Pharr city manager defends position
Tue, 2016-10-11 21:19
News Staff
Goodbye, city signs?
By G. Romero Wendorf
Earlier this week, Valley Central’s Dave Hendricks (KGBT-TV) broke the story that the city of Pharr was taking down the signs around town that billed it as the Triple Crown City.
Since then, some people are saying it’s a political ploy on the part of the current city administration to diminish the glory days of the former city administration. Especially in light of a municipal election on tap for next May (three city commissioners).
But City Manager Juan Guerra says the decision to remove the signs is entirely of his own making, and says politics had nothing to do with it.
Back in the mid-2000s, Pharr’s new moniker, the Triple Crown City, was being marketed as a relatively big deal: the only Valley city, for that matter, that had won an All-America City award; the Preserve America Award; and the Main Street Award.
The first award made news in 2006; the second, two years prior in 2004; and the third that same year. By the time the city’s centennial rolled around in 2009, things were rocking and rolling.
The city’s old nickname, the Hub City (based on Bus. 83 intersecting Hwy. 281), was replaced in most circles by the Triple Crown City, and to commemorate the feat, a new logo was designed, which soon made