By Louis Zylka
The 830 Times
Councilman Randy Quiñones held his first town-hall meeting at the Joe Ramos Center on Tuesday.
Quiñones represents District III on the Del Rio City Council, and he was sworn in as the new council member May 14. He held his first public meeting to get feedback from citizens about various topics and concerns in the community.
More than 10 people were present at Joe Ramos Center, and Quiñones started the meeting by thanking the people who attended. He also gave a list on all the current community projects, including updates on the G.I. Forum Park, streetlights on Plaza Avenue and installation of generators.
Lori Reyes and Lionel Reyes were the first two attendees to ask questions. Lori brought up the unclean sidewalks and gutters around the downtown area.
“Those kinds of things take a little manpower to fix,” Lori said. “If the city takes pride in its appearance, then it helps the citizens take pride in their own properties.”
Quiñones thanked Lori for bringing the topic to his attention. Lori mentioned the area with the most dirt is the intersection of Pecan Street and Garfield Avenue.
Arturo Talamantez, who lives in south Del Rio, talked about problems with drainage in the San Felipe neighborhood.
Quiñones said the city is designing a plan to fix the issue. He mentioned the drainage work is budgeted for the city’s capital improvement (CIP) plan for this year, and he will get an update on when the work will begin. Talamantez added it is “taking a long time” for the issue to be resolved.
Talamantez continued talking about more concerns. The second topic he brought up was his observations on junked cars around the city. Quiñones suggested one of the best ways to inform city staff about abandoned vehicles is by sending reports through the 83GO app.
Talamantez talked about his concerns regarding water pipes made from asbestos cement. He said, “We cannot have those water pipes under the ground,” and Quiñones said he is aware of the pipes being a hazard.
Talamantez also talked about the need to add emergency sirens, and George Solis, a retired border patrol agent, talked about the lack of sirens being an issue in the city.
brought up their issues with the traffic on Mill Street. Questions were brought up at the
meeting asking if the street could be turned into a one-way street. Other topics were
discussed at the meeting for Quiñones to answer and listen to.
More questions and concerns were brought by the other citizens who attended. Del Rio resident Lino Hernandez talked about the traffic on the local roads and asked if Mill Street (located downtown) could be turned into a one-way street. Other citizens who attended mentioned they “hate” driving on Mill Street.
Del Rio local Christina Saenz asked Quiñones when the city would water the plants in the community parks, including the G.I. Forum Park. Quiñones took note of her comments, confirming which parks she mentioned.
Talamantez spoke again and talked about the creation of the second international bridge.
Although he believes the bridge is important, Talamantez spoke in defense of the people who are against it, adding he does not want to see them be “screwed.”
The topic of the second bridge pushed other citizens to also speak about it. Some citizens asked if the bridge could be used for other purposes besides commercial vehicles.
Alexandra Calderon, who formerly held Quiñones’ seat on the council, told Quiñones about her issues with various topics at the city council meetings and going to executive session and not being “open” to the public. She also mentioned her concerns towards incomplete hotel tax occupancy fund applications being approved by the council members.
“Ninety percent of the time I was against those applications (when I was a council member), because they were not submitted correctly. It is important to look at those applications that come in and not just to give the applicants money,” Calderon said.
The meeting went over an hour, and Quiñones thanked the people who attended. He said, “The goal was to get updates and get information on (topics).”
