By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Sergio Diaz is seeking the Democratic Party nomination for the office of Val Verde County Commissioner Pct. 1.
Diaz is one of seven candidates who will be on the ballot for the office in the March 5 Democratic Party Primary Election.
He was raised in Del Rio, attended Del Rio schools and graduated from Del Rio High School in 1985.
After high school, he attended radio and television classes at San Antonio College, then returned to Del Rio, where he went into the car business industry, taking on several management positions and also serving as a certified finance manager.
After 25 years in the car industry, he went on to become a Real Estate Agent and has been part of the real estate industry for the past three years, working as an independent contractor out of the Keller Williams office in Del Rio.
“I have worked hard and feel that I have accomplished many things as an entrepreneur, from running my own businesses and as a builder, just to name few,” Diaz said. Diaz began working in radio while still in high school, taking a hiatus while he worked in the car industry. He has a radio show in Del Rio, which airs Monday through Friday on radio station KTDR FM 96.3.
“It’s called the Morning Fiesta, and it’s all positive vibes, waking you up in the morning with a positive vibe,” he said.
Diaz also owns and offers a mobile DJ sound system service, as DJing is a long-time hobby of his.
He has also served the community in many non-profit and civic organizations.
Diaz has also served as a member of the city’s utilities commission, international bridge board and housing authority committee. He is a member of the San Felipe Lions Club and a member of the Brown Plaza Association and vice-president of the city’s economic development corporation board.
Diaz said one of the main reasons he decided to run for commissioner is to focus on economic development in Precinct 1.
“I’m on the economic development corporation board of directors right now for the city of Del Rio, and I see where the city is growing. The timing is right, the timing is now, where we need to get involved and start planting the seeds for tomorrow.
“A lot of these projects, I’m probably not going to see them myself, but we have to start planning for our grandkids. I have three beautiful grandkids, and we have to start planning for them. When I started back in 1984, getting involved in the community – I didn’t just start getting involved today, I’ve always been involved in the community – throughout the years, our mentors, our ex-mayors, our ex-city councilmen, I saw that their passion was to plant the seeds for us,” Diaz said.
“If we don’t play our cards right, we’re just going to be playing catch-up. Not only me, but our kids, our grandkids and the next generations. We’ve got to start playing ball,” he added.
“I also decided to run because I’ve always lived in the precinct. I own property there, and I saw the need and I saw that our precinct has the most to offer. We have the San Felipe Creek, which there is so much we can do with, while at the same time we need to conserve our water and take care of it. There are opportunities there. We have San Felipe, which I think we can beautify more. As a realtor, I see where we can do more in the San Felipe area.
“We need more development there. In order for us to bring in more money without raising our taxes, we need to start working with developers, working with home builders and attracting these guys to do more on the south side because if we can do that, if we can bring more development to our south side, that will bring more county money where we can afford to build hike-and-bike trails, we can afford skateboard parks, we can afford splash pads, but you’ve got to understand that the city and county are like businesses,” Diaz said.
Diaz said one of his main priorities will be working to bring out the best in Precinct 1.
“My priority is beautifying Del Rio, beautifying that precinct. What I mean by that, and I’m real big on this, getting committees involved, working on getting our non-profit organizations, like the San Felipe Lions Club, of which I am a member, both chambers, to go ahead and focus on these vacant lots, on these falling-down houses. We have to beautify the area before we can start doing anything else, because that’s what’s going to attract developers and builders,” he said.
“Every commissioner that’s on the court right now is there because they want to do good for the county, but what we have to understand is that every commissioner has a different drive. I had someone make a comment about a commissioner and how they felt all that commissioner did was burn trash and clean alleys, so I replied, ‘Well that’s his drive and that’s good, because everyone has different drives.’ So when you vote for someone, you’re going to look for someone to represent you, you’ve got to ask what their drive is, what their vision is, and their trust, if you can trust them.
“If you see that politician or person, you need to ask questions. Do they have the same drive you have? The voters are hiring me. I’m being hired by you. You are the CEO of this company. The county, you own it. You’re the CEO. You fill out the blanks and ask me the questions,” he said.
“I’ve lived here all my life. If anybody knows this community and this precinct, it’s me. I know exactly what we need. I know where it’s going, and I know what needs to be done. We need to preserve our culture, San Felipe, we need to beautify it, and we need to invest in it.
“If we’re not smart, it’s going to grow where we have the big city problems, and if we don’t prepare, we’ll have those problems, but if we work on infrastructure, lighting, law enforcement, we’re not going to have that big of a problem. You need to prepare,” Diaz said.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com.
