By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Three county residents spoke out in opposition of a second international bridge during a recent meeting of the Del Rio Economic Development Corporation (EDC) on April 4.
County resident Lori Reyes was the first to address the EDC’s board of directors.
“I am here to remind you that you are here to represent the citizens of Del Rio in Val Verde County. This governmental body is not here to appease the business interests of Mexico. The EDC (economic development corporation) and the city elected officials are not meant to represent the interests of a foreign nation,” Reyes told the board.
“According to Article I, Section 10, of the U.S. Constitution, which is known as the compact clause, no state can make an agreement with a foreign power. If the EDC is making agreements with a foreign power without Congressional approval, those agreements are also in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
“As part of tonight’s presentation, a Spanish-language version of the agreement between Del Rio and Acuña (for the planned site of the new bridge) is included. I know there is an English version because I have a copy. By omitting the English version, a large segment of the constituency is being ignored. This is an example of putting Mexico before the citizens of the United States. I am not being racist or bigoted. My grandmother Aurora Hijar was from Mexico. She came to this country in the 1930s and became a naturalized U.S. citizen,” Reyes finished.
County resident Jon Grace was the second person recognized to speak.
Grace spoke about safety issues.
He told the board, “Somewhere around 2014 or 2015, Las Brisas Boulevard was constructed (northwest of the Del Rio city limits), between Holdup Pass and Lenawee Avenue, and it didn’t take long for a commercial vehicle accident to occur. On May 4, 2016, a commercial semi-truck hauling a trailer was traveling westbound on a section of Las Brisas. There’s a pole line running north and south crossing Las Brisas right at our property line. Somehow the trailer snagged the lowest wire of this pole line as it was passing underneath.
“This resulted in four of the power poles snapping in half and falling across the road as well as on our property. Not only was there a lot of debris in the area, but we had live electrical wires near the ground on our property and across Las Brisas. If any one of my family would have been standing near there at the time they would have been electrocuted and killed.
“The purpose of this story is to address page number four, bullet number three, of the Powerpoint presented by RRP Consulting Engineers dated Feb. 27, 2024, that’s attached to the agenda for this meeting, and I’ll quote: ‘Increase safety on both sides of the border by moving commercial traffic to outside of the populated areas.’ Taking into consideration the current development and population in my community and all the other residential communities in Val Verde County, it should be obvious that the only way you will be able to accomplish this goal is to build a new POE (port of entry) downriver from the existing POE.
“If any section of Las Brisas or any road within our residential community is turned into a commercial vehicle corridor, then you would just be shifting the safety issues to a new area, a residential area where families live. The residents of my community and our neighboring communities deserve way better than this from our local government. Monetary revenues and profits should not take precedence over the safety of the residents of Val Verde County,” Grace finished.
County resident Jordan Ediger was the last person to speak to the board.
“I am here to ask the city of Del Rio and the Economic Development (Corporation) to cease all talks about a second international bridge north of Del Rio. The why is simple. There are no routes coming from a bridge north of Del Rio that do not require the destruction of homes,” Ediger said.
“If you say to me, ‘Jordan, we’ve already spent years and millions of dollars on this plan. It’s too late to change course now,’ I would say to you that sounds like a good reason to continue, but first imagine you have a second international bridge, and you also have all those homes and created economic ruin for the region due to the devastation of the nearby homes, the safety issues and traffic, in one of Val Verde’s most expensive residential regions.
“But at least you can say to yourselves, sorry we had to ruin the area, but at least we saved millions. But in reality you did not. The option to (build) a bridge south of Del Rio would, in fact, saved Del Rio and the state of Texas, tens of millions of dollars. So actually you are chasing the more expensive option, which destroys homes.
“Then you say, ‘Well, Jordan, this plan has been in the works since 2012. Certainly this is a reason to continue.’ To that point, that is not a reason to continue. That makes this plan antiquated. Allow me to illustrate: If I were an early settler and I told you I had created the Oregon Trail and the path of that trail ran straight through Amistad Boulevard and we had an agreement back in 1812 to create a five-lane highway through this route, what would you say to me?
“Would you say, ‘Absolutely, we must bulldoze these homes to accommodate the plan from 1812?’ No, this would be nonsense. In the same way, by continuing this plan, you are choosing to ignore any alternatives and the reality of the destruction that will forever result from this plan.
“You may say, ‘Jordan, you make interesting points, but we signed an agreement with Mexico in 2014. There’s no getting around that.’ To that point, the agreement that was signed in 2014 actually violates Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution by entering into an agreement with a foreign power without approval from Congress. So do you really want to point to that agreement or shall we pretend like that doesn’t exist?
“You say, ‘Jordan, well this will really help out economically,’ to which I say, does it really? As you know, the Ports-to-Plains plan is to come down (U.S. Highway) 277, go around the Loop north of Del Rio, then connect back with 277 southbound toward Laredo, so the south Del Rio option (for the bridge site) actually makes all the sense.
“Lastly, to the economics of the plan, it doesn’t actually benefit anyone. The same trucks that cross our bridge today will be the same trucks that cross the (new) bridge. . .” Ediger said.
EDC Board President Ken Smith stopped Ediger, telling him his three-minute time limit to address the board had expired.
Ediger, who is also an appointed member of the city’s international airport commission, told the board the airport commission does not give citizens who address it a three-minute time limit in which to make their remarks.
Neither Smith nor any of the EDC board members commented on the citizens’ comments, though Smith spoke in favor of a second international bridge later in the meeting. (See separate story.)
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com.
