Hundreds were gathered as the Mayor of McAllen delivered his state of the city address speech.
Local, state and national officials were at hand while Mayor Richard Cortez talked about the projects the city is working on to attract tourism and retail dollars.
"I particularly want to see growth in the commercial side, but we also welcome residential growth, but the growth that we want to grow in is we want to be accommodating to the various life styles that people are seeking, " said Cortez, who feel this goal can be achieved is by appealing to Mexican nationals, that way travelers won't bypass McAllen to other areas in Texas.
"If Mexican's feel that they need to go that far for certain things, that means that McAllen is not offering those things. So that's a big focus for what we're trying to do for the future, is to bring those type of things that are not found in McAllen today,” said Cortez
Some of those include a La Plaza Mall expansion, the use of a new marketing website, and looking into ways to improve sporting facilities.
“If we are friendly to business and if we are fiscally responsible good things are going to happen,” said Mayor Cortez.
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