Last week city council voted to evict our local railroad museum.
Evict!
The city invited the museum into the Union Plaza transit terminal back in 2004. From what I understand, the arrangement has been operating without a written lease. It’s not that the museum has not asked for one, the city just won’t work with the museum.
Now the museum has two weeks to move out. This is a volunteer organization that now has two weeks to pack up all of their many belongings and move out.
The museum provides free services to the city. Among them is that the city is required to maintain historic engine number one under an agreement with UTEP (who owns the locomotive). Guess who provides the maintenance — the railroad museum.
The city representative who was just elected to the EPISD school board was quoted as saying “We can’t be the sole source of support for that museum…”.
First, the city is not the sole source of support. Many volunteers and donors contribute to this quality of life project.
Second, the city has just leased 17,000 plus square feet of the train station to Texas Tech University for $1 per year for up to 75 years. Maybe if Texas Tech paid a market based rate for the space we would not consider the city the sole source of support on the rent. The city gave the Albert Fall mansion to Texas Tech for $1 a year.
Why are we supporting a state funded institution with our own local tax money when we will not support a railroad museum or a science museum? It sounds to me like someone is not kissing the city manager’s ego.
Find the time to call your city representative. The city still has time to stop this nonsense.
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
Dear Railroad Museum,
Welcome to our World.
Love,
Insights
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