Calexico address slated for Thursday
CALEXICO — The theme of this city’s State of the City Address spotlights a year of construction by federal, state, municipal and private funded ventures.
The State of the City Address takes place at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Carman Durazo Cultural Arts Center at 421 Heffernan Avenue.
While the bulk of discussion centers around revitalizing the city, some rebuilding projects are already in progress, some recently completed and a few are about to commence.
The public is welcome to attend as well as the reception honoring 109th anniversary of Calexico to immediately follow that includes appetizers for all attendees.
Imperial County District 1 Supervisor John Renison noted he is now recruiting 10 to a dozen former Calexico mayors to appear for a group photo.
Renison, a former mayor during the 100th anniversary remarked it was an honor to serve when that milestone was reached.
“Calexico is on the right footing,” said Renison. “They have a unified council and they’re working together to solve problems. It may take a couple of years to get to a point of fiscal stability, but they’re all singing from the same hymn book.”
Last fall as reported in the Press, City Manager Armando Villa reiterated that concept during a review of the 2015 draft of the strategic plan but not implemented that the city needed to revisit recommendations and provide new input from residents.
“We want to take Calexico out of its economic funk, so we invited the community to elaborate on a better plan of action,” he said.
Citing the former strategic plan, Henry Garcia who co-authored the document, noted the plan identified the city’s strengths as a border locale, vacant land and transportation access.
Yet weaknesses cited were recent bank closings and a loss of customers to other cities.
At that same meeting, Ben Horton of the Calexico Economic Development Commission commented there needs to be affordable housing and job training to break the past cycle of stagnation partly, through forging public/private partnerships.
And Fernando Zavala, Calexico Chamber of Commerce president, urged strengthening the relationship with Mexicali, a major economic driver as well as developing Calexico as a destination point.