By Roberto Hugo Gonzalez
As originally First Published by Texas Border Business newsprint Edition
The City of Mission Texas was founded in 1908, and since then, the City has had illustrious and faithful public servants.
In May of 1998, Norberto Salinas was first elected Mayor of Mission and has since been reelected four times.
Beto, as his friends call him, is a hardworking man, and has shown his loyalty as a public servant and his tenacity as Mayor of the City of Mission. During his terms as Mayor, the city of Mission has had phenomenal progress, and just recently took eighth place when compared to more than 100 cities in the state of Texas.
And to be more specific on March 20, 2014 the company NerdWallet from San Francisco, CA, a consumer advocacy website, recently conducted a study to find the fastest growing cities in Texas – and Mission ranked eighth.
To find the fastest growing cities in Texas, NerdWallet evaluated 126 cities, towns and census-designated places and examined the following variables: Population growth, Employment growth and Income growth.
“Mission’s strong population and income growth helped support the city’s spot on our list,” NerdWallet analyst Maggie Clark Editor and writer said. “The population in Mission increased by 20.2% between 2009 and 2012, while incomes grew by 8.2% during the same period.”
As you well know, success doesn’t happen by itself, it takes a lot of planning, hard work and the fact that Beto works together with the City Council and the Economic Development Corp. as well as with state and federal leaders.
After so many years of hard work and total dedication, great results have been coming out steady and just last month it was announced that Mission broke the $100 million mark in permitted construction activity.
City of Mission drew $107.86 million in new building and construction in 2013, growing the fastest in at least five years and adding millions of dollars in new businesses, new homes and new manufacturing facilities. The city’s construction valuation for last year more than doubles (125%) 2012’s $47.84 million in new building.
Mayor Salinas lives faithfully by the ethics and principles he learned from his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Adan Salinas and his paternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Juan N. Salinas, as well as his maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Pedro Flores. He grew up in Cuevitas and El Rancho del Toro in Starr County. Except for one year of school in La Joya, he attended the Rio Grande City Schools where he graduated early from high school.
The Mayor is successfully applying important lessons he learned from all of them—honesty, integrity, and hard work. He also learned early in life the importance of making, keeping, and taking care of good friends.
The reason that prompted Salinas to become the Mayor of Mission in May of 1998 was simple for him, “After serving three terms as Hidalgo County Commissioner, I decided not to seek a fourth term, and wanted only to be a contributing citizen to the City of Mission. I noticed that Mission was not experiencing the solid growth the people of Mission deserved, so I volunteered to help as a member of the City of Mission Planning and Zoning Board.” My offer was rejected.
I further noticed that Madero, on the South side of Mission was being neglected, so in 1997 when Mayor Ricardo Perez decided not to run for re-election, I decided to run. I just wanted to make a difference in the growth and development of the City of Mission.”
The residents of Mission feel proud of Salinas’ leadership and when he is asked, “What have you done as Mayor to make a difference in Mission?” The Mayor’s response is, “Probably the biggest difference has been that I have helped unite the City of Mission residents—those who live on the North, South, East, and West sides—for a balanced city growth to improve the quality of life for all our citizens. The railroad tracks are no longer the dividing line for city areas receiving vastly unequal city services.
Betos’s vision for Mission has been outstanding by bringing together the leading citizens and businessmen of Mission and getting them to all pull in the same direction for the growth of Mission. “His ability to see the whole picture has been instrumental in improving highways and roads, residential growth and developing new businesses and manufacturing, as well as opening the communications to Washington D.C., our State government in Austin and also to our neighbors in Mexico.
As of this year 2014, Mission has 16 Sister Cities from the Republic of Mexico, and what is more, Beto and the committees of the Sister City program make a genuine effort to nourish their friendship. On several occasions, Beto has mentioned that he learned the importance of making friends in Mexico from the late Arnaldo Ramirez a former Mission Mayor from 1973-1981.
Beto told Texas Border Business that on many occasions he accompanied Mr. Ramirez to different areas of Mexico to create new friendships and promote commerce for Mission and the region.
As is well known, he has continued the tradition so that is has grown to an unbelievable size. This year, during the Mayor’s International Brunch, Beto welcomed 200 Mexico delegates to celebrate the 77th Anniversary of the Texas Citrus Fiesta. The event was promoted and coordinated under his leadership and through the Sister City program committee members who also devote their passion to what they do.
Beto is without a doubt a very unique individual; he is knowledgeable in City matters, state and federal issues and always makes the right decision to benefit Mission residents. Beto pledges to continue as full time mayor, because he says that, “there is no other way around”. TBB
Written by Roberto Hugo Gonzalez the 2009 SBA Journalist of the Year Award Winner & The 2009 and 2012 Paul Harris Award recipient.
