Hello and welcome to the political forum for the position of city council for district 7. This political forum is brought to you in conjunction with Laredo TV, the public access channel, and the city of Laredo Public Information Office. This political forum presents an opportunity for the viewing public to get to know the candidates who are running for office fairly and objectively. I'm Laura Degron, the public information manager for the city of Laredo and have the honor of being the moderator for today's forum that focuses on the candidates who are seeking to be the next council member for District 7. For this forum, all candidates received an email from the City of Laredo Public Information Office outlining the forum rules. Now, one of the key requirements was attendance at a mandatory pre-forum meeting, which took place on September 30th. Only candidates who attended this meeting were eligible to participate in tonight's forum. Allow me to introduce the candidate for this forum, Council Member Vanessa Perez. >> Thank you, Laa. >> Thank you for being us with us today. And at this time, I'd like to quickly go over some of the ground rules so that those who are watching and those who are here live with us in the audience can be aware of our format. Tonight, our panelists and I will ask a total of four questions to the candidate. There will be one question asked per round. So, we will have a total of four rounds for this political forum. Now, the candidate will have two minutes to answer each question. If you ignore the time constraints that you will be notified that your time is up and this will allow minimal interruptions as well. During the course of our political forum, the candidate might want to shed some light or offer an explanation to a previous comment or a previous question. The time will begin as soon as the candidate starts speaking after hearing each question. If a candidate forgets the question, then you can ask to be repeated at any time. Now participating in the political forum are members of the media who will be our panelists this evening. Allow me to introduce them. Anchor from KGNS news today, Menicaso and also reporter from Noticia Safona, Roelio Guzman. I should also mention that some of the members of the media are bilingual and candidates might be asked a question in Spanish. Now the candidate can choose whether to reply in English or also in Spanish. The candidate will have two minutes for an opening and also for closing statements. And we're now ready to proceed with our opening statement from Council Member Vanessa Perez. Thank you, Nida. I want to thank everybody that's watching here today uh for this opportunity, especially the the constituents of District 7. uh four years ago when I ran for office, you all took a chance on me and uh I earned your vote and and I hope that every day that I've been in office, I've been able to um fulfill the promises that I made to you all when when I ran the first time. Um you know, we we took on some pretty heavy challenges. We had a big congestion issue on Mines's Road that we had to work on that we're still working on. We had uh the Los Martinez area that had been forgotten. that is forgotten no more. We had um the Delwood Apartments that needed to be demolished. Those were the first three agenda items that I placed when I came into office and also created the port of entry advisory committee. So, we've been doing a lot of work. Um I'm a wife. I'm a mother of three, uh law enforcement family. I born and raised in Laredo, Texas. Um, I'm one of those children that left to Austin to go get my bachelor's degree from the University of Texas at Austin. I got my business degree from the Red MCOME School of Business. I earned scholarships and grants and funded my education 100% on my own. I'm the first person in my family to actually go to college and graduate. So, um, very proud of those things that I've been able to accomplish in my life. I have a 12-year-old son, Andreas. Uh my daughter Madison is 10 and my little boy Joshua is three and so uh I work every day to to make them proud. Thank you for the opportunity. >> Thank you Miss Perez for your opening statements and we're now ready to move on for your first round of questions. The first question comes from Mindy Castle, anchor for KGNS News today. Mindy, >> thank you Nida. Thank you Miss Pettis. Miss Pettis, this question has to do with the secondary water source. Web County recently approved a secondary water source through private company Legacy Water Supply Corporation. It's a company that has shown an unlimited amount of water available through the Sparta and Kariso Aquafers in Web County. This company recently presented to the city council to provide the city with a secondary water source as well. Seeing as how the city still does not have a secondary water source if reelected as council member for district 7, would you support partnering with the private company to get the job done once and for all? >> Thank you so much for the question, Mindy. And of course, of course, water security is one of our biggest um priorities in our city. We need we can't have a city without water. Of course, uh we we rely heavily on the Rio Grande. have enough water rights to sustain us for a few more years. But of course, that's one of the most endangered rivers that we have in the entire country. So, we can't rely on just that as our as our only source. And so, um this company brought forward a proposal. Um we have not, uh finalized any agreements, but we're o definitely open to the discussion. Uh you have some communities out there that have multiple sources of water. they've got three, four, five, six um sources of water. So, for us to only have one is definitely concerning. It's not it's something that has been bothering the community for decades. Um I can tell the community one of the reasons why we're hesitant to actually, you know, commit to anything is because it's going to be more expensive. The the Rio Grande provides us the most economical source of drinking water right now because we buy the water rights and we treat the water directly. having to purchase it from another source is going to add an additional cost because now we would have to pay for it then transport it in then treat it. So um we're trying to avoid doing that for as long as possible. Um we do have other options that we could look explore at the municipal level to where maybe we can ourselves look for that type of water drinking water. So, um, we definitely want to make sure that we have the water security, but we don't want to, uh, force the citizens of Laredo to pay more for that water if we can avoid it at all costs. >> The answer is yes, we're open to it. >> Thank you. >> Thank you so much, Mindy. Thank you. Um, Perez, question number two comes from Roelo Guzman, reporter from Noticia Lao. International. Thank you. And I will um translate the question for you um also in English. Laredo has faced an uneven economic growth with certain sectors thriving while others remain behind. What is your plan to create economic development that benefits all residents specifically uh marginalized communities and how would you ensure that economic opportunities are accessible to everyone? >> Thank you for the question. I appreciate that. Uh one of the concerns that our citizens have is that they want highpaying jobs. They want good jobs. They want prosperity. They want opportunities to have employment here in Lareno. the, you know, people want to leave and go get educated and come back and work here and um build a career here, build their families here. We definitely have a lot more work to do in that area. I can tell you that District 7 is more than just warehouses and and trucks. We need to have more uh we definitely need some kind of grocery store out in the Mines Road area. We need we're recently um partnered with Gateway to have a Gateway that's opening up. So, we'll have some medical services out there, but the people want places to eat. We want restaurants. We want the growth that you see in the north, you know, and and off the loop, you know, we want that in the Mines Road, too. We want uh more restaurants in the south. You know, we want to spread the the the wealth around so people don't have to drive so far to go to, you know, a restaurant when, you know, they can have options close by their home. So, we do have uh incentive options that we can offer through the state like uh chapter 380s or you know tax abatement programs. We're willing to talk to businesses. We're trying to expand uh our medical services for the community because we're medically underserved. Um, so when it comes to District 7, I'd love to see more um restaurants, more uh grocery stores, more more things that people don't have to come through, especially with all the traffic congestion out there and have to wait in traffic just to go, you know, run errands. So, um, I think the answer is to explore all options. And we're always open to companies that want to come talk to us. Our economic development department is always open and Laredo is definitely open for business. >> Graci, >> thank you Miss Pettis for that. And now Laredoans had the opportunity to also submit their questions to um for this forum and so I will be reading one of those questions. The first question is what resources will you give the animal shelter to combat the stray issue in Laredo? >> Yeah, that's a big problem we have in in our community. um you know to the citizens of Laredo you know please help out with this issue you know those animals that you see roaming the streets they don't belong to your government they belong to your neighbors and somebody has to take responsibility we've set policy at the city that requires people to um control the the the breeding you know to register and and breed when they want to breed an animal and spay and neuter their pet microchip them we've put funding for spay and neutering programs that I I've been a big advocate for. The problem is not that we're not committed to helping. The problem is that again, just like we're medically underserved for people, we're also medically underserved for animals. We have a limited amount of veterinarians. We have to work with the services that they offer. And then we also have to seek um ways to go outside of the city to transport to other cities that have more um veterinarians and medical services. Uh but uh sometimes those services are booked before we can get an opportunity to provide them to our community. So we did invest $100,000 to help with the the the the catching of the stray animals, the spaying and the neutering and then releasing them. Um but it's been slow to get it off the ground for those logistical reasons, which is not comforting to the citizens of Laredo. That's why we need everybody's help to make sure that you do your best to make sure that your animal is not contributing to the overpopulation problem. >> Thank you, Miss Pettis. And we're ready for the final question, and it also comes from uh members of the community of uh other questions that they had submitted. Um how will you ensure you work with our neighbors across meaning in Mexico for the betterment of our community? >> We've we've been doing that. We've done that. you know that we have we're very proud of our relationship with our with our partner in ino. Um we of course we can't force them to do anything. They have to agree to to meet us at the table and to come halfway which they've always been open to doing. Um I can speak specifically to issues when it comes to trade. You know one of the reasons why we have congestion in district 7 is because the systems in Mexico they go down. you know, we can't control that and we, you know, we call and we try to coordinate as best as possible with them. When they know that there's going to be a problem, we ask that they give us heads up instead of us finding out the hard way like we used to do when I first came into office. We we were very reactive in that sense. Um we've seen a very strong willingness for them to help us with uh bational issues to ensure that um like the air pollution issue that we're facing in district 7, you know, we don't want that kind of problem, you know, multiplying across because, you know, we all share the same air. Um we have uh a lot of projects in the works that require bational cooperation especially when it comes to like the bridge expansion or uh anything with trade. So we always work with our Mexican counterparts as much as they're willing to work with us and so far we've always had a very good relationship with them. We don't just have one state in Mexico that we deal with. We have two administrations. We've got um Noon and then we've got Tamal Lipa. So, you know, we have to work on our relationships and so it's so important for us also to um foster our relationships with uh Washington DC Austin because a lot of the money that we bring into Laredo for in the in form of grants is all based on collaboration and working together. >> All right. Thank you so much, Miss Pettis. And thank you to our panelists for all the questions. Thank you to the community for all the questions that had also submitted. It is now time for closing statements. Council member Vanessa Perez, you have two minutes. >> Thank you, Nida. Uh, again, talking to the the citizens of Laredo and District 7. Um, I promised to work full-time when I came in. I've been a full-time council member. I can tell you that District 7 requires somebody that's going to give a full-time effort. We have way too much work to do, uh, way too many problems to tackle. And it's not just attending one council meeting a month or two council meetings a month. There's so much more work that goes into this position. And I have been honored to have the opportunity to serve for these past four years. And uh when I signed up four years ago, my commitment was to to seek a second term and finish out the eight years that we're allowed to. If you'll give me the opportunity, I'd love for us to uh you know, I've always been there when there's problems. I've been at the forefront when we had ethylene oxide in our backyard and we had to go all the way to the the the federal government to try to get them to reduce emissions, which we were successful in doing through the Clean Air Coalition and through partnerships that we had with local environmental groups. When it came to the traffic congestion, I worked with the state to cut off that on-ramp from Mines's road so that we can reroute traffic onto the loop. I've worked and pushed for roads that were on the table that were uh decades in the making that I've pushed to actually help bring uh to life the river road project that was a passengeronly roadway. We funded it through the no. I don't just serve on city council. I also serve on the metropolitan planning organization which a very important board for us to to talk about infrastructure. We just had a meeting at the at the fasten to talk about the vaio roadway. I was there. I've been there at the front for all these issues. Not just when I was a council woman, but as a private citizen when I tackled the Labota issue that that was a problem not just for me. It was for my entire community. I did that. I didn't receive any money out of it. I went into it knowing that I was going to um all I was asking for all we were fighting for was freedom and we got it. We were successful in that. I've been successful in all the endeavors that I've s um that I've, you know, tried to do, tried to accomplish for the district, but we're not finished yet. We're not finished at all. We have a lot of work to do. I'm willing to do the work. So, I just ask that you support me and let's finish what we started, District 7. Stand with me. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Pettis. Thank you so much. This concludes our political forum for the office of city council member for District 7. This is a public service to the citizens of Laredo and it's brought to you by the city of Laredo, the public um access channel, Laredo TV, and the public information office. Please make sure you cast your vote on election day, Tuesday, November 5th. Remember, early voting starts Monday, October 21st, and it continues until November 1st, which is a Friday. If you would like information on this election, please contact the Web County Elections Office at 956-523-450 or you can also go to our website which is city of floro.com. Once again, thank you for watching this very important political forum. Thank you.