With either mayoral choice, Galena Park voters willmake history
The voters of Galena Park are readyfor change.
They want businesses to come to their city of 11,000 people. They want medical services for seniors. They want sewer pipes replaced, sidewalks added and beautification projects started to clean up the town.
But to start, they want new leadership, and on Saturday, these voters will make history.
Citizens 20 years ago voted in their first minority city councilman, Joseph Thibodeaux, who is black. Now, residents of the community near the Houston Ship Channel will choose their first minority for mayor in a runoff election — and Thibodeaux is in the running.
Galena Park citizens will elect either Thibodeaux as their first African-American mayor or Esmeralda Moya as the first female mayor and first His panic mayor.
“People are very excited, and they are going to cast their votes, because they want to see history beingmade,” said Eronia “Taggy” Hall, local civic leader and Galena Manor Civic Club president.
The current mayor and two councilmembers retired thisyear, opening up positions for council hopefuls. Community members said Galena Park is changing demographically, and its represen- tatives are now changing with it.
“It’s going to be a completely new makeup,” said outgoing Mayor R.P. “Bobby” Barrett, who was mayor for 18years.
After a close election May 10, only one incumbent was re-elected, by about 20 votes. Four candidates ran for mayor, and Thibodeaux and Moya garnered enough votes for a run off. Two candidates for commissioner for position No. 4 of street and bridge also are in a runoff.
There are four commissioners, or council members, in Galena Park. Each commissioner oversees specific issues: position No. 1 manages water and sewer, No. 2 directs police and fire, No. 3 oversees parks and recreation and No. 4manages street and bridge.
The only council member re-elected, Danny Simms, said this year’s ticket had more candidates than Galena Park residents usually see.
“It was going to be a very crucial, volatile election,” said Simms, commissioner for Position No. 1. Simms has served on the council for 12 years.
Thibodeaux, 61, served as a council member for 20 years. He retired from Bell Telephone after working there for 38 years.
This year, he chose to not seek re-election and instead run for mayor.
As a council member, he said he proved himself to a community that had never elected a minority. And if he is chosen as mayor, Thibodeaux said he is ready to do it again.
“I had a lot of objectionable attitudes for me, not because of what I knew but because I was black,” Thibodeaux said, recalling his early years on council. “In the last 20 years, I’ve proved them wrong.”
Now, he said the transition should be easy because voters have seen his work and know his personal values.
“The majority of folks realized I am just a person, and I do what’s right and what’s fair,” he said.
Moya, 45, said she doesn’t fixate on the possibility of becoming the first female or first Hispanic mayor.
“It’s about the mayor for everyone. It’s not about Hispanics or Anglos,” she said.
Aiding senior citizens
Newly elected commissioner Lois Killough said Galena Park needs new projects and people to revitalize the city. Killough is commissioner for Position No. 2 of police and fire.
“We are ready for whatever is coming,” she said. “New ideas, new projects. … We’re ready.”
No matter who is elected, the mayor would lend the perspective of a typically underrepresented community to council, Killough said.
About 80 percent of Galena Park citizens are Hispanic and 7 percent of its residents are black, according to 2010 census data.
“We have different perspectives, and we hope to gear the city into new growth,” she said.
Thibodeaux has three main goals for Galena Park if elected: providing better medical services for seniors, building more sidewalks for parents and children walking to school and initiating a beautification project for local businesses, such as repainting buildings.
“The senior citizens paved the way for Galena Park,” he said. “I think they deserve some appreciation for that.”
Senior citizens need a clinic in Galena Park or public transportation to their doctors appointments, Thibodeaux said.
The Galena Park High School graduate received an associate degree at San Jacinto College and served as police reserve for 19 years. But Thibodeaux said his experience as a councilman is really what prepared him to be mayor.
“I have very valuable experience about how to operate this city,” he said.
Taking her campaign to the streets, Moya has been ringing doorbells of homeowners to ask them what they want and need from city government.
Locals told Moya the mayor should coordinate clean-up of the city and find ways to revitalize the economy.
“I want to make that change not just because I live here, but because of the people I’ve talked to and the stories I’ve heard,” she said.
‘I refuse to move’
Moya graduated from Galena Park High School, where she played sports and volunteered. Many of her friends moved away because they could not find jobs in the city.
Moya’s plan if elected: work with the Greater Houston Partnership, the Houston Port Region Economic Alliance and the Port of Houston to lure small business and job opportunities.
Moya said working with Head Start programs for the Harris County Department of Education, and her previous job with the Port of Houston have prepared her for what lies ahead.
She also holds a master’s degree in clinical psychology.
“I refuse to move,” Moya said. “I will take the initiative to make a change and do something about it.”