ONLINE EXCLUSIVE: Polling numbers: Community provides input for economic development strategy at summit

EDINBURG — For Mercedes pastor Jim Edge, economic development goes hand-in-hand with helping his church’s congregants.

So when Edge found out about a community summit for a countywide economic development initiative, he naturally wanted to add his own input into the process.

Edge, a retired engineer who pastors at Immanuel Lutheran Church, said he’s seen his share of the county’s challenges, from its poor graduation rates to its lacking infrastructure.

But he’s also seen assets that he believes the county can build on in the future.

“We’re excited to be in Hidalgo County,” said Edge, who moved here with his wife, Dena, five years ago. “We’re on the cusp of some really neat developments down here.”

Edge and other community residents shared their opinions on topics such as job growth, transportation and education using interactive polling technology at the community summit.

Summit participants were asked to respond to findings from the asset map, a database of the county’s human and financial capital, physical infrastructure and more.

Compilation of the asset map was the first phase of the economic development strategy that the county is putting together that will outline regional goals and objectives and establish a plan of action.

Input from the 80 people who participated in the community session Monday evening at the University of Texas-Pan American will be incorporated into the strategic plan.

Getting the pulse of where the community sees a need for economic development is key after the county compiled reams of data from the asset map, said Hidalgo County Judge Rene Ramirez. And the best way to get a true reflection of the community is to poll it.

Summit attendees gave their responses to questions on the county’s greatest quality of life assets, its No. 1 economic development priority and whether the Rio Grande should be developed as a tourist attraction.

Ramirez said the community’s comments from the summit and previous events will help policymakers plan for the county’s economic future.

State Rep. Veronica Gonzales, D-McAllen, took notes on the real-time results to the polling questions as they showed up on the display set up in the UTPA ballroom.

Some of the responses to the questions weren’t a surprise, she said, such as the 59 percent who said that increasing graduation rates should be the No. 1 economic development priority.

But other responses — like the 34 percent who identified a countywide public transportation system as the No. 1 transportation priority — could shape new directions.

“(Public transportation) may be coming sooner than we think because the public is really behind it,” Gonzales said. “It was instructional to get the polling numbers.”

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