The lack of regulations and guidelines for solar panel systems in the Valley does not make Graeme Walker happy. The CEO of Alba Energy, an Austin-based solar firm which installs and monitors solar power systems, said solar installation guidelines like the ones he has worked with in Austin “technically make our life easier.” With regulations, all companies in the market have to follow the same regulations, the same playbook, from…
The three liquefied natural gas facilities scheduled to begin construction along the Brownsville Ship Channel in 2017 and 2018 will have an enormous effect on the economy of the Valley and the nation. Given the initial capital investments of $10 billion in the three plants, South Texas is poised to become an epicenter of the LNG trade and clean energy (including wind and solar). Within five years, the United States…
Mark Kroll jokingly calls himself the leader of a band of fools because he is the president of the RGV Angel Network. Kroll, who is dean of UTRGV’s Vackar College of Business and Entrepreneurship, explained that that it is one thing to train young entrepreneurs and another to have funding for them to tap into. “What we have not historically had in the Valley is people who have launched scalable…
By Angela R. Burton, District Director, Lower Rio Grande Valley District Office, Small Business Administration As the U.S. Small Business Administration celebrates National Veterans Small Business Week Oct. 31 – Nov. 4, it reminds me of the thousands of service members transitioning each year from military to civilian life many of them looking to start a new journey … their own business. We know that veterans succeed in entrepreneurship.…
“If there has been growth at Mr. G Propane, it is because of the foundation my father set,” said Zinnia Elizondo, marketing director of the Mission-based company. Amador Garcia, her father, was a migrant worker born in Ciudad Mier, who went on to serve in the U.S. Army, get a degree in education, and follow his entrepreneurial talents to open two convenience stores. In 1990 he bought a bobtail truck…
“As long as there is water, people are going to fish,” said Sandra Byrd, who owns Port Isabel’s Quik Stop with her husband Calvin. The couple bought Roy’s Quik Stop in 1984 from his father and quickly converted the grocery store into a bait shop. After reading about a bait stand that also sold lingerie for fishermen to bring home to placate their wives, Sandra realized she could have more…
Grandma’s cooking. For many, those two words conjure up memories of good days with family, where grandma might make her secret-recipe menudo or chicken soup or apple pie. It didn’t really matter what she brought. It was grandma’s food – it was comfort food. Jean Petit and his parents, Veronica and Paul Petit, are now sharing grandma’s cooking – real Mexico City cooking – with the Rio Grande Valley. Pies…
Think of all the towns that have chosen a totem: Port Isabel’s porpoises, Louisville’s horses, Mission’s butterflies, Chicago’s cows. Mercedes is the only I know of that choose to spotlight an industry: the bootmaking business. At one time, Mercedes had 12 bootmakers, according to Hernan Gonzalez, the executive director of the Mercedes EDC. When Mercedes’ bootmaking legacy was chosen to represent the city, it was decided that each four-and-a half-foot…
When Coach Danny Soto, founder of Valley Heat Volleyball Club, was in middle school, he tried out for his school’s track team but he was not chosen. He still remembers the sadness of not making the team. “I developed late,” said Soto, who ended up going to state in track by the time he was a senior in high school. “But I still remember the hurt of not making the team…
Today at Thurmond Eye Associates, a third generation of doctors is treating diseases of the eye and vision problems at six clinics operated by what is probably the Valley’s longest continuously operating ophthalmic practice. Dr. Jack Thurmond opened the ophthalmology practice in a Weslaco apartment in 1962. Last December, Dr. William Gillum, who worked with Thurmond, retired after 30-plus years with the practice. Thurmond Eye has six ophthalmologists, with…