18-year-old Matthew Gardea could have used his time before starting college to catch up on his favorite television shows or get some much-needed sleep. Instead, he’s been hard at work as the youngest planning and zoning commissioner in Horizon City history.
Gardea was unanimously appointed to his position by the city council this summer, after support from Councilwoman Samantha Corral. He says hearing so many people talk about his age makes him take the responsibility even more seriously.
“Having city council members express to me you are the youngest ever to sit on this commission,” Gardea said. “For me it wasn't hearing it once, hearing it twice or three times —hearing it from almost every city council member, and even going into city hall and being sworn in, and just that being repeated over and over again, at some point, the reality does start to sit in. That daunting moment would be as the youngest on this commission, I feel that it's very important that I set the example.”
An example, he says, that starts with getting people more engaged in local government. Gardea uses his own story as proof of what’s possible for young leaders—it only took a simple phone call to Councilwoman Corral to start a correspondence that led to his appointment as a commissioner.
“We had talked on the phone about it, here and there, and then she gave me a call one day and said, ‘Well, you know, one of our city council meetings is coming up and each city council member has to appoint someone to each commission,’” Gardea said. “And she's like…I would really like you to join this commission.”
Gardea is hoping his example will inspire others to get involved in city government, speaking about how many of these overlooked positions hold a lot of power.
“If I'm being completely honest, I just think it's extremely important that people, especially for my generation, that we start getting more involved, especially when it comes to, you know, local government,” Gardea said. “Whether it be sitting on a commissioner's court or you know, anything like that. It's just we need to start that generational transition when it comes to leadership, and I just think that’s extremely important.”
For Gardea, his sense of civic duty was established at a young age by his mother. Isela Alvidrez has worked to make sure her children understand the importance of taking action.
“They're very, very, very good debaters, and so, because they're great debaters, they've had the practice of looking at both sides of the coin,” Alvidrez said. “And having to be ready to debate on either side, whether you’re for it or against it.”
Now, Gardea will use the very skillset he honed at home in his role as a commissioner. He already has a list of projects on his agenda, starting with the expansion of city roads.
“Because our city is just growing so rapidly, we need to go ahead and extend those roads. We have so much land that can be developed, we can build bigger communities, we can build bigger schools, you know, and things like that,” Gardea said. “If we can grow this community, we can bring more schools, more jobs, extend our roads, bring more development projects, that is really, at the end of the day, what’s going to make the difference. That would really be the main thing on my agenda, is to get started on these major development projects.”
When he’s not on the job, Gardea will be attending his first year of college at The University of Texas at El Paso. He’s hoping to continue his work for others as a lawyer. In the meantime, he’s excited about helping Horizon City grow.
“Horizon City here in El Paso is one of those smaller cities that's rapidly growing. I really want to be a part of that process,” Gardea said. “By sitting on this commission I'm gonna get to work with city engineers and kind of work on these major development projects. Just leaving our footprint there to really grow our city out.”
