Betty Flores Politician
Elizabeth Garcia Flores, better known as Betty Flores (born December 28, 1944), is a businesswoman who was the first female mayor of Laredo, Texas. She served a brief unexpired mayoral term followed by two four-year terms from 1998-2006. She was the driving force behind the building of the World Trade Bridge, which brought relief to her community after an enormous increase in truck traffic after the implementation of NAFTA. It was the only promise she made to the people of Laredo, declaring that IH35 within the city limits would once more belong to the people of Laredo. After securing the diplomatic notes and financing for the bridge and its installations she worked with her Mexican counterpart to open the bridge on time and on budget. At one time she was forced to tell the Mexican government of Tampaluipas that all truck traffic would be diverted to the Columbia Bridge in the State of Nuevo León (also a bridge that belongs to the city) if the project was not completed and opened on time. She had the full support of the customs and immigration agents in Laredo who were experiencing high level of unsafe conditions due to the small area of the bridges downtown. She is, however, best remembered for bringing a multi-purpose arena to the people of Laredo, the Laredo Entertainment Center, renamed Laredo Energy Arena, the home of the Laredo Bucks hockey team. Though she is a Democrat, she displayed a picture of herself with U.S. President George W. Bush, who visited Laredo two weeks before Flores left office. She was succeeded by Raul G. Salinas, another Democrat who was elected on June 17, 2006. All Texas mayors and city council members are elected on nonpartisan ballots though most have party preferences or have declared party allegiance by voting in a primary or a runoff election.