1 ft 3 A THE TAMPA TIMES, Wednesday, January 6, 1982 Laredo a border town paradox I 1 I it TTT 1 ered huge petroleum reserves. From 1977 to 1979, according to Chamber of Commerce figures, Laredo's retail sales increased by 41 percent the highest increase in the state. During the period, automobile sales increased nearly 35 percent at a time other areas reported drastically reduced sales. Laredo, founded in 1755, is the busiest U.S. port of entry on the Mexican border and is a conduit for 26 percent of all trade between the two countries, said Lee Gardner of the Chamber of Commerce.
A recent survey of 802 Texas cities by state Comptroller Bob Bullock showed border cities like Laredo are running away from other Texas cities in retail sales and sales taxes collected. Laredo's 1 percent sales tax produced $6,884,210 during 1981, up 32.4 percent from the year before, twice the state average. Mayor Aldo Tatangelo said he is optimistic that the retail prosperity in Laredo will continue. However, he's unsure if anything will happen soon to change the depressed wage structure because of the city's proximity to Mexico's cheap labor LAREDO, Texas (AP) This is a boom town for some, a bust town for others, and a paradise for smugglers. Despite a per capita income of only $5,109, the second lowest in Texas, Laredo has the nation's second highest retail sales per household $20,149.
The disparity can be explained by the volume of sales made to both rich and poor Mexicans who jam the downtown area and malls each day to purchase goods, which are shipped legally or smuggled into Mexico. Businesses in Laredo, across the river from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, are enjoying an economic boom' linked to new-found prosperity in Mexico, while at the same time many of its 93,000 residents live in depressed conditions. 4 Mexicans come by plane, train, car, bus, bicycle and on foot to pack millions of dollars worth of goods across the Rio Grande, creating a dichotomy of wealth and poverty. Each morning, streets and malls are littered with discarded sacks, boxes and labels where Mexicans have bought new clothing, stripped out the brand tags and worn them back across the bridge to avoid paying taxes when they return home. Some Mexicans can be seen donning new shoes and purposely scuff ing them to make them look worn, or stuffing clothing into empty suitcases.
Others simply bribe Mexican customs officials to look the other way when they cross the border with U.S. products. Other impoverished Mexicans can be seen at used clothing stores picking through six-foot piles looking for something to wear. While so many Mexicans come to shop that parking and walking space is at a premium on the narrow streets of Laredo, others cross the Rio Grande each day to work at minimum wage, helping depress wages. There's a short supply of affordable goods for people in Mexico, which has a 30 percent inflation rate.
And there's an oversupply of people looking for work, because unemployment ranges up to 50 percent in some areas of the country. Smugglers have profited in such an environment. Each night five or six converted military cargo planes ladened with television sets, stereos and other goods destined for Mexico fly out of the Laredo International Airport. The planes are back again the next day, empty. "They (smugglers) are moving Japan to Mexico," said a local U.S.
Customs official, who asked that his name not be used. But the U.S. Customs Department says it is the responsibility of Mexicans not Americans to stop the smuggling. Raul Gonzalez Galarza, the Mexican Consul General in San Antonio, said it's illegal to import electronic equipment into his country without paying duty. "The importation of television sets is prohibited by the (Mexican) Department of Commerce," Gonzalez Galarza said.
"That is the reason the price in Mexico is higher than in the United States. Knowing the difference in price, they take advantage of the situation and they smuggle not only televisions, but all kinds of electronic equipment." Merchants in Laredo have come to rely heavily on sales to Mexicans. Without them (Mexican shoppers), we wouldn't have bread and butter," said Amelia Cervera, manager of a women's clothing store. "If something happened between our two governments, I don't know what we would do." "Practically everybody who comes in here is from Mexico," said Federico de la Garza, a clerk at a shoe store. "They don't buy anything in Mexico because of higher taxes there and higher quality here." Laredo's business boom began four years ago when Mexico discov -Mill If) 1 ftSjyl If) 1 rat Ylhm: APpHOtO Laredo, Texas, is a boom town for some merchants, a bust for the labor force and a paradise for smugglers.
Dry winter could spell driest spring for Sunshine State I TZv If llllrp a (rn i yS0 thursday, frlday Saturday WS MIAMI (AP) In a state where natural disaster is associated with sudden-striking hurricanes, what could prove to be Florida's worst dry spell has been building, day by day, for 18 months. As 1981 comes to an end, water officials are praying for a soggy winter to offset a lack of water that could bring major problems next year. Miami hasn't had a significant rainfall since Nov. 11 just .12 inch. Lake Okeechobee, southern Florida's backup water supply, is at an all-time low, 3.3 feet below normal.
The Apalachicola River in the Panhandle is so low that barges, except for one shallow paddlewheel, haven't moved up the river, since summer. "What we're looking for is a really soggy, nasty, wet, rainy winter," said Jim Whalen, a spokesman for the Southwest Florida Water Management District, which includes Tampa, St. Petersburg and other resort cities where winter residents put extra demand on low water reserves. "I don't see any panic situation developing," said Whalen, but added that nothing less than a "surplus rain" this winter will crack the dry spell. Normal rainfall won't be adequate to replenish wellfields, state officials say.
Ironically, Florida has one of the nation's largest fresh-water supplies, with some 10,000 miles of rivers and streams, 7,000 lakes, and springs that produce seven billion gallons a day plus a porous underlying foundation estimated to hold 100 times the amount of water in Hoover Dam's Lake Mead. However, while most of the water is in rural sections of north Florida, the vast majority of people in the nation's fastest-growing state are on the southern coasts. The state's population has almost doubled since the drought of 197,1, considered the worst in Florida history. The water supply hasn't. "Our backup system is at an all-time record low for this of year," said John Wodraska, assistant director of the South Florida Water Management District, includes the populous southeastern coast "The possibility is for most serious drought in the history of Florida." Residents saw the effects of drought this past year.
If the 1982 rainfall doesn't return to normal, the effects could be traumatic: severe losses for the tourism and agriculture industries that "are the state's top two money-makers, dead wildlife, burned-out parks, ruined sport-fishing, water-use restrictions, fires worse than those "of 1981, undrinkable water for south Florida. Experts say a drought can probably be avoided if the 1982 rainfall returns to normal. 1I( "If you cry 'wolf if we start saying 'water shortage, water shortage' now," said Noel Risnychokr a National Weather Service meteorologist, "then when indeed there may be happen to be one, people will say, 'We had to conserve water when it wasn't 4 4 Lryni easy iRR STEAM AND WW DRY IRON 1216 -flB wERE4r J- MULTI-POSITION VINYL CHAISES Rugged steel frames, CHLORINE WERE49 WAS WERE U68 WERE 2.27 ENERGCZER BATTERIES 2-pk. or or one 9-volt. Alkaline! JUMBO ROLL RM MIUPI 1 jf SUNBEAM 39 4 ID ALARM CLOCK MATCHING CHAIRS THAT FOLD TO CARRY Durable vinyl tubing.
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