Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
An Escondido Estates resident has issued an open plea for her area’s county commissioner to meet with residents there.
Chris Rios, a long-time resident of the Escondido Estates area, made her request during the Dec. 20 citizen comments portion of the Val Verde County Commissioners Court meeting. Escondido Estates is located east of Laughlin Air Force Base on the south side of U.S. Highway 90.
“Thank you, Judge Owens and commissioners, for allowing me this time. I am here representing Escondido Estates. . . I’d like to address one of the issues I’ve been hearing from the people out there (in Escondido Estates), and I’m going to use what my dad used to call the shotgun effect. I’m going to shoot at one and hopefully it hits everybody,” Rios told the court, drawing chuckles.
“Our problem is, we would like to see our commissioner, Commissioner (Pct. 1) Wardlaw, out there talking to our residents. You (Wardlaw) were our commissioner back in the 1980s, and I remember you standing in the back of a pickup truck, talking to us. I know since then we’ve got cell phones, we’ve got social media, but none of those replace meeting eyeball-to-eyeball,” she said.
“We’d like to see you, and we’d like you to set the standards. We know that you’re fixing to retire, but we know that you have a year where you still have to represent us. We’d like you to see you set up a standard for the new commissioners that will be coming in,” Rios continued.
“There are a lot of people interested in your chair, but you are the only one who can help us right now by going out there and talking to these people and listening to what they have to say. We can all come in and sit down and listen to your agendas, but it’s not the same, not the same as when we can tell you exactly what we’re experiencing out there.
“Yes, we’ve been asking for water. I’ve been out there for 48 years, and after 48 years, I saw you give water to the people in the front (the area of Escondido closest to Highway 90). Is it going to take another 50 years to get water to the people in the back?” Rios asked.
“Those are the questions that people out there have for you. I’m pleading with you to come out there and talk to us. You don’t have to call anybody and say you’re setting up a meeting. You post it right there at the entrance to Escondido and say this is the day I want to talk to the residents, and we’ll be out there for you, but we want you to show people that are trying to fill your shoes that there’s a standard to be set out there at Escondido,” she finished.
Wardlaw did not comment on Rios’ request during the court’s meeting.
You can reach the author at DelRioMagnoliaFan@gmail.com .
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