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Downtown News | Downtown Voices | Arts & Entertainment | Toast & Taste
Buildings, Bridges, Not Walls
by District 8 Rep. Beto O’Rourke
When the topic of building a wall to separate the United States and Mexico first came up, I could feel the cities of El Paso and Juárez collectively shudder in disgust.
When you consider wait times on the bridges, the existing barriers to the free flow of pedestrian and commercial traffic, and the inherent difficulties involved in crossing an international border, it’s clear that there is already too much separating our cities. A wall that would physically isolate them is about the dumbest thing I can think of.
I liked Mayor Cook’s take on it the best: “We should be building more bridges, not walls.”
Unfortunately, there has been a longstanding disconnect between Washington, D.C., and El Paso over the nature of the border. The message from many in Washington is that the border is simply something to protect, to secure and to defend.
Our local perspective is much richer. The border is our strength; it’s what makes us unique, and it’s arguably our reason for being. Our position on the border brings shoppers to the merchants in Downtown and throughout the city. It brings language, flavor and culture to both cities. Our location on the border puts us in a wonderful position to be the nexus for international trade between North America and Latin America and, beyond that, to be the cultural, commercial and academic bridge between the two hemispheres. Where else do you find a population of 3 million people who are bilingual and bicultural and deeply rooted in the essence of the Americas?
There are two issues on the horizon that we are working on that relate to this. The first one deals with the improvements to the Paso del Norte bridge. While no one would argue that we want these improvements, which include adding vehicle and pedestrian capacity, we are concerned about the impact that the construction will have on residents, students, shoppers and merchants.
I will do everything I can to support both the Mayor and the leadership of the Central Business Association, who have strongly advocated for measures that would reduce the negative impact of the construction. For example, preliminary estimates show that construction could take up to three years and severely constrict vehicle capacity coming into Downtown. The potential disruption to business, trade and families with members on both sides of the border is immeasurable.
The mayor and CBA leadership recently met with representatives of the General Services Administration, tasked with implementing the improvements to the bridge, and the department of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, tasked with operating the bridge. The conversation centered on how we might mitigate negative impacts, speed construction and use the resources of all involved to make this project as successful as possible. It is a situation we will continue to monitor and do everything we can to improve.
The second related issue is adding new bridges between our two cities. Both the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) and the city have voted to fund studies to look at the feasibility of additional ports of entry between the Bridge of the Americas and the Zaragoza bridge.
Maybe we can show D.C. that we’re better off spending the money on a bridge instead of a wall after all.
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On the Promenade in Downtown
by Mayor John F. Cook
As many of you might know, I am no stranger to walking. In doing business in the downtown area, more often than not I leave my car parked and take off on foot. I can be at the County Courthouse in less than 15 minutes, and it only takes a little more than 20 minutes to walk from El Paso’s City Hall to Mayor Murguia’s office in Ciudad Juárez. The trip back is somewhat longer but only because of the international check point.
One of the most enjoyable aspects of walking rather than riding from place to place is the opportunity to meet and greet people along the way. I am always amazed at just how friendly folks in El Paso are. Having been raised in New York City, the walking experience there is very different. The rat race lifestyle of big cities is not something you typically find here. People take the time to say hello and remark on little things, like the weather.
During one of my recent walks from the new Chambers Steak House back to City Hall, I was pleasantly surprised to see so many people at the new Downtown library. Despite the fact that it was a paricularly windy day dozens of people were either going in or out of the building or sitting on the benches outside the library and history museum.
Surprise was not my only emotion; I was also encouraged. While we all know there has always been a bustling retail economy along the avenues leading to the international bridges, the area around “museum row” has been slow to come back to life. But there it was— a cold, windy day in March and people had
come Downtown.
I look forward to the day in the not-too-distant future when new housing and retail opportunities bring more people to our Downtown, the heart of El Paso!
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Meet Nick Carissa, the children of the Boys & Girls Clubs
by Bill Coon, CPO
Boys & Girls of El Paso
Nick is just like every other grade-schooler who comes into the club. He has a lot of energy, needs attention and is a very good kid. We play ping-pong, video games, etc. Nick is here every day and helps the staff when he can.
I met Nick about one year ago at the Travis Petty Club. I walked in the door, and Nick was signing in to come into the club. Nick had a big medal around his neck, and I inquired about where the medal came from. Nick, with a smile ear to ear, proudly announced that he won the award at Aoy Elementary School for the best spaghetti in Aoy. He was so proud that he asked if I wanted to try his “award-winning spaghetti.” My first instinct was to say no thank you, but I realized that this was a special time in Nick’s life. I said yes and went to go get forks so all of our staff could try the “award-winning spaghetti.” Everyone made a big deal out of it, and Nick’s feet didn’t touch the floor the rest of the day. Not only did Aoy Elementary recognize his spaghetti, but so did the Boys and Girls Clubs. We made a difference if the life of a grade-school spaghetti cooker.
Carissa is excited about life. She comes to the club with a smile on her face and leaves with a bigger smile each day. The first day I walked into the club, Carissa greeted me with a smile and asked my name. I introduced myself, and we began to talk about Carissa— her best subject. Each day I walk into the club, Carissa shares that she has made the A/B Honor Roll. You can see in her eyes that she is proud and has worked hard for her grades. She even challenges her friends to make the honor roll. I look for Carissa each time I go to the Club. I need a little ray of sunshine sometimes, and I know Carissa will share the sunshine in her life.
No amount of money can pay for the smiles we create at the Boys and Girls Clubs of El Paso. Nick and Carissa may be your next mayor or president of the United States. The important message is that they can be anything they want to be. I want to invite you to be a part of the smiles of our children. Steak and Steak, one of our fund-raising opportunities, will be April 26 at Club Blu. The cost is $1,000 for a table of eight with two of our young members sitting at your table. We will have a live auction, readings from essay contest winners and at least one guest speaker. If you would like to help give smiles and give the kids of El Paso a hand up, please contact me at 915.532.7410.
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Capturing the Hilton Mentality
by REDCo President Bob Cook
“In this valley, there is more light, more air, more space than any other place in the world. There is a vastness here, and I believe that the people who are born here breathe that vastness into their soul. They dream big dreams and think big thoughts because there is nothing to hem them in.”
Those words were quoted from Conrad Hilton, one of the most famous American hoteliers and founder of the Hilton hotel chain. The first high-rise, steel-frame hotel Hilton ever built was here in El Paso and is now known as the Plaza Hotel. The hotel’s construction was well underway before the stock market crashed on Black Tuesday (Oct. 29, 1929) and was opened on Nov. 20, 1930, amidst the Great Depression. Something existed in the fabric of our community that motivated Hilton and his investors to press forward with what would be a very bold project in the best of times.
The Hilton quote was first shown to me by my friend Bill Herring, a great artist who happens to make his home in El Paso and who also happens to collect quotations as a hobby. I do so because I believe that the Hilton mentality of dreaming big dreams and thinking big thoughts should be the driver of economic development in our region. In fact, I believe there is clear evidence that citizens and leaders throughout our community have captured the Hilton mentality, and these are just a few:
• Convincing the Department of Defense that El Paso/Fort Bliss could support a net gain of more than 20,000 personnel
• Successfully competing to become the home to integrated field experimentation for Future Combat Systems
• Expansion of the Texas Tech Medical School
• Voter approval of more than $900 million in bonds to build new schools, add quality-of-life amenities and enhance our infrastructure
• Engaging Richard Florida, who helped develop various CCLP initiatives, such as the Binational Design Competition
I firmly believe that 30 years from now, history will reflect on El Paso’s citizens and leaders of today to determine whether or not we did a good job, whether or not we capitalized on the opportunity presently before us. A supreme commitment to the Hilton mentality in 2007 will provide the foundation for there being a superb environment for those who will succeed us in 2037. Today, there are some bold initiatives in place that we must bring to fruition, initiatives that include Downtown redevelopment, recruiting high-tech private defense sector jobs in support of new missions at Fort Bliss and building UTEP into a Tier One research university, just to name a few.
Conrad Hilton also once said: “Success seems to be connected to action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.”
This community is equipped for a successful future. We must recognize strengths and weaknesses, overcome hurdles and keep our region moving in the right direction even if there are those who may question the agenda and challenge the efforts. Every day, people are still breathing that “vastness” into their souls and their work, and there is still nothing to hem us in.
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