MCALLEN, Texas - McAllen City Manager Isaac “Ike” Tawil says his City Commission has challenged him to create a community of excitement, where something is happening all the time.
Tawil was the keynote speaker at a luncheon hosted by McAllen Chamber of Commerce and sponsored by Rhodes Enterprises.
“What I really wanted to talk about today is, why does value in McAllen continue to increase? And I think it's because the commission has challenged us - and we just talked about this at the press conference we had at the airport - to create a community of opportunity, to create a community of excitement, to create a community where there is something that is always happening,” Tawil said.
Tawil said he views his municipality’s role as being “the fuel that fires the engine” of the business community.
“We're going to invest in what you need to be successful and that is what we focus on in my office every day,” he said.
“Where can we take the excess dollars that we have in the budget? How do we invest those dollars into the community in a way that you can capitalize on it? And who is you? You are the mom and pops. You are the local businesses, you are the banks, you are the industrial developers. You are the ones that are growing this community. And so as I stand here today, really, the credit goes to you for recognizing the opportunity that's here and taking advantage of that.”
In his presentation, Tawil thanked McAllen’s police and fire departments. He said the city was ranked the third safest in the nation. McAllen Police Chief Victor Rodriguez was in the audience.
He also spoke about “a fantastic initiative” to help retail stores with their business planning and marketing needs. He said this would be done through a partnership between the City, McAllen Chamber of Commerce, and UT-Rio Grande Valley.
“Technology is coming here. Investing in our students, investing in the youth of this community, is priority number one for me. Making sure that we have the workforce that industry needs to bring next level to McAllen is important to me.”
Tawil also spoke about redevelopment of the old Boeye Reservoir site. The “New Grounds, New Heights” project will be a public-private partnership. It will see a $230 million investment on 70 acres land. The plan is create a mixed use recreation district with water attraction.
“We had the opportunity a year ago to make an announcement on Boeye. But rather than rushing to that, we decided, let's take a step back. Let's look at it. Let's really think through what the potential is for this site. And we reworked it, we massaged it, we changed it, we talked about it, and there were a lot of conversations that went back and forth,” Tawil explained.
“When you look at that 70 acres and where it's located, talk about an opportunity, an opportunity for prime housing. People from Mexico are looking to invest in the United States… we know the kind of housing they're looking to invest in: single family, condominium style, multi-level. We know that there's an opportunity there being in a retail corridor, and so to provide that in a very upscale way… in an exciting way, things that we haven't seen here before, locally-driven, but with with some McAllen flair, a hotel resort style, with attractions.”
Tawil said the plans for Boeye will help the McAllen Convention Center district and vice versa.
“We have, think about it, over 800 events a year at the McAllen Convention Center that our staff works hard on. Anybody here from the Convention Center? They turn that building over more than two times a day. That's incredible. And some of those conferences are multi-day conferences. With the proximity of that Boeye development to the convention center, think about the level of conference we can start attracting and what that will bring from our visitors when we look at our ad valorem tax base and the revenue we see from that and sales tax.”
In the Q&A section, Tawil took questions on Anzalduas International Bridge finally taking fully loaded trucks and a City of McAllen plan to desalinate brackish water.
Here is a video recording of Tawil's presentation at the McAllen Chamber event:
