During a special Edinburg City meeting Wednesday, the All-America City Committee updated the council on the 2019 application process that will be submitted next month.
According to City Manager Juan Guerra, the city originally planned to apply for the 2020 All-America City award. After reassessing what the city has accomplished, the city manager staff decided to apply this year.
The City Council approved the 2019 All-America City application submission during a special meeting last month.
“What I don’t think we realized is that the City of Edinburg is in great shape, and we should probably at least try for 2019,” Guerra said.
Assistant City Manager Carla M. Rodriguez explained the All-America City award requirements for 2019.
The All-America City theme for this year is Creating Healthy Communities Through Inclusive Civic Engagement and requires each city to present three community-driven projects that have had a local impact within the past five years, according to Rodriguez.
When submitting the application, each project will be presented through a 2,000-word essay, Public Information Director Cary Zayas told The Rider, shortly after the council went into executive session.
For each project, the committee has assembled three subcommittees:
–the Edinburg All-America City David Chavana 10K Run/Walk lead by Javier Garza, director of Parks & Recreation
–Cultural Festivals lead by Letty Leija, director of Library & Cultural Arts
–Drainage Upgrades lead by Tomas Reyna, director of Public Works
Each committee provided information about their projects and the progress they have made.
“I’m extremely proud and excited to present the 10K as our base to present,” Garza said, while introducing his project.
Garza, who has been a coach for 28 years, believes that “society has put a mental puzzle into the parents, into the kids, saying ‘it’s dangerous to go outside and play.’”
The 18 subcommittee members have met three times in the past two months to gather facts that will be discussed in the project’s 2,000-word essay with the help of Zayas.
Garza said Edinburg is helping residents live a healthier and more active lifestyle through the Edinburg All-America City David Chavana 10K Run/Walk.
Leija, along with 13 subcommittee members, has also held meetings to develop their project plan twice in the past three weeks.
She began by explaining the population growth spurt Edinburg had in the early 2000’s and how the streets were “dead” after 5 p.m., and students from legacy institution University of Texas-Pan American began to refer to the city as “dead-inburg.”
These events lead to the 2005 Gateway Plan and Downtown Master Plan, where the city began planning activities and festivals to “awaken” the city. By 2018, the city hosted 34 events, 17 of which were downtown.
“We are helping revitalize the downtown area, while celebrating our community, and the diversity, and the equity and the quality,” she said.
Mayor Richard Molina responded to Leija’s presentation, “I believe this [project] separates us from the rest of the [Rio Grande] Valley.”
Following Leija, Reyna presented the Drainage Upgrades project and called his 12-member-subcommittee team, “fabulous.”
“First of all, let me just say that I am a resident and employee of the city Edinburg, and I am proud of that,” Reyna said.
Reyna explained how the city has outgrown its infrastructure, causing certain areas to be directly affected by heavy rains and flooding continuously.
The subcommittee plans to meet with some of the affected residents to listen to their perspective and include them in the 10 drainage projects in progress that will relieve at least half of the city, Reyna said.
Rodriguez then ended the presentation with the “strict timeline” the staff is following, and plan to submit the first application by March 1.
The City Council approved the 2019 All-America City application submission during a special meeting last month.
In other news, the council denied the ordinance to change the city’s current competitive bidding limit for purchases or city improvements from $15,000 to $50,000.
