Cortez: Hidalgo County’s neighbors want to join the Prosperity Task Force

MCALLEN, Texas – Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez says leaders from other parts of the Rio Grande Valley and northern Tamaulipas want to be involved in the projects being undertaken by his Prosperity Task Force.

Cortez gave an update on the work of the group, which was set up to fight poverty, during an in-depth podcast conversation with Rio Grande Guardian anchor Mark Hanna.

Cortez said he chose to initially limit the geographical reach of the Task Force for a reason.

“When I started this (the Prosperity Task Force), I didn’t want it to be larger than Hidalgo County. I have been part of discussions with the Rio Grande Valley Partnership and other more broader regional areas. And it’s difficult to get a consensus in a small group much less than a bigger group,” Cortes said.

“So, what I wanted to do is kind of learn from the history of America. And America’s history of business successes is, it started with an idea. They perfected a process and then they duplicated the process.

“So, what I wanted to do, I was in a hurry to be successful, not in a hurry to fail. And the larger group that you have, the more difficult it is to make decisions. I wanted to be a speedboat. I want to be able to move here and there not be a battleship.”

The Prosperity Task Force has 15 subcommittees, working on big picture issues like housing, transportation, healthcare, education, economic development, and workforce training. One of the 15 subcommittees is the CEO Group, which is looking at ways to better market the Valley-Tamaulipas region. 

“So, what we are doing now is developing those platforms, that model that we can now duplicate. And we’re getting there quicker than what I thought,” Cortez said.

“We came across Joaquin (Spamer) and his (CEO) group and he wanted to add Mexico to it (the Prosperity Task Force). And our neighbors are finding out about it and saying, wait a minute, what’s going on in Hidalgo County. And they all want to be part of it.

“So, I think we’re all going to bring in all of those counties together and continue to develop a model. We don’t have a model yet. We have some parts of the model, but we’re not there yet.”

Cortez said he is happy to be facilitating positive change on a larger scale than before.

“When I was a mayor of McAllen and I was promoting and advocating McAllen, I had limited assets to sell. All of a sudden, I become county judge of Hidalgo County. And I believe now we’re the seventh most populous county. I think we’re ranked number eight, but I think we’re really number seven, the seventh most populous county in Texas. Now I have more assets to sell,” Cortez said.

“Well, then I said, wait a minute, if we include Willacy County, Cameron County, Hidalgo County and Starr County, that we have more assets. More assets to be able to sell.

“And then Joaquin (Spamer) comes over and says, Judge, can you imagine if you add northern Mexico, the assets we have, we’re going to be right smack in the middle of three of the largest economies in the world. And that’s where we are and that’s what we need to sell and who can argue with that? 

CEO Group

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Hanna asked why the Spamer’s CEO Group was added to the task force.

Cortez was asked what the CEO Group is all about. He said it could be defined as a “collection of knowledge.”

Cortez explained: “We want to attract companies to come here and guess what each company is going to have? A CEO. CEOs usually go up the ladder. They are usually the most knowledgeable about a business. The most knowledgeable about an industry. They understand the needs, they keep in touch with the changing trends of situation.

“So, for us to be able to have a group of 30, 35, 40 – hopefully it continues to grow – of CEOs here that are very involved in the things we do and the things that we have and the things that we don’t have and the things that we need, that’s valuable information, valuable information for us to have. 

And, also, they have political capital and influential capital and other things.”

Hanna asked why the CEOs would want to be part of the Prosperity Task Force. 

“Well, Mark, this is our home, this is where we live. This is where we chose to start a business, raise a family. So, we have a vested interest in creating a good environment. We’re creatures of habit and we’re creatures of our environment. So, the best environment to create will help you both in business and in your quality of life,” Cortez responded.

“So, I think I think that they (the CEOs) see, as we all see, that we live in a fantastic place, a great place that is being underutilized. And we want to stop that. We want to move from underutilized to fully utilized and they see the benefit in doing that.”

Cortez said it is “beautiful” to see CEO Group members all working towards the same ends. 

“There’s no ideology. There’s nothing for us to argue about other than maybe the name, maybe the name of what we’re going to call ourselves.”

That name is likely to be “Rioplex,” with a tip o’ the hat to then Borderplex Alliance, the trade group that brings industry to the El Paso-Ciudad Juarez-Las Cruces region.

So, we have all of these recommendations (from the Task Force’s marketing committee). Rioplex is one, which I think the business community likes. I like it. It’s simple. It talks about Rio Grande Valley basically. So, I think that’s the one we’re going to decide on.”

Whatever name is chosen, the challenge remains the same, Cortez said. Namely, competing in a fast-changing, global marketplace.

“The world is changing very quickly. Who would ever have thought we (the Valley and Northern Tamaulipas) would be competing globally, with somebody, some company, something. We better have our house in order, here, if are going to compete in the future,” Cortez said. 

“We all need to know that our world is changing rapidly. We all have these smartphones. Who would think that having that phone in your pocket, doing all the things that it does. Imagine what that is going to be even five years from now or ten years from now. So, automation, technology, robotics are going to change how we conduct business and what type of labor we need.”

Asked if the Valley and Northern Tamaulipas can learn from the experience of the Borderplex Alliance, Cortez predicted the region would become bigger and better.

“Do you know that we are graduating more high school graduates, I think, than all but 11 or 15 other states in the Union are every year? Every year. We have something that others are looking for. There are many pockets of the United States that are losing population, not gaining population. 

“So, the future is going to be very competitive. But I think we’re going to outperform a lot of areas if we keep going in direction we’re going now.

“I don’t know if I answered your question or not but as I told a group (the Task Force’s marketing committee) earlier today, we’re not there yet. We’re building a team. There’s still questions unanswered. There are still things to do. So, we’re moving in the direction that we want to be, (which is) great.”

Like he did on a podcast with Spamer last week, Hanna asked Cortez why northern Tamaulipas needed to be added when marketing the region.

“I see that very positive and very necessary,” Cortez said. “Seventy percent of the fruits and vegetables that we consume in Texas come from Mexico. In fact, we send yellow corn and white corn to Mexico, because they don’t produce enough corn to keep up with their tortilla consumption, believe it or not. Isn’t that something?

“So, our economies are intertwined. And I think more so more so in the future. And as companies need services, I think the combination of what we have to offer and what Mexico has to offer will capture a lot of companies out there that may find us attractive to come and do business.”

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