Commissioner outlines economic options for rural communities

By MINDY POEHL | Central Texas Edition

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs provides economic options for rural communities during a special visit to Cameron last week. -- Photo by Mindy Poehl

August 4, 2005 - On Tuesday, July 26, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs invited Cameron community leaders to a meeting to discuss rural economic development, as well as other issues affecting Texas.

Cameron mayor, William Meacham, introduced Combs and made sure that everyone knew that the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) was available to help with economic development.

Combs addressed different TDA programs available, such as the Downtown Revitalization Program and the Texas Capital Fund. The Downtown Revitalization Program is designed to motivate the economic development in downtown areas by providing grant funds to non-entitlement cities for public improvements. This program provides up to $150,000 for public framework in the downtown business district and assists in the elimination of deteriorated areas.

The Texas Capital Fund (TCF) also helps to improve the economic strength and presence of the downtown redevelopment area through the support of existing businesses as well as the attraction of new ones. Combs said this is particularly certain for businesses in the retail and professional services sectors. Nevertheless, Combs said the redevelopment and promotion of the arts, entertainment, and cultural activities are necessary to establish an alluring downtown that will bring new capital and employment opportunities to the area.

Commissioner Combs also spoke about Texas Yes!. Texas Yes! is an endeavor from TDA that is designed to promote the growth and prosperity of every rural Texas town, city and county.

"We need to say 'Yes!' to rural Texas," Combs said. "Towns have to grow and adapt or else they will die."

Texas Yes! educates the public about every thing that rural Texas has to offer and encourages rural communities to share and promote successful ideas.

"With Texas Yes!, money is given to programs that help promote festivals and events that help with tourism efforts," explained Judy Fort, with rural and agribusiness development.

Membership in Texas Yes! is free and open to rural communities, rural businesses and other organizations devoted to the success of rural Texas.

The Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC) was a topic of discussion as well by Combs. The TTC is a tentative multi-use, statewide network of transportation routes in Texas that will incorporate existing and new highways, railways and utility right-of-ways. Specific routes for the TTC have not been determined, but each route will include separate lanes for passenger vehicles and large trucks, freight railways, high-speed commuter railways and infrastructure for utilities including water lines, oil and gas pipelines, and transmission lines for electricity, broadband and other telecommunications services.

"We need to fix a lot of problems with it," Combs said. "We don't want a wall down the center of a county. We want the citizens to be able to get from one place to another quickly. We don't want to block them from getting to the hospital or stop the fire department from quickly dispatching."

Combs also wants to fix the corridor so that landowners do not have land taken from them - at least not without proper compensation.

Answering questions from the audience, Combs said that she "believes our food supply is safe," when questioned about bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in Texas. "The last scare did not impact prices, except for only a few days after the case was found."

In a question about Texas wineries, she said she was pleased with the winery business in Texas that had grown from 30 vineyards six years ago to 102 vineyards today. In fact, Combs and her husband planted grapes at their ranch in Marathon, she said.

"There have been many regional efforts in the Hill Country in which people work together to promote that area," Combs said. "Marathon, Marfa, Alpine and Lajitas promote themselves as an area destination."

Combs sees definite patterns in the development mode of rural areas. "There is a distinct split as the people who live along highways want more industrial development and the people who live in smaller towns want more tourism attractions."