ArchivesNogales used to be good looking, but then it grew up. It’s OK; it’s what my mom said about me.
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The border “fence” was just that instead of an ugly iron curtain. The jail was in the basement of the Historic 1904 Courthouse and had space for perhaps 30 prisoners.
Used to be Sacred Heart Church was the town’s hilltop landmark. It said a lot about us. Soon, the new point of reference will be a jail up on another hill that will house more than 200 inmates. It will speak volumes about us, too.
Nogales is confronting adult decisions, yet its leadership is not mature and sophisticated enough to control the city’s own future. Mired in indecision, our destiny is dictated by external forces, such as migrants fleeing corrupt and/or poor countries; an insatiable narcotics appetite in the United States and a southern neighbor more than willing to oblige; burgeoning international trade; technological demands; and population growth.
There is no time for spinning our wheels. We got to get a move on.
By 2012, the Mariposa border crossing will be expanded to one of the largest land ports from Mexico. Construction is set to start in October.
All federal eyes are upon us, investing more than $213 million for the port project with millions more slated for infrastructure including the refurbishing of the Nogales Wash and the 30-inch line that pipes 14 million gallons of sewage daily from Mexico to the treatment plant in Rio Rico. That plant just underwent a $60 million makeover.
What do the feds see? A town in the midst of an identity crises; petty politics; poor regard for economic and community development; planning guidelines that date back to the last century; and cumbersome and arbitrary construction review processes, and worse, no vision.
Growth happens, whether we like it or not. If we don’t seize the opportunities afforded by our geographical location, there are others chomping at the bit who would love to see Nogales become nothing but a simple little way station for tired truckers and tourists.
(Write us at 268 W. View Point Dr., Nogales, Ariz., 85621 or manuel.coppola@nogalesinternational.com.)
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Comments
Jon D wrote on Jun 16, 2009 12:16 PM:
Your vision and comments of what is occurring in our city is, sadly, very true and has been said before by many of us, for many a year. Unfortunately, there are very few citizens within our community who have the internal fortitude to complain or question local political powers in fear of retaliation. Homestead families such as yours and mine, have called Nogales our home for centuries. The political power struggles and "family rights" have remained the same for centuries. The only difference has often only been the first name of the incumbent or a close dear relative. As a result, the vision of progressing our community forward with current trends and preparing it for future growth is stagnant and unattended. We, the common people of Nogales, have failed ourselves by electing immature Mayors and Councilman based solely by family affiliations and the "Compadre Syndrome". It is sad but true, Our current Mayor has very poor regard for economic and community development simply because he has little to no experience and no understanding of the multiple complex issues that will soon engulf our community with projects like the Mariposa Port of Entry.
Our city still has the opportunity to grow and catch up with the rest of world - we (the people of our community) simply need to understand that we need to make the right choices - elect the right people with the required skills and experience - not our families long time friends and "compadres". "