WESLACO, Texas - RioPlex unveiled their first batch of Ambassadors at an event in Weslaco on Thursday.
The event was held at South Texas College’s Mid Valley Campus.
One of the speakers was Weslaco Mayor Adrian Gonzalez. After the event had concluded he gave this interview to the RGG Business Journal.
In the interview, Mayor Gonzalez said he was proud to host RioPlex.
“It was a pleasure hosting these ambassadors, these newly appointed ambassadors, and also trying to get on board with Rio Plex and making sure that we market the Rio Grande Valley. Is not all about one city. It's about all of us working together to try to attract these in this industrial and manufacturing companies to the Valley.”
In his speech from the podium, Gonzalez made the point that it is easer to attack a company to Weslaco when you tell that company that the catchment area has 3.5 million people, rather than just the 45,000 population Weslaco has. He echoed this in his interview.
“It’s so much easier. When we're talking to people and we say we have a 45,000 population, well, no one's really going to pay attention. When you say 3.5 million, you grab their attention. They're more interested in wanting to know more. So working together as a region, regionalism, it's a lot better.”
Asked what he thought of the name RioPlex, Gonzalez said:
“RioPlex is a great name. I love it. I think the people involved, Mr. Spamer, Mr. Reyna, all did a tremendous job in choosing the name, and we're excited to work together to continue to grow the RGV and continue working as a team.”
Mayor Gonzalez was also asked about new developments in his city, the most notable being the eagerly anticipated arrival of a Sam’s Club store. He responded:
“Yes, we’re having great success here in Weslaco. It helps that we're in the middle of the Valley. It's like I said earlier, we're working together as a whole region, but we have that benefit, because we're right in the middle here in Weslaco… and we're celebrating Sam's Club, and we're extremely excited, and I feel that it's going to continue, and people are going to continue coming to the city of Weslaco.
“We're working on our infrastructure, we're doing the things that are needed so that we can continue growing the city of Weslaco. Like I always say, you’ve got to start from the ground up. And we're going to continue working on our infrastructure, working on everything that we need to, to continue attracting this business.”
Gonzalez said a groundbreaking ceremony for Sam’s would take place in the first week of September and it should be ready for opening in November, 2026.
“We’re extremely excited, and it was way long overdue,” he said.
Here is a video recording of the interview with Mayor Gonzalez:
