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06/09/2006
Some built livelihoods Downtown
Todd Mick / Guest columnist
In response to Mr. Muench's article, "Stop asking everybody -- Just do it:"
From the very beginning, the Paso del Norte Downtown plan assumed that the one viable element left Downtown is the root of the problem Downtown. Over the past 30 years, while everyone was buying a house in the suburbs and running to the newest shopping center, thereby abandoning Downtown, some of us decided to build businesses Downtown and to make a life there.
Now, the Paso del Norte Group and a few members of City Council would have you believe that those of us who have sacrificed everything to make a living and a life Downtown are standing in the way of progress, and that somehow we advocate the status quo.
I would ask everyone who feels that Downtown business and property owners have no rights: Where were you for the past 20 years?
I'll tell you where the Downtown business and property owners were. We were going to work every day -- long, hard days in the heat, dust and the pollution that sometimes plagues Downtown.
Now comes the Paso del Norte plan and proposes to take rightfully owned property from people who have sacrificed entire lives to make a piece of El Paso their own. They would have you believe that only $400,000 of property taxes are collected. This number is deceiving as it only reflects the city's portion of the taxes we pay. The actual number is about $3 million paid by just the property owners in the "Redevelopment Zone" -- and that doesn't include sales taxes, employee taxes, and the personal-property taxes that business owners pay on every piece of merchandise in our stores.
How could Mr. Muench be so insensitive as to compare a person's whole life to a piece of pizza? What kind of agenda could a person have when his entire livelihood is threatened? Does trying to defend your God-given rights amount to an agenda? I would say that the people who try to minimize the loss of people who have everything to lose have much more of an agenda.
To quote Barry Bitzer, chief of staff for Albuquerque's mayor, Albuquerque officials would never propose a revitalization plan, especially one in which businesses and homes might be taken by eminent domain, the way El Paso and the Paso del Norte Group did. "That would probably blow up on us," he said.
The mayor's actions are the mark of true leadership. Mr. Muench's attitude and the belittling of people has been the problem all along. Mr. Muench and anyone who shares his view can't see that peoples' lives are more valuable than a slice of pizza.
Todd Mick is vice president of Starr Western Wear.
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