Special to The Tribune
HARLINGEN, Texas - For a few days last week, the one question batted-about here was whether any United Baseball League team could stop the rampaging Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings. The Wingsters had taken a dozen of their previous 15 games and it appeared the squad would ride into the league playoffs with a full head of steam.
The Wings have cooled-off, and so another question has surfaced in this town of 74,000 disgruntled denizens seeking better municipal government. Question: Which one of the three remaining candidates for the City Manager's job will get the City Commission's nod this coming week? Will it be the interim City Manager Gabe Gonzalez, or will it be the current City Manager of Hondo, Texas, one Robert T. Herrera, or will it be Carlos Yerena, the only one among the trio with a Masters Degree, who happens to be the City Manager of country & western Kingsville up the highway a bit north of here?
The selection is a big deal here, rivaling the National Football League's draft and the string of questions that arrive with every dawning hurricane. Gonzalez. Herrera. Yerena. A literal Crosby, Stills & Nash trio. If the pundits who crowd local blogs here are any indication, Gonzalez is the longshot, with Yerena the front-runner.
Herrera's bid comes with publicity about a resignation from the City of La Porte in 2002 for ethics violations similar to ones that collared former Harlingen City Manager Craig Lonon. The 40-year-old Yerena, born in nearby San Juan, is said to know the Rio Grande Valley of Texas and the people in the Valley.
Those following the city commission's every move on this matter say the selection is crucial to the struggling city's future. "We pick the wrong guy and we're done," said a patron waiting on his coffee at the Starbucks store on Ed Carey Drive here earlier this morning. "This pick looms as the sort of decision that will make or break this city commission's legacy. I wouldn't want to be a commissioner if they pick the wrong applicant. From what I've read, Carlos Yerena seems to be the best candidate. But you also have to wonder about deals that have already been made, or will be made."
Trepidation snakes across this town. Some say commissioners walk on eggshells. Others believe the selection of Gonzalez will bring a second Dark Ages for little Harlingen. Gonzalez, they opine, has made a name for himself as an administrator who has done little about perceived problems at the Harlingen Police Department and for seeming to side with unpopular Mayor Chris Boswell on most matters.
"Gabe Gonzalez may get it," said another resident. "It'll be good for him, but bad for a whole lot of other people. It comes with the job, sure. We know about our smalltown politics, so will I be shocked by the winner? Naaaaaaah."
The winning applicant's name will be announced at midweek. If Yerena is picked, that sound of triumphant back-slappings moving from one city limits sign to another will roll like a cool tsunami. If it's either of the other two, Gonzalez or Herrera, the exploding, groaning geysers will enfold Harlingen in a nuclear winter that'll last a long, long time...
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6 comments:
Tomorrow I am Moving To San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato-- in Central Mexico " Bajio " States... Where real culture exists and classy people from 23 different countries live and English is spoken by everyone; 3 great Universities and Pay is Great !!!
I hope our elected Commission will do the right thing, hire a city manager from the outside.
We can no longer allow the Mayor and his side kick K/M run city hall.
Excuse me!! Guz Ruiz and Robert Leftwich were voted by the people to balance a tumbling city Commission occupied by, pardon the word, "Gangsters", well hello!! we expect the Harlingen City Commission to do the right thing, hire a real city manager. Please, no Gabe Gonzalez.
Good article, welcome back Mr. Comedor.
Good by Mario Escamilla enjoy your stay. Mexico is a pretty country, it is the Border towns that look like Rwanda Africa.
However, my comment is about those idiots, that think they are Elvis, hello, there is a guy in San Antonio who dresses like Elvis everday.
I saw him at the coffee shop, and I asked a waitress why anyone would dress in a such an outfit. I was told he drinks coffee everyday dressed in different Elvis Presley outfits. Is it possible this man is suffering from schyzophrenia, or maybe ralphy was allowed to roam San Antonio from the looney farm on week-ends.
MARY LOU:...You think that's bad. I lived in Las Vegas for a time and that city has the annual International Elvis Impersonator convention. Something like 9,000 guys in Elvis suits all over the strip. It is something to behold. Yeah, amusing, weird and scary, 'cause every one of these guys thinks HE is Elvis.... - Editor
Cray Loonies, why would anyone think they are some else, dress like him, try and talk like him, wear hair like him, I say they need prozach,to get their mind back to normal, there is a guy in Harlingen who drives a pink cadillac, and he to is an Elvis PResley inpersonnator, I saw him eating at Peso Bills. They even try to act like him. What a bunch of "SICKOS".
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