Calexico will invest quarter of a billion dollars in infrastructure

There was good news and challenging news for Calexico at this Wednesday evening State of the City address delivered by Mayor Armando Real. He said it’s the year of construction.

“There are very many exciting new developments happening in the city of Calexico and in our county. And I’m very excited to share with you this tonight,” Real said.

He outlined several major construction projects coming up, such as park and street renovations.

Imperial County District 5 Supervisor Ray Castillo said, “He mentioned over a quarter of a billion dollars in infrastructure being spent in the valley in construction, port of entry, highways, parks – that’s a lot of money.”

District 1 Supervisor John Renison said, “It’s a combination of federal and state funding, and local funding, enterprise funding and all of that.”

Mayor Real was quick to point out that difficult times are not over yet.

“We are still digging ourselves out of a hole we dug,” Real said.

Former Calexico mayor John Moreno said Calexico is remaking itself.

“We’re not in denial anymore that we are in a crisis, but, what we’re looking at is the construction or the reconstruction of a city that was truly divided,” Moreno said.

Calexico still needs to improve in some areas.

“The general fund is still not healthy. We all know that,” Moreno said.

But Moreno said it’s a big step in the right direction.

“We’ve only got one direction to go, and that’s up,” Moreno said.