Monday, June 6, 2011

Resting on its laurels not acceptable for City of Laredo

Ahhh, once upon a time in the Southwest

On a recent visit to Laredo city hall, I paid a little bit more attention to the 1993 "All American City" sign posted at the entrance. I hadn't noticed before just how worn out it looked. I started to wonder if it really is such a good idea to keep on displaying the sign year after year. I mean afterall, it's been 18 years since our city garnered such an apparrently coveted designation.  In full disclosure, I believe the city was one of the finalists for the 2007 award  but failed to place in the top ten, thereby receiving no official recognition.

Exactly what is the message that displaying the sign ever since then sends out?  Are people going to say "wow, Laredo actually was an All American city once upon a time" ? Or, will it lead people to wonder why the city hasn't been able to repeat this accomplisment in the nearly two decades since?

The city should not rest on its laurels.  The fact that Laredo gained such recognition was definitely something to be proud of -back in 1993. However, its about time that the city shifts its focus to the present and to the future, instead of continuing to pat itself on the back for the accomplishments of yesteryear.

5 comments:

  1. Yes, Laredo should work a bit harder particularly since there are now more stray dogs and dumped tires in the city since 1993

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  2. Laredo is an All-American city. And don't let the fact that we have 15 Spanish-speaking radio stations and 7 English-speaking ones. That has no bearing on anything.

    Keyrose

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  3. Yeah! And the stray dogs also listen to Spanish commands as opposed to English ones.

    "Veta a la chingada, pinche perro,!" will get a dog out of your yard faster than, "Get out of here you mangy mutt!"

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  4. I'll have to do a side by side comparison. I've used the first often but not the "mangy mutt' one. I just have to find a stop watch first.

    Maximiliano

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  5. "instead of continuing to pat itself on the back for the accomplishments of yesteryear."

    ....and election year.

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