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El Paso, Texas: A History of Institutional Racism 83+%

Mexican-American, the City is "Rebranded" for Big Money

The history of El Paso has

been inextricably linked to the

history of the Rio Grande,

known as the Rio Bravo in

Mexico. The river, with

headwaters which flow from a

spring in the San Juan

Mountains in southern

Colorado, is the largest (and

maybe the only) river in the

United States which has been

girdled by cement, as it flows

through El Paso when there is

(image courtesy University of Texas at E Paso)

water in it, but which has normally been reduced to a muddy trickle by the time is reaches

Presidio, Texas. At Presidio, some 250 miles southeast from El Paso, the river is revived by the

waters of the Conchos River flowing down from the

northwestern Sierra Madre in Mexico, and those from

the Pecos River in New Mexico.

It thus becomes the big river where so many migrants

have drowned in Texas downstream not far from the

Gulf of Mexico.

History lives in this area of Texas. In 1581, the

Rodrguez-Chamuscado expedition passed through

the area near what was to become El Paso. Antonio

de Espejo camped south of El Paso two years later,

finding the land rich in buffalo, other game and birds,

along with mineral deposits and sources of water.

These two expeditions were followed by that of Don

Juan de Oate, which, having survived a hazardous

passage across the Chihuahua desert, crossed the river

on April 30, 1598.

Oate formally took possession of the land - the

(image courtesy Jos Cisneros Estate)

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"Toma" - in the name of the Spanish crown, and, in thanksgiving for the safe crossing of the

desert, a celebration was held featuring a dramatic play by Captain Marcos Farfn de los Gados.

The friendly Sumas were guests, but they too would lataer join the revolt against the Spanish

heel which built up early on even in the newly established missions along the riverIn 1659, Fray

Garca de San Francisco established and built the Misin Nuestra Seora de

Guadalupe del Rio del Norte de los Mansos on the site of today's Jurez, Mexico. In time the

Mission became known simply as Paso del Norte, and it grew dramatically following the exodus

from the north after the Pueblo Revolt of 1680.

Governor Antonio de Otermn's attempt to liberate Northern New Mexico from the Pueblo

Nation's grip failed. But on his return downriver, he stopped at the Isleta Tiwa Pueblo near

modern day Albuquerque and burned it to the ground. He took in excess of 350 people hostage

and returned with them, less those who did not survive the journey.

The situation worsened with the Sumas, Janos, Jumanos, Tanos, Mansos and Jemez, among

others. more or less in open revolt as they allied with the area Apaches. The missions at Ysleta

del Sur, San Antonio de Senec and Nuestra Seora de la Limpia Concepcin del Socorro were

all established in an attempt to pacify the original peoples who remained in the area.

Another mission, San Diego de los Sumas, was established, replacing Guadalupe de los Sumas,

along with one at San Elcario, near Oate's original crossing. With the election of Governor

Diego de Vargas and the reconquest of northern New Mexico and Santa Fe, the original peoples

in the Paso del Norte area were remarkably diminished.

Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821, and in 1824 Paso del Norte formally became

part of the state of Chihuahua. In 1829, a disastrous flood left the river with two active channels

flowing. Socorro, Ysleta and San Elizario (the former Elcario) were left in an island in the

middle of both channels.

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo at the close of the United States' war on Mexico made the river

the formal boundary between Mexico and the United States. As the settlement at Paso del Norte

grew in importance due to trade between the two countries, the north side of the border was

settled more and more. One of the settlements was Franklin, and it quickly was renamed El Paso.

The confusion in names only ended when Paso del Norte was renamed Ciudad Jurez in honor of

Mexican President Benito Jurez. When the Southern Pacific Railroad reached El Paso at the

close of the 1800s, the city was set on the road to becoming the El Paso of today.*

Every year, the newly incorporated City of San Elizario celebrates Oate's crossing. People dress

in period Spanish costumes, and the "Toma" is reenacted. And every year representatives of the

Pueblo tribes are given equal billing, and they relate the history as it really happened, complete

with native songs and dances.

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San Eli, as the town is fondly known, has embarked on a national campaign claiming it as the

site of the real first Thanksgiving, held long before the Pilgrims arrived, giving rise to a healthy

national debate.

Memories and Prognostications

Long ago, when Mexicans and Gringos - warily and with no small misgivings - eyed each other

across a great divide that has lessened more in the telling than in the doing, there were real

alligators ("lagartos" in Mexican Spanish) in the zcalo pool in downtown El Paso, Texas. The

pool was large, as were the beasts, and it was architecturally attractive. The zcalo was formally

known as San Jacinto Plaza, but everyone called it the "Alligator Plaza", "La Plaza de los

Lagartos", or simply "La Placita," and it was in fact a small park right in the middle of town with

the alligator pool at its center.

The park around the pool was put to good use by those who took their daily ease on the grass,

philosophers all, rising from time to time to lean on the handsome cement ledge over the

balustrades that encircled the pool, there to ponder and deliberate upon the ways of alligators and

other pressing affairs of the moment. The trees, large, tall old elms, were full of birds and

birdsong: the center of town, in contrast to the relaxed ambience of the park, was vibrant and

alive. There

was a sense of

community,

there was

movement of

commerce and

people, and the

city was firmly

anchored in

what was even

then called

downtown,

with the hub of

it all being the

pool and the

alligators On

any given day,

people were to

be seen

downtown until

late in the evening.

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Movies at the majestic Plaza Theatre were 9 cents for kids, and 15 cents for adults. The Ellanay,

Palace and Texas Grand offered similar prices. Of an after school day during the school year,

throngs of students from El Paso High, the old Bowie High, the St. Joseph's Academy (mostly

known - and delicately stated - as toney Loretto Academy's little sister for brown girls not able to

afford the Loretto tuition) girls, and the boys from Cathedral High would make their way to the

plaza for a quick visit before going home or to wait for a given bus, in the meantime patronizing

the soda fountains at the Walgreen's and Kress and the Queen Anne Bakery as well, where the

best chocolate eclaires in town were two for thirteen cents - a real treat after one of the hotly

contested grammar school basketball games at the Catholic Youth Organization Hall nearby. A

slice of cherry pie with a cherry coke was a package deal for twenty cents at the soda fountains,

and the ogling of each other, the stolen glance, the budding teen age loves, all were part of the

approaching close of day.

Of a weekend evening, the older teenagers would cross over to Jurez and Fred's Rainbow Bar

for cold beer and American style sandwiches (where the kindly proprietor would not let the

young people get drunk, and who became a legend in his lifetime to legions of El Paso teens), or

the Cavernas Musicales, down a flight of stairs, with cavern decor, complete with large

stalactites and stalagmites.

The more adventurous would find their way to Calle Mariscal with its sellers of Gardenia

bouquets, the strolling musicians, the photographers with their Speed Graphic cameras who

would take your picture and deliver a not-too-wet black and white print in something like ten

minutes, and the houses of pleasures with a fair number of young ladies of the evening ready to

introduce their young clients to the faux joys and mysteries of sex.

The center of things had yet to unravel.

The Popular and the White House department stores, and later the Gilberts and Glass stores were

stocked with fine merchandise. It was not unusual for the Popular to open by appointment on a

given Sunday so high ranking military, industrialists, and other wealthy people from the interior

of Mexico could shop privately. The Casa Oppenheim in Jurez was known for the quality of its

German cutlery, crystal, and the expensive French perfumes kept in stock. Streetcars trundled

back and forth across the river, at the time free from the foul and dreary girdle of cement that

now contains it, its flow reduced to a muddy trickle fighting for passage through thick weeds -

and the border officials were surprise! generally courteous.

The Florida and its signature Filete Marcos, a filet mignon served with a spicy, peeled baked

potato and slices of roasted, tender long green chile, the Charmant, La Nueva Cucaracha, the

Lobby, the Chinese Palace, and the Crystal Palace were not only superb restaurants in Jurez;

they hosted world class entertainment as well up until the early 70s by way of floor shows: Stan

Kenton and June Christy, Peggy Lee, the Ballet Folclrico de Mxico de Amalia Hernndez,

Trio Los Panchos, the Ink Spots, Los Churumbeles de Espaa - far too many to name.

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But one restaurant stood above them all - Martino's - a gourmet's delight, now but a shadow of

what it used to be, as its prosperous owners went off to live in Spain long ago. And by the 70s, la

Avenida Jurez, where these establishments were located, was showing signs of decay, and one

by one, the fine restaurants closed. Today, the avenue is lined with cheap disco or hard rock bars

that cater exclusively to the young, and the unregulated drinking poses problems on both sides of

the border.

The Bermdez family of Jurez had yet to embark on their wildly successful scheme to despoil -

socially, ecologically and spiritually - not only their city but ours - through the ugly maquiladora

industry and the exploitation of young women, an unseemly joining at the economic hip of all

that is bad about the robber barons on both sides of the border, where it is not unknown for

scrupulous factory owners to cart off their equipment in the middle of the night, leaving the

workers with unpaid salaries, without benefits and without recourse through the hapless host

country.

But even then, there were omens visible here and there, for those who cared to look. Consider:

with a growing university at hand to act as anchor for the education establishment so necessary

for any successful economy, the myopic city fathers of the day could do no better than to

proclaim the perceived economic cornucopia of the border as being based on the four Cs, cotton,

copper, cattle and cheap Mexican labor.

This mantra continued to be chanted for far too many years, and the city fathers, now joined by

late blooming city mothers, notably women sitting on the boards of our predatory banks,

peopling chambers of commerce and running the University of Texas at El Paso - imagine, if

you will, a university president whose legacy will be, beyond question, her attempts to kill the

departments of philosophy and communications while assisting in the militarization of the border

as a handmaiden to the Department of Homeland Security, and to force the departure of Duncan

Earl, a gifted anthropology professor, and again, as a local and exquisitely qualified

MexicanAmerican female with a PhD in library science from the University of Texas where she

had worked and had gained honors, was passed over for the position of University Librarian at

UTEP and a white male with no credentials in the field hired instead - great God, where do we

get such people? - continues to be chanted even now, for seemingly the only industries we are

able to attract are those willing to pay about $6 per hour to the hirelings. Those who claim that El

Paso has become the Mecca for the telemarketing industry may be on to something that the bulk

of the people ignore to their economic peril.

It was 1948 and I was an eighth grader at St. Joseph's Parochial school. All too soon, Fr. Walsh,

the pastor, along with Frs. Schimpf and Callaghan - much loved Jesuits all - were to leave St.

Joseph's and the other grammar schools in El Paso, set in the parishes the Jesuits had founded

and that the Sisters of Loretto had so well staffed for so many years.

Having been stymied in my attempt to join the Columbian Squires (the youth group of the

Knights of Columbus) by its new, racist chaplain and his seminarian satrap assigned to St.

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Joseph's - one of whom had cast a viciously effective blackball barring my entry into the Squires

as I learned early on that religion could also be the refuge of the racist. I would also learn that I

lived in one of the more racist cities in the state of Texas - with its all Black school, prior to

Brown v. Board of Education, and up to 2005, its original "Mexican" school, Aoy grammar

school, recently replaced by a brand new model, specifically built on the wrong side of the tracks

to keep us there - a city that as late as 1968 still punished kids for speaking Spanish on the school

grounds by sending them to "Spanish Detention" for an hour or so after school.

And it took its toll. Having suffered racism - "dirty Mexican, greaser, spic, get the hell back to

Mexico, keep away from our white girls" - from grammar school, through Notre Dame, the Navy

and Austin, where I moved to work for a year before entering law school, and where, even as a

veteran with a brand new wife and a kid to boot, in 1959 I couldn't find a job for three months

until an enterprising employment agency passed me off as "Spanish" and I got a job pushing

furniture around in a warehouse with the result that I too momentarily succumbed to racism.

I hated my tormentors, and it was only through my involvement with civil rights beginning in the

middle 50s that, notwithstanding my initial debacle in Austin, that I continued to open my eyes,

a process that went on through the 60s when I was helped to get over a fair amount of hate by

my mentor, the late great west Texas lawyer, Warren Burnett, so untimely dead, who taught me

that you could meet the racist in an arena of his choosing and defeat him, now and again, if you

but used your head and your talents and respected him as a human being worthy of respect on

that ground alone, for Burnett in his agnosticism and later atheism was more a practitioner of the

beatitudes than any number of so called Christians and observant Jews I have met and yes, who

buttressed my belief that El Paso, beneath its rose-visioned chamber of commerce approach to

the real world was racist to its core. Yet, now and again, I realize I'm still not entirely sure, even

at my advanced age, that I have truly freed myself from this cancer that rots the soul.

The live alligators are today long gone - gone and replaced by substitutes crafted of fiberglass by

the gifted artist Luis Jimnez of El Paso (recently and tragically killed in a freak accident in his

New Mexico studio) - in menacing pose rising out of a waterless, would be pond that seeks to

compensate by bathing the fiberglass creatures in a fine mist during the hot summer months,

about which people gather to cool off (cheerfully known by the locals as "misting Mexicans").

But no matter how gifted the artist, no work of art can truly capture the raw reality of feral life.

Beyond question, it is not the same: nor is the zcalo.

The elms that once grew here have been replaced by recently planted live oaks, and some rather

ugly "desert-friendly trees" that will never grow to any semblance of towering majesty. The

grassy areas are now fenced off. Warning signs abound: "It is forbidden to feed the birds". This

last is generally ignored by mostly old people who cheerfully feed popcorn - readily available

from vendors around the plaza - to the pigeons and other feathered vagrants.

And, in fact, some four years ago, during the state Democratic convention which met in El Paso,

some Native Americans had put up a tipi in the park on the forbidden grass, and one afternoon I

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saw a couple of young, handsome women in fringed and beaded buckskin feeding a riot of birds

assembled at their feet as a flute and drum sounded in the near distance, and it was enough to

pierce the soul. Although the police were around, they had had the good sense not to interfere.

So much for fences.

"Don't throw trash - fines up to $1000. No alcohol permitted. Restrooms permanently closed -

use facilities across the street". So many signs are truly jarring, and must seem so even to the

insensitive. Don't feed the birds. It is telling, that in a city right next door to a country where one

of the great revolutions (American, 1776, French, 1789, Mexican, 1910, Russian, 1917 - the last

two within living memory) that defined liberty took place, so many restrictions proliferate like

unwanted garbage. "Park closes at ten".

After ten o'clock of an evening, about the only living beings in the zcalo are humans of various

preferences in dress and tastes in matters sexual, of which El Paso seems to have an

inexhaustible supply, all circling each other like buzzards, all awake to the probability that more

than one of their number are police people seeking to entrap them; and entrap them they do,

having caught in years past a district judge, a few prominent citizens, and from time to time and

with great good humor, one another - all willing to live the lure of the moment for a few dollars,

and for pleasure feigned more often than not.

And alas, the cities of my youth, El Paso and Jurez, are no more. Progress as defined by the

damned developers and the maniacs united for growth unchecked has not been kind to either,

and the zcalo has suffered apace. Every few years, the city administration du jour tries to

modernize it. The results are invariably the waste of tax dollars spent on more cement and

crushed rock, less grass, and less space for people. Today, many of the buildings that defined

downtown stand mostly empty. The businesses that remain are generally confined to the first

floors, where low quality goods, perfumes, fast food and notions are sold.

Downtown is dying, as is the pattern in so many other cities. At night, the windows that once

drew crowds to their displays are now shuttered by the ugly roll-down metal curtains that are

spreading, crawling, despoiling the downtowns of America, victims to the malls, suburbia, the

automobile, suvs and changing values.

In El Paso, the current administration has embarked on a plan to "revitalize" the downtown area.

Totally oblivious to historical and economic facts - i.e., El Paso is about 80% MexicanAmerican,

and is economically deprived - the administration has entered into an unholy marriage with big

money, represented by billionaire Bill Sanders, a local boy who has been described as the

biggest and most powerful landlord in the country, according to Business Week magazine.

Not only would downtown be "revitalized", but in the bargain, the oldest historic neighborhood

in El Paso, the "Segundo Barrio", almost 100% Mexican-American and allegedly part of

downtown, would be "sanitized", in the words of the promoters and developers, through the

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implementation of a "Plan" put together by a San Francisco firm from the top down, with

absolutely no input by the people most affected by this morally bankrupt madness.

Why am I not surprised?

The "Barrio" is part of downtown only in the latte fueled dreams of the promoters of destruction.

In reality, it is some blocks removed. The politicians propose to use the power of eminent

domain to condemn residential and commercial properties, sell them to real estate investors

through their "REITs" - real estate investment trusts which will, in theory, build modern

apartments and bring in "upscale businesses". All in the name of progress.

All in the name of the discredited Prof, Richard Florida, and his imaginary "creative class."

This pie-in-the-sky nonsense that will result in the displacement of thousands of people, mostly

women and children, is being and will continue to be fought every step of the way. Two recall

petitions have narrowly failed, one for technical reasons and the other for lack of thirty or so

signatures. Entrenched opposition continues to face this most avaricious, morally corrupt and

foolish administration in the history of the city.

If you picture downtown El Paso bisected by a

line running from west to east, the line being

Paisano Drive, you would arrive at a pretty

accurate distribution of buildings as they

define the central part of the city. The state

and federal courthouses are located three

blocks north of Paisano, and San Jacinto

Plaza, the historic center of the city, is five

blocks up in the same direction. The central

banks, City Hall, and most architecturally (but

not historically) significant buildings also lie

north.

About twenty or so blocks north of Paisano

lies Rim Road, which leads to Scenic Drive, the latter straddling the lower reaches of Mt.

Franklin, where one can stop and look down on the city and on Mexico to the south through high

powered glasses. Rim Road pretty much defines the southernmost point where Mt. Franklin (this

tip end of the Rockies is best described as a tall hill or as a baby mountain, since it is somewhere

in between) ends, as the mountain bisects the city from north to south.

Rim Road runs along the bluff that overlooks the central city. When El Paso was first

established, the gentry preferred to live near the center of town. The bluff was not deemed to be

desirable property, and the Mexican settlers were relegated to the high ground which at the time

was known as "Stormsville". However, it did not take long to realize that a mistake had been

made; the gentry took the high ground, and the Mexicans were sent packing south of Paisano

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Drive, then known as Second Street. At all times, Mexican-American, Chicano, or Latinxs have

been a significant numerical majority in Texas's largest city on the border with Mexico.

Early on, the Third and Fourth Wards made up the area where the fair skinned settlers lived; the

Second Ward, which was where the Mexicans lived soon swallowed up the First Ward which

more or less faded from popular usage, and any straying beyond its borders of the former by

brown folk was not suffered lightly. This, in spite of the fact that more than one of the early city

fathers took to wife a Mexican heiress of a land grant or of a few hundred acres of desirable land.

No fools they.

The first "Mexican" school was established in the Barrio in 1887 by Jaime Aoy Olies Vila, a

Spaniard, converted Mormon and humanitarian. Aoy not only taught, but supported his students

with food and clothing as well. In 1888 the El Paso School Board incorporated Aoy's school into

its system, but only on a segregated basis, and it was renamed the "Mexican Preparatory

School". A new "Aoy" grammar school today is located five blocks south of Paisano Drive, and

but two blocks away from the Mexican border. The old and historic building was razed by the El

Paso Independent School District while the people weren't really looking and when their protests

came too late.

The Second Ward was and is known to the residents as "El Segundo " (at one time 100%

Mexican-American with an occasional Black), and it is a thriving community with a deeply

ingrained sense of ethnic pride. It is the site of the original Bowie High School, now Guillen

Middle School, and its fabled 1949 state championship baseball team, the members of

which slept in their cars in Odessa and elsewhere, having been denied lodging while on

their way to Austin, seat of the state tournament.

Originally, the Second Ward also encompassed the area near the border known as Chihuahuita

and Smeltertown (formerly the First Ward), to the west and south of the old copper smelter

which was later replaced by the ASARCO smelter, now defunct. Smeltertown became known as

the home of many World War II casualties, Mexican-American young men who were members

of the storied Company E of the Texas-Oklahoma Arrowhead Division, needlessly

sacrificed during the failed attempts to cross the Rapido River in Italy.

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El Segundo is the seat of Sacred Heart and Saint Ignatius Churches, which were homes to their

founders in the late 1800s, the Jesuit order in El Paso. It is also home to Public Housing Projects,

the earliest of which was the Alamito Projects, which dated back to the 1930s. They were

recently demolished under the gentrification-based Hope 6 project, approved by El Paso

Housing Authority directors appointed by former mayor Ray Caballero and current mayor John

Cook, over the strong objections of community people and Mexican-American pastors of

churches in the Barrio.

Two servicemen from the Barrio have been awarded the nation's second highest award - the

Distinguished Service Cross - for heroism during WWI. Marcos Armijo, whose name on display

at the Armijo Center in the Barrio is spelled "Marcus", and Marcelino Serna. An undocumented

immigrant, Serna was working in the sugar beet fields in Colorado when the Border Patrol

caught him and gave him two choices: either enlist in the Army or be deported to Mexico.

He enlisted, and was sent to Europe, where he became the highest decorated soldier from Texas

in that war. Serna, who later was called the Audie Murphy of WWI, was denied the Medal of

Honor because, as he was told, he (1) was an undocumented alien and a buck private, and (2) he

could not speak English. A bill introduced in Congress by Ron Coleman, former Congressman

from El Paso which would have rectified the errors, failed in the House, although it cited the

reasons set out above. Serna died in El Paso in 1992.

El Segundo shares two Medal of Honor awardees; Silvestre Herrera. a former farmworker who

lived in the Barrio but whose uncle took him to Arizona when he was young because there was

no work to be had in El Paso. He was a member of the "Arrowhead Division". He was honored

for his heroism in WWII by President Truman. Ambrosio Guillen, who sacrificed his life in

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Korea, was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously. Guillen Middle School, pictured above,

where he was a student at the old Bowie High, was named in his honor.

The Segundo Barrio is viewed by many as a sort of Ellis Island of the border. It has been and

continues to be the gateway for immigrants from Mexico and the Americas, and passage has

always been difficult.

During the year the Public Health Service assigned a new physician to the El Paso bridge

and immediately upon arrival the new physician instituted an active campaign of what he

termed venereal diseases. One week after he had taken charge of the local Station, he

was taking up an average of fifty passports per day of local residents of El Paso claiming

that such persons were afflicted with either syphilis oradenitis. He went so far as to make

a statement to me that he had proofs that Mexican people or people of Mexican ancestry

were afflicted with such loathsome diseases and that the average ran up to 95%, in other

words, that 5% of such people were free of venereal diseases.

Exact figures are not available . . . The U. S. Immigration Service failed to keep an

accurate record; the Mexican service did likewise. I have made a close study of

Repatriates and I can honestly state that a conservative estimate can be placed at

600,000 Mexicans returning to Mexico as Repatriates or as Voluntary Returns. . . I

know of my own personal knowledge that the majority of California repatriates left

California for two reasons: (a) That it was next to impossible for a Mexican to get a job.

(b) that a free railroad ticket was offered to the Border in order that he 'might find his

way to Mexico where he originally came from'. To satisfy my curiosity, I personally

questioned each adult on a California special train consisting of 9 chair cars (each seat

occupied by two adults and from three to five children in each seat, every available seat

occupied), and I found that out of a total of 915 persons on that particular train, only 127

persons were Mexican citizens; all the rest were American citizens . . .

Annual Report, El Paso Office, July 1, 1930 to June 30, 1931, July 1, 1931 to June 30, 1932.

My late uncle and El Paso historian Cleofas Calleros wrote the above in his capacity as Mexican

Border Representative for the United States Catholic Welfare Conference, which is now defunct.

The zeitgeist of the times was rabidly anti-Mexican in the frenzy that swept the country during

the depression years, a time when it was popular to blame Mexican-American citizens for having

taken "American jobs".

One of my earliest cases when I started practicing law in El Paso was one such citizen, who was

awarded significant damages for the wrongful repatriation.

The depression repatriations were followed by the infamous Operation Wetback of the

Eisenhower years, and it was my uncle's best estimate that for the two years or so that the

operation was active in Texas, approximately 1,800,000 were deported, and as in the

deportations of 1931-32, many American citizens were among their number.

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In fact, it was a number of lawsuits brought by citizens, coupled with resistance from farmers

and ranchers, that eventually stopped the "operation". In one celebrated case, an American

citizen deportee was sent to the state of Chiapas, on the Guatemalan border. It took him some

two months to hitch-hike his way back to the border. He was reportedly awarded damages in six

figures.

In between the depression repatriations, Operation Wetback and currently, it has always been the

case that an inspector at any of the bridges can take a local crossing card from its bearer for any

reason, usually because of suspicion of fraud or because the card does not belong to the bearer,

etc. It is almost impossible for the bearer to recover a card wrongfully taken, since cards are

issued by the State Department, and its "discretionary" actions are not subject to review by

judicial authorities. This little bit of legal nonsense would seem to have no place in a society

based on law.

During the time that former Congressman Sylvestre Reyes, who had been chief of the El Paso

Sector of the Border Patrol, the practice reached its zenith. With the introduction of "laser" cards,

it has decreased, but people from Mexico with cards still cross at their peril. It is sufficient for an

inspector to take a card simply because he does not like the way the bearer looks, and to subject

the bearer to intense and intrusive questioning with practically no holds barred by law.

Particularly in these post twin towers times, when the former "El Paso Port of Entry" logo has

been replaced by that of the vaguely Teutonic "El Paso Sector - Department of Homeland

Security", ICE inspectors and Border Patrol personnel are not known to be kind.

"We all know El Paso is an awesome city with great people and assets. We also

know that we spend an inordinate amount of time defending our great city because

we have allowed others to define it and project an image that is not always positive.

The energy and resources we spend refuting these negative messages and images are

detracting from our important business of building a great community and creating

new investments and jobs for our citizens.

So stating, City Manager Joyce Wilson ushered in the modern era of institutional racism which

arrived with a monstrous bang.

A handy timeline for the "rebranding" of El Paso by outsiders acting with local advertising and

business interests through a racist advertising/marketing campaign.

2003 October: Bill Sanders, a local real estate billionaire, is invited to redevelop downtown

El Paso by El Paso Mayor Raymond Caballero and group of developers.

2003 December: Sanders forms the Verde Group and Paso Del Norte Group in El Paso.

2004 January: Verde Group obtains millions of gallons of water rights for Santa Teresa

binational development project without any public process thanks to governor Richardsons

intervention.

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2004 May: Sanders/Wingo Advertising, Inc., hires Antonio Patric Buchanan as its Chief

Marketing Officer. He quickly establishes a new business in California, named "Glass Beach

Marketing", registers it in France, and prepares a web page.

Registrant:

Glass Beach Marketing

15 rue montaigne

Paris, France

Registered through: CHEAPSUCKER.COM

Domain Name: GLASS-BEACH.COM

Created on: 04-May-04

Expires on: 04-May-07

Last Updated on: 04-May-06

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September, 2004: Joyce Wilson begins work as City Manager for El Paso, Texas

October 6, 2004: Bill Sanders's Verde Corporate Realty Services, LLC, is registered in Texas

2005 February 15: City of El Paso votes approves contract with Paso del Norte Group to

create downtown redevelopment plan. City Council grants them $250,000 to PNDG, headed

by Bill Sanders, as its contribution to the revitalization plan for downtown and the Segundo

Barrio.

"The plan calls for forming a Real Estate Investment Trust to buy properties in the

Redevelopment District. Sanders said the hope is that property and business owners can be

presented with a "compelling enough" business proposition and agree to sell "before we have to

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flex our muscles and use eminent domain (condemnation)." ** The Redevelopment District

included the Barrio, and it was the Barrio Sanders was referring to.

Simon-Martin-Veque Winkelstein Moris (SMWM, the boutique "architecture, planning and

urban-design firm" from San Francisco is hired. Has no knowledge of El Paso, border culture

and customs. The Paso del Norte Group tasks it with preparing a revitalization plan for

downtown El Paso, including the Barrio.

September 13: City grants PDNG an extension to develop plan. Representative ORourke

defends plan secrecy otherwise residents and small business owners would tear it apart and

youd never be able to keep it together.

March 3, 2006: Wilson sends Glass Beach memo to targeted El Paso citizens, pays it

$100,000 in taxpayer money. Memo asks people to share their perception of El Paso for an

"immersion audit" of El Paso.

March 22, 23: Antonio Patric Buchanan. Is given alleged outsider and local perceptions of El

Paso. This image is leaked to the public by sources inside city government. The beginning of

the ultimate failure of the Plan until the Pentagon steps in.

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March 31: The PDNG Plan is unveiled by William Sanders and the City Council at the Plaza

Theater before an audience of enthusiastic business leaders on the same day of a large

immigrant rights march on Cesar Chvez day.

April 12: Bill Sanders tells 500 downtown businessmen eminent domain will be used if they

refuse to sell. ORourke says he has no conflict of interest because his father in law (Bill

Sanders) does not own property in the development zone. Which is no longer true.

April 13: Sanders and ORourke face stiff opposition from South El Paso residents at Armijo

Park meeting.

April 19: City Manager Joyce Wilson sends her staff an email instructing them how to

downplay displacement, neutralize the losers and pacify the opposition.

April 26: Sanders longs to flex his muscles, declares his love for eminent domain for private

purposes, and can't wait for condemnation proceedings to begin so those smelly, pesky

Mexicans and their hangers-on can be flushed out of the barrio once and for all:

As David Romo, auhor of Ringside Seat to a Revolution, wrote:

"Yet in El Paso, the major player behind the Paso Del Norte plan, William Sanders, thinks

the heart of the Segundo Barrio is mostly a lot of junk that should be swept away to make

room for 'big-box' retail stores and parking lots. 'Look at that,' Sanders recently told

downtown businessman Enoch Kimmelman as he pointed out the Segundo Barrio from his

Chase Manhattan offices. That's a pile of shit down there. I would be ashamed to have a

business there. It should all be razed. All of it.' According to local architect Geoffrey

Wright, Sanders expressed similar sentiments to him as well. 'There isn't a single historical

building inside the redevelopment zone,' the multibillionaire landlord asserted. 'Our

consultants have already checked. We can't save a building just because Pancho Villa had a

couple of drinks there.'"

May 25: More 250 Southside residents organized by La Campaa and Sin Fronteras praotest

as City holds meetings to sell plan to the public. Most people there speak out against the plan.

Police have to intervene to stop protests, but make no arrests when warned of 1st Amendment.

June 7: Bishop Armando X. Ochoa of the Catholic Diocese of El Paso writes an open letter to

City Council declaring the plan as unjust and divisive. Some of the more salient ones are:

5. In the midst of the anti-immigrant sentiment by many in the U.S., the residents of South El Paso

face yet another obstacle in the re-vitalization plan proposed by Paso del Norte Group.

This plan, if implemented, would displace numerous area residents, as well as small businesses.

The fact that the proposed low-cost housing will be subsidized only for four years predictably

will force those lower income residents to move to another area of the city after the subsidy is

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over. Where? The poor from Mexico typically prefer closeness to downtown and to Ciudad

Jurez. The inevitable result of the present plan will be less affordable housing

opportunities for the poor, especially the poor immigrant in the South El Paso area. We

reject a plan that diminishes the number of low-cost housing units.

6. The plan of paying an owner "market value" as opposed to a real "replacement value" will

leave those affected in a very difficult situation if they plan to continue their business elsewhere

and were forced out of their present location by eminent domain. The same with housing. Those

who own a home will be paid very little according to "market value". What are they to do if they

who are typically poor and many elderly need to buy a new home elsewhere? Compensation

based on market value for an area such as the Segundo Barrio will be unjust in many cases.

7. The proposed use of "eminent domain" to force downtown, Segundo Barrio and Union Plaza

land owners into a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), managed by a select, few individuals,

negates the possibility of cooperation by a present property owner (and the tenant), from

improving their property. If the free, legal choice of the owner is in conflict with the plan and its

goals. If a landlord desires to cooperate and improve the building for low-cost housing, it appears

that he/she would have to sell if his/her building is not in-line with the present plan. Eminent

Domain should only be used for the "common good" of the community as in the building of

a public hospital, fire station, public school, etc.; not for exclusively personal or corporate

profit.

8. We have very serious concerns with the Real Estate Investment Trust approach to

revitalization. A Real Estate Investment Trust is a business entity which exists to maximize cash

flow of the real property in the Trust in order to maximize profit. Decisions by a REIT are made

by the Officers of the Trust and are made to accomplish its maximizationofprofit goal for the

benefit of the investors in the Trust. Therefore, a REIT appears to not be accountable to the

community or to the City government, other than to abide by applicable laws and regulations. The

City government, on the other hand, is accountable to the community and its citizens. Moreover,

decisions by the City government are based on considerations of different factors such as: quality

of life; respect for culture; historic preservation; betterment opportunities for its citizens, such as

low-income housing, job training, small-business opportunities and growth, development of

industries, maintaining infrastructure, etc.

9. Taking advantage of the immigrant occurs in our South El Paso community, in particular by

apartment owners who maintain their rental property in substandard conditions. This unjust

practice of renting inadequate housing has gone on for years without any effective intervention by

City Inspectors or Officials. Any plan for a South El Paso re-vitalization must NOT diminish

the number of units of affordable, low-income housing. Instead, if the Segundo Barrio and

the Union Plaza District are to be included in a downtown re-development plan, their

residential character MUST be maintained and improvement of the quality of housing and

an increase in the number of units of available, affordable housing for lowincome persons in

those two residential communities should be adopted AS A GOAL OF THE RE-

DEVELOPMENT PLAN. The City should also adopt an effective, aggressive plan that

demands apartment owners to maintain their units according to acceptable standards and

codes. The City presently has the power and mechanism to force negligent landlords to

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improve sub-standard housing, i.e., by the "Municipal Regulation of Housing and Other

Structures", Loc. Gov't Code 214.003; Receiver. Landlords should relate to their tenants in a

way that is just and non-threatening.

10 Also, the Paso del Norte Group's membership of 300 plus, was kept secret until very recently.

The list of members was available from the City through the Freedom of Information Act. Why

were the names of the members withheld from public knowledge if the Paso del Norte Group's

plan received public funding?

11. If maximizing profit and land value is the driving force of the plan, there is a threat of major

chain stores, i.e., Walmart or Home Depot being able to purchase land from the REIT and moving

into the Segundo Barrio-downtown area. Although the residents of the Segundo Barrio may

benefit from Walmart's lower prices, we are aware of the certain elimination of area small

businesses - many existing for many years and part of the tradition of the neighborhood --

attempting to compete. We oppose the establishment of these mega-stores which would also

destroy the unique cultural and historical character of the Segundo Barrio as well as small

businesses.

12. As Church, we want to stand in solidarity with the poor, with the immigrant, with the

marginalized, with the rejected one. There is a long history of neglect and discrimination with

regards to the Segundo Barrio. We are not opposed to progress, economic development,

improvement and construction of buildings. We are opposed to any plan that disregards and

displaces the poor, that ignores the plight of the immigrant, that divides the community, that

perpetuates injustice and inadequate housing, that diminishes low-cost housing; one that

seeks to enrich a select group.

The letter is signed by Most Rev. Armando X. Ochoa, Bishop, Catholic Diocese of El Paso, Rev.

John Stowe, O.F.M., Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia, Diocese of El Paso, and Fr.

Rafael Garca, S.J, Pastor, Sacred Heart Church.

July 10: Council votes to postpone use of eminent domain until 2008 for owners who do not wish

to sell.

July 19: The Glass Beach marketing study that adopts racist imagery to support the PDNG plan is

approved by City Council.

October 5: City Planning Commission approves PDNG plan, increases redevelopment zone to 168 acres from original 127.5.

Questions

1. Why was Glass Beach, a firm but two years in the business, chosen for the immersion

auditrebranding task, allegedly on the recommendation of MSG (the company that represents

the El Paso Convention Center), without disclosing what role, if any, Bob Wingo played in the

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awarding of a $100,000 contract which would materially benefit his employee, Antonio Patric

Buchanan?

2. Why were Bob Wingo and his employee's names included in the list of contact people for

Glass Beach?

3. What business relationship existed between Bob Wingo and Antonio Patric Buchanan? Was

the latter a salaried employee of Sanders/Wingo, was he a partner, was he a stockholder, at the

time the $100,000 contract was entered into?

4. Was the $100,000 contract put out to bid?

5. Did the City Manager know of the Bob Wingo - Antonio Patric Buchanan business

relationship at the time the contract was awarded? Should she have known?

6. Since Bob Wingo was apparently a primary vendor of SMG, exactly what does the following

language mean? "According to city officials, the contract, for $100,000, was a subcontract

from SMG's primary vendor, Sanders Wingo?"

7. In plain English, exactly what role did Sanders Wingo play from the time the contract was

being negotiated to the actual awarding of the contract?

8. Who are the "city officials" who have or had knowledge of the events surrounding the

granting of the contract?

And that's for starters. All stories in fantasyland have a happy ending, so you'll be glad to know

that Paris married Antonio, and she is now the owner of The Buchanan Group, formerly Glass

Beach, where Antonio is the CEO. And Wingo/Sanders has surely profited by its relationship

with Wilson. It now represents the Convention Center, and UTEP has become a client.

It pays to be connected.

But with all this cozying up and intertwining relationships, one does wonder why the FBI and the

U.S. Attorney's Office or both have not taken an interest in what on the face of it seems to be

more than a passing appearance of impropriety. After all, former Mayor Ray Salazar gave the

FBI copies of all our data. But as we found out later, Bill Sanders is/was a close friend of the

then U. S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas.

In the final analysis, the revitalization plan became such a hot potato that the PDNG kicked it

back to the City, where it mostly lay with no further action, until

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The Charrettes Came to El Paso, Courtesy of the Pentagon

I decided to attend a Charrette gathering at Bowie High School, having found out that the French

word now meant an intensive exercise in architectural/urban planning. I registered as Juan Pablo Rodrguez and made my way to table No. 10, which bore a Central-West Side sign. There were

really large maps - I guess about 3x5 feet - with pictures of homes, apartments, parks, businesses, etc., on the table, along with round peel-off stickers of red, green, brown and black colors.

I had a flashback to the toney San Francisco based Simon Martin-Vegue Winkelstein Moris

(SMWM) firm - that had asked for and received $750,000 to design the "Downtown

Revitalization Plan" for the Paso del Norte Group - $250,000 of which had been paid by the City

of El Paso - a grand gift to the already rich. Much like the Charrette, the SMWM firm had set up

tables with maps - but they had used little wooden boxes painted different colors which people

would place on a given map to show their preferences for houses, parks, businesses, and so on.

While I was dealing with my flashback, Victor Dover of Dover, Kohl & Partners, an urban

planning firm from Florida, began to make some introductory remarks. quoting from a recently

printed Town Paper featuring a "1925 Plan for El Paso." He spoke about the "team," how we

needed to plan for the next century, telling us that according to the Town Paper, El Paso had a

population of 100,000 souls, that thriving neighborhoods were connected to the downtown

through an extensive streetcar network that reached the outermost edges of the city.

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Except that it was all false.

The assertion in the Town Paper that at the turn of the century the City of El Paso had a

population approaching 100,000 is woven out of whole cloth.

From El Paso - Then and Now, American Printing Company, 1954: - written by my late uncle

and respected El Paso historian, Cleofas Calleros:

"By 1896, according to that year's city directory, 15,568 souls led their lives within the

confines of El Paso. The directory was thorough and adequate, having been compiled and

published by the reputable firm of Evans and Worley of Dallas, Texas." pp. 19-21.

And the assertion in the Town Paper that . . ."thriving neighborhoods were connected to the

downtown through an extensive streetcar network that reached the outermost edges of the city"

may be pretty prose, but it is also splendidly false.

"Street car service was composed of two 'rapid transit' lines . . . The cars were somewhat

larger than a piano box, drawn by a small Spanish mule with a bell jingling from his neck."

Ibid., p. 68.

A poll was conducted by another speaker, and the 30 or so attendees pressed 1 for yes, 2 for no,

on small calculator like devices given to them when they registered.

Having been given a rather chilling command - "When this whistle blows, everyone will stop" -

police type whistle is blown so the locals will recognize it when the time comes - the "citizen

input" began under the watchful eyes of the "facilitators." I was watching the three citizens at my

table - one of which was a young mother with two children who were pasting the stickers all

over the map - do their input when a facilitator approached me and the following conversation

took place.

F: Why aren't you participating?

Me: I had outgrown these types of games by the time I made it to the first grade.

F: We really value citizen input. You should participate.

Me: Excuse me, I don't mean to be rude, but we both know that this so-called citizen input will

fall by the wayside, that the ultimate decisions will be made by you experts and the city.

F: That's very cynical.

Me: But it's true. Three or so years ago, there was an architectural firm from San Francisco

which designed a revitalization plan for downtown El Paso, and they did exactly the same kind

of thing you're doing here, except that they used little wooden boxes painted different colors

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instead of the stickers being used here. And they didn't call it a Charrette. Have you ever heard

of the SMWM firm?

F: No, but why is that important?

Me: When I registered, I told the people I was interested in the Segundo Barrio. They told me

that the Barrio would be discussed at this table. But look at the three people here. They are

obviously from the west side of El Paso, judging from their conversation. Do you really think

they would have any credible input regarding the Barrio? Take a look at the map. All the colored

stickers are on the west side. None for the Barrio.

F: But they're local, as are you, they can speak to the needs of the Barrio. Besides, you have

some marvelous city leaders.

Excuse me, I see an old friend I need to say hello to. So I got up and went to say hello to Pete

Duarte. We hugged and spoke. He was as disgusted as I was, and was on his way out. I asked him if he had participated in the input. He said no, and laughed.

On my way out, I approached the young man who had blown the whistle. And I sort of got in his

face. What makes you people largely from the south think you can come to an 80% Mexican-

American community and understand the culture and the needs of El Paso? I am amazed by your

arrogance. He was not at all nonplussed - that is why we have these Charrettes, for community

input.

At this point i was getting angry, and it showed in my next question. Your outfits don't come

cheap. How the hell is a city allegedly teetering on the point of bankruptcy paying for all this?

And his answer blew me away.

The City isn't paying for it. The Pentagon is. At my amazed look, he added, the

Department of Defense.

And I asked the obvious. Why? They're still tax dollars.

Because the Pentagon is very concerned with the impact that the growth of Ft. Bliss is having

and will have on the city. Would you rather have these tax dollars spent here or in financing

wars?

I told him not to patronize me, that he was posing a false dichotomy, that i was halfway

educated. As I started walking away, he said, please come to our design studio on Montana

Street, and please make it to our presentation at the public library. By the way, do you have a

copy of our Town Paper?

I called a daughter and bummed a ride home, where I took a good look at the Town Paper I had

picked up when registering. Coming from a family deeply steeped in printing and journalism, the

first thing I looked at was the masthead

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The thing comes to us from Gaithersburg, Maryland? There are no printers in El Paso? This

thing is beyond belief. Did the Department of Defense also pay for this rag, which has at least

two errors in its attempt to bolster what has to be an expensive waste of taxpayers' money?

"Extensive streetcar network," indeed. I feel somewhat sorry for Editor Diane Dorney and her

assistant, Claire Fleischer. Historical data about early El Paso may well be hard to find from

Gaithersburg. But in the event these two ladies are local, they are incompetent to a fault.

I guess the Pentagon should be worried about the impact Ft. Bliss is having on the city. Tens of

thousands of new troops and their families in a desert town not geared to accommodate these

numbers, no matter how clever the planners may be will shortly arrive. Already military

Children stretch the overburdened public schools. Already several murders directly connected to

Ft. Bliss. and aAn increase in deaths caused by soldiers driving under the influence have

occurred.

Hundreds of vets returning with post-traumatic stress syndrome, already being felt by the

overworked folks at the VA Clinic will add to the load.

And as the Southern Poverty Law Center pointed out, as I recall, about two or so years ago,

approximately 15% - and this percentage has surely grown by now - of all troops in our

volunteer services have ties to hate groups. "A new Defense Department directive on

dissident and political activity issued on Nov. 27 - the first since 1996 - says service members

'must not actively advocate supremacist doctrine, ideology, or causes.' This includes writing

blogs or posting on Web sites . . .

"Last July, Stars and Stripes reported that 130 members of newsaxon.org, a social networking

Web site affiliated with the National Socialist Movement, had listed 'military' as their job in

'Facebook'-style user profiles. Swastikas, Nazi symbolism and militant imagery emblazon the

site.

"The Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights group in Montgomery, Ala., presented dozens

of the user profiles to Congress and the Pentagon. The center estimates 'thousands' of extremists

serve in the ranks and has lobbied the Pentagon for three years to adopt clearer anti-hate

measures and more vigorously pursue service members known to be affiliating with hate groups.

"'At long last, we think it's a great thing,' said Mark Potok, editor of the Intelligence Report, an

SPLC magazine. 'This really seems like an important change. Although some people chose to

deny it, this is a very real problem in the military.'"

It took the Pentagon until mid-2010 to act on the warning sounded by the New York Times in

2006:

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"The report cited accounts by neo-Nazis of their infiltration of the military, including a

discussion on the white supremacist Web site Stormfront. 'There are others among you in the

forces,' one participant wrote. 'You are never alone.'

"An article in the National Alliance magazine Resistance urged skinheads to join the Army and

insist on being assigned to light infantry units.

"The Southern Poverty Law Center identified the author as Steven Barry, who it said was a

former Special Forces officer who was the alliance's 'military unit coordinator.'

"'Light infantry is your branch of choice because the coming race war and the ethnic cleansing to

follow will be very much an infantryman's war,' he wrote. 'It will be house-to-house,

neighborhood-by-neighborhood until your town or city is cleared and the alien races are driven

into the countryside where they can be hunted down and cleansed.'

"He concluded: 'As a professional soldier, my goal is to fill the ranks of the United States Army

with skinheads. As street brawlers, you will be useless in the coming race war. As trained

infantrymen, you will join the ranks of the Aryan warrior brotherhood.'"

Of a sudden, all the money the Department of Defense has poured into UTEP to host the yearly

dog-and-pony shows on border intelligence make sense. As does the badly named desalinization

plant at Ft. Bliss. When push comes to shove, do you really think El Paso will be able to

continue tapping into this source for water when it is becoming glaringly obvious that Fr. Bliss

will need all the water as it grows and grows?

Questions

So what happened to the downtown revitalization plan that once belonged to the Paso del Norte

Group, only to wind up as the city's plan, one that is not mentioned by the merry Charrettiers,

who are fixated on a 1925 plan? How much are the feds paying this large group of out of

towners to tell the locals how we should live?

Do any of our elected officials at the City and County level understand that the planned

expansion of Ft. Bliss and the forced growth of a city that is beginning to starve for water is

stupid, stupid and more stupid?

In plain English, the City of El Paso didn't plan beans, nor did it task anyone to do

anything of substance regarding major plans. It was all done according to plans from

Washington, D.C. It was a farce programmed by city leaders seduced by the feds that was

behind the whole farce of the "Charrettes'" exercise in fantasy.

And consider how quickly the City acceded to develop housing on the lower reaches of

Trans-Mountain Road, again, to please the Department of Defense.

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When San Antonio lost a couple of its big military bases some years back, the cries went up that

the city would never recover. History proved otherwise. San Antonio's growth has been

phenomenal - it's not on a desert, like El Paso - but it has proven that a progressive city's future

does not need to be tied to the military.

Full disclosure. I am a draftee Korean era veteran who has worn the uniform of the U.S. Navy. I

am not against the military.

But I am against politicians and public servants like our three prime examples of public service

gone wrong: former Mayor John Cook from New York, who gave the city away to the far right

neoliberals: City Manager Joyce Wilson, from Boston, who does not bother to hide her racism.

Watching her defend the $9,000 or so price tag put to a local television station for the privilege

of viewing a crooked cop's file - her curiously dry voice, her lack of expression and affect, as the

shrinks call it, that would give platoons of these last, as they pondered the inner workings of this

terribly flawed human being - who made possible the anti-Mexican piece of art shown above -

one hell of a run for their money.

And what to say about former Congressman Reyes, who did so much to promote the

militarization of the border? What works of art are these people, what moral vacuums, what

examples of all that is wrong with politics and politicians who have no business in it.

Postscript

One could say, with some justice, that the inmates control the asylum.

1. A perfectly sound City Hall, where all city departments were located, was razed to make room

for a downtown stadium financed by the city partnering with private money to house an AAA

minor league team. Now City Hall is housed in half of the building formerly occupied by daily

The El Paso Times newspaper. The other half still houses the printing press. City Departments are

scattered all over downtown.

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2. Katherine Brennand, a longtime community activist and holder of many honors, in as gifted a

display of diplomacy as I have heard, spoke at a public hearing regarding the remake of the

alligator plaza. She began by praising the presentation and work of the SWA (Charrettes),2 firm,

stating that in large measure their work was beautiful, good and true to their mandate. But then she

remarked that "El Paso was what it is, a border city, with long and beautiful old Mexican and

Spanish history and traditions. El Paso is not San Francisco, Dallas, San Antonio or Atlanta," she

said, momentarily pausing after naming each city.

Then she said that unfortunately, she saw none of this history or traditions reflected in the

design which had been presented by the SWA architects from California.

The SWA people were present when Brennand spoke. She was followed by former city planner,

Elder Nestor Valencia. "San Jacinto Plaza, or Plaza de Los Lagartos, is the beating heart of El

Paso. That is the genesis of the city," Valencia said of the 130-year-old park, El Paso's oldest

public space.

"It is especially important to El Paso's identity to have a thriving plaza in the heart of the city.

Spanish colonial law Las Leyes de Los Reinos de las Indias required that every town built

in Spanish America have a plaza and a kiosk. As a unique product of the border, it's essential that

El Paso have one as well, as It's almost like part of our existence, It's part of the spirit of our

community."

He was rudely interrupted continually by Representative Cortney Niland. By a 7-1 vote, City

Council agreed that the new Alligator Plaza would retain the balustrades on the new alligator

"pond" and its southwest character. After casting the lone no vote, Cortny Niland cried, asked,

"what do I do now?" and got hugged by a PDNG lackey.

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3. The owners of the AAA team announced, to great media coverage, that the new stadium had

received 1,000,000 visitors since it was erected. That would work out, more or less, to 2,740 per

day for every day of the past year. Um, has it really been a year?

4. This is what the old plaza looked like in the 20s, and mostly, up to about the time the live

alligators were removed. The balustrades around the pool were supposedly salvaged.

We don't know how the new one will look, although thanks to Kay Brennand, the balustrades were

supposed to adorn the new waterless "pool'. It's almost one year behind schedule, a quarter of a

million dollars over cost. All we can tell is that there is a lot of concrete. pavers, little grass, ugly

trees, and no pond yet. City Manager Wilson accepted Council's decision, saying there would only

be a few "administrative changes." These changes breed like bunnies. All we know is that the

grass has gone, and we will have a plaza mostly made of pavers, cement, and some trees best

described as ugly. The bad people may have won - at least until a new generations of politicians

comes along to restore what we once had until the neoliberals turned the city upside down.

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(photo courtesy Rosemary Martnez)

5. In 2013, Ray Salazar, former Mayor of El Paso, myself and others filed suit against the

City and Council members in Federal Court in El Paso. We sought to enjoin the demolition of City

Hall. The court dismissed without prejudice as it felt the case was not ripe. We refiled in state

court, and also filed a lawsuit against Joyce Wilson, Courtney Niland and Steve Ortega alleging

misappropriation of public funds in that Wilson paid a huge commission to a broker for a property

given to the City where the broker did nothing. This was a suit for damages. The city filed a suit in

Austin, seeking to enjoin our suits in El Paso along with another group's petition under the City's

initiative provisions seeking to stop the demolition. The court in Austin, after an accelerated

hearing, ruled that our activities were harming a projected sale of bonds by the City, enjoined our

suit seeking injunctive relief, enjoined all voters in El Paso from voting on the initiative, but

allowed our suit for damages to continue. We were unable to appeal, given the $1,000,000

appellate bond he imposed on us, in spite of our efforts to get him to lower it. Enjoining people

from voting, where we had raised the Voting Rights Act, was simply outrageous.

Our damage suit was dismissed by a Judge from Kerrville, Texas, who has a history of making

derogatory remarks about minority lawyers in El Paso. This judge ruled from the bench after a

"hurry up" type of hearing. It was clear he had not read our briefs. We appealed to the appellate

court in El Paso, where, in spite of overwhelming case law, from the U.S. Supreme Court on

down, to the effect that public officials can be sued for damages so long as the government entity

is not sued, we could not convince the sitting panel. We did not sue the city, and the judge who

wrote the opinion, to put it mildly, was either dumb or had her mind made up. Appealing to the

far right Texas Supreme Court simply would have not been wise.

However, the incoming Mayor managed to convince City Council to cancel the sweetheart

contract Wilson had signed with her broker pal, so we saved the people several millions of

dollars. Wilson was publicly quoted as stating that the new Mayor was "dangerous."

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6. The city buses used to arrive at the Plaza from all points throughout the city. The Plaza was

always full of mostly Mexicans, who make up the huge majority of those who depend on buses.

Then the city moved the bus terminal south, right next to the border. A huge inconvenience, as

most people have to transfer to another bus to get to where they were going in the first place. But

there is a payoff for the gentrification crowd. After the change, few Mexicans were seen at the

Plaza, even before the renovation began. Apparently we don't want fair skinned visitors to be

offended by their presence.

7. With the reduction of troops at Ft. Bliss, as opposed to the projected increase which has

evaporated into thin air, the Pentagon is now cast as suffering from an excess of dumb. It really

wasn't necessary to put so much lipstick on our border community to make if more appealing to

those phantom troops. In time, it will probably wash off with any kind of luck.

8. The Texas Department of Transportation unveiled plans to demolish Lincoln Center at Lincoln

Park in south central El Paso in order to connect IH10 with the Border Highway toll road, which

few people use. There was a huge outcry, the people physically stopped the demolition efforts, and

police were called. When Chicanx politicians showed up, the police backed off and no arrests were

made. The state head of TDOT came to El Paso, complained that he was not fully informed, and

promised to do a thorough study of the issue before resorting to eminent domain. The park is

historically significant, it is under portions of IH10, and the pylons have been beautifully

decorated by local artists led by Gabriel Gaytan, who has roots in the Rarmuri Nation of northern

Mexico. It is significant not only to the Chicanxs in El Paso, but to artists and people of all colors

and races. It is part of the city's history. The people are still waiting for the ultimate decision.

9. The border patrol murders of young men, both in El Paso and across the border, are given

pretty much of a cavalier treatment by the media, by the Federal officials, from the FBI, which

constantly lies to protect the murderers. I posit that the effects of gentrification, lack of knowledge

about your roots, a wanting to belong, living in a neoliberal society that informs the ruling class

of17% or so of the population, all contribute to a sense of worth that is lacking, that makes one

identify with the bad cop instead of with the victim, all are what that allows a Federal Judge like

David Briones, who is well steeped in El Paso politics and was aware of the latest killing, to write

an opinion wherein he fails to recognize that for a Border Patrolman to shoot and kill a kid

who is not armed, who is not threatening him, is nothing more and nothing less than a

monstrous crime that shocks the conscience. Serving the dark side of the force has moral

consequences.

* http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/paso/history.html

** http://texasrealestate.blogs.com/weblog/el_pasowest_texas/index.html (scroll down to the

April 26 entry).