Hidalgo County Prosperity Task Force leaders discuss creating a rapid transit authority

MCALLEN, Texas - Hidalgo County Prosperity Task Force is likely to recommend the establishment of a rapid transit authority, Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez has confirmed.The subject came up at a summit the task force hosted jointly with Futuro RGV at South Texas College’s Pecan Campus last Friday. The summit was titled, “CEOs Unite: Let’s Get Uncomfortable.”Interviewed later, Cortez told the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service: “One of the barriers and obstacles that we have is moving people from areas, from where they live to where they work. And, as you know, a lot of households only have one vehicle. So, when the husband works and the wife works and what do you do when you only have one vehicle or the husband is gone and the wife needs to go shopping or go to the doctor or whatever is,” Cortez said.“Transportation is very important. In larger communities such as Austin, Houston, San Antonio, they have a transit authority, that's basically a taxing body to provide for transportation. I think that we're at the size already in Hidalgo County that we need to start looking into that and see if that fits our needs. And everything takes a long time. So we better start looking at it now and start to prepare for it.”Cortez said he is also concerned about the traffic count in his county.“We have a lot of people out there on the roads. If we can reduce some of those cars from being on the roads because they have another form of transportation that helps us there also.”Asked if a rapid transit authority could be part of the final recommendations of the task force, Cortez said:“Absolutely. No, we're already looking into it. The Lower Rio Grande Valley Development Council already has done some work. We just took it off the shelf and started looking at it again.”Editor’s Note: Here is an audio recording of the Guardian’s interview with Judge Cortez, as well as the analysis of Thomas Ray Garcia, one of the lead coordinators of the Hidalgo County Prosperity Task Force. Editor's Note: Go to the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service website to read the full story.Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the latest news videos.