The 830 Times
Mayor Al Arreola said members of the city’s international bridge board may hear an update on the city’s plans for a second international bridge during their meeting later this month.
Arreola pledged the update during the international bridge board’s most recent meeting on Oct. 28. Arreola, as mayor, is the chair of the bridge board. Also attending the Oct. 28 meeting were bridge board members Mario Bosquez, Frank Mendoza and Ruben Nino.
During the “Mayor’s Comments” portion of the agenda, Mayor Al Arreola addressed the sole citizen attending the meeting, county resident Jon Grace, of Amistad Community Action Group, which has opposed the city’s plans for a second bridge sited northwest of the city limits. Grace and other members of the group have spoken to the bridge board and the city council about problems they fear a second bridge will bring to their neighborhoods.
Arreola said, “We apologize that we’re kind of (in a) chaos situation. We have some meetings going on with meet-and-confer (and collective bargaining). We’ll get the structure together hopefully by November or December, so we can have a financial report and everything.”
Arreola next recognized International Bridge Superintendent Jose L. Castillo, who presented several reports on international bridge traffic.
Finally, Castillo went over his superintendent’s operations report for September.
Castillo told the board, “On Sept. 7, there was a power outage from 10:50 p.m. to 12:40 a.m., no systems affected. On Sept. 8, U.S. Customs shut down the bridge from 9:57 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. for the transfer of a prisoner from authorities in Mexico. On Sept. 15, the finance department conducted an audit of the bridge department. Also on Sept. 15, U.S. Customs checked southbound traffic, but no traffic issues were reported.”
Castillo also told bridge board members on Sept. 16, U.S. Customs checked southbound traffic throughout the day, but no traffic issues were reported, and also on Sept. 16, all commercial traffic stopped at 2 p.m. due to the Diez y Seis holiday in Mexico. He said on Sept. 17, a bridge security guard called the Del Rio Police Department at 2:08 a.m. to
