3 candidates vying for McAllen District 3 seat
Three candidates are seeking election for the city McAllen’s District 3 commissioner’s position.
Incumbent District 3 Commissioner Omar Quintanilla says he wants to finish the work he started four years ago.
“We have done significant work in terms of improving the drainage situation there,” Quintanilla said. “We’ve gone through a pandemic and we’ve helped small businesses with small business grants. We’ve also helped with Wi-Fi access.”
Quintanilla says with funding coming in from the federal government, now is the time to focus on stimulating the city.
READ ALSO: Immigration among key topics discussed at McAllen mayoral debate
“I think now is the time to be able to put out some programs that help the community,” Quintanilla said. “One thing I think is not only property tax relief, but we do a second round of small businesses assistance through the grants.”
Candidate Thelma Tamez shared a similar stance on economic development. Tamez also advocates retaining a young workforce.
“We have some of the best people that live in the RGV so why are we not keeping them?” said Tamez. “Why are we not empowering them? Now a great thing is Tesla is coming and we’re extremely excited for that but we should be attracting more corporations like that.”
Tamez also touts her ability to think outside the box and offer critical problem solving skills for the city’s most daunting challenges.
READ ALSO: McAllen mayoral candidates discuss their goals for the city
“We had to build an airplane in the air as we were planning for COVID, but how quick are we pivoting? Are we staying by the bylines, we can do A or B, or are we working and calling in the meetings saying, ‘Hey, we need to move forward and we have to make changes and an impact,” Tamez said.
Candidate Mario Reyna says if he’s elected, he’ll focus on all areas of economic development as well, including improving the quality of life for residents through infrastructure improvements.
“We need people to become healthy here,” Reyna said. “If you want to start being healthy and the nearest park is two or three miles away, I think we are going to have trouble getting people to the park.”
Reyna says his military background, education and community work makes him more than qualified.
“I was a dean at South Texas College for 23 years,” Reyna said. “I was part of a system that took a very small college and made it into one of the largest institutions in Texas, one of the eight largest institutions in Texas,” Reyna said.
READ MORE:
More News
