Update: The El Paso Central Appraisal District responded to our open records request on October 20, 2021. We have published the new information in this article. The Texas legislature has adopted new redistricting maps for the upcoming elections. The Texas governor is expected to sign them into law in the coming days. The new version […]
Posted inEl Paso
The Shepard Dossier: Cathedral High School, Sexual Abuse And The Diocese Of El Paso
Editor’s note: The following is from a dossier compiled by Joseph P. Shepard starting on February 6, 2004. Shepard passed away last month. The dossier was sent to us anonymously. Unless specifically labeled, the content herein comes directly from the Shepard dossier. It details a controversy between then-principal of Cathedral Brother Samuel Martinez and then-Bishop […]
Posted inPolitics
The Downtown Sports Arenas And “Vision”
The ongoing controversies over the downtown sports arena and gentrification in El Paso is not new to El Paso’s politics. Economic development through “vision” strategies go back to at least 2000 when the Caballero administration proposed putting economic development as part of the public policy agenda, one driven by “vision” and paid for by the […]
Posted inSegundo Barrio
Plan El Paso
In 2011, Plan El Paso was awarded the Smart Growth award as a model for making cities more compact. Smart growth has being dubbed as the future of America’s urban cities. However, smart growth has a flaw that proponents tend to ignore. Smart growth works by displacing poorer neighborhoods to make way for redeveloping the […]
Posted inImmigration
America Needs Its Immigrant Workers – This Is Why.
An American aging population is exacerbating labor shortage across the country. In its simplest terms, America’s population is getting older faster than younger Americans enter the labor force. According to Census Bureau data, in 1980, 11.3% of Americans were 65 or older. Children, those under 19 years of age, comprised 31.9% of the population. The […]
Posted inFort Worth ISD, Hispanic Representation
A Short History of the Struggle by Hispanics for Representation at the Fort Worth Independent School District Board of Education
by Fernando Florez, September 1, 2021 What happened following the end of the Texas Revolution in 1836 when Anglos and Tejanos defeated Mexico has been recounted to many of us with deep Texas roots mainly by word of mouth through generations. Emigrants from the United States swarmed into the state and became the majority and dominant […]
Posted inEl Paso
Visions Of A Central Park For El Paso
Much of the controversies in El Paso’s public policy agenda can be traced back the notion that El Paso has a “vision” for greatness. The Chihuahua’s ballpark was to be the catalyst to a downtown renaissance. Before that it was the Border Health Institute (BHI) that was supposed to transform El Paso into a medical […]
Posted inWar
Essay on War immemorial … Sin Fin …
From the desk of the Chief: I am participating in a national grant program that deals with the concept of “Moral Injury” and how it applies to soldiers in wartime. This piece was prompted by one of the Warriors Path workshops. H. W. “Bill” Sparks, CWO, U. S. Army Retired. The world has changed over […]
Posted inCommunity
The Smart Growth Philosophy And The Downtown Sports Arena
The idea of using Smart Growth in El Paso goes back to November 2002 when the Caballero administration dubbed their growth strategy as “Smart Growth”. The Caballero philosophy suggested that the role of government is to drive housing growth according to predetermined strategies. The idea is that such smart growth will encourage the revitalization of […]
Posted inCommunity
The Last Time Gentrification Was Stopped By The Viejitos – Medina’s Terrorists
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 of […]