Mayor Salinas pens lengthy, rambling article for Huff Post

Excerpted from The Huffington Post
By Raul G. Salinas



Laredo, Tex. sits on the U.S./Mexico border where IH-35 and two major railroads cross into Mexico. However, the city does not view itself as sitting on the border with Mexico, but as a hub of activity for South Texas and Northern Mexico. While geography has certainly played into the growth and development of the community, achieving this milestone did not happen just because of where the city is located. City of Laredo leaders also did not just sit around and wait for business to come to Laredo. The city's location and development, as a close neighbor to Mexico, aside from creating tourism as Laredo's second-leading industry, has created a unique and dynamic bilingual and bicultural community, for both business and personal sectors of the residents' lives. Taking advantage of this understanding, appreciation, and mastery of the Spanish language and Mexican culture, business mores, and governmental processes, City of Laredo leaders have gone throughout Central and South America and applied those same principals to facilitate trade from these countries through Mexico, faster, cheaper, and just as securely as other U.S. ports. At a recent trade symposium hosted by the City of Laredo with all Central American countries, numerous memoranda of understanding were executed to send their country's goods and products through the Port of Laredo, and the reasons cited included Laredo's facilities, location, security, business opportunities, and bilingual culture of cooperation.

Read the entire article at :
 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rauacute/laredo-job-growth_b_1671706.html