A reader sent this in. I thought it deserved it’s own post instead of being lost in the comments section.
elpasospeak.com does not claim to be right. It seeks to facilitate civil discussion, hopefully leading to increased citizen involvement in our governments.
El Paso: It’s All Good. Except for Some People.
The new City campaign slogan is: “El Paso. It’s All Good.” But it seems that the old adage “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander” doesn’t apply here.
Paul Foster’s Western Refining moved two thirds of its corporate headquarters staff to Arizona. Bill Sanders’ Verde Realty relocated most of its operations to Houston. Both moves cost El Paso a substantial number of good jobs that paid great salaries. These gentlemen are the same people wanting taxpayers to help fund downtown as a means of making El Paso more appealing to major employers. They along with Woody Hunt are supposedly leading our economic development effort through their backing and leadership of Borderplex Alliance (PDNG and Redco). If they think companies being pitched to locate in El Paso will not see a disconnect between their words and their decisions related to their own businesses, they’re sorely mistaken. The relocation of these two companies should be a reality check for everyone who believes that downtown redevelopment is truly about helping all of El Paso.
Check these links and draw your own conclusion:
http://www.elpasoinc.com/news/top_story/article_7b9e78a4-0ee1-11e1-abc9-0019bb30f31a.html
elpasospeak 
While I agree with the message of this post, I am often bothered by how easily we in El Paso tend to dismiss the literally tens of millions of dollars Mr. Foster and his family have donated to the city. The School of Medicine is but one major example.
I recently saw a comment on Face Book where he was slammed for donating to his college alma mater, claiming he should have done something in El Paso.
Were I him, I would seriously consider giving up on this community
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A lot of folks give back to El Paso. Some might not give tens of millions but many give as much if not more on a relative basis. $100 or a $1,000 might be as important to one person as $10 million is to another person. Many others who don’t have cash, give their time and their talents, contributions which seem not to be respected and valued by us as much as money.
There are also a number of other wonderful individuals in El Paso who have also given millions of dollars to the community. Some do it quietly. You will not find their names on buildings, nor will you find them asking the City for quid pro quos like ballparks or tax breaks. You will not find them cutting back room deals at City Hall to help ensure the success of their real estate investments.
I recall seeing some of those comments about Mr. Foster’s donations to Baylor. At least a couple of them point out the irony of him gifting money for the Baylor Stadium at the same time Mountainstar was asking the City of El Paso to pony up tens of millions of dollars for the downtown ballpark. The Baylor announcement also coincided with Mountainstar coming back to the table to ask that we increase the budget to cover some additional features and amenities that they wanted at the ballpark.
Perhaps the ones who should consider “giving up on this community” are those who have a stake in our community, but whose voices and votes don’t count. They’re the crazy ones.
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Are you really that gullible? Mr. Foster, Mr. Hunt, and every other member of their PDNG give large amounts of money away because the money is used as tax writeoffs. You don’t get rich by giving your money away.
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Doing good and doing the right thing isn’t about getting rich; but yes, people sometimes do the right thing for the wrong reason.
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I hate to burst your bubble, but those stories that the elpasoinc and the El Payola Times that this person has brought to our attention seems out-dated enough, that if memory serves me correctly, that those job reductions took place before anyone seriously considered building a stadium. And much more importantly, correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t ever recall Foster-Hunt mentioning that the stadium will improve EP’s economic future. I mean, it was greatly implied of course, just not by them. Fortunately for them, they had the El Payola Times (mostly “Maniac” Muench) and a few simple-minded, delusional bloggers do their bidding for them. The reason why they DON’T invest in downtown development (other than renting the stadium for a paltry sum) is because they know that purchasing a few hole-in-the-wall businesses that will sell you junk before and after a game just doesn’t “cut the mu$tard.”
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