Maggie's Farm

David Horowitz's Frontpage offers this. It is a telling.

http://www.terrorismawareness.org/what-really-happened/

I have mentioned many times that the current Amnesty Bill being ramrodded through Congress is a head fake and cover for future impeachable offenses.

The real story is the formation Of the North American Union and the Security and Prosperity Partnership, bot organizations aimed at unifying Canada, the United States, and Mexico into one entity. Need less to say there are doubters and spinners in abundance. Read on. Also please take note of the bridges name.

Sunday, June 17, 2007
By DANIEL GILBERT / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

GRANJENO, Texas – On the western edge of this South Texas border town, a round wooden post with an orange arrow marks the location where, two years from now, more than a million cars and trucks will cross the 9,200-foot-long Anzalduas International Bridge and touch down on American soil.

Groundbreaking on the U.S. side is set for this month, and work on the four-lane concrete structure could begin at any time, a bridge official said recently.

In its quiet, 240-year history, this tiny community on the Rio Grande has never encountered anything like it.

And residents worry that they won't survive the new international bridge and the development wave the port is expected to bring.

The gateway to Mexico is bound to increase property values in the area, says Alberto Magallan, the 72-year-old mayor and Granjeno native. He worries the community of about 325 people will be a growing pain in the side of developers hungry for land and neighboring cities jealous of revenues from the bridge.

"We feel like they don't want us around," he said. "They don't want us to be a city."

While few question the potential economic benefits the port could bring Granjeno – including toll revenues from the bridge itself – the city's mayor is concerned it won't be around long enough to collect on the prosperity.

In contrast to the growth of neighboring cities, Granjeno remains much as it always has been: a residential crescent of less than half a square mile, bounded by agricultural fields and flood plain to the south.

Median household income was $19,423 in 1999, a figure less than half of the corresponding state and national incomes, according to the latest U.S. Census data available. More than half of Granjeno's 97 houses were built before 1969, and three quarters of them are valued at less than $50,000.

Half of the city's land belongs to Hunt Valley Development, whose parent company is the multinational giant Hunt Oil.

Hunt has a master plan for 6,000 acres in the area, a third of which has yet to be developed, according to a statement from the company.

The company is voluntarily giving about 475 acres to the bridge project, which will "obviously enhance the value of their land," said George Ramon, a member of the Anzalduas International Bridge Board.

How money will be split

Plans to build the Anzalduas bridge began more than a decade ago but moved forward on April 8 when the city of McAllen awarded a $28.5 million contract to build the 1.6 miles of the U.S. portion.

While the groundbreaking is scheduled for June 29, the project's builders – a Houston contractor and federal and state agencies – could begin moving materials and equipment into the area at any time, Mr. Ramon said.

The cities of McAllen, Hidalgo and Mission will split bridge profits three ways, once McAllen pays off the bond. And 6 percent of Mission's 23 percent stake will go into Granjeno's city funds.

When Mr. Magallan talks about Granjeno's cut of the revenue, he does so in a hushed voice, as if speaking too loudly or too publicly could jinx the deal.

"They're things that can be done to make this a better city, but you have to fight so many people because they don't want us to exist," he said.

In the early 1990s, Mission annexed its smaller neighbor to the southeast. But Granjeno sued to maintain its independence. It succeeded in court, in the process getting a share of the revenue from the yet-to-be-built bridge.

"Mission had to give up a piece of its revenue stream so there would be no further divisiveness," said Pat Townsend, now president of the Mission Economic Development Authority, who was city manager at the time of the lawsuit.

'It won't disappear'

Still, it may be "at least seven years" before the bridge makes money, said Mr. Ramon, the bridge board member.

A spokeswoman for Hunt said the company's plans for developing its land in the area would be designed to "meet the needs of the community and maximize the economic impact of the bridge." New construction could include residential and industrial real estate, said Jeanne Phillips, a senior vice president for Hunt, in a statement.

But the company has no plans "at this time" to buy land from Granjeno residents, Ms. Phillips said.

Some with ties to Granjeno see no threat in the new bridge and pending development.

"It won't disappear," said Juan Anzaldua, 57, a Granjeno native and cousin of Mr. Magallan who lives and works as a paralegal in McAllen. "Those folk would rather not have a bridge than not have Granjeno. I don't think developers will push them out."

But Mr. Magallan described a hypothetical situation in which a developer offers a Granjeno resident $100,000 for his property.

"A lot of people around here are not going to sell," he said. "But if someone came to me and I have a piece of land that I know is not worth $12,000, I'd take it. I'd take it right now."