City Council District V incumbent Nelly Vielma will face three challengers in the upcoming Nov. 3 General Election. They are, following their placement on the ballot, business owner George M. Beckelhymer, Laredo Police Department officer and business owner Ruben Alfonso Gutierrez Jr., and restaurateur Celestino Marina.
It was not possible to ignore the oddity of the proximity of the residences of the candidates to one another. Vielma and Beckelhymer live a block away from each other on Regal Drive. Gutierrez and Marina live on the same block of Bel Air Drive.
Profiles of each of the candidates are included below, save that of Celestino Marina — who was not easy to reach — and which is still being written.
George M. Beckelhymer
Lifetime Laredoan George M. Beckelhymer credits his mother’s family with the template he would follow for community service. “There was a lot of charity work and Rotary participation that I saw firsthand as a kid. Sometimes I was allowed to tag along and help out with the viejitos in Nuevo Laredo. I was, and still am, very proud of these things they did, and it stayed with me,” he said.
Beckelhymer, 56, attended J.W. Nixon High School and graduated from Culver Military Academy. He attended Laredo Junior College and Southwest Texas State University before graduating from the University of Texas-Austin with a degree in Radio-TV-Film.
George Beckelhymer
“I returned in 1995 with the intention of making Laredo my home again. My goal was not to just live here and be successful, but also to be involved in the community, so I could learn what was going on and why, and in turn, to have a chance to participate in the direction we would go as a city,” Beckelhymer said, adding, “In 1996, I started reaching out to our elected officials to let them know I would like to help in any way I could. In 1997, Councilman Agredano asked me to serve on the Haz Mat Advisory Committee, later renamed the Citizens Environmental Advisory Committee (CEAC). That is where my public service began. I wanted to make a difference in the City I would again call home.”
He said his priorities for District V are to improve traffic flow in the district and between districts, as well as to improve the conditions of the City’s streets. “I will work to ensure water quality and to have more parks and safe places to play and exercise for kids as well as adults. Business development is also a huge priority. The explosion in North Laredo’s industrial growth, and all that comes with trade, requires that we place significant attention to this area because it needs to be done correctly, with traffic flow and safety being a top priority. But also, the City can’t get in the way; we need to work together to maximize success. Getting City work done in the least intrusive way to our residents is a less exciting but important issue, too. No more work on the streets of Laredo on Fridays at 5 p.m.,” he continued.
The Laredo business owner served three terms as a trustee for the Laredo Independent School District. “This was a powerful educational experience that can’t be taught in a class. I know the difference between governance and administration and the line that separates them. I’m well versed in the budgeting process, setting the tax rate, awarding contracts, setting goals, and the CEO search process — all important skills to bring to the role of a City Council member,” Beckelhymer said, adding, “My 25 years in the private sector as a business owner have also provided invaluable experience in contracts, insurance, human resources, problem solving, and planning.”
Beckelhymer summed up his experience in both areas. “I believe I was successful both at being a trustee and currently in being an entrepreneur. I have enjoyed doing the right thing, or trying to, and thinking outside the box to come up with solutions.”
He currently serves on the City of Laredo Planning Commission and the Webb County-City of Laredo Regional Mobility Authority.
Of the Trump administration’s Border Wall, Beckelhymer said, “A wall does not need to be a tall steel and concrete structure. I don’t want this for Laredo. The answer could be a virtual wall that uses technology mixed in with natural barriers, or man-made ones, that are useful to us. The Ports to Plains idea that links Laredo to Lubbock and beyond might be done through FM 1472. This would provide a highway that runs parallel to the Río Grande that can be patrolled. This could eliminate the wall discussion for that section. We can’t only just say ‘no’ to the wall. I believe we need to continue to push for these things and other solutions to border security, and before the decision is made for us elsewhere.”
As a survivor of the coronavirus, he is sharply aware of its swift, life-taking peril.
“I got slammed by the COVID, spending16 days in the hospital. I have greatly recovered, but the doctor says that 30 percent of my lungs are still un-well, and it’s been more than a month. I’ve gone over and over what I did leading up to the illness to determine the point of exposure. The only thing I can think of is that I went to Austin the week before I became ill to take my daughter up for a small operation. The night before the surgery we ate at the hotel restaurant and that was the first restaurant I had been to in months. I may have let my guard down, and that is possibly where it happened,” he said.
“I want to believe that as a community we are all doing our part to survive the pandemic. I can say that in my company, which has 11 locations and 60 employees, we have not had any employee-to-employee transmission, nor any customer-to-employee transmission of the virus. I am very proud of this, and the reason it hasn’t happened is because of the hygiene protocols I established effective April 2,” Beckelhymer said.
“I conveyed to the employees what I will convey to our residents:
you have to have and show personal responsibility, period. We cannot legislate this; you have to want to do the right thing, and it works.
He continued, “I don’t think any measures are missing in the protocols we have instituted as a city, but we do need to stress the personal responsibility aspect of this and not just bark out rules. Cover your mouth and nose; wash your hands frequently; keep fingers out of your nose, eyes, and mouth; disinfect regularly; and keep your distance. We need our community to come together and be thoughtful about one another,” he said, adding, “It works if done with fidelity, and it would allow more businesses to re-open.”
Regarding the role of local government to assist businesses for the duration of the pandemic, Beckelhymer said, “The small businesses need more help. Our local government entities need to continue to advocate for their assistance and do what they can to relieve some of the financial burdens they are experiencing.”
Of pandemic related budgetary shortfalls, he said, “Bridge revenue loss is huge, of course, but that is largely out of the City’s control. Sales tax has taken a hit and utilities revenues have, too, due to delinquent accounts; however, this has been offset by parks, library, and HR maneuvers that have saved quite a bit. The result is the City still being able to maintain more than the minimum 15% reserves in their fund balance as per the City charter. They appear to be doing a satisfactory job with fiscal discipline. I honestly don’t know the in-depth details department to department, but this is what is known. I certainly look forward to diving in and seeing firsthand all the numbers that will determine our financial health and if we as a Council are making good decisions.”
He characterized the current City Council as one that “seems to mostly work in unison, but they do split at times, and this is to be expected. They should reflect on what they should do compared to what they can do.”
He added, “The point I want to get across is that I am deeply interested in what happens in all the districts, as they are interconnected. We are one City, after all. I would like to see a move to citywide interest by all Council members.”
Ruben Alfonso Gutierrez Jr.
“My heart is here. It’s in the right place to work for the betterment of our community, to make it safe, to make it a place our kids want to work and live in,” said District V City Council candidate Ruben Gutierrez Jr., an instructor in the Laredo Police Department Traffic Division. A 22-year veteran of the department, he oversees the LPD motorcycle officers and is part of the department’s Crash Team, which reconstructs accidents. He is also a federal Department of Transportation instructor.
“And I‘m a taxpayer,” he said, “A property owner and a business owner.”
Gutierrez said he sees “a lot of taxpayer money being spent in ridiculous ways when it could at this very moment assist the elderly homebound and veterans who have very little money and no access to grocery stores or pharmacies.”
Ruben Gutierrez
Of the priorities of the current City Council, he said, “The hard-earned money of the taxpayers is not their checkbook. Their annual $500,000 district priority fund should go back to the general fund. That would be $4 million-plus against the $24 million budget shortfall we face today. City government is a business, and its economic engine needs to be refined to draw new companies to Laredo, which in turn creates jobs. We should be offering the kinds of incentives and tax abatements that make this possible, but there is no will to do this.”
He said the City’s “unbelievable” rates for water, “a basic necessity,” speak to the Council’s unfocused priorities for the needs of Laredoans.
Gutierrez said that if elected, he would work for transparency. “Back door deals and agenda items discussed and decided in advance of voting in Council chambers — that’s a throwback to other times.”
He said that improving the movement of traffic across the City is one of his priorities. “Loop 20 has become a city street with traffic slowed by traffic lights. We need to ask the state and the federal government for funds to revamp it. That infrastructure was 20 years late when it was built,” he said, adding, “Loop 20 goes to the World Trade Bridge. We may be the number one inland port, but we are not number one in moving inbound commercial traffic from Mexico.”
Gutierrez said the children of the community are a priority for him. “We get 15 to 20 calls a day about the suicide attempts of middle and high school students. We cannot leave the resolution of this problem to one non-profit. We need to be part of the solution, too.”
He said the pandemic has brought focus to the hardships of the elderly and veterans. “We need solutions for those making the tough choice between buying food or filling a prescription. There are many who cannot afford to pay their rent. There are many on the brink of homelessness. These are not the right end of life circumstances for those who were once the backbone of our community or who served their country. We can find our way through this.”
Gutierrez characterizes himself as “a listener and a problem solver.”
He said, “If the public has told us that this Council does not hear its voice, all the more reason to listen. Members of the Council don’t have all the answers. The voice of the people who elected them should be considered a valuable source of information.”
Gutierrez said that Laredoans will be facing “a scary scenario when the pandemic is over, when we see the number of businesses that have closed and will never re-open, and when we understand everything we lost, personally and economically. We need to be prepared for our comeback and our return to a semblance of normalcy. We can make good decisions by building on what we have learned about ourselves and others.”
Gutierrez, 44, and his wife, Ashley Hines Gutierrez, reside in Del Mar C and have four children.
He said he wants the voters of District V to know that he is accessible and ready to work. “I never had a silver spoon in my mouth. What I have, I earned with hard work.”
Celestino Marina
Celestino Marina’s enthusiasm for his adopted city of five decades is palpable. It is also balanced with constructive criticism.
“The Number One inland port in the United States should have far more to show for a designation that refers to how much money in international trade moves through the local economy. I think of Laredo as a sleeping beauty that has yet to wake to its potential, a city sometimes recognized for the wrong reasons,” he said.
“The Number One inland port for international trade is one of the poorest cities in the State of Texas. We do not offer well paying jobs that support families and allow them to educate their children. We are known for traffic that does not move well and for a lack of amenities in parks and the arts. We are known for the brain drain of sons and daughters leaving their hometown to find a good job,” said the father of three. “As parents, our job is to raise good human beings who will contribute to society. I am a firm believer that we deserve a better city, one that our children would choose to live in,” he said.
Celestino Marina
“A city enjoying the benefits of international trade should better be taking care of the elderly who struggle to make it on fixed incomes, the veterans who deserve our care and respect, and the special needs populations who lack the quality of life amenities the rest of us enjoy. I have faith that this family-oriented community of prayerful people can rise to the positive changes we need to see,” he said.
Marina’s family came to Laredo in the 1950s when his father established a U.S. Customs house brokerage firm here.
“I want to be part of the changes we need to mak
e in City government. We need to stimulate business, plan better, and spend our revenues more wisely. We need to hear the citizens who come before the Council with their concerns and their ideas for solutions. They have to live with the Council’s decisions — hear them out,” he said.
The movement of traffic is a priority for Marina. “The Police Department has greatly improved the flow of paisano traffic going into Mexico during the holidays, but they have not addressed the bottlenecks of school traffic. They themselves are obstacles when they choose to write tickets in heavy traffic flows rather than on a less congested side street. There are experts for hire who can conduct traffic studies to help us keep traffic moving,” he said.
Marina said additional weekly flights to and from larger cities in the U.S. and Mexico would greatly enhance business investment in Laredo. “The international trade sector has partners in Veracruz, Queretaro, Aguas Calientes, and numerous other Mexican cities,” he said.
He said that as a restaurant owner he has experienced firsthand the economic losses attributable to the pandemic. “An initial 80 percent drop in our business has improved. We are at 35 percent of what we used to sell. We are very mindful that the trust and confidence we built over the last 27 years with good service, cleanliness, and a great menu has been part of our ability to continue in business at this time,” he said.
Marina observed that the initial precautions the City issued regarding the pandemic “were the right ones.” The problem, he said of the virulent virus, “was when the state relaxed a bit and a huge gap in precautions occurred. If it had stayed firm and masks had been mandatory from the beginning, we might be further through this problem. The wearing of masks is not belief based; it’s not a choice. It is mandatory and it saves lives.”
Marina characterized the border wall as “a heated subject.” He said he is for the wall if it stops human trafficking and all the suffering and violence associated with it. “If it protects the United States, I am for it. But I am not for closing the door entirely. We need an immigration policy that works,” he said.
As to local politics, Marina offered, “I would like to see elections decided by the people and not cliquas and hired cañoneros. That would raise the bar for who gets elected.”
Incumbent Nelly Vielma
City Council District V incumbent Nelly Vielma’s curriculum vitae charts the commitment of a 25-year veteran of public service — educator turned social worker, and psychologist turned advocate for justice as the chief prosecutor for domestic violence in Webb and Zapata counties.
Prevailing in a heated 2016 City Council race in which the incumbent opponent called her “an inferior candidate,” Council member Vielma has initiated and brought to fruition projects that have bearing on the lives of many Laredoans.
Nelly Vielma
Among those projects is BilblioTech, the all-digital libraries that were established in conjunction with the Laredo Housing Authority (LHA) at the LHA’s Casa Verde housing development in northeast Laredo and at the Russell Terrace site. Two other BiblioTech libraries will open, one now under construction at the LHA’s Ana María Lozano development at Springfield and Gale, and the fourth, a City project in the planning stages on Del Mar Blvd. The latter, a joint project with District VI Council member Dr. Marte Martinez, will be housed in the old Del Mar firehouse and will include a senior citizens rec center and gym.
“Education is a key to move from poverty. BiblioTech is a part of that solution and so are collaborations with entities like the Texas Workforce Commission, which has hosted classes at those sites for building job seeker’s skills,” Vielma said.
Safeguarding against the pandemic has been among her ongoing priorities.
“I had read about clear acrylic boxes that doctors and nurses use to protect themselves while intubating COVID-19 patients for respirators. The boxes have two openings for the doctors’ hands and fit over the area of the patient where the procedure takes place. I learned that Dr. Rafael Deliz, a front line pulmonologist at Doctors Hospital, had these boxes on backorder. I met with Dr. Tariq Tashtoush and TAMIU President Dr. Pablo Arenas to ask if TAMIU engineering students might undertake the creation of those boxes,” she said.
According to Vielma, the response was immediate, Dr. Deliz worked with Fire Chief Heard and helped improve the design, and the boxes the students manufactured in their workshop were distributed to hospitals, clinics, and Laredo firefighters.
In another effort related to the pandemic, Vielma has worked with Texas Workforce Solutions and Laredo College to analyze pandemic-related unemployment demographics as to age, gender, and occupation to craft certification for grants through the CARES Act in order to re-open businesses. This program will assist over 800 participants.
She worked with the Canseco School of Nursing at TAMIU to certify nurses to document the injuries of victims of physical and sexual abuse, rather than have them have to travel out of town for that assessment.
In the last year Vielma worked to establish a lactation policy for City employees who need to express milk for their infant children. “These are in hygienic areas in City buildings rather than the restroom. There are now lactation pods at the Laredo International Airport,” she said.
She counts among her accomplishments helping to retain the Department of Homeland Security’s Laredo air facility at the Laredo International Airport complex. “They had run out of space and were about to move to San Antonio and take those jobs with them. We worked with Congressman Henry Cuellar and Under-Secretary Hill to secure $27.4 million for an expansion, and we will able to increase staffing there by 35 percent,” she said.
Vielma said she has worked with City Manager Robert Eads and Mayor Pete Saenz to create videos to “balance out physical and mental health issues for everyone in the fight against COVID-19, from frontline first responders to survivors.” She said that among the topics covered are diet, building up the body’s immune system, physical fitness, handling stress and anxiety, safely returning to work, surviving the virus, and dealing with the loss of someone to it.
“Our primary goal is to help our community and our businesses resurge after this pandemic, and we have to provide resources to assist and strengthen our city with business grants, training, and assistance,” she said.
Vielma is an advocate for City amenities that improve the lives of Laredoans with special needs. The De Llano Park, she said, is the first special needs park, offering a track for the visually impaired, adjustable basketball hoops, water features, sensory areas, swings for wheelchairs, and ADA bathrooms with adult changing tables.
“I’m working, too, to improve local employment practices and opportunities for special needs individuals. Education is a key here to getting employers to see what they can offer. This year I hired four special needs staff members at my law office,” she said.
The Council member has collaborated with District Judge Oscar O. Hale and Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina to establish a much needed detox treatment center for substance abusers. “I have worked at a residential substance abuse treatment facility and know the needs in our community,” Vielma said. The residential facility will share the building with the existing drug court.
The Jovita Idar Progresso Park, formerly the Bartlett Park, is an important project for Vielma. “It is named after the Laredo journalist who was a champion of the First Amendment, women’s rights, education, equality, and the preservation of our history, culture, and language. Through writings in her family’s newspapers and others, she stood up against racism exacted against Mexican-Americans in South Texas,” Vielma said.
Progresso Park features an amphitheater, art, soccer fields, covered basketball courts, playground, shaded areas, a pond for kayaking or paddle boats, walking and biking trails, a dog park and a fishing pier in the making.
As to budgetary shortfalls, Vielma said that the effective “tightening the belt” includes being more efficient, analytical, and conservative about spending.
“I am leading the revamping of the auditor’s office, including a citizen’s committee to turn our focus to where money is being spent well and where it does not serve the community,” she said.
Vielma said she hopes for a change to a Council she sees as divided and politicized.
“We don’t all think the same of course. There are little turf wars and differences in ideologies. In some instances, that is put aside and we work it out, and in others we clash,” she said.
Of past Laredo City managers, their tenure, and their cash-laden severance exits, Vielma said, “We have trimmed the golden parachute which is standard in that industry. That job is a political balancing act to keep happy at least five of the people who hired you. The city manager’s job is to bring stability to City government and to create growth. Their lives as city managers are short lived when they lose the approval of the majority of the Council. We are very aware of the crafty language that employment law attorneys write into those kinds of contracts due to the uncertainty of the job.”
Vielma and her husband Felipe are the parents of five children.
She holds four degrees — a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice, a Teaching Certificate K-12, Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology, and a Doctor of Jurisprudence from St. Mary’s University School of Law.
Vielma, who has been in private practice since 2006, said she is a stickler for ethics and the rule of law. She said that the combination of her education and public service make her a professional advocate for her constituents on many issues that affect city government.
