Editor’s Note: Each week leading up to the May 6 general election, the San Benito News will feature selected City of San Benito and SBCISD School Board of Trustees races. The content for each piece was derived from the Meet the Candidates’ Forum held at San Benito’s iconic La Villita Dancehall on March 27, 2023.
By DAVID LOPEZ
Special to the NEWS
CITY OF SAN BENITO, PL. 1
The race for place 1 in the City election is between Eddie Abrego, the former Greyhound basketball coach and current San Benito High School assistant principal, and Tom Goodman, a vacation rental manager who made the news last year as a spokesperson for a group aiming to remove City Manager Manuel De La Rosa from office, primarily for what the group deemed was unfair housing policies.
In his opening remarks, Abrego mentioned that the two primary issues in his platform are parks & recreation and economic development.
“I want to make sure the City of San Benito has great parks: they have helped our young men and women become who they are now,” he said.
Regarding economic development, Abrego mentioned wanting to keep the momentum of economic growth going.
“The commission and EDC and other stakeholders will continue to outline the plan for potential businesses coming to the city. The question is: how do we ensure that it gets done? Everything starts from the top, and our commissioners’ responsibility is to make sure there is accountability.”
Abrego cited his roots to the Resaca City, which extend back generations. Born and raised in San Benito, Abrego graduated from San Benito High in 1990 and attended the University of Houston. He returned to San Benito and continued his education at UT-Pan American.
“One of the things that I bring to the table is leadership. The most important aspect of leadership is listening. Being able to listen, learn what you hear, formulate a plan, bring people together and go towards that goal. As your commissioner, I would put a primary emphasis on listening to my constituents, you, the people,” he said.
Challenger Tom Goodman discussed his history in San Benito, having been a resident for over 30 years and serving on the Planning and Zoning Committee to the Board of Justice.
As a South Padre Island businessman for over 40 years, Goodman said he worked with his competitors to reach common goals and organize them. He said he would do the same in San Benito, noting that, while applauding the city’s effort to repair and maintain the streets, there needs to be a better system in place to help prioritize which streets need to be repaired. He also noted that work needs to be done to address the depleting water issue.
“The question that people would ask when they come up to me is, ‘When is my street going to get fixed?’ but there’s not a way to say when your street is gonna get fixed.” Goodman thus suggested.
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