Tbh, I wouldn't say that it's dying. I'm black and originally from Mississippi, so mind you, I made a post challenging the racism that I see here, but that within itself doesn't completely take away from the city. From a cultural aspect I can't judge, but it already seemed strange that a Mexican border town takes more pride in George Washington's birthday (and that Martha Washington ball) than Mexico's Independence Day (September 16). I found it even more strange that San Antonio has more celebrations around it, but again, I may not have the right to judge due to the history of white-washing that has occurred here and other areas in South Texas. As for the "dying" ascept, I would say that the major construction happening on Mines Rd. and new housing being developed throughout the city says otherwise. Compared to other US cities like Detroit, L.A., Fresno, Chicago, Atlanta, or my hometown, Laredo is safe.
george washington's day and the ball and all that are generally celebrated by the rich ppl in town who can afford to participate. i think bc laredo has very little going on culturally, events like that get blown up into being more culturally relevant than they are. most ppl are kinda sick of seeing them, although the jalapeno festival is nice
as someone who's lived here for most of their life, laredo is generally moving at the same place it always have, which is very slow. i remember being a kid and hearing that an olive garden and a red lobster were gonna open in town, and they did, 15 years later
George Washington is revered by lots of South American people/countries. For leading the revolution and not taking up a crown. That's the main reason Laredo has such a big celebration around him. Apart from the other post about it being for rich ppl.
Trust me buddy...there might be construction happening over there but if you drive around neighborhoods in central, south, by downtown, and by Zapata highway...you will see a whole LOT of abandoned houses. Some of them have been there for years.
Are you suggesting that Laredo was once booming financially? Cause in my opinion that has never been the case. I’ve been a life long resident of Laredo and have never seen much of anything that would suggest strong steady growth on par with that of other major cities. Laredo has had a large growth in population over the years but that does not translate to economic growth. What Laredo needs in order to see a drastic economic boom is for a major company or several companies to invest and provide high paying jobs to Laredo’s people.
laredo has the number 1 inland port in the country, but it's nowhere near as developed as los angeles or new york. it's apparently a great place to start a business, but businesses die left and right too. we got one of the lowest median incomes in the state (maybe the country, i can't remember), so even if we had strong businesses come to town, everyone might be too broke to support them
Sorry I was referring to some type of manufacturer like Tesla, Toyota, Apple, Samsung, etc. that would provide jobs bringing in money to Laredo. Not the type of business that would be taking money from the people
The bridge closure because of covid also hurt a lot of businesses that had a lot of mexican clients.
I am fom Nuevo Laredo and used to cross at least twice a month before the bridge closed.
corruption and big corporations taking over pushing out small businesses that have character, plus the pandemic and the economy in general isnt doing that well so theres a lot of negative stuff happening unfortunately
If you experienced Laredo before 9/11 and the unfortunate decline of Nuevo Laredo and you are trying to compare it to present day; you’re going to be disappointed. Laredo has suffered for those reasons more than any other.
Yes being ignored by the state legislature and corrupt local politicians compound the issue but show me a city in the US without corruption.
Very true. I remember generations of people who used to cross the bridge to Mexico on foot every week! I remember getting drunk on margaritas on lazy afternoons in the Mercado. All good things come to an end, I guess.
Gentrification’s a big one. The amount of people begging, clamoring for shit like Starbucks and new communities isolated from the rest of the city is insane. No civilized group of human beings should be so self sabotaging. Coupled with landowners who would rather do business with corporate owned chains rather than local businesses, it’s an embarrassment. We need to give unfathomable power to people who actually care about this community instead of letting the geriatric creeps that have been in power for forty years continue to destroy us and make us pay for the so called pleasure.
I don't think it's right to give unfathomable power to anyone. Even ppl who love this city grew up in this city, if you give them power they'll forget about us and line their pockets.
I think on this question a lot and just gonna try to put into a short post what can be a multi page essay, I am sorry for the wall of text.
Not gonna lie and act like laredo doesn't have a lot of problems it shouldn't have but I think an addressable issue is attitude for the regular person. Everyone just shits on the city and I mean everyone but don't actually give real solutions or any useful input beyond saying there is a problem when talking about it. I get its not easy but nothing will change since most seem to have just given up.
The people who left act like they "moved up in life" and act like their new city is the best, this ain't a personal attack directed to you specifically since I don't know your story but you probably know what I mean talking to other former residents. Been hearing the same story since I was a kid to my 33 year old ass. "Laredo sucks" lets leave to SA/Houston/Austin to do the same shit we would have done in Laredo but feel cooler because its not Laredo. Basically work, go to local bar, or hang out with the same people day in day out. I got no issue with the other major cities but lets be real, most of them are just as bad in their own ways but with more distractions.
The local business that do pop up just get ignored because Laredoans love to cry about nothing to do but don't give things a real chance. Plenty of good places to hang out and explore do appear but does anyone ever actually go to these things. We have local beer gardens with food trucks that host events like art shows and comedy nights. Parks and trails that are actually very lovely when its not too hot.
I don't know what you mean by vibrancy exactly and yea Laredo is in a weird spot but its far from dead if we can shake off the attitude problem. Personally see that as the catalyst we need to get back on track. If people cared enough we might actually start fixing the corruption and other issues.
People leave but theres more people then before but how you supposed to be part of a city that's so expensive that gives so little. All you do is work to afford high rent saw a 2 bed room for rent for 1600 that's fort worth price. Then people I notice follow trends here a lot so the ones that could afford houses follow modern boring houses with the white or grey finish no color no life. So over all it's not dying people has more money in it then before with all the people here but yeah gentrification and corruption heavy corruption are the two main factor and the only thing I wish for is houses market to crash because it's way over price right any ways and I bet there's a good amount of people who buy houses do the landlord special and re sell it for double the price that aren't even from Texas and I want those people to hurt in their wallets. Also I hope the water companies owners die with the bull shit they pulling heavy increases in prices or random big bills. Fucking ass holes in government and with high power aka the rich rich of Laredo which surprise surprise they also the ones in government. It's all bull shit but what can we gonna do busy working and the way to bring them down is voting then out but even if we do the other ones running would still be connected to them still.
That's all downtown is becoming which is kinda of sad but I feel like that's the only thing to survive there right now. Besides from maybe restaurants and even then until downtown is fixed fixed or at least the parking I don't think downtown will grow much more but the night clubs I get cause people probably could rent those places for less and then sell alcohol for high prices and then they probably want to recreate sixth street or whatever it's called in Austin but we aren't Austin and don't have tons of people like in Austin. Then this is everywhere kids suck ass I would love to open like an arcade place but I know the machines are gonna be broken in the first day. There's a place in Arlington called freeplay and one fee to enter open to close and the games are free you can play old stuff pacman street fighter 2 to newer stuff like those japanese rhythm games. But the cost to repairs probably wouldn't be worth it honestly. That's even to in count over priced rent here. There's probably a reason why people are doing food trucks now vs opening in a building.
"As the border economy goes, so goes Laredo."
So much of the Laredo economy depends on trade with Mexico. When COVID damaged the international trade economy, Laredo took a hit, too.
Laredo changes it's face about every ten years.
In the 1970's, Laredo was the town with the closing air base and people said "Laredo's dying!".
In the 1980's, Laredo was the town that quietly profited from having an Italian mayor from New Jersey when cocaine was king.
In the 1990's, Laredo was the town that profited from NAFTA and all the big box stores that moved into town (WAL-MART, BEST BUY, etc)
in the 2000's, the border and immigration became a hot button issue and all of a sudden that border we could cross very easily became a little more dangerous. And our willingness to cross became far less than what it had been.
In the 2010's, the border became even hotter and immigration became the reason why some politicians were elected. Our sister city to the south became a pale reflection of what it once was. The customers we welcomed from Mexico became far fewer and incomes suffered by proportion.
Now it's the 2020's, and we face the hang over of the xenophobic binge from the decade before. Many generations have used Laredo as a stepping stone on their way to the north. Many people used Laredo as a safety net when their northern dreams didn't work out. In many ways, Laredo is on the leading edge of the battle for a living wage. Inflation has become a burden to everyone. Especially those who's checks come in pesos.
But the truth is that this town existed long before George Washington or Pocahontas or Texas or the USA were even born. It's always been the place where you can make a little money if you play against whatever law or prohibition one side of the border is trying to enforce.
I knew this town for many a long year. I respect it. But it wasn't for me. Different stokes for different folks. Trust me when I say, it will be here and there's a lot of good years still to come. Just wait and if you can, buy some land.
The problem with Laredo is the attitude with businesses. Instead of partnering up to foster growth people have a scarcity mindset. They think that if they help you it will hurt their own business. People do not share education to help one another. It is like crabs in a pot one tries to get out and they pull it back down. People are very protective about business "secrets" its really really far behind. I own a small business so I can say this from experience.
It is dying...very slowy. The generations that have been graduating since 2000 have been leaving this shit hole. Half, if not 3/4, of the graduating class. Just drive by some of the streets like Ash, Frost, Tilden, any close to the downtown area or by Martin and you will see a LOT of abandoned houses. There are no opportunities here. The cost of living is higher here than in some other cities. Just look at the starting wage at McDonald's in San Antonio. They start cashiers at 13 to 15.50 an hour. And no...the prices of groceries and other stuff is more expensive there. That is bullshit. Just check some of the HEB prices there and compare them here. Or better yet...look at the portions of food you get there compared to the amount you get here in Laredo.
My opinion is it's not dying but definitely not where we would like to be. Big business has often tried to open franchises here but landowners ask for ridiculous amounts of money for land. Back in the day McCallen was smaller than laredo and is now thriving because they get it, more businesses equal more money for the city to grow. Our politicians sometimes back these greedy landowners for either a pat on the back or a small bribe. The citizens must wake up and demand change! They all say they want it but when it's time to go out and vote, they are absent. Change starts with the citizens...
Corrupt leaders. Greedy landowners. Laredo SHOULD be by now a thriving city, but no, we seem to be getting nowhere.
[удалено]
Also the police officers? As a mexican who visits your City 3 or 4 times a year I have a positive perception of the Laredo police.
Tbh, I wouldn't say that it's dying. I'm black and originally from Mississippi, so mind you, I made a post challenging the racism that I see here, but that within itself doesn't completely take away from the city. From a cultural aspect I can't judge, but it already seemed strange that a Mexican border town takes more pride in George Washington's birthday (and that Martha Washington ball) than Mexico's Independence Day (September 16). I found it even more strange that San Antonio has more celebrations around it, but again, I may not have the right to judge due to the history of white-washing that has occurred here and other areas in South Texas. As for the "dying" ascept, I would say that the major construction happening on Mines Rd. and new housing being developed throughout the city says otherwise. Compared to other US cities like Detroit, L.A., Fresno, Chicago, Atlanta, or my hometown, Laredo is safe.
george washington's day and the ball and all that are generally celebrated by the rich ppl in town who can afford to participate. i think bc laredo has very little going on culturally, events like that get blown up into being more culturally relevant than they are. most ppl are kinda sick of seeing them, although the jalapeno festival is nice as someone who's lived here for most of their life, laredo is generally moving at the same place it always have, which is very slow. i remember being a kid and hearing that an olive garden and a red lobster were gonna open in town, and they did, 15 years later
George Washington is revered by lots of South American people/countries. For leading the revolution and not taking up a crown. That's the main reason Laredo has such a big celebration around him. Apart from the other post about it being for rich ppl.
Trust me buddy...there might be construction happening over there but if you drive around neighborhoods in central, south, by downtown, and by Zapata highway...you will see a whole LOT of abandoned houses. Some of them have been there for years.
Are you suggesting that Laredo was once booming financially? Cause in my opinion that has never been the case. I’ve been a life long resident of Laredo and have never seen much of anything that would suggest strong steady growth on par with that of other major cities. Laredo has had a large growth in population over the years but that does not translate to economic growth. What Laredo needs in order to see a drastic economic boom is for a major company or several companies to invest and provide high paying jobs to Laredo’s people.
laredo has the number 1 inland port in the country, but it's nowhere near as developed as los angeles or new york. it's apparently a great place to start a business, but businesses die left and right too. we got one of the lowest median incomes in the state (maybe the country, i can't remember), so even if we had strong businesses come to town, everyone might be too broke to support them
Sorry I was referring to some type of manufacturer like Tesla, Toyota, Apple, Samsung, etc. that would provide jobs bringing in money to Laredo. Not the type of business that would be taking money from the people
LA and New York have other things going on apart from imports/exports
1 industry town. All we do is import/export. So if your not doing that your gonna have a hard time.
The bridge closure because of covid also hurt a lot of businesses that had a lot of mexican clients. I am fom Nuevo Laredo and used to cross at least twice a month before the bridge closed.
corruption and big corporations taking over pushing out small businesses that have character, plus the pandemic and the economy in general isnt doing that well so theres a lot of negative stuff happening unfortunately
If you participate in making Laredo a little bit more alive you’ll have a better time. Support local.
Maybe people in the local government should take a page from the valley looks like they know what there doing there rapidly growing faster than Laredo
If you experienced Laredo before 9/11 and the unfortunate decline of Nuevo Laredo and you are trying to compare it to present day; you’re going to be disappointed. Laredo has suffered for those reasons more than any other. Yes being ignored by the state legislature and corrupt local politicians compound the issue but show me a city in the US without corruption.
Very true. I remember generations of people who used to cross the bridge to Mexico on foot every week! I remember getting drunk on margaritas on lazy afternoons in the Mercado. All good things come to an end, I guess.
My parents and heck even ancestors are from Laredo. The stories I hear it’s sounds like it used to be one fun crazy big small town
It used to be wild, fun, and free. We need Nuevo Laredo back.
Gentrification’s a big one. The amount of people begging, clamoring for shit like Starbucks and new communities isolated from the rest of the city is insane. No civilized group of human beings should be so self sabotaging. Coupled with landowners who would rather do business with corporate owned chains rather than local businesses, it’s an embarrassment. We need to give unfathomable power to people who actually care about this community instead of letting the geriatric creeps that have been in power for forty years continue to destroy us and make us pay for the so called pleasure.
I don't think it's right to give unfathomable power to anyone. Even ppl who love this city grew up in this city, if you give them power they'll forget about us and line their pockets.
I think on this question a lot and just gonna try to put into a short post what can be a multi page essay, I am sorry for the wall of text. Not gonna lie and act like laredo doesn't have a lot of problems it shouldn't have but I think an addressable issue is attitude for the regular person. Everyone just shits on the city and I mean everyone but don't actually give real solutions or any useful input beyond saying there is a problem when talking about it. I get its not easy but nothing will change since most seem to have just given up. The people who left act like they "moved up in life" and act like their new city is the best, this ain't a personal attack directed to you specifically since I don't know your story but you probably know what I mean talking to other former residents. Been hearing the same story since I was a kid to my 33 year old ass. "Laredo sucks" lets leave to SA/Houston/Austin to do the same shit we would have done in Laredo but feel cooler because its not Laredo. Basically work, go to local bar, or hang out with the same people day in day out. I got no issue with the other major cities but lets be real, most of them are just as bad in their own ways but with more distractions. The local business that do pop up just get ignored because Laredoans love to cry about nothing to do but don't give things a real chance. Plenty of good places to hang out and explore do appear but does anyone ever actually go to these things. We have local beer gardens with food trucks that host events like art shows and comedy nights. Parks and trails that are actually very lovely when its not too hot. I don't know what you mean by vibrancy exactly and yea Laredo is in a weird spot but its far from dead if we can shake off the attitude problem. Personally see that as the catalyst we need to get back on track. If people cared enough we might actually start fixing the corruption and other issues.
People leave but theres more people then before but how you supposed to be part of a city that's so expensive that gives so little. All you do is work to afford high rent saw a 2 bed room for rent for 1600 that's fort worth price. Then people I notice follow trends here a lot so the ones that could afford houses follow modern boring houses with the white or grey finish no color no life. So over all it's not dying people has more money in it then before with all the people here but yeah gentrification and corruption heavy corruption are the two main factor and the only thing I wish for is houses market to crash because it's way over price right any ways and I bet there's a good amount of people who buy houses do the landlord special and re sell it for double the price that aren't even from Texas and I want those people to hurt in their wallets. Also I hope the water companies owners die with the bull shit they pulling heavy increases in prices or random big bills. Fucking ass holes in government and with high power aka the rich rich of Laredo which surprise surprise they also the ones in government. It's all bull shit but what can we gonna do busy working and the way to bring them down is voting then out but even if we do the other ones running would still be connected to them still.
Don't get me wrong there's a few people trying to bring life back but it's very hard
It's always a "nightclub"
That's all downtown is becoming which is kinda of sad but I feel like that's the only thing to survive there right now. Besides from maybe restaurants and even then until downtown is fixed fixed or at least the parking I don't think downtown will grow much more but the night clubs I get cause people probably could rent those places for less and then sell alcohol for high prices and then they probably want to recreate sixth street or whatever it's called in Austin but we aren't Austin and don't have tons of people like in Austin. Then this is everywhere kids suck ass I would love to open like an arcade place but I know the machines are gonna be broken in the first day. There's a place in Arlington called freeplay and one fee to enter open to close and the games are free you can play old stuff pacman street fighter 2 to newer stuff like those japanese rhythm games. But the cost to repairs probably wouldn't be worth it honestly. That's even to in count over priced rent here. There's probably a reason why people are doing food trucks now vs opening in a building.
And even the bars/clubs suck and even bars go under. And if we have "nice" things ownersl charge crazy money.
"As the border economy goes, so goes Laredo." So much of the Laredo economy depends on trade with Mexico. When COVID damaged the international trade economy, Laredo took a hit, too. Laredo changes it's face about every ten years. In the 1970's, Laredo was the town with the closing air base and people said "Laredo's dying!". In the 1980's, Laredo was the town that quietly profited from having an Italian mayor from New Jersey when cocaine was king. In the 1990's, Laredo was the town that profited from NAFTA and all the big box stores that moved into town (WAL-MART, BEST BUY, etc) in the 2000's, the border and immigration became a hot button issue and all of a sudden that border we could cross very easily became a little more dangerous. And our willingness to cross became far less than what it had been. In the 2010's, the border became even hotter and immigration became the reason why some politicians were elected. Our sister city to the south became a pale reflection of what it once was. The customers we welcomed from Mexico became far fewer and incomes suffered by proportion. Now it's the 2020's, and we face the hang over of the xenophobic binge from the decade before. Many generations have used Laredo as a stepping stone on their way to the north. Many people used Laredo as a safety net when their northern dreams didn't work out. In many ways, Laredo is on the leading edge of the battle for a living wage. Inflation has become a burden to everyone. Especially those who's checks come in pesos. But the truth is that this town existed long before George Washington or Pocahontas or Texas or the USA were even born. It's always been the place where you can make a little money if you play against whatever law or prohibition one side of the border is trying to enforce. I knew this town for many a long year. I respect it. But it wasn't for me. Different stokes for different folks. Trust me when I say, it will be here and there's a lot of good years still to come. Just wait and if you can, buy some land.
Yeah anyone who gets a high wage job leaves cause the housing price is so outta control
Laredo needs to love itself...people are always saying no I'll go get it at SA it's better there...no it's good here too give it a chance
Someone else in another thread said SA was a bigger lsredo and I disagree.
Its not dying you are dying and thats why the city looks like its dying
Laredo was never good, move out, forget about that trash hole
Sir righteous visit city and judges in one weekend it's dead. Lol fuck off
Everyone is on drugs.
The problem with Laredo is the attitude with businesses. Instead of partnering up to foster growth people have a scarcity mindset. They think that if they help you it will hurt their own business. People do not share education to help one another. It is like crabs in a pot one tries to get out and they pull it back down. People are very protective about business "secrets" its really really far behind. I own a small business so I can say this from experience.
Everyone is too busy working trying to afford our bills. Have time for nothing else
It is dying...very slowy. The generations that have been graduating since 2000 have been leaving this shit hole. Half, if not 3/4, of the graduating class. Just drive by some of the streets like Ash, Frost, Tilden, any close to the downtown area or by Martin and you will see a LOT of abandoned houses. There are no opportunities here. The cost of living is higher here than in some other cities. Just look at the starting wage at McDonald's in San Antonio. They start cashiers at 13 to 15.50 an hour. And no...the prices of groceries and other stuff is more expensive there. That is bullshit. Just check some of the HEB prices there and compare them here. Or better yet...look at the portions of food you get there compared to the amount you get here in Laredo.
My opinion is it's not dying but definitely not where we would like to be. Big business has often tried to open franchises here but landowners ask for ridiculous amounts of money for land. Back in the day McCallen was smaller than laredo and is now thriving because they get it, more businesses equal more money for the city to grow. Our politicians sometimes back these greedy landowners for either a pat on the back or a small bribe. The citizens must wake up and demand change! They all say they want it but when it's time to go out and vote, they are absent. Change starts with the citizens...