Item 9...The Rise of a New San Juan City Commission...The End of the San Juan Hotel Issue...

"Mayor and commissioners, item 9 on the agenda is asking to stop all studies on the purchasing of the San Juan Hotel. This issue was one of the deciding factors on who to vote for during this past election. I hope that the entire panel votes in favor to stop from spending any more money to purchase a hotel that the majority of the citizens have opposed. I am a member of the La Union del Pueblo Entero or the organization more commonly known as the United Farm Workers. We have a chant we use in order to unify ourselves and it says El Pueblo Unido Jamas Sera Vencido. Loosely translated, commissioners, the phrase says we will not be defeated if we are united. The study to purchase this hotel has unified the citizens of San Juan asking for accountability from our elected officials. Please do what is right for the citizens of San Juan."-Ignacio Almaguer in a speech before the San Juan City Commissioners, May 23, 2006.

There are two things a novice attendee to city commission meetings takes with him at the end of the day. First, is the realisation that unless your idea of an interesting evening revolves around listening to political jargon like items on the agenda, motions, second the motions, all those in favor, all those opposed, you're not going to find these meetings very exciting. It is an event much akin to waiting in a dentist's office for an hour knowing those final moments are leading to a root canal. Or watching golf on a Sunday afternoon in July because basketball season is over, and football season is still a month and a half away. But I braved the heat in the RGV this afternoon because of the second thing that a novice attendee to city commission meetings takes away with him.

A sense that a new era of political responsibility is upon the citizens of San Juan, Texas.

Item 9 on this week's agenda in the San Juan City Commission Meeting revolved around removing any further action, study, or mention by the commission on a study to purchase the historic San Juan Hotel. The final nail on the coffin. The be all to end all.

And so, with a motion brought forth by newly elected Place 4 Commissioner Eddie Rodriguez, seconded by newly elected Place 5 Commissioner Claudia Gonzalez, the panel that Almaguer refers to voted to end the turbulent saga of the San Juan Hotel. "The community has spoken," said Mayor San Juanita Sanchez at the beginning of the meeting, referring to a previous commissioners meeting on March 28, and subsequent dissent by the citizens of San Juan on whether the idea of purchasing the hotel for $575,000 dollars was both feasibly prudent, and ethical.

To wit, the San Juan Hotel is owned by a PSJA School Board Member. Two Commissioners on the San Juan City Commission in March, are PSJA School employees. Draw your own conclusions, I've stated some of the obvious ones in previous posts here on RGV Politics. But let's not digress too much, or brood on things from the past. The important thing now, is the future. The future of a community that, according to Lydia Perkins a San Juan citizen who spoke before the commissioners, has big expectations from their municipal government. This is one case where if we're promised more of the same after tonight's meeting, it's definitely a step in the right direction.