We received this from Helen Marshall:
Can anyone explain how the mayor can be touting El Paso’s success in DC
http://www.elpasoinc.com/news/local_news/article_cdb73990-a570-11e4-a376-7f3e9d540c5f.html
and the El Paso economy ranks 175 globally, “outruns Tokyo and NYC..” http://www.elpasotimes.com/business/ci_27388029/el-paso-economic-growth-ranks-175th-among-300
Meantime Representative Niland tells us that the city has been preparing for this success for ten years: http://www.elpasotimes.com/Opinion/ci_27252990/Cortney-Carlisle-Niland:-El-Pasos-success-is-the-result-of-a-decade-of-planned-growth
Our city not only enhanced the lives of our citizens, but also garnered national attention as we grew jobs, built new roads, revitalized our Downtown and built new parks and venues.
This last decade redefined El Paso. We showed the country what community support and civic leadership can accomplish. Our plan is set and we have the tools.
I must be on a different planet.
elpasospeak 
I must be on a different planet also.
Except for a handful of rich business people and some doctors and lawyers. . . . I dont see that anyone’s income has gone up.
EVERYONE in front of me at the grocery store uses Food Stamps/ Lone Star Card. And I see that many are too old to have any children under the age of 18 so I dont know how they get Food Stamps if they are single with no children.
(Maybe Niland means. . . . . that El Pasoan’s are PRETENDING to have more money or that. . . . they are being TAXED like they have more money.)
Lets see. . . . about half of the city can’t read English.
About half do not have Cable or Dish TV and only watch Spanish – antenna-TV.
So, . . . yeah . . . . Must be in “their dreams”.
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HO77. .. while I agree with your sentiment I question the accuracy of your “statistics”…
We have “revitalized” downtown catering to the privileged artisans, a baseball stadium that we own in bond debt only and an empty lot where the Northgate Mall once stood. We are on target to have more Walmarts per capita and still no Fortune 500 industry…
But, It’s All Good!
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Economic success? For whom?
There are more than 600 cities in the U.S. with populations of more than 50,000 people. When looking at cities with the highest percentage of people living below the poverty line, El Paso is ranked #49 when you exclude cities in which more than 15% of the residents are college students.
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