It is has been ten years since the Quality of Life Bond election of November 6, 2012 and the City of El Paso still brags that 71.67% of El Pasoans who cast a ballot voted in favor of Proposition B, deceptively titled “MUSEUM, CULTURAL, PERFORMING ARTS, AND LIBRARY FACILITIES.”
But according to a new KVIA scientific poll, only 26% of El Pasoans support building an arena in Duranguito, with 62% undecided about whether that is a good idea.
26% is a far cry from 71.67% and is hardly a mandate!
Yet our City Council, in their infinite wisdom, recently voted to spend nearly $800,000 for yet another feasibility study—this one aimed at legitimizing their ongoing plan to obliterate Duranguito for an arena.
Yes, there are still six intransigent City Council representatives who support using eminent domain for an entertainment project, expelling vulnerable El Pasoans from their homes, demolishing their historic neighborhood, and borrowing at least $400 million to pay for it all.
Will they change their minds now that a group of private investors is building their own arena in Sunland Park, New Mexico without costing El Paso taxpayers a single penny?
In the immortal words of Ronald Reagan, the downtown arena will soon finish on “the ash heap of history.”
Max