Advertisements Political corruption requires three things to be successful – a willing political candidate, a complicit news media and corrupt individuals looking for an edge. Although the signs of corruption surround corrupt individuals throughout their political careers, they cover up their misdeeds by attacking those trying to expose them. The coverups are enabled by a […]
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Posted inPolitics
History Shows That El Paso City Council Recall Petitions Always Fail – Here Is Why
Advertisements Most recently, a recall signature drive was launched against Joe Molinar after the city council reprimanded him for harassing a female city staff member. The recall of Molinar failed after the deadline to submit the required signatures passed without signatures being submitted. Last week a notice of intent to recall Cassandra Hernandez was filed […]
Posted inOpinion
El Paso Politics Is Now El Paso News
Advertisements Welcome to the new El Paso News, a culmination of two decades of reporting on El Paso politics and border issues. El Paso News started out as El Paso Politics on March 4, 2000. We began by covering the mayoral race between Larry Francis and Ray Caballero. Caballero was elected in May 2001 and […]
Posted inCommunity
The Last Time Gentrification Was Stopped By The Viejitos – Medina’s Terrorists
Advertisements Today, many in El Paso know and sometimes discuss the ongoing friction between public policy agendas for economic development and protecting neighborhoods. The narratives include Segundo Barrio, The Glass Beach Study, Duranguito and the controversy over the 2012 Quality of Life sports arena. The book Who Rules El Paso? argues that an oligarchy composed […]
Posted inDuranguito
The Caballero Enemies List – Sito Negron
Advertisements On May 3, 2003, Ray Caballero lost his reelection campaign to Joe Wardy, 23.9% to 58.35%, making Caballero a one-term mayor. Caballero lost largely on the TIF district fiasco although the 11.8% tax increase and his so-called water emergency were contributing factors. Caballero had vacillated over running for reelection publicly, but many believed he […]
Posted inSegundo Barrio
The TIF District Primer For Gentrification
Advertisements The Border Health Institute’s (BHI) vision, as proposed by then-mayor Ray Caballero and publicly propelled by Eliot Shapleigh, required land to implement it. The land that surrounded the proposed BHI medical campus around then-Thomason Hospital now the University Medical Center of El Paso (UMC) was the target. It was land owned by long-time predominantly […]
Posted inEl Paso
Strange El Paso Politics: From Carpet Baggers To Bank Robbery
Advertisements El Paso, like most cities, has its share of political characters. This last election was not any different in that it had its share of political sagas and characters. There was the carpet bagger that convincedly overwhelmed the incumbent to win the race. Then there was the Republican who decided to run as a […]
Posted inDuranguito
The Hispanic Sports Arena: The Catalyst To Duranguito Controversy
Advertisements Readers may be surprised to learn that there was another sports arena, before the current one, that was proposed for El Paso. Unlike the one in 1938 and the current one, the one proposed in 1999 was envisioned by a group of Latino business leaders. They wanted to boost the downtown economy by building […]
Posted inEl Paso
Analysis of City Election Runoffs Since 1998
Advertisements Oscar Leeser and Dee Margo are headed towards a runoff election sometime in December. Runoff elections are scheduled 45 days after the votes ae canvassed. In addition to the Leeser-Margo runoff there are also runoffs between Alexsandra Annello being challenged by Miriam Gutierrez. In District 4, Joe Molina will face off against Sam Morgan. […]
Posted inCommunity
Deconstructing El Paso’s Identity Crisis
Advertisements El Paso has a cultural identity crisis. It is Mexican and then it is not. Why this exists can be traced back to two realities. The first is that El Paso, unlike many other binational communities along the U.S.-México border, is a metroplex that is visible to each other. The international border that divides […]
