because since Perry’s announcement things appear to have gone cold, with little sign of construction.

Peña assured the Guardian that things are very much on track and that the series of meetings in the Governor’s Office on Monday were designed to put the finishing touches to the financial part of the project.

“The Santana project is on target. You have to remember that the world has changed since July 2008. So many of the variables have changed - the economy has changed, the markets have changed. And so, the general financing mix has had to be changed. All sides are making the necessary adjustments to bring this to fruition,” Peña said.

Peña said the Santana Textiles plant in Edinburg would change the complexion of the denim manufacturing market because of the revolutionary technology being installed by the company.

“They have a unique niche in the global marketplace because of the specialized technology they have,” Peña said. “But there is more to the story than just that. There is the aspect that this plant is being built in Texas using Texas cotton. We are affording them national security. It was mentioned in the meeting that we are in effect creating a reverse-maquila.”

Among those in the series of meetings were Santana representatives, Edinburg Mayor Richard Garcia, newly-appointed Edinburg City Manager Ramiro Garza, Texas Economic Development Bank CFO Michael Chrobak, Michael Bryant, an assistant general counsel in the Governor’s Office, and Jerry Haddican, from state Sen. Juan Hinojosa’s Austin office.

“I have to acknowledge the depth of knowledge Ramiro Garza has for this project,” Peña said. “I was very impressed with his presentation. He knows the project and all the financial aspects. This confirms to me that he was a great pick for city manager.”

Garza was heavily involved in bringing Santana to Edinburg in his previous capacity as executive director of the Edinburg Economic Development Corporation.

Peña acknowledged the meetings in the Governor’s Office were complex and technical at times. “We discussed production details, global economics, market share, labor costs, transportation costs, economic stability. It was really absorbing,” he said.

The City of Edinburg now has a population of 71,520, a 48 percent increase on the 2000 Census count. If current trends continue and an accurate count is taken in the 2010 Census, Edinburg could have a population of 78,000 in 2010. If the same growth pattern continues, the city could have a population of 100,000 by 2015.

These statistics reinforce Peña’s observation that the Edinburg of old has gone forever.

“I come from a little town where I used to sell newspapers on the streets. Back then we really were incubated from Houston and Monterrey. I realize we are now in the thick of it. It is amazing,” he said. He said a major reason things have changed is the growth in trade between Texas and Mexico.

“This is the unique thing about South Texas. We are like the finger that dips deep into Mexico. We are bicultural. We are bilingual. The discussions we had in the Governor’s Office were in Spanish and in English and many of the many Anglos in the room spoke Spanish,” Peña said.

“It was very apparent to me that we...

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La Sienna Elementary in Edinburg, TX to Open In Time For the 2010-2011 School Year

School district mapping out boundaries for new campuses
The Edinburg Review
By JOEY GOMEZ

Published: Tuesday, November 10, 2009 9:02 PM CST

ECISD has unveiled its boundaries for its four new elementary schools, which will open in time for the 2010-2011 school year.

As of Monday, the maps are about 90 percent complete and have yet to go before the school board, but take into account the schools created from the bond program started in 2008.

Proposed maps for the new junior high schools and high schools will be released next year, according to sistrict officials. The announcement was made at superintendent Dr. Ren�© Gutierrez’s District Parents’ Round Table meeting last week to discuss a variety of current and future issues impacting schools in Edinburg.

“Parents say ‘does my child have to move’ and the answer is ‘yes’,” Gutierrez told parents at the round table. “We have to abide by the zones and respect the boundaries.

The four new schools, which are currently named after their specific locations are called Rooth/Russell in northwest Edinburg, La Sienna in the northeast, Cano-Gonzalez sister school located southeast, and Alberta/Sugar in the south.

Each school is designed to accommodate 650 students, and will serve to alleviate crowding at some campuses, which have been hit hard with increasing numbers of new students. The Rooth campus for example will draw some of the 770 children currently attending Magee Elementary in time for the 2010-2011 school year. Magee is slated to open with about 500 students when the new campus starts next year. There are currently more than 32,000 total students in the district, half of those are elementary students.

The district has grown by 9,235 students over the last 10 years and school officials predict the student population will be about 42,000 by the 2015-2016 school year.

All of the new schools are located in mostly outlying communities of the district, which spans 945 square miles. Student numbers in schools located in town will not be impacted, according to the district.

“Does it make a difference? Well my child is not going to go to a school with 800 kids. That’s too many at the elementary level. Avila, Monte Cristo and Villarreal ... all of them have 800 kids right now,” said Mario Salinas, assistant superintendent for district ddministration. Salinas, who along with the district’s transportation department and a committee of nine principals, was responsible for putting the maps together. Each map ultimately has to be presented to the board for approval.

According to Salinas, criteria used to move the boundary lines was based on several factors: a neighborhood concept, school population, and those outlying schools which were impacted the most.

“The one thing that I want to emphasize is that we’re not done,” Salinas said. “We’re still working on it, we’re still taking recommendations from the parents. We are still going to run this by the principals to see if they have ideas better than what we have.

To account for growth, ECISD officials say there are at least 11 projects at a cost of $111 million scheduled to be online within the next three to four years. Three new Fine Arts facilities will be added to each of Edinburg’s three high schools at a cost of $6.2 million each. Renovations to the Brewster campus are also slated to be complete by next year with a cost still to be determined, according to the district.

Two new middle schools and an additional elementary school are slated for completion by the 2011-2012 school year. A new high school to be located at the current Harwell facility will open by 2012-2013.

McAllen awards Bicentennial extension contract

McAllen awards Bicentennial extension contract
November 11, 2009 10:40 PM
Nick Pipitone
The Monitor

McALLEN — City commissioners on Monday awarded the contract for the long-awaited extension of Bicentennial Boulevard to an Edinburg company.

Construction could begin as early as January.

The awarding of the nearly $5.3 million contract to IOC Co. LLC brings the city closer to beginning the 2.2-mile extension of Bicentennial from Nolana to Trenton Road.

Plans for the extension have been 15 years in the making and have faced several obstacles along the way.

City officials say the addition of another north-south corridor in North McAllen will alleviate traffic congestion in the city, especially on 10th and 23rd streets.

“The No. 1 problem cited in our city among constituents in any district is traffic,” City Commissioner Marcus Barrera said. “It will lighten the load for all roads.”

More than a decade ago, city officials originally envisioned extending Bicentennial all the way to University Drive in Edinburg, but they faced opposition from residents there who fought the prospect of a heavily trafficked road running across their property.

The city eventually settled on a four-lane roadway extending to Trenton with an adjacent hike-and-bike trail.

“It’ll probably be very similar to how Second Street is,” Barrera said, referring to the combination of a north-south thoroughfare paralleled by a greenway. “(It will be) a more scenic way when trying to get to work or get the kids to school or get to the airport. It’ll be a boon for everybody.”

The major obstacle in the way of the plan was the crossing of two railroad tracks just north of Nolana and near Bill Schupp Park. The rail lines are owned by Rio Valley Switching Co. and the city had to close two crossings at Highland and Beech avenues earlier this year to offset the planned crossings farther north and continue with the project.

Another obstacle was the irrigation canal and drainage ditch running along Bicentennial. The city worked out an agreement with the irrigation district to convert the open canal into an underground canal on the east side of the extension, City Engineer Yvette Barrera said. The drainage ditch will remain open but will be moved slightly to the east, following the entire length of the extension.

The city also had to negotiate with property owners along the planned path of the extension to buy up the necessary land, a process it completed earlier this year, Yvette Barrera said.

The contractor, IOC, must turn in all construction plans and documents and then set up a pre-construction conference with the city, which Yvette Barrera estimates will take about three weeks. After the conference, the company would have 10 days to start construction.

Along with building the road, the company will lay down the concrete hike-and-bike trail. The landscaping aspect of the greenway will be handled by another company. The city plans to submit a grant application to the state for that part of the project, City Commissioner Marcus Barrera said.

The timing of the contract for the road was “serendipitous” for the city because of how competitive construction bidding is at the moment, he said. That’s in contrast to a few years ago when cost estimates were rising because development was rampant.

“We were able to take advantage of the situation and save the taxpayers millions” of dollars, the city commissioner said.

In Case You Missed It…

In Case You Missed It…
The Westside Story
Published 10/17/2009 - 12:23 a.m.

CST AUSTIN – MSNBC.com and Moody’s Economy have announced that the Austin-Round Rock, Brownsville-Harlingen, Dallas-Plano-Irving, El Paso, Lubbock, McAllen-Edinburg-Pharr and San Antonio areas are among the first in the nation to move from recession into recovery, indicating that their economies have grown over the past six months.


The announcement is based on MSNBC and Moody’s Adversity Index, which uses data on employment, industrial production, housing starts and home prices to place each state or metro area in one of four categories: expanding, at risk of recession, in recession or recovering. This is the first month this year that any U.S. metro area has moved from in recession into recovery.

Additionally, CNN Money has ranked Texas as one of the Top Five Best States to Launch a Business thanks to our reasonable tax structure and incentive funds such as the Texas Emerging Technology Fund. The article also credited the franchise tax exemption, passed at Gov. Perry’s direction during the 81st Legislative Session, with fostering growth in small businesses in the state. Texas is the only large state to be ranked.

To view the MSNBC and Moody’s ranking, please visit

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33312701/ns/business-eye_on_the_economy/.

To view CNN Money’s ranking, please visit

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2009/smallbusiness/0910/gallery.best_places_tax_havens.smb/2.html

Exciting Plans in Edinburg! A New Medical Conference Center and UTPA's Renovations to their Fine Arts Facility

Exciting Plans in Edinburg! A New Medical Conference Center and UTPA's Renovations to their Fine Arts Facility

Exclusive: UTPA announces new plans for fine arts facility

By Joey Gomez
Rio Grande Guardian


EDINBURG, Oct. 9 - Plans to build a standalone fine arts facility at the University of Texas-Pan American have been scrapped, according to university officials.

Earlier this week UTPA officials revealed that, instead, the university will renovate its current fine arts complex, possibly by late 2012 or early 2013. A market feasibility study previously conducted by UTPA found that the $40 million allocated to the university does not cover the cost of a proposed standalone facility.

“We are going to do a major renovation, the building will be completely gutted and it will have new mechanical systems, new acoustical systems, new lighting, and everything will be brand new,” said Marianella Franklin, UTPA’s director for sustainability programs who has been overseeing the project.

“We are really hoping we can increase the capacity as well. Based on the programming that we did, we are going to have a wonderful facility.”

Appeals by UTPA to key legislators in Austin failed during the 81st legislative session, when the university requested an increase of the total funds allocated for a new fine arts facility to $70 million. Franklin said the status of the current economy factored into the decision to renovate the current facility instead. The total cost of the facility is still not determined.

“We were looking at the possibility of having $70 million to build the new facility. We would have had to request additional monies or to do a campaign for additional funding and we opted, (differently) because of what is happening with the economy,” Franklin said. “We are very conscious of it, our solution is basically put our monies into the existing facilities and renovate it completely.”

Holzman Moss, the architecture firm selected to renovate the current facility, specializes in the design of fine arts facilities, according to Franklin. The firm designed the current Radio City Music Hall, the Brooklyn Children’s Museum and closer to home designed the Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Performing Arts Center among many others.

Design and schematics for the renovation project at UTPA are expected within the next six to eight months, Franklin said. “The students are doing such wonderful job and they are in need of a facility,” she said. “This is an old facility, and if you take a look at all the facilities, we have over 51 buildings and of course we try to address the needs of our faculty and staff and most importantly our students.”

At least one more facility is planned in Edinburg by next year. In August, the City Council approved a development agreement between the city and Doctors Hospital at Renaissance to have the upcoming Edinburg Medical Conference Center operational within 18 months.

The 54,000 square foot medical conference center would generate about 293 jobs in the Rio Grande Valley. The facility would be comprised of a 552 seat conference room, a 620 seat capacity ballroom, and an 800 square foot state of the art auditorium that could be the home to the Rio Grande Valley Symphony Orchestra or ballet performances. A proposed hotel is also slated for construction at the facility.

DHR first unveiled its plans to the city for the proposed Medical Conference Center at a presentation by the Warren Group, principal architect of the facility on June 16.

At the meeting architects emphasized that the facility would provide a venue to the medical community to inform the Rio Grande Valley of medical resources and procedures available in the area. It would also support health awareness programs in a state of the art medical campus, and enhance medical education programs by partnering with local universities and colleges.

Franklin said UTPA’s market feasibility study intended to make sure that whatever venue selected by the university was not one that was going to compete with any other facility. A recent meeting between UTPA and DHR assured that there would be no competition between the two, Franklin said.

“This is a completely separate facility. We did not want to compete with the Dodge Arena, we have no intentions of competing with the (McAllen) Convention Center and we have no intentions of competing with this particular conference center or performing center that they will have at DHR,” Franklin said.

“We did meet with all the entities to make sure that at any time there would be no type of threat of competition with anyone. The meeting with the group from DHR took place not to long ago and it is for a separate purpose or function so by no means would we be competing in any form or fashion.”

Link to Rio Grande Guardian