Laredo Morning Times_ Estonians want some answers (September 19)

09/19/2007

Seven officials from the European border town of Narva, Estonia, toured Laredo on Monday and inquired about the inner-workings of municipal government here, all in an effort to improve operations in their home city. Just as the Rio Grande separates Laredo from Mexico, the Narva River divides the Estonian city from Russia. That commonality alone was enough to pique the Narva officials' interest in Laredo, resulting in hours of discussion with city management, police and bridge officials.

After meeting at City Hall, local officials took the Estonians to La Posada for lunch and then on a tour of the international bridges.

"They asked many questions," said Deputy City Manager Cynthia Collazo. "They were very interested in knowing what our challenges are.

"Apparently they chose Laredo because they felt we were the most comparable to their own city,"

The Narva group consisted of Chief Ecologist Andrei Filippov, consultant to the Narva mayor Vadim Orlov, Narva Linnelamu, Board Member Jelena Pahhomova, Narva High School Humanities Director Dadezda Tserkasina, Vice Mayor Sofja Homjakova and Narva City Council members Tamara Gordejeva and Aleksander Jefimov.

Estonian officials said that in Narva, trucks often wait up to five days to cross the international bridge there, Mayor Pro-Tempore Gene Belmares said.

They asked how Laredo handles thousands of commercial trucks crossing each day, Belmares said, and took note of methods used here that could be implemented in Narva.

Belmares said the major difference between Narva's international bridge and Laredo's is the use of technology.

While both cities are border towns, Laredo police spokesman Joe E. Baeza said discussions revolving around the content, legal and illegal, that crosses the borders in Laredo and Narva pointed to the differences between the cities.

"We had a lot of geographical commonalties," Baeza said. "They were very interested in finding out what our biggest drug importation problem was, whether it was marijuana or meth."

"They have a lot of meth," Baeza added. "And we talked about human smuggling and the great lengths that they go (through)."

Contraband crossing in Narva consists largely of methamphetamine and illegal importation of alcohol and tobacco, Baeza said. In Laredo, however, law enforcement mostly deals with large quantities of marijuana, cocaine and human smuggling, he said.

The Narva officials traveled with several interpreters and a representative from the San Antonio Council for International Visitors. The group first flew into Washington, D.C., to meet with U.S. State Department officials, who coordinated the visit. The Estonians then traveled to Buffalo, N.Y., San Antonio and Laredo. On Tuesday, they toured New Braunfels before going back to Narva after the 10-day trip.

Being from a city with a population of about 60,000, the Narva officials came to the United States to size up cities here and the operations that could be successfully emulated in Estonia.

Collazo said during her discussions with them, they also inquired about funding infrastructure projects and promoting tourism. Unlike Laredo, Narva cannot sell bonds to fund city projects, she said, so the city officials explained the budget and bond rating process that goes through Moody's, Fitch and Standard & Poor's.

Tax revenue sources also differ in Narva, Belmares said. Instead of sales, income and property taxes, as in the United States, Narva has a flat, 22-percent income tax.

The crash course on Laredo city government even covered medical care and insurance practices, as well as the differences between the public and private sectors, Collazo said.

"There's a lot of questions that they had and we did our very best," Collazo said. "It's impossible to give them all the information. I think they were very pleased."

Collazo said the city sometimes has visitors from sister cities in China or Spain, but this was the first group from a Russian territory that she has encountered "I personally was trying to see if I could follow a little through the translator," Collazo said about attempting to pick up some of the Russian language.

"It was a very good experience," Collazo added. "I think it teaches us all the different issues."

(Ashley Richards may be reached at 728-2538 or by e-mail at ashley@lmtonline.com)