GRANJENO, Texas (AP) — Fresh off his electoral victory in May, Mayor Vicente Garza Jr. has embarked on a quixotic project, betting against long odds that a casino could secure the future of this indebted town of 485 residents.
Founded in 1767, but not incorporated until 1993, Granjeno clings to a sharp curve in the road a mile from the Rio Grande. It has a single city employee and a beer joint is its only business.
But things are happening. The border fence that put Granjeno in the spotlight last year when initial plans had it running through yards and homes is taking shape instead just behind property lines on the south side of town. A new international bridge to Reynosa, Mexico, is under way to the west.
And Garza, at 24 years old, is the eldest of a new leadership triumvirate striving to pay off debts and make Granjeno self-sufficient.
“We’re surrounded; we have no economic development,” said Garza, a county corrections officer, who sports the high and tight haircut favored by military and law enforcement ranks and does not try to hide his enthusiasm for the casino idea.
“We’re really looking forward to it,” Garza said, adding, with no pun intended, “It’s like a gamble; it’s something out of the box.”
On a recent morning, Garza met in city hall with the consultants who began researching the idea after he threw it out in an impromptu brainstorming session on how the city might capitalize on the traffic generated by the new international bridge.
Antonio Fernandez III, of Mission-based South Texas Consulting, unfolded a newsprint-size page of the $37.7-million 2009 budget of the Comanche Nation in Oklahoma. Fernandez highlighted the long list of community improvement projects funded by the Indian casino, suggesting a similar jackpot could await Granjeno.
As Fernandez began to sketch a rough casino floorplan and talk of multiple restaurants and an auditorium, Garza asked if it would be possible to have a sliding floor that could be converted for football games. He also wants it to be “green” or environment friendly.
“Let’s get an architect,” Garza suggested.
While Garza is focused on his hometown, Fernandez envisions Granjeno’s “community charity casino” as only a pilot project for a broader goal of opening similar moneymakers in all of Texas’ economically distressed counties.
The only hitch is that the sort of gambling Fernandez and Garza ultimately envision with slots and poker tournaments is illegal in Texas.
Just last year, well-funded casino interests unsuccessfully pushed a bill that would have allowed 12 resort-style casinos in Texas and video slot machines at horse and dog tracks. Two Indian tribes are still fighting to reopen casinos the state shut down in 2002. And a bill sponsored by Rep. Ismael “Kino” Flores, whose district includes Granjeno, that would have allowed slots at racetracks and Indian reservations, died.
Garza signed a letter earlier this month requesting an opinion from Attorney General Greg Abbott, who has taken a narrow view of the state’s gambling laws previously, and hopes Flores will pass it on.
Flores said he has not met with Granjeno officials yet but hopes to get a better understanding of their proposal.
“If it’s something that they need, I’m going to help all I can,” Flores said. But knowing the state’s gambling laws and Abbott’s earlier opinions, Flores said the odds would be against them.
The casino isn’t the only thing on the mind of Garza, whose father was Granjeno’s first mayor. He is working on ways to pay off the city’s debt, build a long-awaited park and keep a fledging community watch program going until casino proceeds can one day fund a Granjeno Police Department.
Granjeno’s residents seem willing to give their ambitious new mayor the benefit of the doubt on the casino idea.
Garza said that while there are skeptics, he has not heard any outright opposition since the local newspaper reported the idea recently.
Taking his daily walk north out of town one recent afternoon, Manuel Olivares, who was born and raised in Granjeno, said the city was in dire need of help.
A share of the revenue generated by the new international bridge could still be years off and crime is up. He hopes the casino idea pans out.
“If it will help Granjeno, fine and dandy,” Olivares said before conceding with a grin, “I go to Vegas once or twice a year.”
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