Editorial: How to give visiting politicians another view of the Valley

MCALLEN, Texas – As first reported in the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service, the Rio Grande Valley Partnership is set to become the official marketing arm of the region.

In this capacity the Partnership will no doubt start producing top quality videos that show what a great place the region is to live, work and play. It has done so in the past.

The RGVP’s efforts to promote the Valley came up in a discussion in the Guardian’s newsroom the other day. It was suggested that any video the Partnership produces should be required viewing for all visiting politicians. The ones we had in mind are those that like to put on bullet proof vests and ride in DPS gun boats on the river down at Anzalduas Park.

The aim of some of these politicians is to get in front of a TV camera and show how tough they are on border security. And to tell their constituents back home that the border region is in crisis, or worse still, a war zone.

Anzalduas Park is run by Hidalgo County. Could county leaders insist that visiting politicians that want access to the park for a photo-op on the jetty be required to watch an RGVP video that shows the real Valley?

Guardian audio editor Mario Muñoz came up with a rough draft for a TV commercial that would show the bustling border region most of us know. Here is the rough draft:

(VOICE/OVER INTRO)

“When many folks hear, ‘The Rio Grande Valley in Deep South Texas’…they see this.

(VIDEO CLIP: Frontier town, dirt streets, people in 19^th Century dress)

(VOICE/OVER)

“But no one sees this…

(SEVERAL VIDEO CLIPS, CONSECUTIVELY)

(LAREDO BRIDGE, PHARR BRIDGE, SPACE X, DOWNTOWN BROWNSVILLE, MCALLEN SHOPPING MALL, VALLEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA)

(VOICEOVER)

“Do you believe what you see or just what you hear?…THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY IN SOUTH TEXAS”

When the Guardian interviewed RGVP President Daniel Silva about his group taking on the region’s marketing efforts, we put the idea to him that visiting politicians be made to watch a video that portrays the Valley the way we know it, as not being in crisis.

Silva liked the idea. He said the Partnership worked hard to explain what the Valley is really like when dozens of state lawmakers came to the region at the start of the year. Here is what he said:

Editor’s Note: The main image accompanying the above editorial shows Daniel Silva, president of the Rio Grande Valley Partnership. (Photo copyright: Madison Girault/RGG)

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