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WHERE’S THE DIALOGUE:
PASO DEL SUR PRESS RELEASE
PASO DEL SUR GROUP is an organization comprised of educators, students, lawyers, artists, musicians, and other concerned individuals who oppose the Paso del Norte Group (PDNG) Plan. Many of us have our roots in El Segundo Barrio, the oldest neighborhood in El Paso and the area that would be obliterated with the implementation of the PDNG Downtown Plan. We contend that the plan and its process are not legitimate and are being imposed from the top down. Community feedback is being sought out only as an afterthought and in response to rising opposition. The Phase II community meetings, which have reduced deeply serious issues affecting people’s lives to a board game, do not allow community members to make decisions beyond which stores we would like to see where.
We are deeply concerned about the so-called efforts at dialogue. Although plan supporters continue to call for community input and discussion, it is clear that proponents of the plan do not truly want dialogue with those who either question or oppose the PDNG plan. Rather than true dialogue, we believe plan supporters are involved in the strategy outlined by City Manager Joyce Wilson in her memo of April 19, 2006, where she describes the need of the City and PDNG to “engage and neutralize the losers.”
The lack of desire for true dialogue was evidenced last Saturday at the event sponsored by the Westside-Upper Valley Forum where long-time community leader Carmen Felix of the Southside Housing Development Corporation was invited to debate Council Representative Robert O’Rourke. Supporters of Councilman O’Rourke and the plan, which calls for the demolition of 127.5 acres of land in El Segundo Barrio, Chihuahuita, and the Magoffin neighborhood, demonstrated a level of intolerance and disrespect that we find unconscionable. O’Rourke supporters booed, heckled, and spoke over Ms. Felix and other opponents of the plan as they tried to make their points. This treatment of a community leader who has worked with El Segundo Barrio for decades demonstrates an utter lack of respect for the people and history of the Barrio as well as community leaders and organizations who have worked for better conditions for many years.
We are tired of city officials claiming that anyone who opposes the plan is for the “status quo.” Replacing unique communities with the kinds of national chains we see in most large cities, displacing working class families, and catering to wealthy real estate interests—the PDNG Plan in other words—is the status quo. Community leaders and organizations such as the Southside Low Income Housing Corporation and the Centro De Los Trabajadores Agrícolas Fronterizos have worked for decades to improve conditions in El Segundo Barrio. Why have they not received the full support of the City?
Paso del Sur urges the City of El Paso to scrap the PDNG Plan, its proposed demolition in El Segundo Barrio and the use of eminent domain to create profits for wealthy land developers. We demand that our community leaders be treated in a respectful way. We call for a stop to the destruction of the oldest neighborhood in El Paso. These are the foundations of a true, democratic dialogue.
The above press statement was read by Dr. Yolanda Leyva on May 31, 2006 at Cafe Mayapan. | 
