Alderete sees need for cleaning, re-building cityscape with master plan

Contractor and designer Fernando Alderete, well possessed of creative hands and a creative mind, has developed a host of quality of life ideas to clean and re-build a cityscape that serves Laredoans, welcomes tourists, and provides the infrastructure and amenities for those who conduct business here. Pictured above is a sketch of a riverwalk over Zacate Creek in the Azteca neighborhood. Such a venue, he said, could house tourist-friendly facilities like a birding information center, a museum, stores, offices, and restaurants.

Alderete suggested that Laredo engineers, builders, planners, designers, environmentalists, business owners, contractors, and representatives of entities who feel passionately about a cleaner, better-planned city that has green spaces and allows traffic to flow, should begin to meet regularly as a think tank to brainstorm, exchange ideas, and create architectural graphic design standards for downtown Laredo and for projects in all sectors of the city.

“Our goal would be to solve traffic problems and to come up with an architectural master plan that is themed. We should display those designs and invite input from City policy makers and from citizens,” said Alderete, adding that Laredo should create its own destiny by preparing to grow with a master plan that offered staying power for tourists and those seeking to establish businesses in Laredo .

He cited the original construction of McPherson Road as a two-lane roadway and its re-construction as one of the best examples of poor planning. “The first two lanes were centered in the right of way and when the city implemented two more lanes, the whole road was ripped up and done over, which interrupted traffic. Having kept the original two lanes off center would have allowed traffic flow. No trees were planted along McPherson. No utilities were dropped and buried to eliminate power and telephone lines. No green buffer was left between McPherson's curb and the sidewalk, which is a danger to pedestrians. We need to learn from poor planning,” he said.