There has been some talk on the blog lately about the invigorating effect the arena is expected to have on the downtown economy.
In Please don’t revitalize us any more! we compared the mixed beverage gross receipts taxes for March 2014 (around three months before the ball park opened) to the same taxes for June 2014 (one full month of the ball park operating). The result was that tax receipts went up about 8%. Unfortunately for the independent restaurant owners the ball park accounted for about 13.8% of the new total while the independent’s sales dropped by about 7%.
Two years later
Looking at the numbers for April 2016 we find that the mixed beverage gross receipts taxes for the 79901 area fell to $75,166.12 meaning that total sales (including the ball park) are now down about 25%.
Sobering.
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
They will likely listen to us now, just about as well as they did when they lied about that damn ballpark, and tore down City Hall! They really do not care what the citizens want. And, they really have no regard for taxpayers because they know that too few of us bother to vote.
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And even if they did vote they forget what has been done to them after 72 hours. 🙂
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The “citizens” voted for an arena. I do not want an arena but I voted on the minority side. City Council cannot pick and choose from among the QoL projects that passed. They must implement them all … even the Mexican American Culture Center.
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The citizens did not vote for a Mexican-American cultural center. Various interested parties determined afterward that it would be that. So much for the Syrian.Lebanese, Chinese, Black American, and other ethnic groups that are part of the long history of this city. Telling the whole story would be much more interesting…but not to be.
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There is more to revitalizing downtown, bringing in private investment and getting El Paso moving again than drink tickets. I get your point but your frame of reference needs adjusting.
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