Hang onto your hats.
Three of the projects that the voters approved as part of the quality of life bonds were:
- Multipurpose Cultural & Performing Arts Facility
- Hispanic Cultural Center
- Children’s Museum
Each project had a dollar amount attributed to it when we voted for the bonds.
More efficient to combine
A recent presentation to the bond oversight advisory committee explained this city staff objective:
Combine planning for 3 major assets to leverage collective $205M taxpayer investment
In other words they want to combine the money for all three projects into one big project.
They go on to explain that this will:
- promote tourism
- enhance other venues (is that the ball park?)
- catalyze revitalization
- comply with smart growth principles
What about the children?
Short shrift
Who has the confidence to believe that the city won’t rob money from the children’s museum and hispanic cultural center projects to spend it on the arena?
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
And I don’t like the mention of smart growth. That has proved to be harmful to economic growth in other communities. I guess this will be a continuing battle as we recover from the last city council — sort of a hangover from the progressives.
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Looks like we can dash our hopes for converting Lincoln Center into that Hispanic Center because we surely can’t cook all three things in that one pot under the spaghetti bowl. I wonder what part(s) of town they’re considering.
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when you’re alone and life is making you lonely, you can go downtown
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This idea has to be coming from the Usual Suspects.
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Let me see if l understand this: We’re spending a fortune on a Cultural and Performing Arts Facility (whatever that is), Hispanic Cultural Center, a Kiddies Museum, and a dixie-cup sized amateur baseball stadium with terrible parking to try to ENTICE me to visit downtown? Besides, we already have several strategically-placed hispanic cultural centers scattered through out our town – Chico’s Tacos. Oh, stop it. You’re all just upset because you didn’t think of it first!
( 😀 )
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What’s really sad is that the 2014 baseball schedule for the El Paso Yappingmice interferes with two long running events. The International Museum Day is right in the middle of a home stand and National Day of the Cowboy (an event that draws 900 to 1500 people to the Museum of History), happens to coincide with a home game July 26, 2014. And, for those who don’t know, the Museum of History is within long ball range of home plate, it points right toward the front of the building. So much for MountainStar helping downtown.
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Rod,
You might want to read about the traffic study the city has published if you haven’t already.
Brutus wrote about it in Planned failure.
Muckraker
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[…] though the contract combines the planning for three projects, entirely separate are the planning, siting, programming and feasibility studies […]
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