By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
A small group of county property owners met with county commissioners court and city officials to voice their opposition to the use of Las Brisas Boulevard as a route to and from a proposed second international bridge.
About a dozen property owners, some who own homes in the Lake Ridge Ranch area northwest of Del Rio, attended the meeting.
After introductory remarks, County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr. invited the property owners to speak.
“My wife and I have lived in Del Rio since 2014. All of my children have been born here in Del Rio. . . So I’m here as a landowner, also a civilian and a family member of the community, just like you. We’re all here, one big family. When this started coming up, I was not aware of the situation, and understandably, it’s a situation that is concerning,” property owner Jordan Ediger said.
“We need to pick something that affects the least amount of landowners,” Owens interjected.
“My question to you really is, what is your interpretation of ‘affect?’ What is affect? When I see this plan, and I look at what is going on, the fact that we have a bridge on the north side of town, and . . . we only have one lake that is as significant as it is, Lake Amistad, and here we are, we’re putting a bridge between Del Rio and one of our most beautiful natural resources in the area, and this is an international bridge, a four-lane international trucking bridge, and between us and one of the most beautiful landmarks in our area, a landmark that not only is immovable, but people have invested . . . perhaps their entire life savings, to purchase land in this beautiful area that is immovable, and these families have grown roots,” Ediger went on.
Ediger also said he believed that “two or three mayors ago,” the city entered into “a gentleman’s agreement” with officials in Ciudad Acuña to build a second international bridge, adding he believed the owners of maquiladora industries in Mexico were pushing for its construction.
“I understand that, but unfortunately, we’re in the situation where you’re going to create a bridge, and you’re also going to create a route on the backs of all of your families’ homes, in order to appease who? I ask you that because the answer is probably the maquiladoras and it might be some people might financially gain from this bridge and this route being on the north side, near the maquiladoras,” Ediger said.
He also told the court and city officials he believes a second bridge should be sited downstream of the existing bridge.
“So, how about this? Let’s offer that to the maquiladoras, to Ciudad Acuña, and if they come back and say, ‘No, that’s really not good for us,’ then I’d argue that they don’t need it badly enough, because if they needed it badly enough, they’ll figure out a way to make it work on their side in a way that does not financially denigrate all of our land on the American side, because there’s really no positive benefit or outcome to the city of Del Rio or Val Verde County for this project,” Ediger said.
“These goods and everything, they go from the maquiladoras and they leave. I do not see the financial upside. I do not see the pot of gold at the end of this rainbow that is deserving of us even accepting an option that places a four-lane international highway in between the city and a national landmark and in the backyards of families’ homes.
“What is the benefit for Americans, period, what’s the benefit for Val Verde County residents and what’s even the benefit for the city of Del Rio? I’m just not seeing it. I’m seeing the potential for some financial gain here, unfortunately, that is causing this decision to be, in fact, a decision, period, and I hate to see that and the fact that we’re going to make a decision that’s going to put this in people’s backyards, that’s going to put a four-lane highway in a major residential area. . . If you put the bridge up there, I do not see any route that will not cause people to lose the value of their property and the fact that it’s now near an industrial area,” Ediger finished.
Del Rio businessman Eddie Amezcua Jr. also addressed the court, saying he is an owner of property in the Rancho Agua Vista area that lies across U.S. Highway 90 from Lake Ridge.
“I am for the bridge. I think it does benefit Del Rio and Val Verde County tremendously. It wasn’t the maquiladoras who came to Del Rio first and said, hey, can we do this? It was our county, and we went forward with it,” Amezcua said.
“People tell me, ‘I wish someone had told me they were going to build a second bridge and I wouldn’t have bought land there (in Lake Ridge).’ Well, I was one of those people. I saw the bridge going to nowhere (at the intersection of U.S. 90 and State Loop 79), and I asked, ‘Where is this leading to?’ And I was told there were talks about a second international bridge, so I decided to go away from Las Brisas and go to Rancho Agua Vista and build my home there,” Amezcua said.
“Some people say, hey, people are trying to get as much money as they can from land. I was one of the people whose land was taken when they built the border wall (near the Rio Grande), so I know what it is to have land taken that you grew up with, was passed down from generation to generation. . . But that was something our government decided was best, and so you bite the apple and move on.
“I’m sitting here 15 years later with the money that was given to me (for the land) and some pretty successful businesses built from that money, so there’s pros and cons to everything. . . I’m not saying forget about what everybody else is thinking in Las Brisas, but to me, there’s also people that did inform themselves and moved away,” Amezcua told the court.
“The second thing I wanted to say is that I was born and raised here. I’m a veteran. I went to go fight as a Marine in the Iraqi War, came back and I’ve put my footprint back in Del Rio because I saw the potential growth. Right now, the Ports-to-Plains that is coming to Del Rio is a huge thing for the city, and the business community there’s talks left and right up and down about what kind of money that’s going to bring to Del Rio,” Amezcua said.
“I’m seeing the growth. People want a Target, people want an Academy, people want this and that. Well, this is something that we need. This is something that will help us get there. We have to move forward, and . . . we’re not going to please everybody.
“We say move it to the south side and let the south side worry about it. That’s not the right thing to do either. We sat here court after court after court discussing this bridge for years now. I’m for the bridge, and I think you all are trying to do the best for everybody, but you can’t please everybody,” Amezcua said.
“We do need this bridge and I think that Del Rio and Val Verde County would benefit tremendously,” he added.
Luis Maldonado also addressed the court, telling the court he, too, served in the military.
“When you say we’re going to do what least affects everybody, if we run it through Las Brisas, it’s only going to affect 109 homes, I beg to differ. . . It would affect all of Lake Ridge. Reason being, you’re going to have traffic. You’re not going to have the kids be able to ride their bikes. You’re going to have an increase in foot traffic, of illegals coming through there, narcotics, the noise pollution. We have a lot to lose,” Maldonado said.
“When I bought (my) property, nobody made me aware, and that’s fine. But now I’m here to say, you want to build a bridge? Let’s build it,
but let’s build it south of Del Rio, not in my backyard, not in these people’s backyard.
“We sacrificed a lot. I did. I could have been living somewhere else, but I chose to come back because I love where I’m from. Don’t take that away from us. And like (Ediger) said, we do have a beautiful lake. We have a region where it’s very rare, that you have three deserts coming in, the Tamaulipan, the Chihuahuan and I believe the Sonoran. We have a lot of endangered species that travel through this corridor, which is by the lake. And what are you going to do with that? Are you going to say, oh don’t worry about it?
“We have one of the biggest migration routes of the Monarch butterfly that goes through there. We’re going to destroy that. That’s one of our natural resources that attracts people to Del Rio, to Val Verde County, to the Devils River, to Rough Canyon.
“We have all these things that come through here, and you’re just wanting to take it away so someone can benefit and put more money in their pocket?” Maldonado said.
Maldonado further told the court he was raised in Acuña and said he had “nothing to gain from the maquiladoras building a bridge.”
“I don’t care what they want or what benefits them. I care what benefits me, my neighbors, my city, Del Rio, Val Verde County,” Maldonado said.
Maldonado said he would support any effort to build the bridge south of Del Rio.
He also asked for future meetings to be held in the evenings when more people could attend.
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