Patridge: The border will be the whipping post this election year

MCALLEN, Texas – Because it is a presidential election year, the U.S.-Mexico border will be used as a “whipping boy” by politicians looking to score cheap points on the campaign trail.

This is the prediction of Keith Patridge, president of McAllen Economic Development Corporation. 

“It’s a political year now. We’re now being used as a poster child for one position or another – dealing with migrants, crime, drugs, and all of those things. We are the whipping boys. And so those are the things I think that we got to we have to address,” Patridge said.

“Can we address it as one EDC or can one city do it? No, because we don’t have the credibility. We have to have the region come together and really demand the respect that we should get because we are just as good as anyplace else in the world. We are getting hammered and used as a whipping post. And it’s not right.”

Patridge made his comments in an exclusive interview with Rio Grande Guardian International News Service reporter Patrica Martinez at the conclusion of the 2024 Workforce Summit hosted by South Texas College. Patridge had been a panelist at the event.

“We have to come together with a message. And that message has got to be shared by the media. It’s got to be shared by the citizens here. It’s got to be shared by the leadership. All of us have to do that,” Patridge said. 

One of the biggest issues facing the region is perception, Patridge explained. 

“If you look at the national media, what do they see? They see drug lords, they see fentanyl coming across the border, they see immigration, they see all of these things. If you have someone that doesn’t know unless they look at a map where the Valley or the border is, what is their thought? We have no one out there that is really focused on the truth.”

Patridge said he does not want to see anything made up.

“Are there issues (in the Valley)? Yes. Are those issues worse than other locations? Hell, no. We’re nothing compared to those areas.”

For the Valley to succeed economically, everyone has to be pulling in the same direction, Patridge said.

“In order to do that we can’t have silos, and we don’t. We’re coming together as a region. But then we have to really be able to sit down and look at what the facts are and know that there are some warts out there that we need to address.”

Patridge said events like the STC workforce summit are a great help.

“I think this (summit) is great because this is reinforcing that regional effort that we have going on. And it also strengthens the relationship between the economic development organizations and the educational institutions.”

Patridge said McAllen EDC has always had a strong relationship with STC.

“Workforce development is critical. How do you prepare a community that doesn’t have particular jobs in it? How do you prepare it without being willing to take a risk, a calculated risk, where it is based on data? We know the community has the infrastructure to support a particular type of company, and we actually work with Texas Workforce Commission to say, help us train a cadre of people in this area, in a particular skill, even though there are no jobs yet.”

Rose Benavidez, president of Starr county Industrial Foundation, then joined the conversation. She, too, was a panelist at the workforce summit.

“It is blind trust… because typically people don’t train until the job is there. But in today’s market, you have to be proactive, and that’s the only way we’re going to be competitive. Regardless of wage, regardless of anything, people are looking for employees that they can rely on, and employees that can do the job,” Benavidez said.

Benavidez said EDC leaders from across the Valley have been working hard to identify industries the Valley should be looking at for future growth. “We just need to do a better job of narrowing that list down to an area that we have the capacity to serve now, and will have the capacity to serve in the future. So being a little bit more strategic in our recruitment, I think is what everyone here would agree.”

Patridge agreed. 

“We’re not saying you (one part of the Valley) is going to get it (a big project) and you are not. What we need to do is get every one of us to say, what is it that we have the capability of supporting and that is where we are going to focus, for these big, big, projects.”

Speaking of big projects, Patridge said McAllen EDC is still trying to land something very special in the manufacturing sector.

“The one that we had (been working on), that made the silicon chips for solar panels, that’s the one we lost. The other one, we feel like they’re coming, but we don’t know for sure. So that’s why we’re not saying anything. But, it looks very good.”

Editor’s Note: Rio Grande Guardian reporter Patricia Martinez assisted with this story from McAllen.

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