By Roberto Hugo Gonzalez
As originally published by Texas Border Business newsprint edition December 2017
With several decades in the media business, I can say that politics are as unpredictable as the weather. There are professionals in both fields that predict outcomes, sometimes they hit the mark, but often they don’t.
So, if we all can agree that is the case, then the Edinburg mayoral election results are the perfect example of an outcome that was predicted wrong by the majority. Yeah, I can hear some saying, ‘I felt it in my gut that Molina was going to win.’ In politics, as with the weather, your gut has nothing to do with predicting a winner.
Even Molina said it in his speech that he had so many rejections that the thought of pulling out crossed his mind. He didn’t, he followed through, Molina had a dream, a plan to make changes and on the way, he learned a lot just by listening to the Edinburg residents.
In this issue, get to know more about the two new city councilmembers; Jorge “Coach” Salinas and Gilbert Enriquez. Both have excellent credentials working with the community.
On another matter, read about Laura Nassri Warren AIA, of the Warren Group Architects. She founded her architectural firm 14 years ago and became one of the most successful and influential professional women in the Region.
This year, Warren was a guest speaker at the 5th Annual Bi-National Innovation Conference. She covered a very important topic, ‘Urban Development in the Rio Grande Valley.’
On December 1, 2017, Robert S. Kaplan, president, and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas came to McAllen to take part of an event that has garnered great interest. Cross-border trade, and local growth were hot topics at 2017 Border Economics, Development and Entrepreneurship Symposium seminar. Current economic conditions and the implications of monetary policy were prime topics of the annual BEDES symposium.
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley’s Department of Economics and Finance in the Robert C. Vackar College of Business and Entrepreneurship, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, and the McAllen Chamber of Commerce co-sponsored the event.
Kaplan, the president, was a key participant in the symposium, moderated by UTRGV professor of economics Dr. Marie T. Mora, associate vice provost for faculty diversity. Kaplan addressed the topic of the trading relationship between the United States and Mexico.
Kaplan acknowledged the need to update and renegotiate the terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement but said the trading relationship between the United States and Mexico is essential to the competitiveness of trade in this hemisphere. Losing that connection would spark the loss of a vast number of jobs, he said.
“It’s a constructive thing for us to be leveling the playing field and renegotiating trade agreements,” Kaplan said, “but I wouldn’t want to see a situation develop where, to be elected as president in Mexico, you would need to be anti-America or anti-American. Politically, we try to stay apolitical, but we have benefitted enormously by having a good, solid relationship with Mexico and border countries. History has shown that this is not only economically valuable but geopolitically valuable.” These comments were from an article written by Amanda A. Taylor, senior writer at UTRGV. Enjoy! TBB
Related articles:
Laura Nassri Warren, AIA of The Warren Group addressed INNO 2017 Conference
Cross-border trade, regional growth hot topics at 2017 BEDES seminar
