Alton sweeps out opposition candidates

ALTON - Voters rejected critics of longtime Mayor Salvador Vela on Saturday, pushing out two incumbents and ushering in new candidates allied with Vela and Mayor Pro-Tem Ricardo Garza.

Incumbents Jose Picasso, 38, and Oscar Tovar, 40, had positioned themselves against Vela since the mayor supported them for their first terms in office four years ago.

Picasso said during the campaign that he and Tovar, along with slatemate Yoli Sandoval, 59, were running against Vela, rather than against Garza and political newcomers Richard Arevalo and Emilio Cantu, Jr.

The two winners, both active volunteers, ran on a slate with Garza.  Arevalo, 40, is a clerk at the Texas Department of Transportation; Cantu, 33, is the current president of Alton Boys and Girls Club.

Arevalo said he did not follow local poltics before he was approached about running for the seat. 

"I really didn't pay too much attention, being as I'm always busy," he said. "I'm just thinking about what I can do for the people of Alton."

Garza said the council will focus the next term on helping Alton residents and economic growth. The small city north of Mission has been slow to share in the growth of its neighboring areas.

Leaders have established both an Economic Development Corporation and a Chamber of Commerce in the past four years, but the EDC has struggled to sell space in its flagship project, an empty, city-built industrial park on Conway Avenue.

Garza, a physical therapy assistant, is the president of the EDC.

Reached Saturday, Tovar said he was investigating whether problems with a voting machine and the high number of mail-in ballots counted in the races might indicate fraud.  After seeing the results, "we're a little shocked," he said.

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Sara Perkins covers Mission, western Hidalgo County, Starr County and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach her at (956) 683-4472.