Published in TB Business Magazine
Written by: Alexis Harborth / Photos by: Dustin Ashcraft
Location: Art Museum of South Texas
Ben Molina is building a solid brfoundation—figuratively and literally. Molina, brCity Councilman of District 2, has been brinvolved with city street repairs, a superior brwater system, bond projects and numerous brother improvements.
His career as City Councilman has brbeen as fascinating as his journey leading brup to it, which includes him being a small brbusiness owner, volunteering with Habitat for Humanity and later becoming a board brmember, being in a Leadership Corpus brChristi class and launching his campaign for brCouncilman that unseated the incumbent.
The vision, drive and dedication that brled him to local government are exactly how brhe’s accomplished so much since taking his brposition.
“One of the very first conversations I had brwith the city manager at the time was about brwater boils, and how we needed to invest in brour infrastructure to fix that issue,” Molina brsaid. “When it came to what was needed, I brsaid, ‘Let’s do it, let’s fix that issue.’ We made brsome substantial improvements to our brinfrastructure, and I’m proud to say that we brnow have a superior rated water system.”
The street repair project to which Molina brhas also been committed was realized in a br5-year plan developed in 2020. The funding is set up such that when streets are repaired, brnew ones are added to the list—resulting in brmore street reconstruction when compared brto previous decades. The Staples Street brrenovation, for example, is on the very last brsegment of repair in the Del Mar and Baldwin brarea.
In addition to these necessities for living brand working, Molina has also made Corpus brChristi a better place to play. The Pier at Cole Park was a vision realized with a grand bropening ceremony in December 2021. He brspearheaded other park improvements, such bras the splash pads.
It’s already a lot of progress in a short bramount of time, because he’s energized brand motivated by helping those who call the brCoastal Bend home.
“I love the people here. I really do,” said brMolina. “Corpus Christi has some of the most brcaring and giving people. I love doing what brI do because I’ve got this small window of bropportunity where I can effect change and brimprove the overall quality of life for our brneighbors.”
Looking ahead, Molina wants to continue brserving Corpus Christi, with visions for brenhanced transit, infrastructure and parks brand recreation. We’ll hope to see many of brthese plans unfold in the coming years.
