Town Hall * Hidalgo County Pct. 4 Projects

Newspaper Article Published Friday, June 28, 2013 by: Jared Janes | The Monitor

Hidalgo County Precinct 4 will expand parks and roads, work on economic development and partner with other governments to save money, Commissioner Joseph Palacios said Thursday as he laid out ongoing projects and future plans for his precinct. The precinct is expanding 10th Street through to Monte Cristo, adding 80 acres of new park space (designed by Mata+Garcia Architects LLP) and starting work on drainage improvements funded by last year’s bond referendum, Palacios said at the first of a series of town hall meetings. But Palacios said the traditional role of a county commissioner is evolving to encompass increasingly complex issues: economic development and health care. 

Joseph Palacios, Hidalgo County Pct. 4 Commissioner addresses constituents at a town hall meeting Thursday, 

held at the City of Edinburg Commission Chambers, to lay-out ongoing precinct projects and discuss future plans.

“As we grow, there’s going to be a great demand for every experienced people who are out there committed to learn and figure out how to solve the problems of today and tomorrow,” Palacios said. “It’s not just paving streets and maintaining roads; the evolution of the role of a commissioner has to be rooted in a comprehensive experience in everything.”

Palacios hosted the town hall meeting Thursday to share upcoming projects and plans for the precinct, including parks, drainage, public safety, new facilities and road construction. Palacios also announced his intent to seek a second term as Precinct 4 commissioner when the seat is on the ballot again next year.  He secured an endorsement from his prior opponent and former Commissioner Oscar Garza, who introduced Palacios at Thursday’s town hall.

Palacios told constituents that one of the precinct’s priorities is completing drainage projects funded in last year’s $184 million drainage referendum. In Edinburg and McAllen, the precinct’s home base, the drainage referendum will fund eight major projects designed to add additional capacity to existing drainage ditches through a system of pumps and gates. By using in-house construction and engineering crews, Precinct 4 also saved an estimated $2 million off about $7 million in previously funded drainage work, Palacios said. The precinct has also worked with the Texas Department of Transportation to leverage local resources with state dollars to reduce traffic congestion and improve highway safety.

Rendering of the proposed Emergency Services Facility for the San Manuel / Linn area in northern Hidalgo County. The $1.3 million facility will house the local fire department and be a satellite office for county and state law enforcement agencies. Mata+Garcia Architects LLP was selected as architect for the project; consultants include Chanin Engineering (Structural),  Sigma HN Inc. (Mechanical/Electrical/Plumbing) and LeFevre Engineering (Civil).

Precinct 4 is working with TxDOT to reconstruct and widen 10th Street from University Drive to Monte Cristo. The $13.7 million project is being funded with only about $3.3 million in county funds. The county also kicked in about $1.2 million on a $13.2 million partnership between TxDOT, McAllen and the Hidalgo County Metropolitan Planning Organization to develop Ware Road from Mile 3 North to Mile 5 North.

Phase One of the proposed Sunflower Park, at the corner of Hwy. 107 and Sunflower Road in San Carlos, Texas. The park was designed by Mata+Garcia Architects LLP, CLH Engineering (Structural), Prodigy CM (MEP) and LeFevre Engineering (Civil). The park includes a pavilion, walking trails, playground, picnic shelters and support facilities.

But Palacios said he was proudest of the precinct’s efforts to improve quality of life in its neighborhoods. This spring, the precinct will begin work on parks in the Linn-San Manuel and San Carlos areas that provide recreation and amenities to rural residents that are generally reserved for cities, Palacios said. With only one other park in the precinct, the 80 new acres will expand existing acreage by 400 percent.

Rendering of the Sunflower Park Master Plan - designed by Mata+Garcia Architects LLP.

The precinct is also building a $1.2 million community resource center in San Carlos (designed by Mata+Garcia Architects LLP) — replacing one outgrown by the community of about 6,000 people — and plans to construct a multi-purpose facility for emergency services in Linn-San Manuel (designed by Mata+Garcia Architects LLP) that will serve as a home for its volunteer fire department and law enforcement agencies. Palacios said his office built its list of planned projects around the comprehensive needs of its residents. “We’ve got growing pains and needs,” Palacios said. “It’s never going to be done. Our job never ends.”

 East Elevation of the proposed San Carlos Community Resource Center and designed by Mata+Garcia Architects LLP, Chanin Engineering (Structural) Sigma HN Inc. (Mechanical/Electrical/Plumbing) and LeFevre Engineering (Civil).

We Cherish This Building!

Detail of D'Hannis Brick Patterns at North Elementary Entrance

Article by JULIE SILVA in the Mid-Valley Town Crier Newspaper Regarding a Mata+Garcia Architects Elementary School Project in Mercedes, Texas. 

MERCEDES — Mercedes ISD trustees got a look at construction progress in the expansion of North Elementary at a workshop last week.

"We cherish this building," Mercedes Independent School District Superintendent Daniel Treviño said. "It's our newest building, serving first through fifth grades."  A construction crew is building six additional classrooms and Treviño hopes to turn North Elementary into a middle school that serves sixth through eighth grades in 2014. The gym will be turned into a band hall and a new gym will be constructed, he said.

Also Monday, trustees recognized a plaque mounted at the school four years after it was constructed. The plaque, which lists the names of the school board and superintendent on board during the school's construction, first was commissioned in 2009 when the school opened, but it was lost in changes in staffing over the years and only recently resurfaced.

Former Superintendent Walter Watson, who headed the district at the time, was invited to the event as an honored guest. Retired from the district, Watson said he's found himself working with children again, but he still misses Mercedes ISD

5.5 Ways To Turn Your Classroom "GREEN"

As architects, we often get asked by the teachers of the schools we design for help in taking positive steps to save our planet. We enjoy showing how easy it is to do so! Here’s a simple list of items both teachers and students can use to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

1. Recycle:  Place paper and plastic recycling boxes in your classroom and promote their use. Students take turns being the recycling monitor, taking responsibility for demonstrating and knowing what is recyclable and what is not. Teachers can minimize the amount of paper used in classrooms, without compromising educational objectives, by going paperless. Writing assignments and testing on computers, posting information on the school website and the use of email, all help limit the use of paper.

2. Plant a Tree: Turn your school grounds into a park! On many of our projects, landscaping is usually left out or deleted from the project scope. The client’s point-of-view being that the school PTA will provide the landscaping. This rarely happens! In a school with 750 kids, the classrooms number about thirty-four. A $250 two-inch caliper tree or shrub, when divided by 22 students per classroom, equals a cost of $11.36 per child per semester (63 cents per week). If a school does this twice a year it would amount to sixty-eight trees and shrubs per year. Trees lower the surrounding temperature, filter air, remove carbon dioxide and provide shade and beauty.  What an impact this would make. There will be plenty of trees to hug on Earth Day!

3. Flip the Switch: Every time you leave your classroom empty, turn-off the lights. While we install motion sensors to activate lights when needed in all of our projects, not all schools have them. Turning off classroom lights cuts carbon emissions by reducing electrical use.

4. Edu-Garden: With a school-wide effort, plan and place the "edu-garden" adjacent to the school cafeteria. You can grow vegetables, for use in school meals, or flowers, for display in administration and library areas. The students are able to taste and see what they grow. An additional step is to take classroom and cafeteria water used in assignments or cooking and using it to water the plants.

5. Let the Daylight In: It never fails! During programming sessions, teachers always ask that their classrooms have plenty of windows; once they occupy the space the windows are covered with construction paper, blinds or curtains. We go to great lengths to ensure that only daylight, and not direct sunlight, enters the classrooms. While there will be times when a teacher needs to control the view, there are plenty of teaching moments that can occur by keeping the blinds open – changes in weather, birds building nests, the movement of wind through tree and shrubs, etc. In addition, studies have shown that an aggressive daylighting program can reduce electrical loads by up to 30 percent, increase student performance by 20 % and reduce absenteeism by 50 %.  
5.5 Power Down: Classrooms are empty three periods a day; conference period, lunch period and planning period.  Though teachers my place classroom computers on shut-down mode, they still pull electricity. It is best to completely shut down computers, chargers and printers,   and un-plug them from the walls during these periods and after school hours as well.

Hector Rene Garcia, Architect / Partner - Mata+Garcia Architects LLP