By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
City officials hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday to commemorate the
completion of a series of new solar-powered streetlights along Plaza Avenue in south Del
Rio.
The ceremony began at 7 p.m. adjacent to the Joe Ramos Center near the intersection of
Plaza Avenue and West De La Rosa Street in Del Rio’s historic San Felipe
neighborhood.
Peter Ojeda, the city’s communications director, opened the ceremony by recognizing
city elected officials present, including Mayor Al Arreola, Mayor Pro-tem Jim DeReus,
Councilwoman Ernestina “Tina” Martinez and Councilman Randy Quiñones.
“We wanted to have everyone come out and show with a project like this, that was
advocated for by a local organization, The Border Organization, who came to council and
worked with staff to have this project completed,” Ojeda said,
Arreola addressed the group first, saying the lack of lighting along Plaza Avenue, one of
the major thoroughfares in the San Felipe neighborhood, had been a problem for years
and noting that residents of the area worked with The Border Organization and its leaders
to approach the city and to ask its officials to prioritize a solution.
Arreola thanked the Rev. Ruben Chairez of The Border Organization and former
Councilwoman Alexandra Falcon Calderon, for their efforts to move the project forward.
“We want to move these projects along to the next level, hopefully along Garza Street
and some other streets where we need lights and our creek. Our creek walk needs lights,
too. The council, we’re going to keep working on that,” Arreola said.
Avenue after the city’s installation of solar lighting along its route. (Photo by Karen
Gleason)
Martinez also spoke to the group. Martinez said, “This is a dream come true; right, Pastor Chairez?
He never lost that vision, and now it’s a reality, and like the mayor mentioned, we’re working to get more
projects done here in San Felipe, and of course, I grew up in San Felipe, and I’ve been
here most of my life, so I really like doing things for this area, as well as for the other
areas of town.
“This project was something that was really needed. At night, it was real dark when you
went by here, but now you see a lot of people walking, and they can do it very freely. I
want to thank our city staff for all the hard work they’ve done to complete this project,”
the councilwoman added.
Quiñones also spoke, and then Ojeda invited Irma Cardenas, a leader of The Border
Organization, to address those attending.
Cardenas said, “On behalf of The Border Organization, we are happy to be here for the
ribbon-cutting ceremony, and I want to expound on some of the successes The Border
Organization has had in the San Felipe area, so I’m going to list
organization’s members to lobby the city for lights along Plaza Avenue. Cardenas spoke
during the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Plaza Avenue lights on Wednesday. (Photo by
Karen Gleason)
just a few.”
Cardenas said the organization helped end the city’s practice of burning trash at the
landfill, advocated for the opening of the United Medical Centers clinic in the
neighborhood and worked with the city to have stop signs placed on Viesca Street and
elsewhere.
“The Border Organization will continue our partnership with the city of Del Rio,”
Cardenas finished.
Chairez also briefly addressed the group.
Ojeda also introduced city staff who assisted with the planning and execution of the
project, including Main Street Manager Jorge Garza, Economic Development Director
Jorge Ramon, Community Services Director Esme Meza and Michael Garcia, assistant to
the city manager and grants writer.
Ojeda also introduced Scot Carcasi, the city’s operations and compliance auditor, who
spoke about the lighting project.
Carcasi said, “We understood that this project was important to this area, and it used to
have gas lamps, and they were always breaking or getting run over, and we wanted to
come up with a solution that would be beneficial to the community and where we
wouldn’t have to do a lot of extra work, like digging trenches or running wire, so we
went with the solar option.
“This project also led to us doing solar lights at our sports park (in north Del Rio). We
will be installing some down here along the creek, and we did install some out at the golf
course parking lot, and we’re looking forward to doing a lot more lighting projects with
the solar option because it will help us qualify as a ‘dark sky community,’ which in turn
will help us with grant funding, so there’s going to be a lot more projects like this in our
future,” Carcasi added.
Ojeda last recognized members of the Del Rio Parks Foundation present at the ceremony,
adding that the lighting projects will make neighborhoods more accessible for
recreational activities like walking and bicycling.
The group then participated in the ribbon-cutting ceremony signifying the completion of
the Plaza Avenue lighting project.
Reach the writer at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com
