Editorials
El Paso Times Op Ed 07.09.23
Put people before traffic expansion
by: Quirino Villa and Kathleen Staudt
South-Central neighborhood leaders and a broad based community coalition engaged with expert panelists to learn about the planned expansion of the Bridge of the Americas (BOTA). We represent the Washington-Delta Neighborhood Association (WDNA) and the all citywide Community First Coalition (CFC). Our major point is this: People’s health should not be sacrificed to add more trucks and pollution through the center of El Paso.
South-Central has long been burdened from a near century of what has been called “environmental racism.”Here, such racism locates polluting industries and heavy truck traffic in Mexican-American neighborhoods, affecting people’s air quality, health, and susceptibility to respiratory and other life-threatening illnesses.
Our organizations co-sponsored the panel discussion of “Community Health First” to a full house at the El Paso County Coliseum on June 24. BOTA expansion is a top-down, federally funded project. The GSA has proposed four alternatives as part of the feasibility study to be completed this fall. The community conversation that took place centered around the concern about commercial traffic. Two of the four alternatives expand the truck traffic east of U.S. 54 abutting the neighborhood and demolishing the county coliseum.
The county coliseum has historic value as the place where famous musicians have performed: Elvis, Selena, Johnny Cash, Michael Jackson, Juan Gabriel, and others. The coliseum is home to Rhinos Hockey and ice rink, with lots of activities for youth, the rodeo, car shows, concerts, and other performances.
Hilos de Plata, the senior center that serves South-Central, is only a block away from the coliseum. The Chalio Acosta Sports Center, which serves the entire city, is right next to the coliseum. As residents living near Washington Park and Delta Park, we are concerned about how the BOTA project will affect our quality of life and impact our health. We are not against the modernization project, but that should not mean the expansion of truck traffic into a neighborhood with the highest percentage of senior citizens.
Over and over, residents shared their expertise and concerns with bureaucrats in agencies like the General Services Administration (GSA). We hoped our local leaders would advocate for our neighborhood and listen to our concerns. Instead, on Monday June 26, El Paso County Commissioners Court voted 3-2 to change the language of a letter of concern and send a watered-down version to the GSA. Carlos Leon, Sergio Coronado, and County Judge Ricardo Samaniego voted to remove language that illustrated the concerns of the community regarding the commercial traffic. Every single person that spoke during public comment asked the court to advocate for South-Central. We are thankful for Commissioner David Stout and Iliana Holguin who listen.
Our neighborhood is home to Jefferson High School, many proud alumni still live in the area. We were not only disappointed, but heartbroken with Samaniego’s vote against our neighborhood. I guess he is only proud to be from South-Central during election session. His vote sent all of us in the neighborhood a clear message: to him the residents of South-Central are disposable and it’s okay to dismiss them. Shame on you! El Pasoans can do better! We care about neighborhoods. We should insist that heavy trucks be routed around the city, rather than through residential neighborhoods.
El Paso Matters Op Ed 03.25.23
Opinion: Climate change demands action now
by
State Senator Jose Rodriguez
As we approach the May 6 municipal election on various charter amendments, the debate over the proposed Climate Charter Amendment (Proposition K) has raised the temperature and summer is still a few months away.
At a recent forum, representatives of the El Paso Chamber, El Paso Electric, and the city raised their opposition, claiming the amendment would reduce El Paso’s economy, lose jobs, and increase taxes.
Members of the El Paso Sunrise Movement, which triggered the election by collecting 39,000 citizen signatures in support of the Climate Charter, countered that those claims are exaggerated, based on false assumptions, ignore benefits, and support control over the status quo by powerful business interests. Energy experts also dispute the Chamber’s data.
Proposition K outlines a blueprint for the city to adopt policies regarding climate change by reducing its reliance on fossil fuels that emit carbon dioxide and other pollutants which contribute to global warming and contaminate the air, water, and the natural environment. To achieve this, the city would establish a Climate Department and begin shifting to renewable energy technologies like solar and wind to meet its energy needs, including electricity.
To conserve water for our local use, the City is authorized to cancel contracts for the sale of water outside the City’s jurisdiction. The City would do a feasibility study to determine whether to buy El Paso Electric and establish a municipally owned utility as in San Antonio, Austin, other Texas cities. These are overdue measures we should support.
Each of us is responsible for doing our part to fight climate change. As a former state senator, I established a citizen advisory committee on renewable energy to provide input on reducing our dependence on harmful fossil fuels and promoting solar as a means to capitalize on our abundant sunshine while cutting electricity bills, creating clean energy jobs, and building a green economy.
Among other environmental measures, I passed a bill that established net metering to facilitate the development of residential rooftop solar. Unfortunately, due to opposition from powerful interests, including El Paso Electric, El Paso has not benefited from our abundant sunshine, leaving San Antonio to claim it’s the solar city in Texas.
This strong opposition continues as the campaign to defeat Proposition K intensifies. Powerful fossil fuel interests like Exxon and the Texas Oil and Gas Association have barraged voters with expensive TV ads and glossy brochures containing false or misleading information.
The Sunrise Movement is relying primarily on young volunteers to canvas voters door to door and phone banking. Ironically, El Paso Electric attacks the young volunteers as uninformed activists influenced by outsiders, ignoring the fact that it’s primarily the young whose future is threatened by climate change.
Don’t sit out this election! Something needs to be done about climate change. My vote for the amendment reflects my personal commitment to act now.
Do we continue on the same path, maintaining the status quo, or chart a bold new course for an environmentally sustainable future?
El Paso Times Op Ed 12.18.22
What Hunt’s $25M gift mean for UTEP?
Woody L. Hunt, whose philanthropic largesse is well known, is to be commended for his recent $25 million gift to UTEP. The money will benefit the School of Business.
Ordinarily such a gift would generate nothing but laudatory comments. However, Hunt’s history of making hefty political contributions to local candidates and officeholders with the expectation that they will support often-controversial vanity projects (like the baseball park and the 'arena') have some people asking questions regarding possible strings attached to the UTEP donation besides the naming of the School as the Woody L. Hunt School of Business.
Does the gift give Hunt a say-so regarding the hiring of professors and influence over the design of curriculum and creation of programs that promote a conservative ideology, meaning a way of thinking that exalts free markets, disparages the role of people-oriented government policies, and maligns public and private institutions devoted to the common good? This concern arises from Hunt’s well-known conservative orientation, as well as the disturbing national trend whereby wealthy conservative donors often place conditions on universities that diminish institutional autonomy and academic freedom.
The fact that Hunt played a major role in the appointment of Heather Wilson as UTEP president creates further unease because she is presumably quite receptive to Hunt’s vision of what UTEP should be.
Wilson’s selection as UTEP president in 2019 defied the standard norm of choosing heads of universities from pools of long serving, distinguished — and apolitical — educators. She had a radically different resume and lacked the training and experience to run a large Research I university with a predominantly Mexican American student body. Her appointment shocked many El Pasoans who felt local magnates had too much control over the appointment process.
We are concerned that UTEP not be turned into a bastion of conservative ideology and would like reassurance that UTEP students are receiving a well-rounded education while being exposed to different political philosophies. We hope graduates leave UTEP with a sense of obligation and commitment to the larger community.
Oscar J. Martínez and Carmen E. Rodríguez are co-founders of the El Paso Community First Coalition. Martínez is a retired professor who taught at UTEP and other universities; Rodríguez has practiced law in El Paso for decades.
City Manager’s Contract Extension is Not Sound Governance
The El Paso City Council’s action to extend the City Manager’s contract showed utmost disregard, not only for its citizens, but also for its obligation to be transparent and accountable to the public.
In a hastily planned special meeting on Monday which was held specifically to address the immediate career concerns of the City Manager, the council amended his contract, extending it by 7 years (2029) and increasing his annual salary range to no more than $450,000.
The speed and lack of any discussion or information to the public can only mean city leaders knew this would be a controversial issue which would not sit well with many. The one bit of information offered by Rep. Alexsandra Anello that the issue was led by one representative who had a discussion with Gonzalez in secret, was nonetheless approved by the majority and is indicative of a now familiar pattern. The same five-member majority comprised of Cissy Lizarraga, Isabel Salcido, Cassandra Hernandez, Henry Rivera and Peter Swarzbein has worked in this manner of quiet acquiescence on many other controversial issues. .
El Pasoans should be appalled at the manner in which our public business was handled yesterday and should demand a reconsideration of the motion to extend the contract. We should require an explanation and rationale for yesterday’s actions, but most importantly, a full discussion with public input on the merits of the City Manager’s performance and commitment to our community is strongly warranted.
COMMUNITY FIRST COALITION OF EL PASO is a non-partisan network of organizations and leaders whose purpose is to empower the community by advocating for transparency and accountability in local government. In 2020, the Coalition published the book, “Who Rules El Paso? Private Gain, Public Policy and the Community Interest.
Opinion: New alliance seeks accountability for El Paso’s public schools
Public education is one of America’s most enduring investments in itself, a keystone for our country’s development. In Texas, it was considered so essential that taxpayer funded, universally available education was written into the state Constitution.
Opinion: Stop wage theft and other exploitive labor practices in El Paso
All of a sudden, people are talking about extremely low wages and unfilled employee vacancies in our region. Why? At one of the Corralito restaurants in El Paso, customers saw a big sign blaming unemployment benefits and supposedly lazy workers for their short-staffed restaurant.
Sacred Heart Church in the New York Times!
Public education is one of America’s most enduring investments in itself, a keystone for our country’s development. In Texas, it was considered so essential that taxpayer funded, universally available education was written into the state Constitution.
TEXAS CIVIC HEALTH INDEX
Communities with strong indicators of civic health as measured by the Civic Health Index have higher employment rates, stronger schools, better physical health, and more responsive governments.