Mayor Diana Trujillo has ambitious plans for the City of Anthony New Mexico. The City is making important investments in quality-of-life amenities, including enhancements to our parks and city roads. Currently, she is trying to alleviate flooding problems for the city's residential and commercial residents. The City of Anthony NM has received a grant from the Colonias Infrastructure Fund Grant and a Clean Water State revolving loan to fund the planning and final design of the south Anthony arroyo flood control improvements. Wilson and Company is currently under contract to provide the planning services and will begin the final design in the fall of 2019.
The West end of Anthony, NM, specifically the areas around the South Anthony arroyo located next to Adams Park are most prone to flooding. The width of the arroyo is currently too narrow to handle a heavy flow of water and usually floods out the nearby homes and businesses after heavy rain. The East end of Anthony is also prone to structure flooding mostly due to excessive sediment buildup from the Texas side.
Two years ago, Mayor Trujillo brought this project to their sister city, the Town of Anthony Texas Mayor and Town Council, and asked if their Texas Engineers would work with her New Mexico engineers to find a solution to the flooding of the Anthony arroyo. Mayor Trujillo was only asking them to acquire federal grant funding, not funding directly from the Town. According to Mayor Trujillo, at that time the Town of Anthony Texas stated that they were not interested in fixing the arroyo on the Texas side.
The City has decided to move forward with this project on the New Mexico side but noted that some Texas residents located close to the arroyo could have future problems with flooding around the arroyo during heavy rain. Currently, trash deposits, sediment bulking, and build-up from the Texas side contribute to the flooding problem on the New Mexico side. In the near future, Mayor Trujillo will once again speak to the New Town of Anthony Mayor Ben Romero and Town Council to determine if they would now be willing to seek out federal or state funding to help with the flooding arroyo on the Texas side.
In addition to mitigating the flooding arroyo, starting this Fall there will be about 15-18 streets that will be repaved. Fourth Street will also include repaving, new sidewalks, and new gutters in the proper places. The completion of the paving project should be in the summer of 2020.
The City of Anthony New Mexico is also in the final stages of negotiations on purchasing the Dos Lagos Golf Course. This will bring greener infrastructure to Anthony New Mexico for parks, recreation, and business. Anthony New Mexico residents will no longer have to share a park with Texas but will soon have a bigger, state-of-the-art park than their sister town. 2019 will conclude with the annexation of Stern Drive. The annexation of Stern Drive will provide space for commercial businesses and help bring more economic development to Anthony New Mexico. New Mexico DOT has already started working on widening parts of O’Hara Road to provide better commercial access to New Mexico and Loop 375.
Through City investment, partnerships, and community support, Anthony New Mexico is making significant progress in 2019 and has a bright vision for its future. Our hope for 2020 is continued progress with the Mayor, community, and City Council working together toward a shared vision of progress. We are excited about what the future holds for Anthony, New Mexico, and are convinced the best is yet to come.
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