HOME

HISTORIC BARRIOS

VIDEOS

PASO DEL SUR GROUP

theplan001.jpg (800x576,  169.63 Kb)

Click on image

Art by Francisco Delgado


LINKS TO RELATED SITES:

!Alerta! Lomas del Poleo›

PDN Civil Rights Project››

Centro de Trabajadores  Agricolas  Fronterizos››

Indy.espora.org››

Castle Coalition››

Landgrab Opponents of El Paso››

Unified Downtown Revitalization Coalition››

NoLandGrab››

Redevelopment Abuse››

The Blogosphere

Segundo Barrio Rezizte››

Border Blog››

Ysleta Poeta››

Students for Reform››

Colectivo Rezizte››

Segundo››

Proyecto Pachuco››

Absurdity in the Pass››

Save Boyle Heights››

Hunab Ku››

Somos El Paso Is Lame››













Update

 

May 16, 2009

Diverse Statewide Coalition Urges Senate Action on HJR 14
2/3 Vote Would Send Eminent Domain Constitutional Amendm


Austin, Texas—A broad coalition of Texas property owners and property rights groups today20issued a letter (attached) urging the Texas Senate to support House Joint Resolution 14.  HJR 14 would amend the Texas Bill of Rights to address the problem of eminent domain for private development in the Lone Star State.  If the Senate passes HJR 14 by a two-thirds vote it will appear on the November ballot.
 
The coalition signing the letter is a diverse group with one common interest: giving Texas voters the chance t o incorporate some of the strongest private property protections in the nation into their Constitution in November. HJR 14 would finally end the government practice of using eminent domain to involuntarily take land from one private owner and give it to another private party for redevelopment.  This practice was at issue in the 2005 U.S. Supreme Court case Kelo v. City of New London, which sparked a national backlash against eminent domain for private gain.  Susette Kelo, who lost her home to eminent domain after the Court ruled against her 5-4, also signed the letter.  Governor Perry, Rep. Rob Orr and Sen. Robert Duncan stood on stage with Kelo earlier this year and promised to send a strong amendment to Texas voters this session.
 
In addition to Kelo, the letter was signed by five groups of Texas property owners, all of whom are currently struggling with eminent domain abuse:
 
·  Land Grab Opponents of El Paso and Paso del Sur are fighting against a massive border-area redevelopment project that threatens to demolish hundreds of homes and businesses and turn their land over to a private consortium of billionaire developers.
·   The San Antonio River North Improvement Association (SARNIA) is combating San Antonio’s ambitious plan to extend its River Walk northward by replacing existing businesses with glitzy condominiums and upscale retail shops.
·   Houston Corridors United is fighting a plan in Houston that will allow the Metro transit authority to take land for much more than merely train tracks and stations.  Any home or business within a quarter-mile of a light rail line can be taken for condominiums, coffee shops or any other use the Metro authority deems important to the success of light rail.
· Western Seafood Co. fought to protect its family business from the city of Freeport’s plan to replace it with a luxury marina.
 
Joining these groups are the Institute for Justice Texas Chapter, the Castle Coalition, the Texas Conservative Coalition, Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, Americans for Tax Reform, the National Taxpayers Union and the Property Rights Alliance.
0D
 
“We want the Senate to understand how important HJR 14 is to our homes, businesses and livelihoods,” said Harper Huddleston, President of SARNIA.  “HJR 14 offers Texas a chance to become a national property rights leader.  We urge our Senators to send the amendment to voters in November.”
 
“My family battled eminent domain for years,” said Wrig ht Gore, III, of Western Seafood Co. in Freeport.  “We want to make sure that nobody in Texas ever has to live through the nightmare of trying to defend what is rightfully yours just because your neighbor is promising to redevelop it into something the city likes better than your home or business.”
 
The property owners have also started a website to amplify their message: www.NoMoreKelosInTexas.com.  The website features updates on legislation, real-world stories of families fighting eminent domain abuse and research reports that examine the issue of eminent domain for private gain.
 
Matt Miller, executive director of the Institute for Justice Texas Chapter, in Austin, has been working on strong eminent domain reform throughout the 81st Legislative Session.  He said, “HJR 14 passed the Texas House 144-0.  There were no dissenters, which sent a very strong message about the need for this amendment.  Rep. Frank Corte, the amendment9s author, worked hard to craft language that is effective, while still allowing traditional uses like roads, hospitals and police stations.  Hopefully this letter is unnecessary, and the Senate is already planning to resoundingly pass HJR 14.  But everyone who signed this letter felt it was important to send the message one last time: Texans care deeply about ending Kelo-style abuse of private property rights.  The vital reforms achieved in HJR 14 must be passed.”
 
            Christina Walsh, the Castle Coalition Director for the Institute for Justice, has worked on eminent domain reform across the nation.  She said, “Polls show that eminent domain reform is very popular with voters.  Texans would no doubt love to have the opportunity to incorporate this excellent amendment into their Constitution.  We hope the Senate will give them that chance.”

Put the fate of your property in YOUR hands, and NOT in the hands of El Paso politicians who are friends with developers who may covet your property.

We, as voters, might have the opportunity to vote on a state-wide bill this November that would strongly increase property rights protection in Texas.

Recently, the Texas House of Representative passed H.J.R. 14 unanimously.
However, for this bill to go before the voters this November, it must be approved by 2/3 rds of the Texas Senate. And the Senate may vote on this bill early next week (the week of 5/18/09).

If you live in the El Paso area, please take one minute to call Senator Eliot Shapleigh's office TODAY at (512) 463-0129, to let him know you support H.J.R. 14, and that you encourage him to vote in favor of it. (If you do not live in the El Paso area, you can follow the link below for contact information on your senator).
It would also be very helpful to call other border area senators, such as:
Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa from McAllen (512)463-0120 and Judith Zaffirini from Laredo (512) 463-0121.


P.S. Please forward this information to as many people as you can ASAP.
Remember, the vote is most likely early next week.
 
You’ve all been waiting for this call to action on eminent doma in.  Now is the time!  Please call your Texas Senators and encourage them to support HJR 14.  It’s now or never.  Encourage everyone you know to call, too.  The Senate is the last step in the process.
 
On Monday, the House unanimously passed H.J.R. 14, a constitutional amendment that would end eminent domain abuse in Texas.  If the Senate passes H.J.R. 14 by a two-thirds vote, it will appear on the November ballot, and you - the voters of Texas - will be able to vote for better property rights protections.
 
Thousands of Texans, from Houston to San Antonio to El Paso, are currently on the chopping block. They need your help.  Now, more than ever, it is critical that you make your voice heard and support H.J.R. 14.
 
Call your Texas Senator and tell them you support H.J.R. 14 TODAY.  You can find their contact information here: http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/.
 
2.  Forward this link to all of your friends and family: http://www.NoMoreKelosInTexas.com.  Encourage them to take a few minutes today to call their Texas Senator.
 
The Senate will vote soon.  Please call immediately.
 
This is it.  It's been four years since the Kelo decision.  The future of property rights in Texas rests in the hands of the Texas State Senate.  We have to let them know how important stopping eminent domain for private gain is to Texans.
 
Thank you for continuing to stand on the frontlines of the battle against eminent domain abuse.
 
Matt Miller
Executive Director and Attorney at Law
Institute for Justice Texas Chapter
816 Congress Ave, Suite 960
Austin, Texas 78701
(512) 480-5936
(512) 480-5937 (fax)
http://www.ij.org/texas
 

February 16, 2009

HEARING POSTPONED AGAIN 

Agrarian Court Lawyer Agrees to Represent Pedro Zaragoza Since His Own Lawyers Don't Show Up


The residents of Lomas del Poleo and their various witnesses and friends (such as Mothers of the Disappeared/Murdered Women), reps of goverment agencies including the Juárez City Attorney,  as well as a non-lawyer representative of the Zaragoza brothers,  appeared at the hearing at the Agrarian Court in Chihuahua City this past Friday.  The judge from the last two hearings, Imelda Carlos Basurto had called in "sick" and was replaced by a judge who postponed the hearing to Tuesday, Feb. 24.  

At the Jan. 21 hearing a lawyer from the Agrarian Court's attorney general's office was assigned as the Zaragozas' lawyer since the Zaragoza representative had come without a lawyer.  At this Friday's hearing  the Agrarian Court lawyer agreed to represent Pedro Zaragoza and the judge said that she has 5 working days to appear and answer the lawsuit.  

It was emphasized Friday that all the principals in the lawsuit must be present on Feb. 24 or lose their rights to present their case.  Also ratified were measures of protection for the Lomas residents [which had been repeatedly requested because of the continued violence against the residents].

(Translated by Charlotte Lipson)


January 23, 2009

THE WAITING GAME

Pedro Zaragoza Uses Stalling Tactics in the Agrarian Court While His Guards Continue to Harass Residents at Lomas del Poleo


ON JANUARY 21 the Lomas del Poleo residents appeared at the Agrarian Court in Chihuahua City to attend the hearing postponed on January 8 [when the Zaragozas and lawyer didn't show].

Once again Pedro and Jorge Zaragoza Fuentes, succeeded with the help of the judge Imelda Marcos to postpone the hearing until Tuesday, Feb. 3.

Pedro Zaragoza's representative handed over to the court a document and a medical certificate saying that attorney Luis Salmon Flores, the legal representative of Pedro  Zaragoza, was suffering from salmonella.  The [Lomas] lawyer Barbara Zamora objected to the certificate saying that  Pedro Zaragoza [one of the richest men in Mexico] could have sent another lawyer or come himself.

The judge's agreeing to accept the medical certificate and postpone the hearing is evidence of the complicity of the court with the Zaragoza brothers.

The absence of Pedro Zaragoza and the machinations to postpone the hearings are evidence also of the Zaragoza's lack of proof that they own the property in question.

Two days before the hearing Fernando Carrillo Flores, Catarino del Río Camacho y Jesús Manuel Alfaro, were threatening the Lomas residents and filming their homes.

We keep raising money for transportation and expenses of the lawyers from Mexico City and the residents and their witnesses to appear at these hearings and now another postponement while the Zaragoza thugs threaten the residents and demolish more homes.  It appears that the Zaragozas have gotten to the judge who at the first hearing warned  that if they didn't appear this time there would be consequences.

Once again:  I urge you to send letters of protest per the Amnesty International appeal.

Many thanks.

Charlotte (Lomas del Poleo Alliance, Las Cruces, NM)


January 17, 2009

Lomas del Poleo Legal Defense Fund Raiser

Dinner and Talk--Cena Platica--

Vierners 23 de enero, 2009 - Friday, January 23, 2009 at 6 p.m.
Contribución $25 - Suggested contribution $25.

The fundraiser will be held at:

Centro de los Trabajadores Agrícolas Fronterizos
201 East Ninth Avenue, El Paso, Texas 79901

Para mas información. For more information:
Carlos Marentes (915) 873-8933

Support the struggle of the colonos of Lomas del Poleo!

Pass this invitation along to all your contacts!


January 7, 2009

Zaragoza Thugs Beat and Tie Up Lomas del Poleo Resident.


 
ON DECEMBER 31 at 10:30 PM three Zaragoza guards entered the house of Mr. Cruz Reza Saenz, hit him, left him tied up, stole his clothing, boots, hats, wallet, cell phone, drivers license, keys to the house and his truck and threatened to return.  Cruz Reza, 71, says that a few days before, Saturday the 27th at 8 AM, about 30 men came to his house with two vehicles and a trailer intending to destroy his home.  He confronted them and together with other Lomas del Poleo neighbors they were able to prevent the men, paid by Pedro and Jorge Zaragoza, from tearing down the house in which he has lived for 30 years.  Cruz Reza lives sequestered alone in his home without being able to leave.  His wife died several years ago and he knows if he leaves he won't be able to return.

Today, Wednesday, January 7, men paid by the Zaragozas destroyed the House of Salvador Aguero. The villagers who tried to help him were threatened to have their homes destroyed.  Two women friends Angeles Espino and Liliana Flores courageously confronted the criminals.  Liliana was hit by a woman who accompanied the bad guys.  Fernando Carrillo, an employee of the Zaragozas ordered the men to hit Angeles, who ordered his goons to "hit the old bitch."  But neither beatings or threats have broken the resistance of these two women.

In the afternoon the same gang was surrounding the house of Cruz Rez Saenz, threatening him again with destruction of his home.


January 1, 2009

Invitación para apoyar a colonos de Lomas del Poleo

 
 
Compañer@s: 
 
El próximo jueves 8 de enero de 2009, un grupo de habitantes de la colonia Granjas Lomas del Poleo asistirán a una primera audiencia en el Tribunal Unitario Agrario Número Cinco, en la ciudad de Chihuahua, donde podrían demostrar, si es que el tribunal actúa conforme a derecho, que las tierras donde viven desde hace más de treinta años son propiedad de la Nación. A esta audiencia este grupo de colonos y colonas asistirán acompañados de sus abogados Bárbara Zamora López  y Santos García Díaz del despacho  Jurídico Tierra y Libertad.

Ante la gravedad de la situación que prevalece en Granjas Lomas del Poleo (destrucción de casas, hostigamiento, amenazas y la nula intervención de las autoridades  judiciales estatales y municipales) y ante el riesgo inminente de que al salir las compañeras y compañeros de sus casas, para estar presentes en la audiencia, éstas sean destruidas por los guardias blancas pagados y al servicio de los empresarios Pedro y Jorge Zaragoza, se hace una invitación a todas y todos los compañeros que asisten  al Primer Festival Internacional  de la Digna Rabia, convocado por el EZLN y a quienes han acompañado esta resistencia en Ciudad Juárez, en las Cruces Nuevo México, en el Paso, Texas, en la Ciudad de Chihuahua y en otras partes de México, a que se pronuncien en contra del DESPOJO del que están siendo objeto las y los habitantes de Lomas del Poleo y a unirse (las y los que puedan) a las Brigadas de Observación  que se están organizando para acompañar, el próximo jueves 8 de enero del 2009, a las familias de Lomas del Poleo,  a los abogados y  a los testigos , en una jornada que se llevará a cabo de la siguiente manera:

1. Un grupo de compañeras y compañeros  que observen  directamente en la entrada de la colonia,  que documente y con su presencia logre evitar una destrucción masiva de viviendas, que es el propósito de Pedro y Jorge Zaragoza Fuentes.
 

2. Un grupo  de compañeras y compañeros que asistan al Tribunal Unitario Agrario No. Cinco en la Ciudad de Chihuahua, Chihuahua, que brinde protección a las colonas, colonos, abogada, abogado y testigos. La audiencia se llevará a cabo el jueves 8 de enero a las 10:00 de la mañana.
 
A todas y todos  los que puedan acompañar ésta iniciativa, les pedimos por favor escribir y confirmar al siguiente correo, para coordinarnos en los horarios y lugares de reunión.
 
Para mas información: foro.lomasdelpoleo@yahoo.com.mx 


October 13, 2008

MEXICAN ARMY IS BEING USED IN PUSH TO DISPOSSESS RESIDENTS OF LOMAS DEL POLEO

ejercito

(NMSU Government Professor Neil Harvey,  Director of the Center for Latin American & Border Studies translated the Spanish account written by Juarez activist Juan Carlos Martínez, October 13, 2008)
 
 
“Your time is up, stupid bastard!” the soldier yelled at him, while aiming his gun.
 
“You are really screwed” he told him, kicking him straight in his injured ribcage.
 
“Shoot, whatever, it was time,” the man replied, thrown on the ground and blind-folded.
 
“Ah, so you are not afraid?” the soldiers carried on, mocking him.
 
“You think you are really tough, you have ‘big pants’ (‘muchos calzones’)?”
 
“Yes, and after you kill me, I will lend them to you”.
 
Alfredo Piñón Valenzuela is 72 years old. For more than 30 years he has lived in the high part of Lomas del Poleo. Despite his age, he is a strong man. Brave too, like the old desert people. (Listen to his testimony in front of the Doña Ana County Commissioners this summer.)

On Friday October 10, a group of between ten and fifteen soldiers took him prisoner at his home. They arrived at around five o’clock in the afternoon. They pushed the door open and went inside. They asked him if he was Alfredo Piñón. He replied that he was. They yelled at him, asking if he knew why they were there. He told them that Zaragoza had “surely” sent them. They turned over everything, including his bed. They searched inside his improvised wardrobe and showed him a .45 caliber pistol and a small bag with cocaine. A small and stocky soldier showed him a bag with marijuana and a stone.
 
“Is this yours?” asked the soldier who seemed to be in the one in charge.
 
“I don’t smoke that rubbish” Sr. Piñón replied, upset.
 
“But you sell it,” accused the soldier.
 
“You know quite well that it is not mine. That belongs to you,” replied the resident, owner of just an old shotgun, 22 caliber, that he uses now and again to hunt hares in the desert.
 
“They pulled me out of the house, they blind-folded me and they put me in one of the two trucks that they had arrived in,” Sr. Piñón denounces, one day after his illegal arrest. “On the journey they beat me. They kicked me in the ribs, but they were careful not to hit my face.” After being driven around the city, they took him to one of the dungeons at the military barracks, near to the CERESO (civilian prison). They interrogated him for hours. They asked him the same things over and over. They wanted to know where he had got the gun that they themselves had planted on him. Later, he remembers that some other men arrived, who took him presumably to the offices of the Federal Attorney General (Procuraduría General de la República, PGR), where the torture continued. There he realized that another of his neighbors, Martín Gabino, was also detained. Sr. Gabino had been dragged from his house by force, despite the cries and resistance put up by his wife. Martín Gabino was detained almost at the same time as Sr. Piñón, but just a different group of soldiers.

In his declaration denouncing these acts, Sr. Piñón said that he was blindfolded for all the time after being pulled from his house, and therefore does not know if they were soldiers or federal police, to whom he was supposedly handed over, who, in the end, took him to a rubbish dump on the outskirts of the city, near a PEMEX gas station, where they threw him to the ground and pointed their guns. I thought they were going to kill me, but they just kicked me again, laughed at me and left me there.” Alfredo Piñón tells that he stood up as best he could and walked a while until he reached a house that was lit up. There he asked to use the phone to call one of his sons to come for him and take him home. By this time it was 2 a.m. on Saturday October 11.

The story of Martín Gabino, another resident of Lomas del Poleo, who was also detained in the same circumstances, is a similar one. Just like Sr. Piñón, the soldiers accused him of possessing guns and drugs. Neither of them were even taken to the office that is responsible for investigating such crimes, the Federal Public Ministry (Ministerio Público Federal). Although Sr. Gabino was beaten less, he was tortured psychologically. He was told that the same would happen “to all the residents who do not want to leave.” Yet this threat would not have any meaning if it were not for the fact that Alfredo Piñón and Martín Gabino form part of a group of more than fifty families that for over five years have been resisting a brutal series of attacks perpetrated by the businessmen Pedro and Jorge Zaragoza, who want to dispossess them of their lands.

Since that time the residents of Lomas del Poleo have had to put up with a barbed wire fence that this powerful family erected in order to enclose the community. Besides this suffocating fence, there are private guards at the community who closely watch every movement of the residents, denying access to providers of basic items and blocking entrance to relatives and close friends. Now, with the illegal arrest of Martín Gabino and Alfredo Piñón just last Friday, October 11, another threat has closed in on this community, one that is perhaps even more dangerous: the implementation by the foremen working for Pedro and Jorge Zaragosa of a new strategy that would consist of pinning federal crimes on the residents, particularly the possession of arms and drugs, with the goal of getting the army to enter the community, indiscriminately arrest the people there, and in this way bring the resistance to an end. In this case, the soldiers would take care of the dirty work that the can no longer be done comfortably by the private guards, paid by this very wealthy family, which has for several months been in the public eye. Despite everything, the residents who still live up on the high part of Lomas del Poleo say they are ready to confront this new assault.

 


October 13, 2008

Juárez Human Rights Activists are Harassed and Intimidated for Drafting Open Letter to Governor of Chihuahua

Members of la Otra Campaña of Ciudad Juárez Cristina Coronado and Juan Carlos Martínez wrote this week that they have been targets of threats and intimidation after helping draft the full page add that appeared in the Diario de Juárez last week condemning the escalation of violence in Lomas del Poleo that was signed by  authors, academicians and human rights activists from throughout Mexico, the U.S. and Europe.

"In the first week of September, while we were on the phone with a resident of Lomas del Poleo, our call was cut off, remained silent for a moment, then we heard the lyrics from a popular narcocorrido—"they would have never imagined that they were going to be brought down from there dead," Coronado and Martínez wrote in a website dedicated to the Lomas del Poleo struggle. "Then there was more silence before our call was reconnected."

For the full account of other acts of intimidation they've suffered recently read Alerta Lomas del Poleo!


 

October 4, 2008

The Stakes Rise and So Does the Violence at Lomas del Poleo
 

“When there’s blood on the streets, buy land.”
                                                                   —Wall Street saying


                                             The home of Estela Plasencia, one of the leaders of the Lomas del Poleo 
                                                            community, was razed down last month by armed Zaragoza thugs.

 ABOUT FORTY ARMED Zaragoza paramilitary thugs have surrounded the Lomas del Poleo colonia for the last three days, preparing for what human rights organizations say may be further actions to violently evict the remaining residents on the contested land targeted by binational developers.  The thirty-year-old home of a Lomas del Poleo couple who have been outspoken in the Mexican national media was destroyed by the Zaragoza guards on September 26, 2008. The last electric generator was forcibly removed three weeks ago from the elementary school that has been up on the mesa since the 1980s.

After Carlos López Avitia, the attorney who represented the largest group of Lomas del Poleo residents was assassinated two blocks away from the Chihuahua City courthouse on June 20, 2008, internationally-renown Mexico City human rights lawyer Barbara Zamora has taken up the case of the colonos who continue to resist violent attempts to displace them and has filed a lawsuit on their behalf. Although the Agrarian Court in Chihuahua has been stalling, it is believed they will formally accept her lawsuit against the Grupo Zaragoza on Tuesday, October 7. The Zaragosas want to prevent a legal solution which would deny their claims to control of this property and have done everything within their power to obstruct this.

The pending legal action, as well as the recent developments in the San Jeronimo-Santa Teresa area—including the proposed rail crossing and the Taiwanese-based Foxconn twin plant—appears to have provoked the escalation of violence and the sense of urgency felt by the Grupo Zaragoza and their hired guardias blancas (paramilitary shock troops) to evict the remaining families.  

Here is a short chronology of the recent violence against the residents of Lomas del Poleo sent to us by Juárez human rights organizations:

August 18, 2008—The Zaragoza guards block elementary students and their parents from entering the Lomas del Poleo neighborhood to attend classes at the Alfredo Nava Sahagún elementary school that has served the surrounding Anapra community’s children for more than two decades.

September 12, 2008—The Zaragoza guardias blancas dig ditches (2 meters deep and 1.5 meters wide) to block the public roadways leading to the Alfredo Nava Sahagún Elementary School.

September 19, 2008
—The guards, together with the Comisión Federal de Electricidad, remove the electric generator in Lomas del Poleo and leave scores of families without electricity or water.

September 20, 2008—In a kind of carrot-or-stick approach, better known in Ciudad Juárez as the plata o plomo (silver or lead) question, Zaragoza “lawyers” begin making daily rounds to Lomas del Poleo homes offering the residents about $5,000 for their 2-acre farms (a miniscule amount of what the land is actually worth to developers.) The “lawyers” wave the money in the faces of the residents and urge them to accept it because they are going to be “kicked out” anyway.

September 23, 2008—The only way the residents get water for drinking and their daily needs is by buying it from trucks that make weekly rounds inside Lomas del Poleo. Adela Plasencia and Vicente Estrada, two residents who are represented by the Mexico City advocate Barbara Zamora are told that water will no longer be sold to them. The truck driver informs them that he has been told by the Zaragoza guards at the gate not to sell it to them any more.

September 26, 2008—The residents returning to their homes after attending a legal defense meeting are not allowed to enter the gate. “Llegaron tarde Cabrones!” (You’re too late fuckers!), they are told by the Zaragoza guards.
       That same evening a group of men with bulldozers, pickaxes and shovels, led by Fernando Carrillo and Catarino Del Río Camacho (Grupo Zaragoza overseers), raze the home of Adela Plasencia. They destroyed her furniture and left in ruins a home that she and her husband Vicente built thirty years ago on Lomas del Poleo mesa. Both of them have been the victims of threats and harassment recently, especially after they hired Mexico City attorney Barbara Zamorra and decided to continue fighting for their homes through the legal system despite the assassination of their previous attorney.

September 28, 2008—While the colonos attend a mass at their chapel in Lomas del Poleo, guards inside a black SUV with dark tinted windows park outside during the mass as an act of intimidation.


 




August 25, 2008

 

March Against the Wall

 march

 


 

July 31, 2008

US-Mexican Peace and Unity March

“One Community United Against the Wall”
 

To the Residents of the Borderlands,


The people of the border share and are united by a history, a language, a culture. While this land may be separated by an international boundary, the people cannot be divided. As construction begins on the proposed border wall, it stands to not only further divide the land but to divide the people as well.

As the border wall cuts the land, it cuts the communities of the border and tries to create differences among them. This wall, imposed upon us by those who do not live on the border, is said to be a form of “security” but there is no security when division and hate are created. In order to protest the wall a Peace and Unity March will take place on both sides of the border. Over four days, marchers will walk from McNary to El Paso to display a united front against the wall. Tentatively, the march will begin on August 26 to end on Labor Day.

We of the border are one community. We are all affected when our neighbors are displaced from their homes, are all affected by waves of violence, by unemployment and immigration. As the borderlands experience a difficult time, we cannot be passive and simply hope for change. We cannot allow our community to be divided and so it is for our well-being that we must stand together in an act of solidarity. Now is the time to act and create the change we want to see.
Those wishing to take part in the march can do so in a number of ways. Marchers are invited to participate either for the entire four days or for whatever time they can. Donations of food, water, and transportation as well as monetary contributions are needed. Whether or not you take part in any other way, everyone can help the march by publicizing it and discussing the issues with your friends, family, and neighbors. With this march, we will show the world that we are one community united against the wall; one voice speaking out for peace.
Join the march! Let us know if you are willing to participate in any way.

Carlos Marentes

On behalf of the Planning Group

More details and information will be provided next week.

 


July 12, 2008

 
Police Have No Leads on Assassination of Lomas del Poleo Lawyer
 

by Mexico Solidarity Network 


"Carlos Lopez Avitia, an attorney representing about thirty families in a land dispute in Lomas de Poleo, a barrio on the outskirts of Ciudad Juarez, was assassinated on June 20 as he left the Agrarian Reform offices in Ciudad Juarez. Lopez Avitia was a controversial figure. A former employee of the Agrarian Reform, he spent four months in prison and lost his job after accusations surfaced of negligence in his work and illegal use of government properties. Lopez Avitia claimed the legal consequences were payback for his defense of residents in Lomas de Poleo who are fighting efforts by the Zaragozas, one of Ciudad Juarez’s richest and most powerful families, to take over their lands. But some residents claimed he was secretly on the payroll of the Zaragozas and was misrepresenting the families. In 2004, US and Mexican officials announced construction of a new international bridge that would connect Lomas de Poleo with an El Paso suburb. Lomas de Poleo was founded more than three decades ago on abandoned desert land. Until the bridge announcement, there was no dispute over ownership. Mexican law awards ownership to anyone who has lived at least seven years on a piece of land without legal challenges, and the residents of Lomas de Poleo have a strong legal case.

Nevertheless, the Zaragozas fenced in the land and posted armed guards at the only entrance. They burned down dozens of houses and killed at least three people, including two small children who died in a house fire set by Zaragoza henchmen. The Zaragoza family owns beer and bottled gas distribution centers, and has used its political clout to convince local officials and police to stay out of the dispute. To date, no one has been charged with the murder of Lopez Avitia, and there is no indication that local police are actively pursuing the investigation. Currently several of the Lomas de Poleo families are represented by Barbara Zamora, perhaps Mexico’s best progressive attorney regarding land tenancy. 

 


 

May 17, 2008
 

Protest Against Dispossession and Repression in Lomas del Poleo

despojo

Demonstration against represssion and dispossession in Lomas del Poleo

Saturday, May 17, 2008 at 5 pm

Guadalupe Mission, Ciudad Juárez




April 9, 2008
 

Catholic Diocese of Ciudad Juárez denounces human rights abuses by Mexican military

ARMANDO VILLAREAL MARTA, a farmworker leader was assassinated on March 12 in Casas Grandes, Chihuahua. Carlos Chávez, Villareal’s colleague was arrested for having taken part in a demonstration at the international bridge in Juárez. Cipriana Jurado, a social activist, was arrested by masked men of the Agencia Federal de Investigación (Federal Investigation Agency) and incarcerated at the CERESO prison on April 3 for the same reason. She was released on bond the next day.

The Procuraduría General de la Republica (Federal Attorney General) has stated that it has arrest warrants for more than 40 leaders of different social organizations for having taken part in various events.
Three police women accuse the military of having stripped them of their clothing and sexually violated them. Several government agents targeted as suspects say they have been tortured. City police officers have also come forward with statements they they have been tortured in various ways.

Soldiers have entered the homes of citizens without a search warrant or without an explanation and left entire families—including children, women, elderly—in a state of fear. As if this weren’t enough, the soldiers have also been accused of stealing people’s property.

The citizens of Ciudad Juárez want and demand security in our daily lives. However, in addition to this insecurity now we are under a state of intimidation, impunity, illegality, persecution and torture that leaves many afraid to speak out since this situation has been created by government forces.

We are for life, civil rights, justice and dignity for every single person.  One does not defeat organized crime by killing the criminals, nor does one straighten out the police by torturing them. Recent history in our city has shown us that torture only led to accusing the wrong people for the murders of women.

We demand that the authorities correctly perform their assigned duties. Their positions cannot continue to be funded by public taxes if they do not stop the situation of terror our city is suffering. What is needed is for them to carry out their investigation and intelligence duties in a professional manner to insure that accusations of criminal activity or police participation in organized crime are backed up by solid evidence.

Those of us who call for human rights to be respected DO NOT support criminals, although some illegitimate voices are claiming that we do. Instead, we believe the violation of human rights in fact supports criminal activity given that torture fabricates false culprits and allows the true criminals to remain out in the streets and in criminal organizations.

It’s also disturbing to hear declarations that provide a justification for the violation of human rights. We do not believe that “this is the price that must be paid,” as some City Council representatives have stated; nor that these are “necessary acts despite their illegality” as some of the attorneys have argued; nor that “we are all responsible for the violence” in our city as some of the media claim; nor is it about “killing the criminals to reduce their numbers” as one military commander stated.

The organizations and individuals who support human rights and that subscribe to this declaration affirm the following:

WE WILL CONTINUE to struggle for a society that respects the dignity of everyone.

WE WILL CONTINUE to denounce human rights violations committed by the three levels of government.

WE WILL CONTINUE to express our concerns and proposals not only because it is part of our mission, but because the law itself gives us the right to defend human rights.

Signed,

The Catholic Diocese of Ciudad Juárez


April 5, 2008
 

Juárez activist is arrested for blocking the Santa Fe Bridge in 2005

Juarez activist Cipriana Jurado during the Border Social Forum in 2006.

LONGTIME JUÁREZ ACTIVIST Cipriana Jurado was arrested this week by federal officers wearing masks. She was charged with "obstruction of communication" in connection with a protest she helped organize along with dozens of other activists at one of the international bridges in 2005 protesting the Minutemen. Over the years, Jurado, a respected activist who helped found Centro de Investigación y Solidaridad Obrera (CISO) in 1990, has advocated for justice for laborers, the families of slain women and undocumented workers in the United States. 

Yesterday a group of human rights activists including Ester Chávez Cano, Casa Amiga director, protested her detention. "This is ridiculous and repressive," Chávez Cano told a Juárez newspaper. "They arrest the poor and vulnerable women who demand justice but they let the murderers of women in this city go free." The protest by about 50 women was held at the offices of the federal detention center in Juárez where she was escorted by 15 armed police agents and 20 soldiers who arrived in a Humvee behind the police camper that transported her.

Relatives said Jurado's children were left home alone after the officers took her away by force. She was returning from the city morgue after checking on one of the femicide cases.

She is being held at the request of CAPUFE, the Mexican federal agency that oversees federal highways and bridges; its headquarters is in Cuernavaca, Mexico.

This arrests comes at the heels of of the assassination of a farm worker leader three weeks ago and accusations of human rights violations against the 2,500 soldiers recently sent by Mexico's president to Ciudad Juárez to control narcotraffickers in the border city.  According to local activists, in the recent weeks there has been "a wave of repression in Chihuahua against social and civic movement leaders."


March 29, 2008
 

Invitation to Cesar Chavez March

                                                                                    

The agricultural workers of the El Paso-Ciudad Juarez' region continue to suffer poverty and neglect despite their valuable contribution to the economy of the border region.
 
In 1993, the average annual income for the border agricultural workers  was less that 7,000. This was only a third of the Poverty Income Guidelines of the Federal Government. But in the last 15 years, the salaries in the fields have fallen dramatically. Today they only earn half of the wages of 1993.
 
Unemployment affects more than half of the farm labor force. As a result, seven out of ten farm workers don't have a place to live. The majority lack access to health and medical services and only a few are able to provide a basic education to their children. Additionally, the border farm workers don't have the same benefits and legal protections like the rest of the labor force. They don't have, for example, the right to organize.
 
In order to demand justice and dignity we are having a march on Monday March 31, the official state Cesar Chavez holiday. We will gather at 9:30 a.m. at the corner of El Paso and Sixth Streets, near the El Paso del Norte International Bridge.
 
We invite everybody to join this march and support the struggle for justice and dignity for the border agricultural workers and their families.
 
 


March 23, 2008
 

City Council Changes Tune!?: – “No Land Grabbing in our City!.”  

“The motion to deny permission to the U.S. Corps of Engineers to cross city property came from West Central city Rep. Susie Byrd, who also requested that the city base its opposition in part of the lack of consultation regarding the fence project with the city and its residents.”           

                                                                                               —NPT

NEWSFLASH! – the El Paso City Council feels that is unlawful and morally repugnant for an outside entity to come into specific parts of our city and dictate the future fate of the land and property that currently exists.  Ortega, Byrd, O’Rourke and Lilly all agree that that putting up barriers that would forever change the culture, landscape and relationships in a specific area of our city is wrong and immoral.  Collectively they echo that survey’s that have been conducted in the area that show evidence of widespread plan support are nothing more than bogus examples of selective propaganda.  These esteemed members of city council also note that any plan to alter a section of our city that excludes the direct input of the leaders and residents affected most by this plan is absurdly illegitimate.   It is great to see our progressive City officials bravely protecting the rights and integrity of our region’s many helpless victims who would inevitably face displacement and irreversible personal losses at the expense of the powerful.  


March 22, 2008
 

THE HIPSTERS ARE COMING!

Damn. There goes the neighborhood.

By JENNI BURTON

"PUSHING OUT YOUR NATIVES because they’re not cool enough to bring in big time investment is a crappy way to repay them for the hard work of making El Paso what it is. I’m at a point in my life where that too-cool-for-school attitude is just sickening, and I think it’s an absolute folly that cities are actively courting a generation of consumer-product-obsessed, substance-abusing, under-employed snobs so they can replace a group of hard-working, family-oriented immigrants in any given neighborhood so consumption-based industries can thrive and raise property values." Read more...

Also click here to watch  a recent episode of "King of the Hill" in which a group hipsters infests Arlen and drives up the rents in a traditionally Mexican-American neighborhood.

Will this happen to us once Sanders, Foster and Hunt take over South El Paso?


March 19, 2008
 

MORE CONNECTIONS

Pedro Zaragoza Fuentes and Eloy Vallina sat on Binational Commission headed by New Mexico governor in 2003

IN 2003, THE VERDE GROUP bought 21,000 acres in Santa Teresa, directly across from San Jeronimo. In that same year, Eloy Vallina Lagüera, who owns 49,000 acres in San Jeronimo, became a board member of the Verde Group. That's also the year the Eloy Vallina and Pedro Zaragoza Fuentes became official "public members" of the New Mexico-Chihuahua Commission that was co-chaired by New Mexico governor Bill Richardson.

Stay tuned in future updates for more connections between the major players behind the Santa Teresa-San Jerónimo binational development project and the Lomas del Poleo-Sunland Park binational crossing. See "Verde Denies Any Connection to Binational Development Project."



March 15, 2008

ANOTHER PDNG MEMBER PLEADS GUILTY TO CORRUPTION

FORMER CITY COUNCIL REP and current Paso Del Norte Group member Raymond R. Telles pleaded guilty Friday to two counts of mail and wire fraud, admitting he attempted to bribe El Paso County commissioners and Socorro Independent School District trustees. He is the second PDNG member, out of seven, to plead guilty of having bribed city, county and school officials in exchange for contracts. The El Paso Times has reported that PDNG member Bobby Ruiz, with the help of a fellow banker, obtained more than $1.5 billion dollars worth of work through bribery. County Commissioner Betti Flores has also pled guilty to FBI charges that the C.F. Jordan construction firm, owned by PDNG member Paco Jordan, paid her $10,000 to obtain a 20 million dollar contract to build a parking garage downtown.

At least ten of the El Paso business leaders who have been linked to the FBI corruption investigation belong to the secretive group behind the Downtown-Segundo barrio “redevelopment” plan.  See list.



March 13, 2008

AN INOFFENSIVE DOWNTOWN

El Paso City leaders are doing what Porfirio Díaz did

 By ENRIQUE MEDRANDO, ESQ.

THE CORE OF DOWNTOWN El Paso, the area around San Jacinto Plaza, will change primarily as a result of the relocation by Joyce Wilson of the downtown bus terminal away from San Jacinto Plaza. The relocation of the downtown bus terminal is the key to potentially realizing the desires expressed by those who partcipated in the Glass Beach study and pined for Matthew McConaughey and Penelope Cruz look-alikes to swarm downtown El Paso.

The 20,000 or so daily pedestrian border crossers from Cd. Juarez (represented by the old Mexican, sombrero-wearing viejito in the Glass Beach study), whose buying power was responsible for forming what the City rechristened as the "Golden Horseshoe" between the two downtown international bridges and the downtown bus stops at San Jacinto Plaza, will, for the time being, have to make their way to the City Parking Garage and Trolley Terminal south of the Civic Center on West Overland Street in the Union Plaza District.

In a recent article by Leon Metz on Porfirio Diaz in the El Paso Times (March 3, 2008), he wrote: "In 1910-11, Mexico celebrated its centennial of independence, Diaz inviting the world's most powerful and wealthy to the capital, plying them with imported delicacies and pageantry. This man, whose own blood was predominantly Indian, ordered other Indians off the streets `less their poverty offend visitors'."

Those whose poverty may "offend visitors" are being relocated away from San Jacinto Plaza. But hey, this is par for the course in redevelopment and gentrification efforts throughout the country.

Mr. Foster's revitalization project will become a reality in terms of a refurbished Mills Building, Plaza Hotel, and Centre Building (White House Department Store building). Will he be able to fill his buildings with tenants paying prime rental rates? Will his retail merchant and food service tenants have enough customers to run their businesses in the black long term?

It is time for City Council to scrap the Redevelopment Zone portion of its downtown revitalization plan, or at least put it on the back burner for at least five years. Let's see if the relocation of the downtown bus terminal away from San Jacinto Plaza and Paul Foster's project "revitalizes" the core of downtown El Paso.

If Foster's plan succeeds, City Council can revisit the need for a plan which calls for forced redevelopment of the area around the core of downtown using eminent domain. If Foster's plan doesn't succeed, it simply means the redevelopment zone scheme, which is much more grandiose, will never succeed. 


 

March 12, 2008

Senator Bingaman Meets With Mexico’s Ambassador to the United States to Discuss Border Violence and Lomas del Poleo

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman met yesterday with Eduardo Medina-Mora and Arturo Sarukhan, the Mexican attorney general and ambassador to the United States, respectively, to discuss violence along the border and other important border-related issues.
 
“In recent weeks, we’ve seen an increase in violence in the border region. Yesterday's meeting was an opportunity for me to convey to the Mexican government that New Mexicans have serious concerns about this violence and that it needs to be addressed right away,” Bingaman said.
 
Bingaman  presented the attorney general and ambassador with a copy of a resolution passed yesterday by the Doña Ana County Commission that raises concerns regarding the safety of residents of Lomas del Poleo – a Mexican community just south of Sunland Park.  Lomas del Poleo is a colonia that is subject to an ongoing land dispute where guards hired by powerful Juárez developers known as Grupo Zaragoza have surrounded the neighborhood with barbed-wire.
 
“I’m glad I was able to bring this issue to the attention of the Mexican attorney general, and that he committed to looking into the situation,” Bingaman said.


March 11, 2008

DONA ANA COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PASS RESOLUTION 

THE DONA ANA COUNTY COMMISSION today unanimously voted for a resolution asking for an amicable settlement of the land dispute at Lomas del Poleo, emphasizing that they are not "judging" the Mexican government and realizing they have no jurisdiction. 

Here is the resolution that was  read by County Commissioner Bill McCamley at today's meeting:

“Whereas the Dona Ana County Board of Commissioners has heard the concerns of the residents of Lomas De Poleo.  And whereas the State of New Mexico U.S. Federal Agencies and Dona Ana County are committed to investing in successful bi-national development of our border for the benefit of all residents.  And whereas the Dona Ana County Board of Commissioners believes that a successful bi-national community with manageable immigration and border security requires that residents are safe and healthy on both sides of the border.  And whereas the residents of Lomas De Poleo inhabit a parcel of land immediately adjacent to the proposed Sunland Park/Anapra Port of Entry.  And whereas the Chihuahua State Human Rights Commission Paso Del Norte Center for Human Rights and other organizations have documented the concerns of the residents of Lomas De Poleo.   And have taken an active role in pursuing a resolution for the land dispute.  And whereas the Dona Ana County Board of Commissioners as a governing body immediately adjacent to the Mexican Border;  acknowledges its respect for the Mexican Government and due process limits its direct intervention and assistance to the residents.  But asks that the public scrutiny of this issue and public resources be directed toward a just and expeditious resolution of the immediate needs of the residents. 
Now therefore The Dona Ana County Board of Commissioners does hereby respectfully request that New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, New Mexico Senators Bingaman and Domenici, Bishop Ramirez and the council of Bishops, local state and national leaders from the El Paso Texas and Juarez Mexico areas and the human rights groups that have been noted meet immediately to implement a peaceful and just resolution to the situation in Lomas De Poleo including:

1.    An expeditious resolution of the land dispute that is pending the Mexican Judicial system.

2.    Reinstallation of electric power and a functioning potable water system for the community to ensure that as due process procedures for resolution of this dispute proceed, basic human necessities are available for residents.

3.    An examination by the US Delegation from New Mexico as to what international aid resources may be available to assist in providing basic services to these residents as  this situation is being resolved.
Passed approved and adopted this 11th of March 2008
 

Today's resolution was considerably milder than the original resolution: (see Feb. 26, 2008 update below). According to a reliable source, the county commissioners all got several phone calls and a bit of arm twisting from Governor Richardson's office and from Juan Massey, director of Mexican Affairs for New Mexico. They were warned not to support the resolution calling for taking down the barbed-wire fence and respect for the human rights of the Lomas del Poleo residents in order not to offend the government of Mexico and to not jeopardize future binational development plans in the region. After the vote Zaragoza attorney, Mario Chacon Rojo, was the only person allowed to address the commissioners. One journalist who regularly covers the commissioners meeting called this limitation to one speaker during the open comment section of the consensus agenda item an extremely rare occurrence.  Chacon, on behalf of the wealthy land developers who claims ownership of the area, invited the Commissioners and sponsors of the resolution to visit Lomas del Poleo.  (Will rocks be thrown at them too from the guard towers?!)

"I would like to extend an invitation to you so that you can see that the situation there is not as serious as they say it is," Mario Chacon Rojo told the commissioners. "Personally, I would like to recommend that Mexico City name New Mexico as Mexico's favorite state, el estado mas favorecido de Mexcio, because of the conduct and expressions of support by governor Richardson. "


 


March 8, 2008

 

THE OTHER PART OF THE REPORT

The North American Human Rights Delegation Connects Displacement at Lomas del Poleo with the Segundo Barrio
 

"There is strong economic motivation for displacement.”  —NAHRD final report

HERE IS A PORTION of the final report of the North American Human Rights Delegation that the local media conveniently ignored, namely the part titled “Connections between Lomas del Poleo and Segundo Barrio.”


*****
Commercial Development to Support the Movement of Goods


An additional crossing at Anapra is being advocated by interested parties on both sides of the border (c.f. SP-026-06 letter from Chihuahua Governor José Reyes Baeza Terrazas to Minister of Foreign Relations Luis Bautista and letter from New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice dated April 17, 2006).

The new international transportation hub is projected to include an intermodal facility which would transfer rail payloads onto heavy vehicles. Currently, Mexican railways are being improved to leverage the possibility of increased traffic.

A border crossing at Anapra would lead into Sunland Park, New Mexico. Any expansion of existing crossings, or additional border crossings (e.g. Anapra), would substantially relieve some of the traffic on El Paso’s international bridges while potentially providing an economic windfall to Sunland Park’s coffers. There is construction in Sunland Park, which points to this area being one of projected growth and current development. Sunland Park Racetrack Recreation and Casino is paying $12 million of the infrastructure costs for a border crossing at Sunland Park, anticipating a large increase in patrons.

It is here in Sunland Park that bi-national economic interests converge. These interests include entities such as the Verde Group, Zaragoza Enterprises, and the civic association known as Paso del Norte Group. These groups share both the desire to profit from conditions onthe U.S. and Mexican border and also, in some instances, common corporate directors and officers.

William Sanders, CEO of the Verde Group, owns 26,000 acres, 5,000 of them in Sunland Park.
Elloy Vallina, one of the board member of the Verde Group [joined in 2003], is one of the richest men in the state of Chihuahua. Mr. Vallina was part of a bi-national commission exploring and advocating border development called the 2003 New Mexico-Chihuahua Commission. Mr. Vallina’s son, Eloy Vallina Garza, is member of the Paso Del Norte Group.

The Verde Group has been involved in the advancement of two development plans, namely the Santa Teresa and San Jeronimo plans. These trade zones would “create a niche between the United States and Mexico where the best elements on either side of the border can be accessed by companies.”

Connections between Lomas del Poleo and Segundo Barrio

Displacement of poor local communities is currently taking place due to potential industrial and corporate development on both sides of the border. In addition to Lomas Del Poleo, Segundo Barrio, one of the oldest neighborhoods in El Paso with many historic buildings of rich cultural significance, is also at risk of disappearing. the pedestrian bridges from Ciudad Juárez currently terminate in El Paso’s Segundo Barrio. Segundo Barrio has been called “a localized version of Ellis Island” for the Mexican community crossing into the United States.

Much like Lomas del Poleo, residents are being displaced by a closed and non-public process which benefits some of the same developers. According to one resident, Maria Guadalupe Ochoa, in lieu of violence, residents of the Segundo Barrio are faced with dilemmas such as developers “offering $20,000 for your house and you have to take it because your children have needs.” In Segundo Barrio, the displacement would impact roughly 1,800 current residents.

Again, like the displacement happening in Lomas del Poleo, there is a strong economic motivation for the displacement. Developers, like the Paso Del Norte Group stand to gain huge profits from appropriating a portion of this neighborhood. The proposed use of eminent domain to recuperate property for private development is effectively a land grab, which benefits real estate developers. Rather than being used for the common good, in this instance the land being “reclaimed” would be turned over to a private Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) whose goals are determined by the trustees and not by the general public and thereby not accountable to the community or city government. To a certain degree, when faced with the possibility of losing their homes through eminent domain, the residents are facing economic coercion.

According to Father Edwin Gros, residents went to a City Council meeting to speak on a proposal that would limit the use of eminent domain. The proposed ordinance would have limited the use of eminent domain to declaring a specific building a blight, but not a whole area. They were told to go home because consideration of the proposal had been postponed. The Council then went ahead and voted down the proposal after residents left. To add insult to injury, residents said a City Council member who in the past had recused himself on the issue due to conflict of interest voted against the proposal.

“The is the day we stopped living in a democracy and started living a dictatorship,” an El Paso resident said.

CONCLUSION

The North American Human Rights Delegation concludes that human rights violations are taking place against the residents of Lomas del Poleo, with the tacit consent of the local government. The land development driving the displacement of residents in Lomas del Poleo is reflected in other areas of the immediate border region, including Segundo Barrio in El Paso, Texas. Rather than being isolated cases of displacement, the cases described in this report appear to be interconnected.

Read entire report 




March 7, 2008

 

North American Human Rights Delegation to release report today on displacement and dispossession on the El Paso-Juárez border

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Renee Saucedo, Esq. at 415.425.7575
March 6, 2008

Press Release


Cuidad Juarez --The North American Human Rights Delegation has been visiting the Cuidad Juarez/El Paso region February 29 through March 7, 2008 with the objective of observing and documenting the conditions in which the inhabitants of Lomas del Poleo in Cuidad Juarez, Chihuahua, and the Segundo Barrio of El Paso, Texas live.  The delegation, comprised by members of Amnesty International; National Lawyers Guild; La Raza Centro Legal of San Francisco; "No More Deaths"; International Civil Commission for the Observation of Human Rights; Concilio Latino San Francisco Bay Area; Labor Council for Latin American Advancement of San Francisco; Labor Council for Latin American Advancement of Sacramento; La Alianzalatinoamericana; and Davis Religious Community for Sanctuary (California) invites media to a press conference which will occur Friday, March 7, 2008 at 11:00 a.m. in front of the Municipal Palace of Cuidad Juarez.

At this press conference, the delegation will share their findings, report, and conclusions based upon their meetings with diverse stakeholders in these border communities.  Stakeholders interviewed include governmental representatives, settlers of Lomas del Poleo, non-governmental organization, and others involved in the current disputes taking place in Lomas del Poleo and Segundo Barrio.

Where:
Municipal Presidency of Cuidad Juarez
Friday March 7, 2008
11:00 AM

 


March 2, 2008

"Stop Verde Group Subsidies Until it Straightens out its Mexican Collaborators"

By DR. JAMES KADLECECK (New Mexico Politics)

THE DOÑA ANA COUNTY Board of Commissioners heard a tragic presentation today from citizens concerned about the human rights violations going on just across our border in Lomas de Poleo. This little village sits right in the path of development for the bi-national city that some wealthy Mexican developers want to develop in partnership or collaboration with the El Paso-based Verde Group. The commission listened attentively as citizens, a priest, the bishop’s representative and others recited the list of horrors that have been inflicted upon the humble residents of this village (homes being torn down or burned, several deaths, their village fenced in with armed guards, etc).

The politically well-connected Mexican developers say they own the land, and the residents (who have lived there for more than 30 years) say they do. The issue is in the Mexican courts, but the developers are impatient and have been allegedly committing these atrocities to force the people off the land.

Our commissioners unanimously expressed outrage but failed to take any action, citing process as their excuse. They did agree to contact the governors of New Mexico and Chihuahua and write letters of protest. Here’s my suggestion on what they can do: Tell Verde that there will be no action on its request for public subsidies until it straightens out its Mexican collaborators. We don’t want to do business with people who commit such acts of violence and violations of human rights.

Read more 


February 26, 2008

DOÑA ANA COMMISSIONERS EXPRESS OUTRAGE AT BINATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ABUSES

DOÑA ANA COUNTY COMMISSIONERS today heard Father Bill Morton, colonos from Lomas del Poleo and a room full of supporters from Las Cruces, El Paso and Juárez ask that they pass a resolution calling for a stop to binational development plans until the Grupo Zaragoza ceases the violation of human rights in Lomas del Poleo. The resolution titled “Resolution of the Dona Ana Board of County Commissioners Regarding Lomas del Poleo” read as follows:
 
Whereas:  The state of New Mexico, US Federal Agencies, and Dona Ana County are committed to investing in successful bi-national development of the Santa Teresa, San Jeronimo,  El Paso, Juarez metropolitan area for the benefit of all of their citizens.
 
Whereas:  A successful bi-national community with manageable immigration and border security requires that citizens are safe on both sides of the border.
 
Whereas:  The Dona Ana BOCC is committed to protecting the human rights and property rights of all residents of Dona Ana County, and allowing violations on the Mexican border to go unresolved will undermine the confidence of Dona Ana County residents in that commitment.
 
Whereas:  The owners of Grupo Zaragoza have claimed ownership of Lomas del Poleo, a critical parcel of land at the intersection of the San Jeronimo  / Santa Teresa project  and the proposed Anapra / Sunland Park port of entry.
 
Whereas:  Grupo Zaragoza, against the wishes of residents who have lived at Lomas del Poleo for up to 30 years, continues to surrounded the area with a barbed wire fence, guard towers and entry gates, and pays armed guards to control access to the community.  
 
Whereas:  The beating death of Luis Alberto Guerrero, destruction of Jesus de Nazaret Church and many homes by the guards, death threats and numerous injuries inflicted by guards, and the deaths of 3 year old Maria del Carmen Cassango, and 4 year old Magdeleno Cassango in a suspicious house fire have created an atmosphere of fear that is driving residents out.
 
Whereas:  The Chihuahua State Human Rights Commission, Paso del Norte Center for Human Rights, and other organizations have documented these violations, and failure to remedy the situation opens US government organizations and business interests alike to charges of complicity in human rights violations.
 
Whereas:  The owners of Grupo Zaragoza, a Verde Group board member and New Mexico and Chihuahua government officials have served together on Governor Richardson's New Mexico – Chihuahua commission promoting bi-national trade and border development.
 
The Dona Ana County Board of County Commissioners urges New Mexico Governor Richardson, New Mexico Senators Bingaman and Domenici, and the Verde Group to immediately begin working with Mexican government agencies and the Grupo Zaragoza to insure a peaceful and just resolution to the situation in Lomas del Poleo by doing the following:
 
1.    Remove all fencing and allow unimpeded access into and out of the community.
2.    Remove all private guards and militia from the community.
3.    Vigorously investigate and prosecute all acts of violence and intimidation.
4.    Expedite a transparent and fair legal process to determine land ownership rights in the community, and reinstate rights where residents have been induced to leave through coercion.

The County Commissioners expressed their outrage and voted unanimously to officially take action on this at the next County Commissioner meeting within two weeks.

Click here listen to a KRWG radio broadcast of today's meeting.


February 24, 2008

A CALL FOR ACTION!

"Successful  development on the U.S. side hinges, in part, on taking Lomas de Poleo as part of the larger section of land the Mexican developers lay claim to.  They are going after Lomas not just because they want that specific plot of land, but because allowing [Lomas residents] to keep it will undermine their claim to the whole area they say they purchased from the state/feds.  The Lomas situation reveals symbolic, class, and other practical problems with binational development. So, the U.S. is implicated in economic and moral/human rights terms: the more we want the U.S. side developed, the more we place Lomas in the center of the crosshairs."  

INVITATION TO DOÑA ANA COUNTY COMMISSIONERS MEETING 

I FREQUENTLY SEND you notices of meetings  which I hope you will attend.  This time I PLEAD with you to attend: Tuesday, Feb. 26,  9 AM.  the regular Doña Ana County Commission meeting at County headquarters,  845 N.  Motel Blvd in Las Cruces, New Mexico (go west on Picacho until you come to Motel Blvd., then turn left).   There will be a brief presentation about the horrors happening at LOMAS DEL POLEO just across the border in Juarez.   The Commission will be given the opportunity to make a difference in the life of the residents of Lomas. 

Lest you think this doesn't  affect you I urge you to read Pulitzer Prize winner ('92 for national reporting) Eileen Welsome's narratives of the corruption, violence and billions of dollars developers stand to make for the proposed bi-national development affecting Juarez, El Paso and Dona Ana County.  The proposed mega-development will affect all our lives.  The recent huge Las Cruces land annexation is very small potatos next to what is projected.

http://www.eileenwelsome.com-a.googlepages.com/lomasdelpoleo
http://newspapertree.com/features/1976-making-a-killing-land-deals-and-girl-deaths-on-the-u-s-mexico-border
http://www.texasobserver.org/article.php?aid=2483

For  information on the Lomas del Poleo dispute download this hourlong movie:  http://www.archive.org/details/Poleo_Speaking 

PLEASE COME on Tuesday and show the County Commission that you care about your quality of life!  And please urge everyone you know to come.

Thank you.

Charlotte Lipson, Las Cruces Quality Growth Alliance member                                               



February 23, 2008

Sin Fronteras Organization Celebrates 25 Years of Struggle

25 years

YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED to our 25th Anniversary celebration on Saturday February 23, 2008, at the Farm Worker Center, 201 East Ninth Avenue, El Paso, Texas 79901, starting at 2:30 p.m.

We begin our celebration with matachines, a brief religious act and an Aztec ceremony. Then, we will recognize some of the founders, followed by mariachis, cake, piñata and the Folkcloric Ballet. And of course, music to dance until we get tired.

We will have great food, natural drinks and good company. Please, invite your families, friends and co-workers. For your convenience, you can park in the empty lot on Ninth Avenue, right across the Farm Worker Center.

Sin Fronteras Organizing Project was officially founded on February 23, 1983. For 25 years we have been fighting for the rights of the border farm workers and their families and we have a lot to celebrate. But we want you to be part of this celebration. We will see you on Saturday.

Sincerely,

Carlos and Alicia Marentes

February 20, 2008

Zaragoza Guards Impede Chihuahua State Human Rights Official from Carrying out Inspection

PARAMILITARY GUARDS hired by the Grupo Zaragoza attacked Gustavo de la Rosa Hickerson of the Comisión Estatal de los Derechos Humanos (Chihuahua State Human Rights Commission) yesterday during an official inspection to monitor human rights abuses in Lomas del Poleo.

The human rights inspector told the Diário de Juárez that around 11:30 a.m. yesterday he arrived at the gate entering Lomas del Poleo to conduct a scheduled observation of the Anapra neigbhorhood surrounded by barbed wire. The gate was open, but when he attempted to enter, he was immediately stopped and shoved back by several Zaragoza guards, two whom witnesses identified as Ramiro Luna and Fernando Carrillo. (Carrillo was identified as the guard responsible for causing injuries to Lomas del Poleo resident Guadalupe Pineda a few weeks ago.) When De La Rosa was about ten meters inside the gate, one guard ran to shove him back and others to attack him with blows to the face and the body, the human rights official told the Diario de Juárez. 

De La Rosa said he was then pushed back to the gate that was locked to prevent him from leaving. He was not allowed to use his cell phone, but was forcefully detained inside the compound for about 15 to 20 minutes until the Zaragoza guards received orders to release the human rights official.

De La Rosa, said the police refused to intervene on his behalf despite the fact that he is a government official. He had informed the Juárez police of his scheduled observation at Lomas del Poleo and asked for them to send protection during his inspection, but although one policeman showed up, De La Rosa explained he “practically refused to intervene and had orders to do nothing.”

In addition to being a human rights observer, Gustavo de la Rosa is an attorney who is the father of Leon de la Rosa, the film maker who shot the documentary "Poleo Speaking"—a video testimony to injustice and human rights violations taking place behind the barbed-wire fence at Lomas del Poleo.

There have been many documented cases in the past where Ciudad Juárez police officers have stood by while Zaragoza guards physically threaten residents of Lomas del Poleo and members of human rights organization. (See "Forum at Lomas del Poleo is blocked" video.)

One member of a Juárez grass roots organization who helped organize the first two forumas at Lomas del Poleo said, “If the Zaragoza people can get away with attacks against a member of an official Mexican government entity, imagine what they can get away with in regards to the Lomas del Poleo residents. We see again that the Zaragozas have absolute impunity in this city.”


February 19, 2008

AN ACTUAL ENVIRONMENTAL THREAT

Massive explosion at Texas refinery renews fears of El Paso plant

 
YESTERDAY’S HUGE EXPLOSION  at the Big Spring, Texas refinery (see Reuter video of explosion) renewed fears of about the safety of the Western Refining plant near the San Juan and Lower Valley neighborhoods in El Paso.

There are thousands of working- and middle- class residents who live in the neighborhood surrounding the refinery in Trowbridge street. About 2,500 people live immediately within a 1.5 mile radius of the plant, according to the El Paso City-County Office of Emergency Management.

“It’s scary that this can happen with the refinery but we can’t afford to move. We are stuck,” Rebecca Delgado, 56, told the El Paso Times.

The El Paso newspaper reported that, “The last major fire at Western Refining was in November when a hydrogen leak sparked a blaze that took firefighters hours to extinguish.”

According to the Diario de El Paso:

“Neighbors have complained for decades about the contamination produced by this plant right in the middle of one of the most highly populated areas in El Paso. They say they have seen health problems ranging from headaches, to respiratory problems to lead poisoning.

“My son was diagnosed with high levels of lead in his blood. This was two years ago and every six months doctors have to check his blood to see if his lead levels are high,” said Lourdes Medina, who has lived four years on Seville street near Western Refining.

Medina attributes her son’s health problems to the toxic smoke and ashes spewed daily by the El Paso refinery.She said that from 8 pm to dawn, the noxious smell and heat (in addition to loud noises that come from the inside of the refinery) makes life rather unbearable for her and her family.

Raul Quiñonez, another resident in the area and former Western Refining employee said that a tanker that was transporting oil blew up near the plant, and spewed chemicals on dozens of homes and cars in his neighborhood.

After this, he explained, a hotline was set up by Western Refining to take complaints. However, when residents call to complain they get a voice message or “non-responses,” Quiñonez said. “They tell us that they have the permit to spew these chemicals during the night time and that nothing can be done about that. Sometimes, they just hang up the phone and don’t respond,” said Mariano Medina, also a resident of the neighborhood surrounding the refinery. He said that during the last accident the affected residents were paid $250 each so that they would keep quiet about it and not go to the news media.

The El Paso refinery is co-owned by Paso Del Norte Group members Paul Foster and Bill Sanders. Both are major contributors to Republican causes at the local, state level and national level. Foster recently donated $25,000 to right wing candidate Dee Margo, a personal friend of president Bush. They are also major contributors to the self-designated “progressive” local leaders such as Mayor Cook, city rep O’Rourke and state senator Shapleigh who are leading the efforts against ASARCO because the smelter plant will potentially cause major pollution if reopened.

Even critics who support the closure of ASARCO, believe these city leaders are using the legitimate enviromental concern as a "populist fig leaf to conceal their own hidden agenda," namely, the seizure of the ASARCO land for their binational mega-development projects driven by the same big money players funding their campaigns.

A government funded study in the 1990s showed that Fort Bliss and Western Refining are currently the two major causes of pollution in El Paso. While the city leaders have spent nearly a million dollars in their fight against ASARCO and to study what City will do with the land once it is expropriated from the smelter, no funds have been spent to gauge the environmental harm on the communities surrounding Western Refining. 


February 18, 2008

El Paso Community College Will Host Forum Against Binational Displacement

AN EDUCATIONAL FORUM against displacement and land seizures in Lomas del Poleo and the Segundo Barrio will be held on Tuesday, February 19th at the El Paso Community College Administrative Center auditorium.  Several documentaries including Poleo Speaking by Leon de la Rosa and El Segundo Barrio No Se Vende by Paso Del Sur will be shown at the forum. Panelists include residents from the Lomas del Poleo and the Segundo Barrio, Sacred Heart pastor Edwin Gros and Father Bill Morton, a Columban missionary who was deported from Mexico for his work on behalf of the colonos of Lomas del Poleo. There will also be a photography exhibit by Bruce Berman. The forum is free to the public.

Where:  EPCC Administrative Services Center Auditorium, 9050 Viscount.
When:  Tuesday, February 19 at 6 to 8 pm




February 17, 2008

 

PDNG Speculator Finally Cashes in on the Downtown Plan  

THE PASO DEL NORTE GROUP Mike Dipp Jr. finally cashed in on the downtown plan he so fervently supports.  He just sold his Plaza Hotel to fellow PDNG oil refinery mogul Paul Foster was recently named “Man of the Year” by the El Paso Times. Mr. Dipp, a local land speculator who has owned the Plaza Hotel for decades without doing a thing with it, was able to reduce his taxes on his buildings more than $150,000 last year after a protest at the Central Appraisal District. The hotel was appraised last year by the El Paso Central Appraisal District at $894,965, and reduced to $731,532 after a protest. There’s a bit of hypocrisy here since the whole misinformation talking point of the PDNG supporters is that downtown merchants don’t pay their fair of taxes. Although Central Appraisal District research done by attorney Enrique Medrano has shown that most of the downtown businesses actually pay more taxes foot per foot than those outside this area, it seems to actually hold true for some of the major PDNG players. PDNG founder William Sanders, who also owns several buildings downtown, also is in the habit of fighting property valuation increases at the Central Appraisal District. One of his Verde properties in the Lower Valley was lowered in value by one million dollars after he protested. (Those developers sure like to protest, don’t they?)

The new owner of the Plaza Hotel, Paul Foster, who is also the owner of one of the top two major polluters in the city, Western Refining, now owns three vacant Downtown office buildings: the 16-story Blue Flame building; the 12-story Mills Building; and the Luther Building. Foster bought the Blue Flame building right before City manager Joyce Wilson announced that City Hall is considering selling out its present structure and possibly plans to purchase Foster Blue Flame building as its future site. Doesn’t that sound a bit like insider trading?

Foster’s message to the City politicos is clearly—mi casa es su casa. This will give the term "embedded politicians" a whole new twist.



February 12, 2008

EVENT:

Segundo Barrio-Lomas del Poleo Forum at the University of Ciudad Juárez

What:  Forum:  What Side of the Fence Are You On? Lomas del Poleo-Segundo Barrio: Two Communities Under Siege

Where:  Universidad Autonoma de Ciudad Juárez, Sala Francisco R. Almada, edificio "I" en ICSA (Instituto de Ciencias Sociales y Administración)

When: Wednesday, February 13 at 6 pm 

 


February 11, 2008

IS BILL SANDER'S BUILDING BLIGHTED?

chase manhattan

The "sign of the changing times" can't withstand a strong wind.

A FEW MONTH ago the El Pasoan, a glossy magazine owned by the fervent plan booster and TIRZ board member Keith Mahar, (who also owns NPT), ran a short article listing the new blue sign put up by Bill Sanders on the roof of the Chase Bank building as a wonderful example of Downtown “revitalization” and as a “sign of the changing times.” The headquarters of the Verde Group and the Paso Del Norte Group are located inside the Chase Bank building that was bought last year by Bill Sander’s Borderplex REIT as the first acquisition of the Downtown plan.

Apparently the signs of revitalization can’t stand up to a strong wind.

In January 7, 2008, the El Paso Times reported that “firefighters have closed a section of Main Street in front of the Chase Bank Building Downtown because some aluminum sheets at the top of the building have become loose because of the wind and possibly may fall off, according to firefighters at the scene. A section of Stanton Street near Chase Bank has also been blocked off because of the potential danger.”

A month later, the street is still closed.

Recently, community groups have approached the City Council in support of an ordinance to make sure that only buildings that are genuinely a threat to the community should be condemned as “blighted.” O’Rourke and three other City Council reps voted the ordinance down because they prefer a free-for-all defintion in which all buildings in the TIRZ zone can be declared blighted not because they are truly blighted but because Sanders and his Borderplex REIT need those property for their own private development projects.

Ironically, Sander’s own building has proven to be the greatest threat in the area. No one, however, expects O’Rourke to use this incident to show that the Chase Bank building is a “danger” to the community. That argument will be used by Mr. O’Rourke only against his own political enemies, not against his own father in law.

Question: If Sander’s revitalized sign can’t withstand a strong wind will the signs of his “revitalization plan” withstand the downturn in the local housing market and the bust of the REITS at a national level?

More on that at a later date.


 

February 7, 2008

FACT CHECK 

O’Rourke claims 2007 election gave him mandate from Segundo Barrio residents 

AFTER TUESDAY’S SUCCESSFUL action at City Hall by a group of Sacred Heart Parishioners, barrio residents and their supporters from various organizations demanding that City rep Robert O’Rourke acknowledge his conflict of interest in his vote against the proposed eminent domain ordinance, O’Rourke held a press conference to defend himself. According to NPT:

“O’Rourke believed the protest to be a ‘ruse by the Paso Del Sur Group to make it look as though Segundo Barrio is united in protest against what we’re doing at the city.’ He stated that he believes a majority of South El Paso residents approved of what he is doing in office as they re-elected him as the city representative last year’ ...If you look at the election returns from 2007, that’s just not the case,’ he said.”

Here's our response to Mr. O’Rourkes claims and misinformation.

Claim #1: Tuesday’s protest was “a Paso Del Sur ruse.”

Fact:

The protest was not organized by Paso Del Sur but by a newly formed Segundo Barrio neighborhood committee called “Voces Del Barrio” that has been organized with the help of Sacred Heart pastor Edwin Gros and organizers of the Paso Del Norte Civil Rights Project. They hold their meetings on a regular basis at Sacred Heart Church. Mr. O’Rourke, like most self-proclaimed members of the elitist "Creative Class," apparently does not believe the Southside residents and parishioners of Sacred Heart Church are capable of protesting and thinking for themselves.

Claim #2: The 2007 city election gave Robert O’Rourke a mandate from the Segundo Barrio residents to proceed with the demolition plan

Fact:

To respond to O’Rourke’s claim we must first examine what exactly are the returns for the May 2007 election that O’Rourke is citing as evidence of El Segundo Barrio’s alleged support for him and the PDNG plan.

The one polling booth in South El Paso, precinct 35 at Padre Pinto (about 10 blocks away from the “redevelopment zone” in the heart of the Segundo Barrio) saw a total of 158 voters last May. Only 86 barrio residents out of 2,800 registered voters in the Segundo Barrio voted for O’Rourke. The total population of the Segundo Barrio is more than 15,000.

O’Rourke outspent his opponent almost nine to one. Thanks to heavy political contributions from more than 170 members of the Paso Del Norte Group and their spouses—including major developers, bankers and CEOs from the region—O’Rourke raised $60,283. His opponent, Trini Acevedo, raised $7,100. While his Acevedo didn’t even have money to put up a single poster in the Segundo Barrio, O’Rourke managed to decorate the freeway with large billboards showing his face. Despite this huge inequity in support from the city’s major developers and CEO’s (a handful of them who have been mentioned as targets of the FBI’s corruption investigation for offering county and city officials bribes in exchange for public contracts) Mr. O’Rourke only beat his opponent in the Segundo Barrio by 14 votes!

In other words, only 3% of all registered Segundo Barrio residents voted for O’Rourke. Only 86 out of a total population of 15,000 residents hardly constitutes an overwhelming mandate.

The real question here is why do so few barrio residents bother to vote at all? Could it be that they feel that it makes no difference? After all, the plans that deeply affect their own communities are always presented as “done deals.” It’s the experience of barrio organizers that many barrio residents express feelings of “impotence.” They feel incapable of standing up against that powerful business and political interests. Many of them are disgusted by the political corruption they see. When some of them get enough courage to participate and go speak before City Hall, as we saw last Tuesday, those in power (such as Mr. O’Rourke) do everything to make sure the residents feel insignificant and incapable of affecting the outcome of decisions that affect their community.

Historically, everything has been done by the ruling class in El Paso to make sure that the residents of the Segundo Barrio continue to be as disempowered as possible. That explains why the district represented by O’Rourke is one of the most gerrymandered districts in the entire country.

Any politician who claims to have an overwhelming mandate to demolish the heart of a neighborhood because 86 out of 15,000 of its residents voted for him in the last election is either disingenuous or outrageously deluded.

 


 

February 6, 2008

A CALL TO CONSCIENCE 

"You cannot do this to people," Father Edwin Gros, Sacred Heart pastor tells City Council 

A GROUP OF Sacred Heart Parishioners who call themselves (Comite Voces del Segundo Barrio) and their supporters from the Paso Del Norte Civil Rights Project, Paso del Sur, Anunciation House and other organizations addressed city council yesterday asking them to reconside their vote prohibiting the misuse of eminent domain on non-blighted property. They asked that O'Rourke recuse himself due to conflict of interest.

Watch the video.


AN UNETHICAL VOTE

Part I:

City Rep Robert O’Rourke casts deciding vote despite admitted conflict of interest

ALTHOUGH CITY REPRESENTATIVE Robert O’Rourke has signed sworn affidavits in the past admitting to conflict of interest regarding all issues related to the Downtown-Segundo Barrio “redevelopment plan,” he failed to recuse himself during yesterday’s vote on an ordinance that would disallow “blight” condemnations on buildings that are in perfect condition. Instead he cast the deciding vote with the 4 to 3 majority of City Council that wants the local government to have broad powers to condemn and forcibly confiscate any building it wishes within the “redevelopment zone” even if the building is well-maintained. The homes and small businesses that are thus expropriated will be handed over to private developers including O’Rourke’s father-in-law William Sanders.  As owner of the Verde Group, the Borderplex Community Trust (that is currently buying property within the redevelopment zone) and founder of the Paso del Norte Group, Sanders is the major driving force behind the plan to demolish a 30 acre-zone of the Segundo Barrio and displace more than 1,800 residents from this historic neighborhood.

Since December 2006, O’Rourke has consistently recused himself because of admitted conflict of interest from votes related to the redevelopment zone, a 302-acre area also known as the TIRZ (Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone) that includes the heart of the Segundo Barrio. For instance in October 17, 2007, he signed a sworn affidavit stating that “I, and or a person or persons related to me have an interest in property in the proposed TIRZ district.” Oddly enough, instead of admitting the obvious conflict of interest involving his father in law who is currently buying up land in the TIRZ zone, O’Rourke states that “my wife’s employer is a landowner in the proposed district.” In other affidavits he states that his wife, Amy Sanders O'Rourke,  works for the La Fe Community Development Corporation, a for-profit entity that owns apartments and several businesses within the TIRZ zone. Ms. O'Rourke is currently the executive director of the La Fe Preparatory charter school.

The executive director of La Fe Clinic, Sal Balcorta is a member of the executive committee of the Paso Del Norte Group that developed the PDNG plan and charted the zone within the Segundo Barrio where residences and small business could be forcibly expropriated.

O’Rourke gave no explanation why, if has signed sworn statements in the past admitting to conflict of interest in the TIRZ zone, he believes it is ethical to cast the deciding vote on a matter related to this same zone.

Was it that O’Rourke felt he could safely recuse himself from votes in the past where the outcome was safely on the pro-eminent domain side, but now things have changed with the recent resignation of former city rep Alejandro Lozano? Yesterday’s vote would have resulted in a 3 to 3 tie if O’Rourke had chosen to continue to abstain and the Mayor would have been forced to cast the tie-breaking vote.

In the past, Mayor John Cook has stated publicly that he supports the use of eminent domain condemnation only against “specific properties” that fit the definition of blight and not properties whose only crime is to have the misfortune of being located within a TIRZ zone. If Cook had been forced to break the tie, it would have been a lose-lose situation for the pro-PDNG crowd. Either Cook would have been forced to drop his mask of being against forced expropriations for non-blighted properties, or he would have cast the winning vote for the ordinance to limit eminent domain abuse.

O’Rourke could not afford either of these scenarios. That’s why he now has to explain why one day he swears to conflict of interest and another day, although nothing has changed, he decides his sworn statements no longer apply.

 affidavit

Part II:
A Real Bad Taste in Their Mouth:

The voice of the Segundo Barrio residents is squelched again.

Why can’t we at least pretend there’s a democracy here? one speaker asked O’Rourke at City Council chambers yesterday. “Some Segundo Barrio residents were told the vote on the ordinance was postponed for a week and they left. It’s not going to hurt you to postpone it for a week. You should always err on the part of the citizens. You’ve obviously already made up your mind how you’re going to vote anyway. But at least let them speak before you cast your vote. Please postpone it for a week. It’s not going to hurt anything. Otherwise the people will go with a real bad taste in their mouth.”

The speaker, who is a regular at City Hall meetings, spoke in support of a group of Segundo Barrio residents who had shown up at City Hall on Tuesday morning to sign up to speak on the eminent domain ordinance but left after they were told that the vote and discussion on the issue had been postponed for a week.

“We arrived at City Hall at 8:30 in the morning to sign up to speak and we were told by a City employee at the sign-up table that the issue was postponed for a week,” say Gaby Garcia of the Paso Del Norte Civil Rights Project. “She showed me a postponement notice that said “postpone one week as per representative Castro.”

Segundo Barrio resident Lupe Ochoa was also told the vote on the issue was postponed but then she found out the City Council decided to rescind the postponement. When she found out she rushed back to City Hall, but this time by herself because it was too late to inform the other residents.

Both Lupe Ochoa and Gabby Garcia returned and asked the council members why they had been told that the eminent domain abuse ordinance vote was postponed but now they were actually going to vote on it. “Could you wait until next week so that the Segundo Barrio residents get a chance to speak? Or at least put it back a few items on today’s agenda so that we can call them and they can come back today” Gabby Garcia asked.

Representative Melina Castro, who introduced the ordinance on forced expropriations, apologized whatever misunderstanding occured and moved to postpone the vote for a week to give the barrio residents a chance to speak.

O’Rourke responded with a clear-cut no. “I’m ready to hear and decide on this issue now. I represent the residents of the Segundo Barrio. I met with them a numbers of times to the point of going door to door. I’ve met with groups of barrio residents twice. Once at the Boys and Girls Club and another time I met at Sacred Heart Church where I was ambushed by the Paso Del Sur Group. [editors note: The meeting that took place in the summer of 2007 was in fact organized not by Paso Del Sur but by the church and a group of lawyers representing the residents.] You can see my meeting with the residents there on YouTube. We’ve heard this issue ad naseum for two years and I’m ready to vote on this. I moved to deny this proposed postponement,” he said.

Guadalupe Ochoa approached the podium and addressed O’Rourke, “Why are you excluding us from your plan again? Many of the people of the Segundo Barrio were here this morning but we were turned away, then I find out you’re going to vote today after all. Why can’t you understand that we love our barrio and we’re happy there before your plan came along? Why can’t you fix our homes and property rather than destroy it? We are willing to defend our barrio because we love it. But I know not everyone shares this love for it. Remember (looking at O’Rourke) that you are where you are because we put you there, so think carefully before you do what you intend to do.”

At this point, O’Rourke interrupted Mrs. Ochoa and asked, “Señora Ochoa, is it not true that you live in Eighth Street outside the redevelopment zone? [Mrs. Ochoa actually currently lives on Ninth Street but lived on Mesa Street for close to 20 years.] I have many projects to repave that street and add additional lighting and security there.”

Mrs. Ochoa responded: “I’m not here to fight only for my street. I’m here to fight for my barrio and my people."

The City voted 4-3 to deny the request for postponement. O’Rourke again cast the deciding vote.

“The residents are free to come back next week and address the council if they wish during the open comments period,” O’Rourke told Mrs. Ochoa. He did not inform her that next week whatever the residents have to say will not affect City Council's vote on Segundo Barrio expropriations. That vote has already been cast.

 

wrecking ball


 

January 28, 2008

ANOTHER ATTACK BY CATARINO DEL RIO'S GOONS

The Violence Against Lomas del Poleo Residents Continues to Escalate

 thugs
 Zaragoza thugs armed with sticks  and chains threaten human rights 
observers during a forum in December 2007.

by ALERTA LOMAS DEL POLEO

AN ARMED PARAMILITARY group led by Zaragoza representative Catarino del Río violently attacked the residents of Lomas del Poleo at 10:45 am on Monday, January 28. Two days before this, Catarino del Río had threatened Guadalupe Pineda, one of the leaders of Lomas del Poleo, with the destruction her home and that of her son Margarito Cervantes.

Yesterday, Del Río returned with a group of 20 thugs armed with bats, pick axes, shovels and crow bars to keep his promise. They would have destroyed most of Margarito Cervantes’ home had it not been because a group of colonos interfered with them. In the ensuing confrontation, Lomas resident Esther Gómez was beaten with a club in her right hand and arm. The Juárez police, who have consistently taken the side of the powerful Zaragoza family, arrived at the scene but refused to take a report of the assault. Instead they dismissed the incident as a mere “verbal confrontation between the residents.”

The only way to get into the neighborhood surrounded by barbed-wire is through a gate controlled by the Zaragoza guards who do not allow family members, friends or human rights groups who support the residents to enter. When the newspaper and television media showed up this morning at Lomas del Poleo, they were turned away at the gate by the guards who “informed” them that “nothing had taken place.”

At 12:30 pm, Guadalupe, Esther and Margarito went to the offices of the Chihuahua State Department of Justice to file charges against Catarino del Río for assault and theft of property. They remained at these offices for twelve hours, yet the state authorities refused to initiate an investigation into the matter.

Meanwhile, Margarito Cervantes’ home is partially destroyed and his furniture and possessions are strewn in the road in front of his home and Esther Gómez arm is in a sling.

 



January 27, 2008

THE LATEST ILLEGAL EVICTION THREAT BY GRUPO ZARAGOZA

A PRESS CONFERENCE will take place at noon today, Sunday (1-27-08) to denounce yesterday’s attempt by Catarino del Río, representative of Pedro Zaragoza, to destroy the home of Lomas del Poleo resident Margarito Cervantes Pineda. Margarito is the son of Guadalupe Pineda, one of the community leaders resisting the Grupo Zaragoza’s violent eviction campaign. When Guadalupe Pineda intervened, Catarino del Río promised to come back with a group of armed Zaragoza guards to carry out the illegal demolition. All supporters of the Lomas del Poleo residents are invited to attend the press conference at the Tonantzin Women’s Center in Anapra, Ciudad Júarez at 12 noon.


For the latest updates on the Zaragoza eviction campaign read ¡Alerta Lomas del Poleo!



January 25, 2008

 JUST A BUNCH OF ILLEGAL ALIEN HUGGERS

Anti-immigrant group congratulates El Paso City Council for “reclaiming your city.”

AMERICANS FOR LEGAL IMMIGRATION, a website dedicated to the criminalization and mass deportation of undocumented Mexican immigrants in the U.S., congratulates the pro-PDNG political leadership of El Paso for their support of the demolition plan of the heart of the Segundo Barrio.

“I say KUDOS to you El Paso for attempting to reclaim your city! Proud home of Fort Bliss,” writes one forum participant who identifies himself as a truck driver whose youngest child formerly attended Aoy School in South El Paso. “What do you want to bet a greater (sic) percentage of (those who oppose displacement in the Segundo Barrio and Lomas del Poleo) are I(llegal) A(lien) huggers and smugglers. Many of them.”

Read more.


January 24, 2008

A REASONABLE AND JUST PROPOSAL 

City ordinance is introduced that will prohibit condemnation if your home or small business is well-maintained

AN ORDINANCE WAS INTRODUCED at the El Paso City Council on Tuesday that would make it illegal for the city of El Paso to condemn viable, non-blighted properties in Downtown and the Segundo Barrio that are in the PDNG plan “redevelopment zone.” The ordinance will be voted on within the next two weeks. Although Sysie Byrd has stated publicly in the past that she only supports the use of eminent domain to condemn and expropriate blighted property, she was one of three City council reps—including former shopping mall manager Ann Morgan Lilly and Byrd's good friend Steve Ortega—who voted against the introduction of the ordinance. In other words, they don’t even want the ordinance to be dicussed. The  vote approving the introduction passed 4-3.

While many El Pasoans believe that the eminent domain condemnations will only be used on “slum buildings,” the  PDNG demolition plan in fact envisions the condemnation and demolition of well-maintained properties in order to create the “critical mass” of empty land necessary for the construction of big-box retail stores and strip malls.

Read the PDNG’s website and their response to the questions “Why can’t you salvage some of the better properties in the Redevelopment Area?”

“This plan calls for a total REDEVELOPMENT of the District. If the plan is to achieve critical mass and create a ‘state of the art’ environment for existing businesses as well as new businesses it is important that the Plan be approved (sic).”

For those who have read the PDNG rationale carefully, "critical mass" is and has always been the true motive for the threat of eminent domain condemnations. "Blight" has always been a pretext, a racialized codeword used by the pro-plan politicians to hide their true motives and confuse the public. Stay tuned for more efforts on their part to sabotage the ordinance prohibiting the condementation of viable, well-maintained properties...


 

January 23, 2008

THE CHICAGO CONNECTION

THE GROUP THAT INSPIRED THE PASO DEL NORTE GROUP IS STILL WREAKING HAVOC IN CHICAGO

by BRIAN ROA

I AM CURRENTLY a public high school teacher in Chicago who is considering taking a teaching position in Clint. I was doing research and it seems like the Paso Del Sur group is doing good work. While I was looking up info on PDNG I saw that the PDNG was created in the image of the Commercial Club of Chicago.This group wrote the privatization-gentrification-union busting scheme to bust up Chicago's public schoools that goes by the name of Renaissance 2010.

Here’s a link that explains why Teachers for Social Justice opposes the Commercial Club of Chicago’s privatization plan:

— Renaissance 2010 is not just a school plan. It is part of a much larger plan for
gentrification and for moving out low-income African Americans and some Latinos from
prime real estate areas, in fact from the city altogether. These are the areas where the
proposed school closings are concentrated. Gentrification is a central source of profit for
developers, banks, and investors and a key element in making Chicago a global city of
increasing inequality in housing, income, quality of life, and use of urban space. 
 
— Renaissance 2010 is a plan developed by powerful business and political interests. The
plan the mayor announced in June was clearly spelled out by the Commercial Club of
Chicago over one year ago in its report titled, Left Behind, dated June 2003. The
Commercial Club is an organization of the most powerful corporate, financial, and
political leaders in the city. That is why there has been no meaningful participation from
the communities affected. This plan was devised a year ago by the CCC. Mayor Daley
announced Renaissance 2010 at a Commercial Club of Chicago event. A plan to sell
Renaissance 2010 to the public, the communities affected, teachers, and administrators
was developed and rolled out by AT Kearney, a corporate consulting firm, that is
providing “thought leadership” to CPS officials. The plan for “communicating”
Renaissance 2010 and getting “buy in” was presented at a CPS planning meeting on May
6, 2004, before any public hearings to supposedly get community input. 
 
So the question is: Who will decide what kind of education our children should have, the
Commercial Club of Chicago, mayor Daley, and the big real estate developers? Or
parents, communities and teachers?

Read more



January 20, 2008

FROM RUMOR TO REALITY

“It is disheartening to watch as these and other rumors fly about the streets of El Paso following the March 31 rollout of the Downtown Plan. Worse, some people apparently believe this crap.”
                                 
                                  —El Paso Inc. owner and publisher Tom Fenton



A FEW WEEKS after the Paso Del Norte Group demolition plan was unveiled in 2006, El Paso Inc. owner and publisher Tom Fenton wrote an angry editorial that dismissed any idea that Insights Museum will be the future site of a  hotel. This is just a “rumor” spread by “loud mouths,” Fenton wrote in his April 30, 2006 editorial. (Mr. Fenton conveniently forgot to disclose in his piece that he is also a member of the PDNG.)

Other “misinformation” the El Paso Inc. publisher accused the “ugly, vindictive, vicious, and mean-spirited”  plan opponents of spreading included:

—“The plan was devised in secret so special interest groups could work behind the scenes to position themselves for windfall real-estate deals.”

—The plan is “a new way to strip land from the poor.”

—”The greedy people who are proposing using a real estate investment trust as the mechanism to capitalize the plan stand to make millions when it happens.”

“It is disheartening to watch as these and other rumors fly about the streets of El Paso following the March 31 rollout of the Downtown Plan,” the PDNG executive complained. “Worse, some people apparently believe this crap.”

Mr. Fenton, perhaps the reason people believe this crap is because it’s all turning out to be true.

NPT reported that at last week’s City Hall meeting, City manager Joyce Wilson “said it is a strong possibility that the current city hall building could become a full-service hotel with convention accommodations. She also said the city-owned land fronting Santa Fe Street, which is currently hosts a City Hall employee parking lot and Insights Science Museum, could be converted into commercial and retail space.”

No one has any problem with selling out City Hall and moving the politicos all out of there.

But what is note-worthy is that it took a year and a half for the PDNG and their politicians to finally admit that what they had formerly been calling “an outrageous rumor” had in fact been part of the plan from the beginning.

When will they finally own up to the other “misinformation” on the Mr. Fenton's list?




January 15, 2008


!ALTO AL DESPOJO!

Historic two-city simultaneous protest before the U.S. and Mexican consulates

 

mexican consulate protest

us consulate protest

Yesterday residents of Lomas del Poleo outside the U.S. consulate shouted the slogan "La Tierra no se Vende, se trabaja y se defiende!" (Our land is not for sale! It is ours to work and to defend!") They carried signs bearing the letters of the Segundo Barrio, but they were also protesting for for their own community as well...Read more.




January 12, 2008

A CALL TO ACTION!

A SIMULTANEOUS DEMONSTRATION ON BOTH SIDES OF THE FENCE

segundo apoya

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
                                                            —Martin Luther King Jr.

A SIMULTANEOUS BINATIONAL PROTEST for Lomas del Poleo and the Segundo Barrio will be held in front of the U.S. consulate in Juárez and the Mexican consulate in El Paso at noon on Monday, January 14. Demonstrators will denounce the displacement and civil and human rights violations taking place in these two border neighborhoods as a result of binational redevelopment schemes supported by local and state politicians.

At the Mexican consulate in El Paso, Segundo Barrio residents and concerned citizens from this side of the border will call for the government of Mexico to enforce human rights laws and demand an immediate end to the acts of terror and intimidation that the residents of Lomas del Poleo are subjected to on a daily basis. They will present a letter to the General Consul of Mexico asking for the immediate dismantling of the barbed wire fence, the guard towers and the paramilitary squads that have been hired by powerful Juárez developers to force the residents to accept relocation from their homes.

At the American consulate in Ciudad Juárez, the colonos of Lomas del Poleo and Juárez NGOs will protest the City of El Paso’s plan to displace more than 1,800 residents of the Segundo Barrio, destroy scores of buildings that are part of the the cultural and historical patrimony of all Mexicans, and expropriate people’s homes and properties using racist, anti-Mexican advertising campaigns to justify their "redevelopment" plan.

The reason for the simultaneous binational protest is because same group of binational developers that is carrying out the “despojo”—the theft of their lands—in Juárez are also many of the same ones who are carrying out a plan that will ultimately displace hundreds of Segundo Barrio families without respect for their civil and human rights.

The Mexican consulate is located at 910 E. San Antonio Street.

Join us in our call for human rights and against displacement and dispossession on both sides of the border.

¡Alto al despojo binacional!

For more information call Antonio Lopez at
(915) 726-1846
arlopez3@miners.utep.edu

Read more.



January 9, 2008

FIRST GLASS BEACH, NOW PROMATURA

Another racially offensive, tax-payer-funded PDNG study sells us the plan

THE PASO DEL NORTE GROUP and the City of El Paso have teamed together again to fund a study telling us what is wrong with our city and to sell us on the Downtown-Segundo Barrio “Redevelopment Plan.” Our tax dollars paid $15,000 for the study and another $176,000 will pay for the startup of the retiree attraction program. The PDNG solicited the study and paid $15,000 as well.
 
On Tuesday, January 8, the City heard a report from ProMatura Group—a consulting, research and marketing firm based in Mississippi. According to the report, the Paso del Norte Group began studying “Retiree attraction” in 2004. In June 2007, PDNG and the City hired ProMatura to conduct a study and develop a plan to create a retiree attraction program.
 
According to the PDNG-solicited study, “the Paso del Norte region will be a premier retirement destination location chosen because of its quality of life, climate, lifestyle and opportunities for 50+ households.”
 
Number 1 on ProMatura’s list of “opportunities” in the Paso del Norte region  is…no surprise: The Downtown "Revitalization" Plan. In other words, senior citizens from all over the U.S. can’t wait for a Starbucks, strip-malls and a Wal-Mart to come to the Segundo Barrio once the natives are kicked out. Some might find that a bit difficult to believe. We have no problem belivieving, however, that our tax dollars are paying for a self-serving report, solicited and financed by the Paso del Norte Group, which justifies the PDNG’s demolition plan as good for the City.
 
The report focuses on El Paso, with frequent references to the Paso del Norte region, which they define as El Paso, Juárez, and Doña County—particularly Santa Teresa. The region, not unexpectedly, is the same tri-state, bi-national area that Paso del Norte members, particularly Bill Sanders and Eloy Vallina, have their sights on and own a huge chunk of.
 
Similar to the GlassBeach Study, the ProMatura report states that “The Paso del Norte region is somewhat rough around the edges, lacks attractive streetscapes and suffers from the perception that it is a dusty border town” (read “ dirty Mexican border town.”)  Also, the report finds that senior citizens don’t like our city because “some people in El Paso have accepted the status quo.” (Again, it seems highly unlikely that elderly Anglos throughout the U.S. would adopt the exact same jargon and talking point of the local "progressive" pro-PDNG plan crowd.) They also point out that many neighborhoods “have a ghetto-like appearance” (read “barrio-like appearance,” as if that in itself is a terrible thing. Then again, for the retirees from New Jersey and Arizona the Republican Bill Sanders wants to attract to town, it probably is.)
 
The ProMatura report echoes of the previous, also self-serving, report created by GlassBeach firm that characterized El Paso as “gritty, dirty, lazy, speaking Spanish, uneducated.” Just like the GlassBeach report called for a new kind of El Pasoan (using images of Penelope Cruz and Matthew McConaughey to represent the new, beautiful people who would move to El Paso), the ProMatura report also points to the new El Pasoans. The new El Pasoans envisioned by ProMatura and PDNG are 55 and over with average home prices of $180,000.
 
The report concludes that the City should create a four year start up retiree attraction program with a budget of approximately $176,000 (David Crowder of the El Paso Times—a newspaper heavily subsidized by the PDNG—misreported this figure as $156,000).

When will the City pay for a Paso Del Sur Group study—or any other home-grown study for that matter—that will document how an alternative vision that is based on our community’s true needs and it’s underappreciated cultural vitality can eliminate the stifling big-box-infested blight of urban mediocrity that is pervasive throughout our city?

Probably not until the local political class is no longer in the pockets of the Paso Del Norte Group.




January 5, 2008

THE FIRST ASSAULT OF THE YEAR

Zaragoza Guards Rob and Demolish Several Homes in Lomas del Poleo

Activists and human rights observers put a stop to Zaragoza thug actions (for now)

colona

Lomas del Poleo resident Guadalupe Pineda waits outside the Juárez police station. She is pressing charges against the Zaragoza representatives for theft and injuries caused to her during yesterday's illegal forced evictions by groups of Zaragoza thugs.

THE RESIDENTS OF LOMAS DEL POLEO suffered their first attack of the year yesterday by paramilitary groups contracted by the Grupo Zaragoza to forcefully evict them from their homes.  Throughout the night on January 4, 2008, “guardias blancas,”  armed thugs hired by Zaragoza overseer Catarino del Rio, broke into the homes of several colonos opposing relocation to rob them of their possessions—furniture, refrigerators, cables, plants, etc.—and tear down their fences.

At sunrise about 40 Zaragoza guards, their faces covered by bandanas and carrying shovels, pickaxes, and crowbars surrounded a house next to the home of Guadalupe Pineda and Antonio González to raze it down. The "shock troops," as the colonos call them, began tearing down Guadalupe and Antonio’s fence as well. Several colonos gathered at their house and a verbal confrontation took place between the residents and the Zaragoza guards. Guadalupe Pineda rushed up to a van that was carrying away part of her own belongings to demand that they return them. Instead of stopping, the driver of the van hit the gas pedal hard and Guadalupe's clothing was caught by some trees sticking out from the rear of the vehicle. She was dragged several yards before managing to break free. Guadalupe was injured, but the thugs inside the van only jeered and insulted her while she was being dragged behind the vehicle.

The driver of the van with license plates EAEB2827 is Fernando Carrillo, a former employee of the Housing Authority Department of the City of Juárez who now works for Jorge and Pedro Zaragoza Fuentes.

About half an hour after the incident, Carrillo returned to the site accompanied by city police and claimed that it was he who had suffered attacks at the hands of the colonos. Carrillo claimed he had been hired to “clean up” a property by one of the home owners who has recently accepted to be relocated to the “campo de reubicacion” (relocation camp) built by the Zaragoza family.

The residents identified Carrillo to the police as the man responsible for causing injuries to Guadalupe Pineda. Guadalupe’s husband, Antonio Gonzalez, went with the police station to file a report. Instead of allowing him to file the report, Antonio was placed under detention for allegedly "disturbing the peace." Antonio González, who two weeks ago was one of the leading voices against the closure of the elementary and kindergarten school at Lomas del Poleo, was not allowed to communicate with any of the members of the community and human rights organizations supporting the residents of the neighborhood.

In the meantime, the Juárez press and Channel 26 of El Paso, appeared at Lomas del Poleo to cover the story of forced eviction.  Because of the media attention—as well as an immediate gathering of community groups in support of the colonos—the demolitions ceased for now and the Zaragoza overseer withdrew the charges against Antonio González as well.

Guadalupe Pineda pressed charges against Zaragoza employee Fernando Carrillo for theft and assault with injuries at the Procuraduria Estatal de Chihuahua (the Attorney General’s Office of the State of Chihuahua). The hearing for this case will be held at 4 pm on Tuesday, January 8, at the Procuraduria Estatal offices.

A website published by La Otra Campaña of Ciudad Juárez explains that the binational development scheme headed by Bill Sanders, Eloy Vallina, Carlos Slim and Jorge and Pedro Zaragoza is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2008. This is the reason for the rushed onslaught against the residents of Lomas del Poleo who live right in the middle of the proposed binational development project. Read article in Spanish.



January 1, 2008

A NEW YEAR'S MESSAGE

To our friends:

May the seeds you plant this year bear fruit.

 

To those who aim to destroy our communities:

We have just begun to fight.



December 26, 2007


THE MASTER NARRATIVE OF DISPLACEMENT:

Disaster Capitalism in New Orleans

by NAOMI KLINE

ONE OF THE MOST SHAMELESS examples of disaster capitalism has been the attempt to exploit the disastrous flooding of New Orleans to close down that city's public housing projects, some of the only affordable units in the city. Most of the buildings sustained minimal flood damage, but they happen to occupy valuable land that make for perfect condo developments and hotels.

The final showdown over New Orleans public housing is playing out in dramatic fashion right now. The conflict is a classic example of the "triple shock" formula at the core of the doctrine.

- First came the shock of the original disaster: the flood and the traumatic evacuation.

- Next came the "economic shock therapy": using the window of opportunity opened up by the first shock to push through a rapid-fire attack on the city's public services and spaces, most notably it's homes, schools and hospitals.

-Now we see that as residents of New Orleans try to resist these attacks, they are being met with a third shock: the shock of the police baton and the Taser gun, used on the bodies of protestors outside New Orleans City Hall yesterday.

Democracy Now! has been covering this fight all week, with amazing reports from filmmakers Jacquie Soohen and Rick Rowley (Rick was arrested in the crackdown). Watch residents react to the bulldozing of their homes here.

And footage from yesterday's police crackdown and Tasering of protestors inside and outside city hall here.

That last segment contains a terrific interview with Kali Akuno, executive director of the People's Hurricane Relief Fund. Akuno puts the demolitions in the big picture, telling Amy Goodman:

"This is just one particular piece of this whole program. Public hospitals are also being shut down and set to be demolished and destroyed in New Orleans. And they've systematically dismantled the public education system and beginning demolition on many of the schools in New Orleans--that's on the agenda right now--and trying to totally turn that system over to a charter and a voucher system, to privatize and just really go forward with a major experiment, which was initially laid out by the Heritage Foundation and other neoconservative think tanks shortly after the storm. So this is just really the fulfillment of this program." Read more




December 25, 2007


PUBLIC CORRUPTION & THE PDNG:

A COUPLE OF QUESTIONS


ACCORDING TO THE U.S. ATTORNEY, Paso Del Norte Group member Roberto Gerardo Ruiz bribed several City Council representatives. Who are they?

According to the El Paso Times,  El Paso Mayor John Cook and City rep Robert O’Rourke (both of them former PDNG members) had their phones tapped by the FBI in 2007. Why?

THE US DISTRICT COURT, El Paso Division (12-21-07)

THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY CHARGES:

Count Three:

“ROBERTO GERARDO RUIZ conspired and agreed together with others known, but not charged herein, and others unknown, to commit offenses against the United States, that is to knowingly devise a scheme and artifice to defraud the government and the citizens of the City of El Paso and the right to the honest services of elected El Paso City Council Representatives, in the affairs of the City of EL Paso; and conspired to knowingly devise a scheme to obtain money and property by means of material false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises; that is, the defendant and others agreed to pay cash money to elected El Paso City Council Representatives, and said Council Representatives agreed to receive cash money in exchange for the Council Representatives’ support and vote in their official capacity as El Paso City Council Representatives, in violation of their fiduciary duty as elected representatives of the City of El Paso, for agreements between the City of El Paso and vendors seeking business with the City of El Paso; and in furtherance of the scheme to deprive the City of El Paso and its citizens of the honest services of the elected El Paso City Council Representatives, and to obtain money and property by material false and fraudulent pretenses.






December 21, 2007


PDNG Member Pleads Guilty to Bribing City reps

Ten out of twenty-two targets of the on-going FBI corruption investigation belong to the Paso Del Norte Group

TODAY, PASO DEL NORTE GROUP member Roberto “Bobby” Ruiz pled guilty to four counts of conspiracy to commit mail, wire fraud and a scheme to defraud the citizens of their right to the honest services of City Council reps, county commissioners, and elected officials of the EPISD and El Paso Community College.

Ruiz is one of ten members of the PDNG who have been targeted by the FBI’s public corruption investigation. Read more




December 20, 2007

THE OTHER ALLIANCE

Activists from El Paso, Juárez and Las Cruces meet to discuss a common foe


meeting
Activists and residents from
Las Cruces, El Paso and Ciudad Juárez
at NMSU discuss the negative effects of the
Verde Group binational
development project.

LAS CRUCES, NEW MEXICO — Activists and residents from Las Cruces, El Paso and Ciudad Juárez met yesterday at the Center for Latin American & Border Studies at NMSU to discuss the negative effects of the Verde Group binational development plans in the region. They included residents of Lomas del Poleo and South El Paso, faculty members of UTEP and NMSU, as well as members of Paso Del Sur of El Paso, La Otra Campaña of Ciudad Juárez and the Quality Growth Alliance of Las Cruces.
Read more





December 18, 2007

The Downtown Development Dictatorship vs. La Mujer Obrera


LA MUJER OBRERA has survived by its "boot straps" for over 25 years as Justice Sandra Day O'connor commemorated with that organization a couple of years back. They have proven that they will persevere against all odds. Now that they have become a little more sophisticated and have a concrete plan for their Centro Mayapan, that will promote our Mexican heritage and provide income for our city and the residents of that area, plus they returned one hundred thousand dollars to the city coffers (very suspicious action) their request goes unheeded.

I am truly dismayed by the antics of our city leaders.

For some in El Paso this organization must represent some sort of political threat because the "feasibility" study is always a convenient smoke screen to deny a project. Among the many questionable decisions our city council has made over the years the denial of support for this group would be among the top regrettable actions ever.

I'm sure the Downtown Development Dictatorship would not be hurt with the 150 thousand less in its pockets that La Mujer Obrera is asking for at this time. I'm saddened that even with the emergence of new youthful leadership of our city the not so youthful or benevolent political interests still taint our city politics. It boils down to political clout that La Mujer Obrera obviously is lacking and wherever a political vacuum exists those sectors will be either ignored irrespective of their proposals or exploited in the name of "progress" for the alleged greater good.

-- Roberto




December 17, 2007

What about those of us in the "Non-Creative Class"?

dirty mexican image



yuppies

These images were part of a City-funded marketing study that reveals the kind of "Creative Class" people the El Paso elite would like to replace the Segundo Barrio residents with. Is there anything wrong with this picture?



BRINGING THE EXPATRIATE young professionals who fled to Austin back to town might do wonders for the El Paso coffee house business or the political base of our own local upwardly mobile politicians but will it do anything to create a more socially just community? Is this "Yuppie-Come-Home!" project and the $100,000 "Creative Class seminars" something our City should be spending tax-payer money on? Couldn't that money be better spent on promoting the creative potential of Segundo Barrio artists, activists and home-grown visionaries who never left? Or are the working-class people of our community too "uncreative"' for our political elite?

If they've read the Rise of the Creative Class carefully, they  know that even its author Richard Florida (the darling of the Paso Del Norte Group crowd in El Paso) concedes that

“the crowding of creatives into gentrifying neighborhoods might generate inflationary housing-market pressures, that not only run the risk of eroding the diversity that the Class craves but, worse stifle, could smother the fragile ecology of creativity itself. He reminds his readers that they depend on an army of service workers trapped in “low-end jobs that pay poorly because they are not creative jobs,” while pointing soberly to the fact that the most creative places tend also to exhibit the most extensive forms of socioeconomic inequality. Ultimately, though, since it is the creatives’ destiny to inherit the earth, it is they who must figure out how to solve these problems, in their own time and in their own way, as part of what Florida characterizes as their 'growing up.' The uncreative population, one assumes, should merely look on, and learn."  Read more.

 Also The Curse of the Creative Class.





December 16, 2007

NOS QUEDAMOS!


GRADUALLY, PEOPLE in the community began to gather together to discuss the pending developments in their neighborhood. The Bronx Center project, a local community group, held a public meeting in which homeowners, tenants and businesses united in their anger over the lack of consultation on changes that would affect all aspects of their lives. They felt betrayed by the elected officials and the city's agencies. The neighborhood residents decided one crucial thing - they were not going to allow the city to roll over them, and they were going to become an active part of the development in their area...Read more.




December 14, 2007

TERESITA URREA-ONE WOMAN PLAY

December 14, 2007

Time: 5-8 pm

teresita


TERESITA URREA
Elena D. Bjorkquist

A Chautauqua is a living history presentation. The format for a Chautauqua is for Elena D. Bjorkquist, in the character of Teresa Urrea, the Mexican healer and political activist who lived in Segundo Barrio in 1896, to speak about her life then answer questions from the audience. For the final portion of the program, Elena and David Dorado Romo, author of Ringside Seat to a Revolution, will answer questions about the life of Santa Teresita.

Friday
December 14, 2007
Cafe Mayapan
2000 Texas Avenue
El Paso, Texas
5:00-8:00 p.m.

Free and Open to the Public
Special Performances by:
Mariachi los Caporales
Ballet Folklorico Nahui Ollin

For information call Nancy Green at 564-9218

See Pulitzer Finalist Says "Save Teresita's Home"
Also now available!
 
Her medicine is still strong: Teresita Urrea, la Santa de Cabora (English version)
 
Su medicina es aun fuerte: Teresita Urrea, la Santa de Cabora (Spanish version)
 
This chapbook honors the life of Teresita Urrea, a revolutionary curandera who lived in El Paso in the 1890s. The daughter of an indigenous Mexican woman and an hacendado, revolutions were started in her name. Thousands came to her for healing.
She is a part of our history.
 
Chapbooks are available for a beginning donation of $5.00.
To order one or for more information, contact Yolanda at
zihuatekpahtzin@yahoo.com
 
Produced by Circulo Zihuatekpahtzin and
Paso del Sur
 



December 10, 2007

A CALL TO ACTION!

The residents of Lomas del Poleo need your help to denounce the closure and relocation of the community-built elementary school—Alfredo Nava Sahagún


TOMORROW, Tuesday December 11 at 10 am, there will be a protest at the Government Officies on Eje Juan Gabriel.

The Secretaría de Educación Pública (Department of Public Education) has threatened the illegal relocation and closure of the federally registered elementary school in Lomas del Poleo. The residents of Lomas del Poleo and the social and political organizations that support them will gather at the Oficinas de Gobierno to protest this arbitrary action.

It’s important that the border community know that behind the relocation efforts by the Secretaría de Educación Pública lies the intent to not only destroy an educational effort created by the money and efforts of the residents of Lomas del Poleo, but also the municipal government has decided to back up the economic interests of the land developers Pedro and Jorge Zaragoza who have been waging a campaign of violence and intimidation against the inhabitants of this neighborhood to forcibly strip them of their homes. Read more.



December 7, 2007

THE PLAN KEEPS GETTING BIGGER AND BIGGER

map

City wants to expand the eminent domain-demolition
area from 168 to 302 Acres

THE TIRZ BOARD, chaired by Paso Del Norte Group plan zealot Veronica Escobar, has recommended that the boundaries of the TIRZ zone—the area that has been declared “blighted” by City Council where major demolitions and future eminent domain will take place—be expanded. The expanded Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone would include the “Historic Incentive Zone” which was previously exempted from the threat of eminent domain under the initial PDNG plan. The TIRZ expansion will be introduced to the El Paso City Council on December 11, 2007 [see ordinance]. [see TIRZ board meeting agenda]

The number of acres where the City will have expanded powers to use eminent domain has gone up from 168 acres to 302. This just goes to show that many of the past promises by the pro PDNG-plan politicians— that certain properties were safe from the threat of forced expropriation—have proven to be exactly that. Nothing but empty promises.

It’s also becoming increasingly clear to many residents of the border that, unless we put a stop to it, “The Plan” will slowly keep threatening to swallow more and more of our homes, businesses, neighborhoods, roads, water and resources.



December 6, 2007

Lipan Apache Land Under Threat of Eminent Domain to Build The Border Wall


TODAY WE HAVE serious news to share and to update on the situation unfolding in the traditional lands of the Lipan Apache communities of the Mexico-US militarized border region.
 
Chertoff announced plans to force occupation of South Texas families who refuse to allow the government access to their lands.  See the story in the Houston Chronicle (Dr. Eloisa Garcia Tamez comments at the bottom of story.)
 
United States occupation of South Texas people refusing Homeland Security access to their traditional lands is EMINENT.  'Refusers' such as the Lipan Apache Land Grant Women Defense, led by my mother, Dr. Eloisa Garcia Tamez (Lipan Apache, Basque-Apache) have frustrated the NSA, Border Patrol and Army Corps of Engineers officials for over two years, and increasingly in the last two months.
 
Using tactics such as public announcements over the news service, used as intimidation and as psychological warfare--NSA/Chertoff exploits the press to prepare the nation to invade South Texas--and indigenous peoples--who are being 'architected as the perpetual enemies of the United States." This is an old story.
 
This scenario played out before, in 19th century, in 20th century.  And now the 21st.  My mother, and the ancestors of 'the place where the Lipan pray', played a huge role in all three occupations against settler society in those 3 periods.
 
My mother indicates that she is prepared to receive national and international support for our small community on the peripheries of U.S. empire. 
 
Today we are submitting our comments to the Environmental Impact Statement authorities, and parallel to that we are submitting an indepth case study of our histories under U.S., Mexican, Spanish, Vatican and corporate domination to the International Indian Treaty Council shadow report to be submitted to the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of Racism and Racial Discrimination in December.

Margo Tamez
(Lipan Apache, Jumano Apache)




 

December 5, 2007

AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE PASO DEL NORTE GROUP PLAN

Plan Mayachen does not involve eminent domain, displacement, exclusion and secret deals with ruthless binational developers. That's exactly why City Hall doesn't like it...

"Our plan does not exclude anyone."
                                          —Irma Montoya, Mujero Obrera director


LA MUJER OBRERA'S model for women’s economic development, Centro Mayapán, is in great need of your support. Whereas the City of El Paso has supported other plans and projects it has yet to help with Centro Mayapán. On December 11th La Mujer Obrera will go before City Council to seek their assistance. We are asking you to help by attending the meeting and by calling or writing the Mayor and your City Representative in support of La Mujer Obrera’s efforts to better the lives of women workers.
 
During the City Council meeting we will ask for a response to our four requests for needed action to be taken by the City of El Paso in support of Centro Mayapán:
 
·        Approval of $250,000 to enable La Mujer Obrera to finalize operational systems for opening Centro Mayapán
·        Assistance in implementing Centro Mayapán
·        Include Centro Mayapán as a component of the City of El Paso ’s   development plan
·        $2 million to open Centro Mayapán by our target date
 
The support of the city government is essential to making Centro Mayapán a reality.  Although Centro Mayapán is located in the South Central area of El Paso , it will have a positive impact for all of the City of El Paso . Our plan does not exclude anyone and this has been proven in the development of all its components. This is why it is important and necessary to defend and to support Centro Mayapán as residents of the City of El Paso .  It is also important to understand what Centro Mayapán means for us in order to defend it.  Centro Mayapán is not a private business; it is our right to a community with dignity, a stable economy, capacity building and quality education, a space free of danger for our children.  It is our right to learn using all of our senses, our culture, cuisine and our history.
 
Our South Central Community has the right to exist, with dignity, we have the right to escape poverty, but also to define how we do that, to have a space to learn, but with the adequate structures where women workers can develop completely to create their identity, to develop their skills and respect for our customs.
 
The women workers are the most appropriate people for this task since no other economic plan that has been proposed by institutions and professionals with a higher level of education have been able to address the poverty we live in.  Our experience, our practice and work has been an example that our plan is valid and is capable of changing the conditions in which we live.  However, it still has not been publicly recognized as a viable plan.  Instead it has been questioned numerous times, and we have concluded that it is not our projections, nor our work plan, that is not clear but rather the social aspect of our model that has not been understood, or simply is not the priority for investment.  In order to give displaced workers an opportunity for complete development it is necessary to provide adequate training and build their capacity.
 
The annual cultural events in Centro Mayapán, Rayito de Sol Childcare and Learning Center, the Uxmal Apartments, Mercado Mayapán, the Orientation Center, CDBES (Center for Bilingual Development and Social Enterprises), the Media and Technology Center, are all economic projects with a social purpose for the community where we can learn and work toward breaking the cycle of poverty.  These are projects where children and adults can have a cultural space free from danger while learning from our heritage and culture.  Working together these projects provide a space where workers and their families can have an alternative to the educational system that now exists, a space where technology can guide them and expose them to new types of communications media, where they have an opportunity and an economy with dignity.  These same projects have served as a guide to development for women by the women who have lived through the failures of other programs and have now created a new model of development that works for our community.
 
 
—Centro Mayapán
    La Mujer Obrera




December 4, 2007

WATER, WATER...BUT NOT A DROP TO DRINK

The privatization of our water in the El Paso-Juárez borderplex

Did you know that a group of 5 billionaires intend to drain our water with their mega-development projects then corner the water market once our aquifers dry up?

DID YOU KNOW  that secretive Verde Realty Company—owned by the ubiquitous William Sanders—obtained the water rights to billions of gallons of water to supply his new “company town” in Santa Teresa yet, thanks to governor Bill Richardson’s intervention, there was never any kind of public process?

Denver multi-billionaire Philip Anschutz and his El Paso-based partner Woody Hunt are currently developing a plan to tap the water under the West Texan Dell City to sell it at a profit to El Paso and Juárez.

Eloy Vallina, board member of the Verde Realty Company, owns the plot of land known as San Jerónimo (opposite Santa Teresa, NM”) about the size of the entire city of Juárez where the invaluable Conejos Medanos aquifer is located. The underground water source will serve as a reserve basin when the current Hueco Bolson that supplies Ciudad Juárez and El Paso dries up within the next two decades. According to the Paso Del Norte Task Force study it will dry up by the year 2020.

And now the richest man in the world, Carlos Slim, is in on the act to monopolize what in our desert is known as “liquid gold.” [Read Frontera Norte Sur’s article “Carlos Slim Stages a Border Water Coup.”] His project—which will be the main source to meet the water needs for the future San Jeronimo-Santa Teresa projects—will affect the water supply on both sides of the border.

Why hasn’t anybody reported on the effects of mega-development projects known as “master planned binational cities” by Sanders, Vallina and their fellow developer-water merchants are going to have on the water supply for the rest of us?

It’s all part of their fast-track plan to privatize our roads, public lands, neighborhoods, international crossings and now, even our water.

Our binational communities in Juárez, El Paso and Las Cruces must wake up to their plans before the well runs dry.  And this might turn out to be much quicker than any of us expected.



December 4, 2007

Working for Justice in El Paso

by Luis Mendoza, Journey Across Our America

MY TIME IN El Paso was short but intense at multiple levels. It was made particularly productive and easy by the presence of friends and family. I spent Friday evening and part of Saturday as guest of UTEP Chicana historian Yolanda Chavez Leyva and her artist- photographer friend Lucia. Over a wonderful home-cooked breakfast on Saturday morning I interviewed Yolanda about her work with Paso del Sur, an emergent organization founded to resist the urban renewal plans crafted by the city’s political and business elites who crafted a redevelopment plan for the downtown area and the historical segundo barrio that sits adjacent to it. The plan was developed and subsequently adopted by the city council without input from residents and has proven to be quite controversial because it involves the displacement of numerous people and re-design of the neighborhood that would destroy the barrio’s structural and historical integrity. Read more



December 3, 2007

The Second Forum at Lomas del Poleo is Blocked

bats

muscles



Gang members hired by the Grupo Zaragoza block access road to the Second Forum at Lomas del Poleo.

SIX WEEKS AGO the residents of Lomas del Poleo in Ciudad Juárez invited grass-roots organizations from both sides of the border to a human rights forum at an elementary school inside their besieged community but the groups were stopped at the gate by armed paramilitary "guards" hired by the Grupo Zaragoza. That day the colonos—who were not allowed outside the fence—and their supporters from “la sociedad civil” held the forum across the barbed wire.

On Saturday (December 1, 2007) they planned to hold the second “cultural-political” forum to denounce the state of siege of Lomas del Poleo on a small farm on the desert mesa just outside the barbed-wire fence. The Zaragoza group blocked them again, but this time about a quarter of a mile away from the colonia.

The colonos had set up a tent with a stage and a microphone for the participating speakers, poets and musicians from Juárez and El Paso planning to arrive that morning, but a group of thugs hired by the Zaragoza family carrying sticks, bats and other concealed weapons planted themselves on the only access road to Lomas del Poleo and stopped several automobiles and a bus full of forum participants from going through. The Zaragoza guards led by a point man holding a menacing pit bull on a chain were backed by several dozen counter-demonstrators holding signs telling the binational civil and human rights to go home. Read more...




November 28, 2007

The Second Forum at Lomas del Poleo


A political-cultural event for land rights and against dispossession

1. The Forum will take place on December 1, 2007 in front of the barbed-wired fence at Lomas del Poleo startng at 10 a.m.  

2. Accreditation will take place in the following sites on Saturday, December 1 at:

Farmworker Center in El Paso at 8 am (Corner of 9th and Oregon)

AltaVista Preparatoria at 8:30 am. (A bus will leave from 9:30 am to Lomas del Poleo)

Tonanzin Women’s Center: 9:00 am - 10:00 am.
Lomas del Poleo: 10:00 am

3. Everyone is asked to bring folding chairs. The event will last about five hours.

4. The colonos will have food for sale at the event.

5. Because of the precarious situation of the colonos, we ask that everyone help insure that the event be carried out in a wholly peaceful and non-violent manner.

6. The following musicians and poets will participate at the cultural-political forum:

Rogelio Rangel         Music
Arminé Arjona         Poetry
Micaela Solis            Poetry
Evelyn                    Dance
Daniel Malacara        Mime
Radio La Chusma      Music
Collectivo Revuletas   Poetry
Mónica Guerra          Music
Profe Fernando         Installation Art

Alerta! Lomas del Poleo




November 24, 2007

La Otra Campaña of Ciudad Juárez Responds to City Rep Susie Byrd

"I think they (the Paso Del Sur Group) are being intellectually dishonest. The armed militias are really depriving people of their human rights, and that's not comparable to anything in Segundo Barrio."
                                                                         —Susie Byrd

THE MEMBERS OF La Otra Campaña in Ciudad Juárez who have joined together with the colonos of Lomas del Poleo along with other social and political organizations of the border not only share, but publicly espouse, the position of Paso Del Sur regarding the connection between the struggle against land theft and displacement that is taking place today on both sides of the border.

This natural relationship that has been created recently between the colonos of Lomas del Poleo and the residents of the Segundo Barrio—who are fighting from below to save their lands, properties and livelihoods—is the beginning of a trans-border movement in the Ciudad Juárez-El Paso area similar to those taking place in other parts of the world.

It is “intellectually dishonest” to think that behind this nascent movement there are individuals or organizations that are merely inventing this connection. The true source of this connection are the very people who, in the name of a false development and a primitive notion of progress, endeavour to change the face of our cities in order to fill their pockets with cash.

We ask City representative Susie Byrd if it is not “intellectually dishonest” to believe that the residents of the Segundo Barrio and Lomas del Poleo can’t think for themselves and thus need others to invent the idea of “ binational connections” for them?

We must ask City representative Susie Byrd if it is not “intellectually dishonest” to be on the side of wealthy investors who endeavour to erase a large part of this history of this city through real estate expropriation?

                                               
—La Otra Campaña de Ciudad Juárez


(For other responses to Susie Byrd's attack on Paso Del Sur click here and here.)



November 22, 2007

A CALL TO ACTION!

The Second Forum at Lomas del Poleo

towers

We invite you to attend a forum on December 1 to be held outside the fence Lomas de Poleo in Ciudad Juárez at 10 a.m. Those of us on the American side of the boundary will meet at 8:30 a.m. in South El Paso at the Border Farmworkers Center at the corner of 9th & Oregon Street. From there we will all cross the Santa Fe Bridge to the Alta Vista High School in Ciudad Juárez where there will be transportation provided to the Second Forum at Lomas del Poleo.

The event will be a cultural political event in support of the residents of Lomas de Poleo who are fighting for their lives and their homes. We call the poets, the artists, the musicians, and all voices for humanity to join us. We want the world to know that the people of Lomas de Poleo are not alone.
 
If you wish to participate please email us at save_our_barrios@hotmail.com. For more information please see http://alertalomasdelpoleo.blogspot.com/
 
 
LAST MONDAY NIGHT over 200 people attended a forum held at UTEP, “What side of the fence are you on? Lomas de Poleo and Segundo Barrio under Siege.” The gathering brought together residents of both communities who find themselves threatened by the plans of wealthy developers and businessmen on both sides of the border.
 
Many of us are familiar with Lomas de Poleo because of the femicides. What many of us are not aware of is the fact that the powerful Zaragoza family continues to use violence, armed guards, arson, and murder to force the people out of their homes. They have put up a barbed wire fence around the community and posted guards. While residents are at work, men hired by the Zaragozas destroy their homes. There have been several deaths associated with these efforts to displace residents.
 
(See "A Human Rights Forum Across Barbed Wire")
 
Monday night’s testimony of the residents, as well as two Catholic priests who have witnessed the on-going threats and harassment against our neighbors, was heart breaking.  We learned that Monday morning, a university professor and his forty students, including a pregnant woman, who had assembled outside the fence at Lomas de Poleo were physically and verbally assaulted by Zaragoza’s guards.
 
Why do the Zaragozas want the land at Lomas de Poleo? Because the land sits on the proposed site of a huge highway that will be built as part of an international crossing. Lomas de Poleo finds itself caught in between the bi-national development plans of Bill Sanders (Santa Teresa and Sunland Park, where he owns 21,000 and 5,000 acres respectively) and Eloy Vallina (San Jeronimo) as well as the the Zaragoza Group (Lomas del Poleo).
 
The links between developers on both sides of the border are striking. Bill Sanders, father-in-law of city representative Robert O’Rourke whose district includes el Segundo Barrio, is founder of the Verde Group as well as the Paso del Norte Group (PDNG). The PDNG is the force behind the “downtown plan” that includes the displacement of Segundo Barrio residents and the demolition of a large part of the barrio.
 
Sanders, working with powerful Mexican businessman Eloy Vallina, is also behind a bi-national development plan that runs the length of the U.S.-Mexico border. Sanders and Vallina both sit on the board of Verde. They are both members of the Paso del Norte Group.
 
Vallina, his family and their businesses are directly responsible for the extensive logging that has destroyed the environment of the Sierra Tarahumara. Illegal logging, often connected to narco-trafficking, has forced thousands of Raramuri people out of their homes in the Sierra and into Ciudad Chihuahua and Juárez where they struggle to maintain their language and their culture, in the face of poverty and unemployment. Raramuri activists have been jailed for organizing against the huge logging interests in la Sierra; others have been killed.
 
(See http://www.nmsu.edu/~frontera/apr-may03/feat2.html for a 2003 article on Tarahumara activists arrested for their anti-logging activities.)
 
The politicians and the wealthy developers try to tell us that there are no connections but we, as people of conscience, know that we are connected to our sisters and brothers on both sides of the border.
 
We hope to see on December 1 at 10:00 a.m. at Lomas de Poleo.
Spread the word—let all of us speak for justice.

If you have questions about the event you can email us at save_our_barrios@hotmail.com.
 
—Yolanda Leyva, on behalf of the women of Zihuatekpahtzin



November 20, 2007


The Residents of Lomas del Poleo and the Segundo Barrio Connect

“It’s the same plan on both sides of the border. It’s the same land speculators who sit on each others boards and who are carrying out large-scale displacement and land grabs. If the powerful are organized at a binational level, then those of us at the bottom also need to join together. We need to form binational coalitions against el despojo—against the theft of our homes and our barrios—that is being carried out in the name of regional development.”
                   —Cristina Coronado, Juárez activist from La Otra Campaña

connection

Lomas del Poleo resident Petra Medrano (left) and Segundo Barrio resident Lupe Ochoa
were two of the panelists at yesterday's UTEP Forum: "Lomas del Poleo-Segundo Barrio under siege."

TWO HUNDRED PEOPLE attended a UT El Paso forum Monday evening where they witnessed a unique, and perhaps historic, conversation between residents of two neighborhoods located across the international fence from each other that are fighting against very similar threats to their communities.

Panelists Petra Medrano, who has lived in Lomas del Poleo in Juárez for 15 years and Lupe Ochoa, who has lived in El Paso’s Segundo Barrio for about an equal amount of time, shared common stories of struggle against developers from both sides of the border who want to move their communities out the way to make room for binational redevelopment projects.

Petra Medrano described the feelings of anger and fear that she and her neighbors have experienced at the hands of armed guards hired by powerful Juárez developers who have systemically terrorized them for the last four years to force them to accept relocation. “We lived in peace Lomas del Poleo for 12 years until recently when the Grupo Zaragoza showed up... Now we are under much pressure. One of our neighbors, Luis Alberto Guerrero, was beaten to death by the guards while the guards were razing a home...We feel so powerless...I know I'm a target now, but I must speak out. Maybe only a miracle will save us."

“Why now?” Ms. Mendoza asked. “Why have they decided to kick us out of there now after we were there for so long?” [video of testimony]

The sentiments of Lupe Ochoa echoed those of Medrano. “We used to live happily in our barrio, even with all of its defects, but now this [Paso del Norte Group] plan has us all living in a state of fear,” she said. “The residents of the barrio have been selling their homes because they're afraid that they will be forced out by this plan.

"I think the biggest connection between Segundo Barrio and Lomas del Poleo is the love for our neighborhood and for our people,” Ms. Ochoa said. “And the love we feel for our homes that we built with great sacrifice, either on this or that side of the border. And I say this love is what will unite us. Segundo Barrio es igual a Lomas de Poleo...The people that are doing this to our neighborhoods either on that side or this side are not invincible. If the tallest trees have been toppled, why shouldn't we be able to topple these powerful groups even with all their money. Even though they say power is all about money. But they don't have the heart that we the poor have,” Ms. Ochoa said. [Ms. Ochoa video.]

"It's the same people who are responsible for what is happening to us at Lomas del Poleo— Héctor Murguía [former Juárez mayor who is a member of the Paso Del Norte Group] and Eloy Vallina [board member Verde Realty Group] who now want to take over the Segundo Barrio," said Medrano. "It's the same group of businessmen who are threatening us. They're the same ones that want to take away our lands."

During the screening of short documentaries about both communities at the forum—including “Poleo Speaking” and “Voices of Dissent: The Segundo Barrio is Not For Sale!”—the the residents of both neighborhoods used almost identical phrases to describe their feelings in the face of displacement and the seizure of their land. Several of them said they felt “powerless” or “impotent” but that they were willing to fight for their homes “come what may.”

The videos also linked the struggles in other ways. The "Grupo Zaragoza," Eloy Vallina's "Grupo Chihuahua" and Bill Sander's "Grupo Verde" in Juárez have all targeted the northwestern zone in Ciudad Juárez for binational redevelopment projects that, those interviewed in the  videos argue, have excluded the people that are currently living in that zone. Father Bill Morton, one of the panelist at the forum who was pressured to leave Mexico in 2006 because of his work on behalf of the colonos, made the connection between these developments and the state of siege of the Lomas del Poleo residents in the documentary Poleo Speaking. "It's a project between Anapra, Sunland Park, New Mexico, San Jeronimo, Santa Teresa, El Paso and Juárez that involves billions and billions of dollars. It's all part of the whole enchilada," Morton said.

But beyond anything said at the forum, that very direct and palpable connection that we witnessed between Petra Medrano and Lupe Ochoa and the other residents of our binational neighborhoods under siege, was the most important thing that came out of Monday’s forum.

It was the first time that many of them became aware of each other's  situation. It was also an evening where voices that hadn’t been heard before were heard for the first time.

For the first time, neighbors from both sides of the fence connected. And just that in itself was an important victory for the binational movement against displacement and despojo—the theft of our homes and barrios.

(Note to our readers: If you attended Monday's forum and would like to share your comments about the event please write us at save_our_barrios@hotmail.com.)                        


November 19, 2007

TODAY'S FORUM:

WHAT SIDE OF THE FENCE ARE YOU ON?

Lomas del Poleo-Segundo Barrio Under Siege


"If the powerful are organized at a binational level, then those of us at the bottom also need to join together."

                                                   —Cristina Coronado, Juárez activist



DON'T MISS TODAY'S forum at UT El Paso—"What Side of the Fence Are You On?" 

It will be held at the El Paso Natural Gas Conference Center, inside the Commons Room (Across from the Main Library at Wiggins Rd.)

There will be music by Radio La Chusma, poetry by "La Rana," bilingual documentaries about Lomas del Poleo ("Poleo Speaking") and about the Segundo Barrio ("Voices of Dissent") and opportunity to hear speakers directly involved in the struggle against displacement and despojo (land theft) on both sides of the border.

It starts at 5:30 pm.

Hope to see you there.

Read more

What is going on in Lomas del Poleo?

•  For more than four years the residents of this colony, who lived in peace for 30 years, have been placed under siege by one of the richest families in northern Mexico—the Zaragoza Fuentes family.

• The neighbors of Lomas have their own economic project: they work their land and plant their orchards. However, these land developers are part of a binational plan that wants to develop these lands no matter what the social cost.

• The government has encouraged the harassment and destruction of this community, by backing in a servile manner those who see themselves above the law and are carrying out this great injustice.

• The colonos have resisted peacefully all of these years. The master blow the Zaragozas are planning in their battle against the working-class residents is to destroy their elementary school in order to force them to accept an illegal relocation.



November 14, 2007

POEM OF THE DAY: FENCES

Fiah by everton Sylvester

Fiah fi di man who build di firs fence
An im fren who sign paypa as evidence
Spin doctors assuring innocence
We might as well swallow; you think that we should
With a name like democracy it’s got to be good

Fiah fi di man who build di secan fence
Trick poor people wid im innocence
Only think about im own existence
Imparting what god said cause he understood
With a name like democracy it’s got to be good

Fiah fi di man who build di tird fence
Fatten im belly from violence
Rule power an glory an consequence
Cain destroyed Abel because he could
With a name like democracy it’s got to be good

Fiah fi di man who build di fourt fence
Sell poison wid indifference
Entrepreneur minus conscience
Who seize the free market in my neighborhood
With a name like democracy it’s got to be good

Everton Sylvester immigrated from Jamaica to New York City and become involved in the spoke word scene associated with the Green Card Poets as well as the NuYorican Caf?. Sylvester is the author of the poetry collection, "Backyard in Bed-Stuy" (2002), and has been featured on the PBS series, "The United States of Poetry," in the video "Slammin'" (1996), and in the film, "Prince of Central Park" (2000). Sylvester received a 1993 James Michener Fellowship, and was a Sundance Screenwriters fellow in 1997 and 1998. His screenplay "Tambourine" was a top five finalist at the 2002 Urban World Film Festival. In 1999, he was in residency with the Tumblewords Project in El Paso, Texas for two weeks.

November 14, 2007

PHOTO OF THE DAY:

Juarez's Centro Historico Demolition—2007


"Musicians in Times of Redevelopment"

musicos




November 10, 2007

WHAT SIDE OF THE FENCE ARE YOU ON?

Lomas del Poleo-Segundo Barrio Under Siege


"If the powerful are organized at a binational level, then those of us at the bottom also need to join together."

                                                   —Cristina Coronado, Juárez activist



FACING THE PROSPECT of losing their homes that many have lived in for decades, residents of Lomas del Poleo in Juárez and the Segundo Barrio in El Paso have joined community activists from both sides of the border to denounce the binational redevelopment schemes that are threatening their communities. They have organized a forum  to be held at UT El Paso entitled “Which Side of the Fence Are You On? Lomas Del Poleo - El Segundo Barrio Under Siege.”  The purpose of this forum, scheduled for November 19, 2007, is to “expose the connections between the powerful land developers on both sides of the river who have put our communities under siege.”

Since 2003, binational developers such as William Sanders of the Paso del Norte Group in El Paso and Eloy Vallina of Ciudad Chihuahua ( both of them are the driving forces of the Verde Realty Group) and the Grupo Zaragoza, one of the most powerful families in Juarez, have charted binational redevelopment plans aimed at transforming the El Paso-Ciudad Juarez-Sunland Park-Santa Teresa region. At Lomas del Poleo—a colonia that is now surrounded by barbed wire fences and paramilitary guards hired by the Zaragoza Fuentes group—the human rights of the residents have been continually violated in order to pressure the people to accept relocation. In El Segundo Barrio, the threat of the future use of eminent domain and forcible relocation has already frightened many to leave their neighborhood. 

“It’s the same plan on both sides of the border” says Cristina Coronado, a member of La Otra Campaña in Ciudad Juárez. “It’s the same land speculators who sit on each others boards and who are carrying out large-scale displacement, land grabs and violation of human rights. If the powerful are organized at a binational level, then those of us at the bottom also need to join together. We need to form binational coalitions against el despojo—against the theft of our homes and our barrios—that is being carried out in the name of regional development.”

The speakers of the forum will include Fr. Bill Morton, a Catholic missionary who was deported from Mexico in 2006 because of his advocacy work on behalf of the Lomas del Poleo colonos; Lupe Ochoa, a Segundo Barrio resident and Sacred Heart Church parishioner who has organized against the planned demolition of  the heart of the barrio to construct a “big-box retail store;” Leon de la Rosa, filmmaker and director of the documentary “Poleo Speaking;”  Petra Mendoza, a resident of Lomas del Poleo; and Fr. Oscar Enriquez, director of the Paso Del Norte Human Rights Center in Juárez.

The panel discussion, will be moderated by authors Willivaldo Delgadillo and David Dorado Romo.

The forum will be sponsored by the UTEP History Department, ALDEA, Amnesty International, Paso del Norte Civil Rights Committee, LUS, CAUSA, Paso Del Sur, Comité Universitario de Izquierda, Circulo Zihuatekpahtzin and the Committee for the Second Forum at Lomas del Poleo.

November 19, 2007
Natural Gas Conference Center
(Inside UTEP Commons, Wiggins Rd.)

Schedule of Events:


5:30-6 pm  Music by Radio La Chusma & La Rana
                 Photography, art & written word exhibit
       
6:00-6:30   Documentary Clips
          
“Poleo Speaking: Video Testimonies of a Community Within Barbed Wire”
           
“Voices of Dissent Against the Segundo Barrio Demolition Plan”

6:30-7:30  Panel Discussion

7:30-8:00  Question & answer session

8:00-8:15  An invitation to the “Rompamos el Cerco” forum at Lomas del Poleo by Juárez human rights organizations.




November 9, 2007


flyer

Click on image for larger view.




November 6, 2007

CONNECTING THE DOTS:

Eloy Vallina, Digna Ochoa, the proposed destruction of the Segundo Barrio


BY BRYANT HOLMAN


THE LINK BETWEEN the developers of the project to destroy the Segundo Barrio in El Paso and the murder of Digna Ochoa:

The main protagonist in the investment package which is being added to the mass of funds which will be used in the building of a ritzy shopping district on the slated-to-be-bulldozed historic Segundo Barrio in El Paso, Eloy Vallina [of the board of directors of Sander's Verde Group], was involved up to his gills in the destruction of the forests of the Sierra Tarahumara through illegal logging. In this article, it is pointed out that the famous Mexican human rights lawyer, Digna Ochoa, was assassinated during the height of her defence of the Tarahumara Indian activists who had been illegally tortured and jailed for resisting these narco/oligarchs: READ MORE...



October 31, 2007

Human Rights Monitoring to Continue Despite Harassment by Zaragoza Guards

fence



AT A MEETING held at the Tonantzin Women’s Center in Anapra on Sunday, October 28, the colonos of Lomas del Poleo and NGO’s from Juarez and El Paso decided that the observation rounds carried out by human rights monitors had a positive effect on decreasing the harassment suffered by the colonos. This despite the fact that members of Tonantzin and Las Hormigas were harassed during their observation rounds by the guards last Thursday and Friday.

Concerned citizens of the international border community are invited to participate as human rights monitors. The following regulations must be followed by all human rights monitors:

1. Do not go into the fenced area of Lomas del Poleo during the observation round.

2. The monitoring must be done only from outside the fence.

3. Do not take photographs in front of the guards.

4. Do not allow yourselves to be provoked into confrontations.

5. Send your written reports about your observations to foro.lomasdepoleo@yahoo.com.mx.

6. Set up your observation round by contacting Ms. Guadalupe Pineda at 044-656-3951619.

7. You vehicle must have a sign that reads “Human Rights Monitor” on its windshield.

8. All human rights monitors must carry an I.D. tag on their person.
For more information contact: foro.lomasdepoleo@yahoo.com.mx. or
read Alerta Lomas de Poleo!


October 31, 2007

UPCOMING FORUM—DECEMBER 1, 2007


The next Forum at Lomas del Poleo “Rompamos el Cerco”
will be held on Saturday, December 1, 2007 at 10:00 at the entrance of
Lomas del Poleo.

A general call is being made to the binational community and especially to musicians, poets, and artists who wish to show their solidarity with ther residents of Lomas del Poleo.



October 30, 2007

Alert: Human Rights Observers Harassed at Lomas del Poleo

tower

MEMBERS OF HUMAN RIGHTS organizations and journalists who have been monitoring human rights abuses in Lomas del Poleo in the last week have been threatened or attacked by private guards. A car carrying a group of human rights observers was pelted with stones and one journalist was surrounded by several vehicles loaded with former gang members hired by the Zaragoza Fuentes family.

Residents say an unidentified journalist driving a car with Texas license plates that  stopped outside the barbed-wire fence at Lomas del Poleo recently was immediately surrounded by armed guards. When several residents from the neighborhood approached the scene, the guards drove away.

One human rights observer, a member of Las Hormigas community center in Juárez, said that while she and two other former nuns who belong to the social service organization were taking photographs of the guards to document conditions several guards yelled  at them: “Vayansen a la chingada!” (Get the fuck out of here!) One of the men who was in the guard tower ran down and placed a plastic goat mask over his head to mock the observers.

The NGO groups monitoring human rights conditions in Lomas del Poleo are asking members of the press or other organizations not to attempt to go into the community without an invitation from the residents. This is for their own safety and the safety of the residents.



October 23, 2007

JUAREZ MAYOR SAYS HE WILL NOT STOP THE SIEGE OF LOMAS DEL POLEO

rights violations
Photograph by Bruce Berman

Residents of Lomas del Poleo locked behind a gate and barbed wire were prevented from meeting with members of human rights organizations from both sides of the border this weekend. Their movement was blocked by private guards hired by Pedro and Jorge Zaragoza.


Source: Juan de Dios Olivas, El Diario de Juárez

AFTER RESIDENTS OF Lomas del Poleo and called for an end to the state of siege and daily intimidation they live under at the hands of private guards, [Juárez] mayor José Reyes Ferriz said yesterday that he will not intervene until the State Human Rights Commission and the courts reach a verdict in the matter.

The colonos denounced civil rights violations and other allegedly criminal actions that they have suffered during a forum for “Resistance and Land Rights in Lomas del Poleo” this weekend that had to be carried out between barbed wire because private security guards under the direction of Catarino del Rio, a former PAN [National Action Party] city official, blocked their entrance.

The participants at the forum—many of them members of human rights and social organizations from both sides of the border—proposed to denounce human rights abuses before international organizations, especially the precarious conditions experienced by children; to bring in food to the families that have been cut off by the barbed wire fence set up by the Zaragoza guards; and to hold other forums in the future with international participation to bring attention to the conditions suffered by the colonos. They also resolved to ask both mayor Reyes Ferriz and Chihuahuan governor José Reyes Baeza to intervene on behalf of the residents.

The mayor, however, has already decided not to take such action. “We will wait for the State Commission on Human Rights to resolve the issue,” said mayor Reyes Ferriz. “We live in a nation that abides by its laws and this matter must be resolved by our courts. We cannot carry out justice by bringing in international organizations to intervene in questions that can easily be revolved through the judicial process,” he said.  

The organizations that participated in the forum will continue to bring to light the human rights violations suffered by the residents of Lomas del Poleo at an international level, said Willivaldo Delgadillo, a member of Pacto Para La Cultura [Pact for Culture.]

“We will form a permanent commission to investigate anything that can be constituted as a human rights violation,” said Delgadillo. The case of Lomas del Poleo will be brought up before the United Nation’s “Dialogo Nacional en Mexico” commission. He said they will focus attention on the conditions of school children in the community who have been blocked off from their school and "the precarious psychological conditions they live under as a result of being enclosed within barbed wire.”



October 21, 2007

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

“Friends, forgive me for saying this, but I hear you talking of Lomas del Poleo and nobody has had the courtesy to tell us what is going on in Lomas de Poleo. I heard Tobi mention it, sort of, while we were at the Lerdo bridge in Juarez [in November 2006]. And we heard about some other problem in Anapra, and we didn’t even know what that was. And if The Other Campaign in Juarez doesn’t let us know what is happening in Lomas del Poleo and Anapra, then who will?”
          
                          —Subcomandante Marcos






October 19, 2007

AN URGENT CALL TO ACTION!

Armed groups stop human rights forum in Lomas del Poleo




THIS EVENING, on October 19, 2007, the streets of the Lomas del Poleo neighborhood in Ciudad Juárez are presently surrounded by 150 armed men—paramilitary groups who have been paid by Pedro and Jorge Zaragoza to block a peaceful forum convened by the colonos of Lomas de Poleo and by various social organizations and human rights groups from Juárez, El Paso, Las Cruces and Mexico City.

This forum, scheduled for Saturday, October 20, has been convened in order to denounce the extremely serious conditions of siege and intimidation that the inhabitants of Lomas de Poleo face on a daily basis at the hands of Pedro and Jorge Zaragoza—powerful developers who want to forcefully and violently displace residents who have been living in these lands for more than 30 years.

In the midst of the escalating violence against the Lomas del Poleo neighbors, one resident has been murdered, and two children have been burned to death inside a home purposely set on fire as part of the demolitions of more than 40 homes by the Zaragoza guards.

The Lomas del Poleo inhabitants have been cut off from the rest of the city and are currently within a state of siege at the hands of the powerful developers mentioned above.

We make an urgent call to all the social, political and human rights organizations on both sides of the border and the rest of the world so that together we may put a stop to this escalating violence and so that we may carry out our forum against displacement and destruction.

The following organizations hold Pedro and Jorge Zaragoza, and all three levels of the Mexican government responsible for any physical harm inflicted on the residents of Lomas de Poleo and the participants of this forum.

The Residents of Lomas del Poleo
Paso Del Norte Human Rights Group
Union de Trabajadores Agricolas Fronterizos (El Paso)
Paso Del Sur Group (El Paso)
Tonantzin Women’s Group
La Otra Campaña
The Committee of Mothers of the Disappeared
Pastoral Obrera
The Pact for Culture Movement
Rezizte

and 11 other organizations

MAS INFORMACION EN: http://alertalomasdelpoleo.blogspot.com/

Click here watch the movie (English subtitles) about the human rights violations suffered by the Juárez colonia targeted for binational redevelopment titled Poleo Speaking.




October 9, 2007

Stop Demolitions and Human Rights Abuses in Lomas de Poleo!



THE BINATIONAL BORDERPLEX redevelopment scheme is being carried out against the residents of Lomas de Poleo in a brutal and violent way. The most powerful developers of Juarez (some of them who actually sit on the Verde Realty board or the Paso Del Norte Group) have recently begun redevelopment schemes targeting Anapra and San Jeronimo that hook up to William Sander's "Verde Group" projects on the U.S. side. To make these projects work, hundreds of working-class families have to be evicted from their homes. Because many of these families don't want to be pushed out of the way, the developers have taken matters into their own hands.

In Lomas de Poleo—right across from Sunland Park, NM—three hundred families have been terrorized by paramilitary groups hired by Pedro Zaragoza Fuentes, one of the richest men in Juárez. Zaragoza Fuentes has been investigated in the past by both the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and the Mexican federal government for narcotrafficking, money laundering and his family connections to the Juarez drug cartel. In order to carry out their "progress" and "development" schemes, the Zaragoza Fuentes "guards" have surrounded the residents with barbed wire, burned down homes and a church, poisoned animals and committed other acts to inflict terror on the Lomas de Poleo colonos. One resident, Luis Alberto Guerrero, was beaten to death with picks, pipes, and shovels by Juarez gang members paid $200 US dollars for every home they tear or burn down. Two children died in a fire after Lomas de Poleo residents reported a Zaragoza guard pouring gasoline on their paleta home. Scores of homes have been demolished or burned down illegally already. This has been part of a normal day's work in order to carry out the grand visions of binational redevelopment conjured up by some of the most powerful men on both sides of the border.

The only thing the people of Lomas de Poleo have done to deserve this treatment is to live in a part of Juarez that sits right in the middle of a proposed freeway that will lead to a a future international crossing between Anapra and Sunland Park, New Mexico.

Various Juárez community and human rights groups are asking you to help them call for an end to the terror being perpetrated by powerful Juarez families (with the full complicity of El Paso and New Mexico politicians and developers) in the name of binational redevelopment plans.

For more information on a two day forum in Ciudad Juarez on October 19-20, 2007 read Alerta Lomas de Poleo!





October 7, 2007

The Heritage of the  Segundo Barrio Belongs to All of Us


By Dr. Roberto Calderon

WHAT THE TRANSNATIONAL forces engaged in demolishing an important (naypriceless) part of El Paso's architectural and social history, that of El Segundo Barrio, are doing is a crime against humanity.  It ought to be denounced from the highest international courts of justice and from the podium at the United Nations.

Unlike here in the North Texas region, where cities invest literally millions of dollars to preserve and maintain and even refurbish their more dilapidated historic builidings, courthouses, and historic residential districts, on the border, in El Paso/Juárez, our supposed leaders pretend to do the opposite. Why does one measure of justice apply here in North Texas and another in El Paso?

What's the difference?

Why did the State of Texas in partnership with local and regional government entities and private funds provide upwards of $3 million in the past two or three years just to remodel and upgrade the county courthouse? Why is that courthouse that dates from the late 1800s, merit a different standard of preservation than the architecture of Segundo Barrio? Is it a matter of ethncity? Class? Protected interests? What?

Who decides and why which architecture is worth beans, and which is worth a keeping for posterity? Troubled waters, those on the Rio Bravo at El Paso del Norte.

The right thing to do is give justice a chance. I vote for preserving our history, for it belongs to all of us not just those who physically live in El Paso. Segundo Barrio is my barrio too. Too many barrios have already fallen by the wayside to so-called redevelopment schemes, and they didn't make many if any of its residents rich or wealthy. Rather, that wealth was reaped mostly by outsiders to the communities that were
literally and figuratively disappeared.

Stop barrio demolition! Reinvest in its posterity! Promote barrio
preservation!


(Dr. Roberto Calderon is a history professor at University of North Texas. He can be reached at beto@unt.edu.)



September 29, 2007

The El Paso Times Deceives Again

“LEE TREVINO EXTENSION on hold until 2035” reads the headline by the local newspaper that his heavily subsidized by the PDNG and City Hall. This is another not so subtle attempt to confuse and deceive the public. What actually has happened is that the Lee Treviño Extension, which will likely be a future toll road, has been put on the 2035 Master Transportation Plan. If you read between the lines, all that means is that the project—which, according to a federal study commissioned by the state, will destroy 67 culturally or historically significant Tigua-owned sites—will become a reality as soon as  the politicians feel the opposition is out of the public eye. Thanks to the heavily slanted local media, that could happen any time soon.

In 2005, at the City Council's request, the Metropolitan Planning Organization board removed the Lee Treviño extension from its thoroughfare plan because of overwhelming opposition from residents and the cost of acquiring and demolishing 100 to 270 houses for right of way, depending on the chosen route. But then the same politicians who took it off the plan two years ago—beginning with District 7 “representative” Steve Ortega— decided, despite the overwhelming opposition of their own constitutents, to put it back on the plan. (For information on the Steve Ortega recall by the District 7 Recall Committee click here.)

Through very crafty use of headlines, the El Paso Times is doing everything it can to confuse the public while backing the privatization of our roads for the profit of powerful business interests, i.e. the PDNG. The whole reason the local politicos are pushing so hard for this road—disregarding the majority's will—is because eminent domain will be used to benefit  future private toll road owners, the same people who are greasing the palms of the Cook and the pro-eminent domain majority on City Hall.

The polls show that a majority of El Pasoans oppose toll roads and eminent domain for private profit, yet the same local rag that paid for those polls is a major cheerleader for both of these.  Isn't this sort of strange?

Ojo gente!

Eminent Domain can happen to you!



September 26, 2007

City Council Votes for Tax Rebate for the PDNG Plan

By Absurdity in the Pass

THE THEFT BEGINS, THE LIES CONTINUE

ISN'T ALL OF the land in the redevelopment area going to be stolen, err, I mean "bought" by the PDN? Why do we need to FURTHER (further in that the stealing of the land and "selling" it dirt cheap is the first subsidation) subsidize the millionaires of the PDN? Read more...



September 22, 2007

PROGRESS! PLASTIC ADOBE! GET YER CHURROS!


By Luis Alberto Urrea

EL PASO'S CITY council is planning
to demolish the historic Segundo Barrio
where much of the Mexican revolution was
plotted and planned, where Pancho Villa
ate ice cream cones and his men got drunk and went to
church, where Francisco Madero plotted & where
Mariano Azuela finished the classic novel, Los de abajo. And
where Teresita and Tomás went to live after the
older city council forced them out of their house
up on the hill for attracting too many unsavory Mexicans.
Same as it ever was.
So now the city wants to tear down the historic
Mexican village in the heart of the city and at the heart of the
history of both countries, and they want to replace it with
a “Lifestyle Center.” A shopping mall. I was sad when my ol’ pal
Susie Byrd explained: They will tear down the Mexican village
to build a faux representative Mexican village!
Teresita’s house, for example, will be a parking lot.
Progress!

Plastic adobe! Clean authentic Chinese
Mexican paving tiles! Burbling fountains!
Sanitary “Mexican” restaurants serving the best
blueberry margaritas and processed cheez-food
mega-nachos! La Gap, La Banana Republic,
El Tower Records Superstore selling the latest in
peasant music and fashions! 7-11 could concoct a new
authentic “Mexicanny” guava Slurpee! No beaners in sight!
No unsavory smells of caca, frijoles, dogs, goats,
history, or cigarettes. No borrachos. No putas. No friggin’
lowriders, though the lowriders could probably get a gig
taking tickets at the Teresita parking facility.
Wandering Puerto Rican and Guatemalan mariachis!
Chocolate shops selling cowshit and burroshit
joke chocolate patties! T-shirts of Pancho Villa
hanging out where there is no trace of his having been anymore
or ever again! Go, El Paso, go!

I wondered aloud if they were going to install
animatronic Mexican robots. They could have robot
women nursing android babies and old fiberglass cobblers hammering
nails into rubber cowboy boots, bandido droids
rolling by at 10:30, Noon, and 3:45
on solar-powered electric hybrid
horses.

Churros! Git yer churros rat cheer!

#


We walked miles in the heat while Romo and his compadre Carlos
Showed Susie Byrd all the historical buildings. No doubt
The barrio is rough and tumble. Winos and crack-heads
squat on corners and steps of rooming houses. Ugly muffler
shops & crumbling bodegas. Yes. It’s true. But also
our history. Our ghosts. Our legacy—all of ours. It’s
America, after all.

Then we got to 500 S. Oregon St. (If anyone reads this
& is a Hummingbird fan, get down there before it’s
demolished, because it’s the last place on earth still standing
where Teresita and her father lived. All other sites are gone.
Gone. And the tractors are coming.)

This
is the ugly red brick rooming house where she lived. Here,
where she did miracles for the pilgrims who would not let her be.
Where she greeted reporters from around the world and sat for interviews
and was often insulted by the wise-ass bigoted U.S. press of the day.
Here
where she looked out the window—that window right there—
held the curtain back with her hand as she looked upon El Paso and the hordes
that had followed her. Same hills in the distance. Same colors.

There was still a painted sign on the
wall, fading: ROOMS $1. It was chilling.
I lay my hands on the walls. Listened for voices
between the bricks. “Tía!” I whispered. Teresita, can you hear me?
Across the street was a vacant lot where her
followers had set up their tents. And now—
there they were again, the same Mejicanos, all rascuaches in the same
dirt lot, nothing changed. Tents. Motley colors. Now the camp
is a swap-meet and flea market. It could have been (was) still 1896.
I was standing in two worlds at the same time.
I looked at what she looked at: Mexicans gathered in bright tents,
primary colors, the sun-seared mountains behind. Barring
skyscrapers and cars, it was exactly the same view.
She could have been standing beside me.
Maybe she was.

The owners of the building had poured
filthy motor oil on the steps
to keep the dope-fiends from sitting
on the stoop. But they sat there anyway,
oil soaked into their butts. What was a little oil
to them? Their pants were already dirty.
And nobody thought of the ancient anointings with oils.
Some kind of strange new sacredness.

The doors were splintered from kicks
and bad history, splinters of wood peeling off.
I collected a bundle of fragments,
idolatrous, perhaps…but
I had to have physical evidence of her presence, not just
words or old pictures, not just stories but hard splinters
where her shadow had fallen.
Stupid bits of wino flophouse about to be demolished?
Priceless.

I said to Susie,
“Can’t you at least save Teresita’s house? Make it a museum or
gallery or something?” She snapped,
“Are you going to raise the funds?”
Slam-dunk!

So

shirt pocket full of wood,
I walked away.

Turned back.

The upstairs windows had white curtains.
The window at the front corner: the curtain
Was pulled back as if by a hand, as if
By someone watching us go.

“Vato!” Romo said.

“Look at that!
Teresita
is looking at
you!”


(This is an excerpt from Luis Alberto Urrea's The Wastelander's Notebook, 2006. Urrea, 2005 Pulitzer Prize finalist for nonfiction and member of the Latino Literature Hall of Fame, is a prolific and acclaimed writer who uses his dual-culture life experiences to explore greater themes of love, loss and triumph. Urrea's most recent book, The Hummingbird's Daughter, is the culmination of 20 years of research and writing. The historical novel tells the story of Teresa Urrea, sometimes known as The Saint of Cabora and the Mexican Joan of Arc. )




September 17, 2007

FOLLOW THE MONEY: Why does the PDNG & pro-Eminent Domain politicians want toll roads so badly?

By Absurdity in the Pass

IF YOU INTRODUCE tolls, a whole lot of businesses are going to want to get a piece of that action—the building of new roads, the running of the toll systems, the selling of the technology, the selling of the roads.  We all know how the business class in El Paso "lobbie$" for what it wants.

Be careful folks, fight the tolls every step of the way! Don't believe their lies. It’s not about transportation or new roads, it’s about pols getting their palms greased—and we the people getting the short end of the stick.

(Click here to read “The Trans-Texas Corridors, Eminent Domain Abuse, and the Texas Toll Road Rebellion.”)



September 17, 2007

Steve Ortega Should Be Recalled

By Historiano

STEVE ORTEGA, Susie Byrd, Beto O'Rourke, now joined by Ann Morgan Lilly and John Cook have no problem increasing our property tax burden.

Their attitude is that if you can't afford to pay the property taxes needed to finance their "progressive" agenda, then sell your property to someone who can afford to pay those taxes. They believe that those of us who are struggling to make ends meet and have to do without essentials in order to pay our property taxes are "holding back progress in El Paso" by voting in representatives who do not support their expensive (and wasteful) "progressive" agenda and who do not support their proclivity to increase property taxes.

The Lee Trevino extension is not needed. The proof can be found in the fact that Yarbrough is not congested from I-10 to the Border Highway.

The congestion at Gateway East and Zaragosa will not be lessened by a Lee Trevino extension. The congestion at Gateway East and Lee Trevino will not be lessened by a Lee Trevino extension. That congestion exists because there is so much traffic that turns left from Gateway East to Zaragosa and to Lee Trevino, GOING NORTH, not south.

When Steve Ortega stated that the traffic congestion at these two intersections would be lessened by a Lee Trevino extension, he was not being truthful. Just like he did with regard to the property tax production in the downtown "Revitalization Zone", he distorted the facts in order to deceive the public. He should be recalled.



September 16, 2007

The Paso del Sur—Ysleta del Sur Connection:

Eminent Domain Could Happen to You, Wherever You Are

"What worries me is just the message we are sending: If we want something, we are going to do it no matter who is in our way."

                                                           —City rep Rachel Quintana

                                                         
FOR QUITE A while those of us involved in fighting cultural destruction in the name of a "big-box retail store" have warned the citizens of El Paso that the same high-handed, top-down techniques of expropriation that are being directed against South El Paso will sooner or later be used against other parts of the city as well. "Eminent domain can happen to you," we warned. Politicians such as Steve Ortega and Susie Byrd called us "fear-mongers" for even making the suggestion. And now our predictions are coming true. 

It's becoming obvious to the rest of the city that the profiteers and politicians who are planning the takeover of 130 acres in South El Paso and downtown —regardless of the opposition of the church, the farmworker center, residents and local business people—have now set their sights on East El Paso and the Mission Valley as well.  The pro-eminent domain politicians subsidized by the Paso del Norte Group developers are now adopting the same methods they used in the Segundo Barrio to ram their plan down the throats of residents of the Mission Valley. Here too they will destroy culturally and historically significant sites in order to create a road that will connect with a toll road project planned by and for the sake of the PDNG profiteers. (The toll road project is being reported as a "done deal" by the local press although an El Paso Times/KVIA ABC 7 Poll done in February 2007 showed that 59 percent of El Pasoans oppose toll roads as a way to pay for expensive transportation projects while 38 percent favor them. That is the same percentage of opposition as in the Times’ 2004 poll.)

An Associated Press article published in the Dallas Morning News yesterday stated that "maps of the area (targeted for the extension), including at least one drafted by the Texas Department of Transportation, are dotted with historic and culturally significant sites. Among them is a Catholic monastery whose parking lot would likely be demolished if the road is built...Rachel Quintana said she worried that destroying the Tigua site was "setting a precedent that we aren't sympathetic to their culture, their religion. I don't know how we are going to be looked at as a city," Quintana said. "What worries me is just the message we are sending: If we want something, we are going to do it no matter who is in our way."" Read the Associated Press article.

In the Mission Valley as in the Segundo Barrio, the whole story has not been told of just how extensive the planned takeover of the city by the powerful special interest group that goes by the name of the PDNG is. Hopefully El Pasoans will become aware of it and connect the dots before it's too late.



September 12, 2007

The Elephant in the Room:

Race, Roads and El Paso Politics

"I'm color blind. I don't see racism."
                                                  —City rep Steve Ortega

EL PASO MAYOR John Cook broke two 4-4 tie votes at Tuesday's City Council meeting to approve putting the extension of Lee Treviño Drive back on the city's master thoroughfare plan. Similar to the Segundo Barrio demolition plan, this plan will include the use of eminent domain to expropriate more than a dozen homes, ranch lands and will destroy important Tigua cultural and ceremonial sites. Not surprisingly, the invisible hand of the predominantly Anglo Paso Del Norte Group is behind this “master plan.” The Lee Treviño extension will connect to one of the PDNG's pet projects—the proposed Border Highway toll road. The major winners of this new comprehensive road plan will be PDNG moguls such as Woody Hunt and the owners of Western Refining—Paul Foster and William Sanders—who will get an expedited road all for themselves.

An environmental study done in the 90s showed that Western Refining is one of the top two polluters in El Paso. Yet the obscenely wealthy individuals who own Western Refining are the major contributors to the political campaigns of the same politicans—Byrd, O'Rourke, Cook—who want to expropriate ASARCO's property for harming the environment. How does one explain this paradox?

Notice the racial division of the Lee Treviño extension vote:

Every single Anglo on City Hall—Byrd, O’Rourke, Lilly, Cook—cast the pro-let's-tear-it-down-eminent domain vote. (Playing his usual role as loyal Hispanic Yuppie to the Anglo voting block is Steve “El Coconut” Ortega—who has stated in the past that he agrees with the Glass Beach study that our city’s image should be “modernized,” in other words, bleached lilly white. Apparently "color-blind" Ortega doesn't believe white is a color.)

The city reps who voted against the plan—Holguin, Castro, Quintana and Lozano (who recently shaved his moustache and now, we guess, is growing it back)—are all Mexican American, in other words, the losers.

Note: El Paso’s population is 81 percent of Mexican ancestry.
They've been "the losers" when it comes to who controls the economic, political and cultural power in this city for more than a 100 years.



August 18, 2007

PULLING A FAST ONE:

Mayor Replaces Dissenter with Cheerleader for Toll Roads and Eminent Domain



AS PART OF the ongoing "fast-track" monopolization of land, water and roads in the El Paso region in the hands of what the Texas Observer has called a small “cabal of profiteers,”  the local pro-PDNG politicians have ramped up their next project, the Camino Real Regional Mobitility Authority, by getting rid of the only dissenting voice in that organization.

NPT reports that “on July 31, 2007, in a little noticed procedural move, El Paso Mayor John Cook, with the approval of City Council, removed city Rep. Eddie Hoguin from the Metropolitan Planning Organization....Cook is straightforward about his reasons for replacing Holguin, stating that it makes sense to have a supporter of the CRRMA on the MPO, and someone who has shown the predilection to support policies that weigh the risks of taking a chance, and decide the risk of going for it is better than the risk of doing nothing.”
 
“In [Holguin’s] place, Mayor John Cook appointed city Rep. Susie Byrd.” If  the mayor wanted a cheerleader for the project, he chose the right person. Ms. Byrd is known for wearing T-shirts with the slogan “I’m a Shaplite” on them, a reference to her unquestioning support of PDNG member Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, a major proponent of the privatization of roads. Senator Shapleigh recently made sure that El Paso was exempt from the state-wide two year moratorium on the controversial Texas toll road projects. Read Texas Observer's "The Highwaymen: Texas Rushes to Privatize its Roads.

One of the major initial RMA projects will focus on creating roads that will benefit Woody Hunt’s military housing project—a $300-million highway that will connect Biggs Army Airfield with new housing at Fort Bliss and the El Paso airport. 

The Camino Real Regional Mobility Authority, now bereft of any dissent, has the power of eminent domain in its hands. Critics say the introduction of for-profit toll roads will result in serious disinvestment of the public free roads. Mexico, where the public non-toll roads are full of potholes while the cost of toll roads becomes outrageously expensive, is a prime example of this kind of public disinvestment.

Since the project involves potentially billions of dollars worth of projects that will directly benefit a small handful of private individuals and companies,  not including the land values those projects enhance, it is evident why the PDNG mayor would want nothing but cheerleaders on the decision-making committee.

NPT reports that the toll road project is "a done deal," codespeak for, "public participation or debate is neither necessary nor wanted."



August 14, 2007

Today's Political Cartoonery:

"THE NEW RIDE"


CARTOON
     Click on image to enlarge                                                            by Peter Viola

"We promise not to be corrupt..."

Go to other Art



August 8, 2007

Public Corruption, "Luxuristan" and the PDNG: A New Name and an Old Name



“What a way to spend a million bucks, huh? But what else was I gonna do—buy myself another boat?” 
      —Chris Balsiger, PDNG member indicted for a $250 million fraud scheme



HECTOR ZAVALETA JR.’S name has been added to the list of Paso Del Norte Group members publicly linked to the ongoing fraud and corruption investigations by the FBI in El Paso. Today’s El Paso Times reported that Zavaleta, former vice president of First Southwest Company who has been the bond counsel “to the city of El Paso and the county in numerous bond-sale transactions involving hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years, has been cooperating [with the FBI corruption investigation] concerning various ‘government entities and officials.’” According to the El Paso Times, it is not clear if Zavaleta is cooperating with the FBI under the advice of his attorneys to get a lighter sentence."Maybe he did something wrong and the lawyers are starting as right now to put a good spin on their client," William Pizzi, a criminal law professor and public corruption expert, said.

About a dozen PDNG members (see below) have been publicly linked to the FBI investigations involving bribery, fraud and influence trafficking. So far only one of them, Thomas Chris Balsiger, has been indicted for an alleged $250 million coupon fraud scheme and for threatening whistle-blower employees. Despite having his assets seized by the FBI, which included a Mercedes, a Lexus, a Rolls Royce and a yacht as well as a vacation home in Alto, he’s still managing to live it up.

The El Paso web magazine, Newspaper Tree, currently has the following short celebratory piece on Balsiger’s luxurious vacation at the foot of Mount Everest under the heading: “Living Large in Luxuristan, Mount Everest.”

“El Pasoan Chris Balsiger is fairly well-known in El Paso social circles for his mountain climbing exploits,” NPT declares. “In the July issue of Outside Magazine, he is quoted in an article about the base camp at the foot of Everest. The camp is divided into clusters – one is known as Schmoozistan, for example. Balsiger’s camp was in Luxuristan, described in the article like this: “At the top of Luxuristan's pyramid was a special expedition run by Mountain Link, an American firm with about a dozen Sherpas, seven guides, a $400,000 budget, and only one client. Chris Balsiger was a sandy-haired, 54-year-old multi-millionaire from El Paso who was hoping to polish off the final piece in his Seven Summits campaign. Balsiger and his entourage enjoyed elaborate meals prepared by a chef who'd brought in 38 coolers stuffed with fresh vegetables, jars of salad dressing, and steaks.” [article] Later in the article, Balsiger is quoted after his climb stalls: “’What a way to spend a million bucks, huh?’ he quipped later, keeping a sense of humor about it. ‘But what else was I gonna do—buy myself another boat?’”

The NPT article ended with an understated tidbit of information, that by the way, Balsiger  “is under a fraud indictment. [background]

The list of politicians that Chris Balsiger has contributed to include the major proponents for the PDNG demolition plan on City Council—Robert O’Rourke and Susie Byrd. Despite being under federal indictment, Balsiger and his associates recently contributed to New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson's presidential campaign— money that Richardson has not yet returned. In the past, the PDNG entrepreneur also campaigned heavily for Ray Caballero.

County Commissioner Veronica Escobar, a pro-PDNG politician who initially rejoiced that her political enemies were among those under suspicion of receiving bribes, recently went to bat for Zavaleta, calling him a "victim." Now that those doing the bribing are increasingly among her list of Paso Del Norte Group allies, she has called for an end to the federal investigation. "Folks need a sense of closure," Escobar told the El Paso Times.



August 1, 2007

WHAT A DEAL:

WOODY HUNT AND HIS NEWEST SCHEME

“No contractor should be able to get away with such shabby construction at taxpayer expense,”
           —U.S. Attorney Karen Schreiber, refering to developer Woody Hunt.




IT HAS BEEN called “an unprecedented process that will provide almost a generation’s worth of land to a single purchaser.” Woody Hunt’s development corporation, “Hunt Communities,” is on the road to acquiring 5000 acres of public land north of Fort Bliss. Hunt, who was the first chairman of the Paso Del Norte Group in 2003 when it was called the “El Paso Leadership Council," has bid $130 million on Public Service Board land that has been estimated to be worth more than $340 million. The only other bid on the land was lower. If City Hall approves Hunt’s bid—which it probably will since it has the enthusiastic support of City rep O’Rourke and his allies—it will mean the transfer of public land owned by El Paso taxpayers to a single developer at a $210 million dollar "discount."

A few years ago the Hunt Building Corporation, an affiliate of Hunt Communities, was sued by the U.S. Department of Justice for $45 million dollars for violating federal law in the construction of a military family housing complex in South Dakota. The lawsuit alleged that Hunt’s houses for U.S. soldiers were so shoddy they “broke apart in the wind.” Other violations included— according to a Department of Justice statement—installing fake pipes “to make it look like mandatory sewer clean-outs had been installed.” The Austin American-Statesman reported that residents of apartments that Hunt Building owned in minority Austin neighborhoods repeatedly complained about being left without basic utility services.“No contractor should be able to get away with such shabby construction at taxpayer expense,” said U.S. Attorney Karen Schreiber.

Yet Hunt continues to get millions of dollars worth of contracts. In fact, his construction company is the nation’s largest builder of housing for  U.S. military personnel. 

Why does Woody Hunt continue to get such juicy deals?

Might it have something to do with his hundreds of thousands of dollars in “contributions” to the political campaigns of George Bush and Rick Perry, as well as his offerings to the piggy banks of several local politicians including Mayor Cook and City rep. Robert O’Rourke. [Read Texas for Public Justice profile on Hunt.]



July 30, 2007

A WEB OF VOLUNTEERS?

PDNG names linked to ongoing fraud and corruption investigations



“I am proud to have been a member of the Paso Del Norte Group. It's a non-profit group of volunteers who have only the city’s best interest at heart.”
 —District 8 rep. Robert O’Rourke, PDNG founder William Sanders’ son-in-law

“We want the public to have great confidence that their elected officials are making decisions based on the best information and the best ideas, not on who contributed to whose campaign.”
                    —City rep. Susie Byrd, PDNG supporter


Here is a list of Paso Del Norte Group members publicly linked by the FBI and the media to ongoing fraud and public corruption investigations:

1. Thomas Chris Balsiger- former president of the International Outsourcing Services. Current PDNG member.

Balsiger has been indicted for a $250,000,000 international coupon fraud scheme. The criminal indictment alleges that Balsiger and 8 other defendants submitted millions of dollars worth of coupons that had never been legitimately redeemed in connection with the purchase of a product. He is a contributor to the political campaigns of City reps Robert O’Rourke and Susie Byrd who recently signed a “No Corruption Pledge” near El Paso’s Scenic Drive. Read FBI indictment.

2. Charles F. “Paco” Jordan-Founding owner of C.F. Jordan construction company. Current PDNG member.

County Commisioner Betty Flores was paid $10,000 in exchange for a favorable vote on a contract for the $20 million El Paso County Parking Garage Annex, and to advocate change orders to the contract. The contract was awarded to C.F. Jordan in May 2004. The former county commissioner’s son Adrian Pena, worked for CF Jordan. His phone was tapped by the FBI. The C.F. Jordan company has completed nearly $4 billion in projects including border patrol stations, health care centers, processing centers, hotels, resorts, medical facilities, industrial plants, warehouses, sports complexes, apartments, airports, zoological facilities and military defense projects. Other works include Sea World in San Antonio, the Insights Science Museum in El Paso, and Hotel ZA ZA in Dallas. It is a 300 + million dollar a year company. Chairman Charles "Paco" Jordan started the firm in 1988. The company has satellite offices in Dallas, San Antonio, Tucson Arizona, and Hawaii.  C.F. Jordan contributed $3000 to Texans for Rick Perry. He is one of more than 70 current PDNG members who contributed to the Robert O’Rourke campaign.

3. Darren Woody-President and CEO of C.F. Jordan construction company. Current PDNG member.

He has denied charges by a former county commissioner that his company was part of the $10,000 bribe she received in exchange for awarding a 20 million dollar contract to his company, C.F. Jordan. He told the El Paso Times (7-10-07): "At this time, we do not know the facts surrounding Ms. Flores' information or even if they involve our company or its employees. We are attempting to ascertain more information at this time." Darren Woody contributed $1500 to Texans for Rick Perry. He is also an O’Rourke contributor.

4. Ruben “Sonny” Garcia Jr.- owner and president of LKG Enterprises. Current PDNG member.

El Paso Times reports that the FBI suspects him of having bribed officials to protect him and LKG "from a referral for criminal activity, repayment to the County of El Paso of over $600,000 of fraudulently obtained federal funds and a lawsuit by the county." The company was dumped by the county earlier this year for not providing services that were paid for and required for the Border Children’s Mental Health Collaborative.

5. Frank Apodaca-President and CEO of Access HealthSource, city’s leading administrator for public health benefits. Current PDNG member.

Frank Apodaca, is an apparent target of the FBI and U.S. attorney's office public corruption investigation in El Paso,” the El Paso Times wrote on 7-9-07. “In one of those [six conspiracy] charges, Flores pleaded guilty to taking a bribe for her vote to extend the county's contract with Access HealthSource last year. Access' parent company, Access Plans USA, put Apodaca on paid leave last week and warned stockholders of a potential $2 million loss if Access lost its government clients in El Paso. According to Access' public documents, the company managed more than 700,000 claims for more than 60,000 public employees and dependents last year totaling more than $400 million. The FBI has conducted searches of Apodaca's Access offices and his home. Apodaca, whose assets along with two cars and a motorcycle have been seized by the FBI, was recently placed on paid administrative leave by Access' parent company, the publicly traded Access Plans USA.”  Frank Apodaca contributed $2250 to state senator Eliot Shapleigh.

6. Charles Roark- El Paso school district trustee, Executive Director of Hospice El Paso. Current PDNG member.

“In June, the U.S. attorney's office leveled the first allegations at Access and its contracts with school districts,” reported the El Paso Times (7-9-07) “Charles Roark, an El Paso Independent School District trustee and executive director of Hospice El Paso. Hospice was searched by FBI agents in April 2006. Court records filed by prosecutors last month claim Roark is connected through ‘a free-rent scheme’ provided by NCED for Hospice." He received a $500 contribution from fellow PDNG member and huge contributor to Republican causes, Stanley Jobe, whose wife has also been named as part of the FBI investigation.

7. Raymond Telles- public finance lawyer and former City Council representative. Current PDNG member.

His name appears on a search warrant issued by Federal Judge Frank Motalvo as part of the FBI’s public corruption investigation.

8. Roberto "Bobby" Ruiz- Managing director of Bear Sterns financial services company. Current PDNG member.

His name appears on a search warrant issued by Federal Judge Frank Motalvo as part of the FBI’s public corruption investigation. Bear Sterns is the financial service company for Thomason Hospital. Thomason president James Valenti denies charges by ex-County Commissioner Betti Flores that she sold her vote to award " financial advisory contracts at the county and for the Thomason bond initiative." Jim Valenti, also a current PDNG member, told the El Paso Times he made the decision to hire fellow PDNG member Roberto Ruiz' financial advisory company, a decision that was approved by the Thomason hospital board.


9. David Bernard-current PDNG member.

Bernard is the chairman of the El Paso law firm —Scott, Hulse, Marshall, Feuille, Finger & Thurmond, P.C.—that is being investigated for possible ties to the IOS international coupon fraud scam. According to the El Paso Times (7-30-07): “Prosecutors have told U.S. District Judge Patricia J. Gorence of Wisconsin that federal investigators are looking into the possibility that lawyers for International Outsourcing Services, or IOS, may have obstructed justice by giving false information to officials, that some lawyers were used to harass one or more government witnesses and that some witnesses were coached before they were interviewed by federal investigators.”



July 23, 2007

The Influence Traffickers:

Governor Perry & the Paso Del Norte Group


woody.jpg

El Paso multi-millionaire Woody Hunt: A PDNG executive committee member, land speculator, and major league Republican contributor to both George Bush and Rick Perry. 

Nine PDNG Governor Perry Appointees to State committees and agencies contributed more than $711,200 to the Texans for Rick Perry Committee between 2001 and 2006.

Does a $100,000+ "contribution" buy you a state appointment?

Does it buy you the governor's veto against eminent domain reform legislation?

(Source: http://www.ethics.state.tx.us)


1. Woody Hunt, Hunt Building Corporation:
A
ppointed by Governor Perry to the University of Texas System Board of   Regents, 1999-2005. He gave Perry $130,301 between 2003-2006.

2. Lawrence Federic “Rick” Francis,  Francis Holdings Ltd.:
Appointed by Perry to the Texas Tech University Sytem Board of Regents, from 2003-2007. Gave Perry $110,000 between 2001-2005.

3. Paul Foster, Western Refining Co.
Appointed by Perry to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, 2004-09. He gave the governor $305,238 between 2001-2006.

4. Robert Brown, Desert Eagle Distributing:
Perry Appointed him to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission, 2003-2009. He contributed $129,513 to Perry.

5. Ted Houghton Jr., Financial Consultant:
The governor's appointee to the Texas Department of Transportation, 2003-2007. Gave Perry $12,160 between 2002 and 2005.

6. Gen. James P. Maloney,  retired general:
Appointed by the governor to the Texas Military Preparedness Commission 2003-2005. Gave $400 to Perry.

7. H. L Bert Mijares, The Mijares Group Architects,
Appointed to the Texas Public Finance Authority- 1999-2005.

8. Paul Braden, Delgado, Acosta, Braden & Jones:
Appointed by Perry to the State Pension Review Board, 2004-2005 . Gave Perry $3,250 between 04-05.

9. Patrick Gordon, Gordon & Mott PC:
Appointed to the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, 03-00. Gave $20,500 to Perry between 2003-2006. (He also gave David Dewhurst Committee $28,000 and Tom Craddick $10,500.)



July 17, 2007

Mayor Cook and the Influence Peddlers

What's the difference between an illegal and a legal bribe?


THE ANSWER TO the question of whether or not contributions are bribes always comes back to the subjective ‘eye of the beholder.

Anyone can review the campaign reports of sitting elected officials at the city website. Mayor John Cook has raised over $60,000 in a 2-month period from January 16 - March 10, 2007.  The money was raised almost exclusively from individuals listed as members of the “Paso Del Norte Group (PDNG).” There are a total of 91 contributors on Cook’s list; 39 are also listed on the membership roster of the “PDNG.” Cook himself is listed as a member of the PDNG.

An examination of the 53-day snapshot, of Cook’s $60,000-plus campaign fundraising effort ($1,000 a day), reveals the following contributions (see www.ci.el-paso.tx.us/muni_clerk/ _documents /campaign%20finance%20reports/ 071507/Cook,%20John.pdf):

Cook has received:

• $2,500 from PDNG leader and downtown investor Robert Brown; $2,000 from PDNG leaders and downtown investors Douglas Schwartz and $1,000 from Scott Schwartz. The brothers are developers and partners in old-time El Paso developer, Foster/Schwartz and its spin-offs;

• $500 from Woodley Hunt (contributor to Governor and President Bush) and $500 from his lobbyist, Ted Houghton. Hunt’s interests in El Paso are many including being a major player in the PDNG and downtown. He has a well-documented track record seeking PSB land creating a virtual monopoly interest in developable land;

• $1000 from El Paso Electric CEO Gary Hedrick and his wife, plus $500 from EP Electric lobbyist, Hector Guitierrez. EP Electric recently had their franchise agreement contract renewed by the mayor and city council;

• $1,000 from Jim Scherr and $500 from his law partner, Sam Legate (Thomason Board). Scherr received a huge tax abatement 2 years ago from the mayor and council for the International Hotel he now owns;

• $2,000 from Joe Rosales, owner of JAR Concrete, a regular contract recipient of city street and concrete work from this mayor and council;

• $1,000 from the Texas Gas Service PAC. Texas Gas Service recently had their franchise contract with the city renewed;

• $1,000 from the law firm of Delgado, Acosta, Braden, Jones—bond counsel for the city of El Paso who received a record number of certificates of obligation bond orders from this mayor and council;

• $1,000 from C.F. “Paco” Jordan, contractor named in the recent “information” document from the FBI regarding Betti Flores;

• $1,500 from David Escobar,

• $1,000 from Martie Jobe and

• $250 from Luther Jones. The latter three are former elected officials singled out by the FBI in “information” documents signed by Travis Ketner.

Are these bribes masquerading as political contributions?

Read more


July 10, 2007

THE NEW OWNERS OF EL PASO


by Border Observer

THE MAN FROM CHICAGO

Bill Sanders is an El Paso born real estate speculator who specializes in Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). A REIT is a consortium of investors who provides funds for real estate speculation under the supervision of a manager of such activities such as Bill Sanders. Sanders began to circulate around town after the Kelo decision speaking to small groups of wealthy El Pasoans about the opportunity to buy cheap property in downtown and around the site of the proposed Texas Tech Medical School expansion and turn it into millions of dollars in profit.  

The Sanders Plan was adopted formally by the city of El Paso and renamed the “Downtown Plan” complete with an unveiling of the newly renovated Plaza Theatre in front of a group of mostly west El Paso elite and other status seekers who formed a group called the Paso Del Norte Group (PDNG). In addition to the long list of west side status seekers, the group also contained some heavy hitters, such as Woody Hunt and the hired gun, city manager, Joyce Wilson who became the group’s advocate.

WOODLEY "WOODY" HUNT

Woodley “Woody” Hunt has been the most well connected political financier in El Paso County for close to 20 years. He reportedly has made hundreds of millions of dollars through military housing contracts. Hunt campaign donations flowed to mostly Republican office holders who support military expansion, and, in turn, has gained massive amounts of tax dollars spent building housing for the military. After some pretty lean years of military housing due to the reduced need for military housing resulting from the collapse of the Soviet Union and the “peace dividend” through the Clinton years, the entry of George W. Bush onto the national scene was a welcome sight.

Hunt had been a big contributor to Bush when he was Governor of Texas, serving on the controversial Board of Regents during that time. Much was written about the Board of Regents having a “price of admission.” If someone gave in excess of $100,000 to then Governor Bush, a contributor was rewarded with the prestigious appointment.

A shrewd political player, Hunt gambled his investments in Bush as Governor would pay off if the GOP golden boy could make it to the White House.

Hunt’s instincts proved right, and Bush has come through with wars built on false premises along with the most massive military expansions in the history of the country, with billions flowing from his office for the production of military housing—Hunt’s bread and butter. In the last 5 years, Hunt has expanded activities into land speculation and development in El Paso. The massive push to monopolize land and political influence seems driven more by power than money at this point. Hunt began buying up massive amounts of land around El Paso and took a prominent role in the PDNG Group. In addition, his lobbyists became the most visible and regular mainstays at city hall.  The Gang of 5 regularly receives visits and contributions from Hunt political operatives Gary Sapp and Mark Smith. There are no records of any Hunt requests being denied.



June 15, 2007

Court Decision States that "Underused Property" is not "Blighted Property"


by Salon.com

By GEOFF MULVIHILL Associated Press Writer

June 13,2007 | MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. -- In a victory for private property rights, the New Jersey state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that local governments can't seize land against the owner's wishes simply because the property is underused.

The court ruled unanimously that only "blighted" areas are authorized under the state Constitution, and that the Legislature did not intend for eminent domain to be used when the sole basis is that the property is "not fully productive."

Government watchdogs have argued for years that eminent domain is being used too liberally by governments nationwide to advance development. The backlash has grown since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that a Connecticut town could take over private homes on behalf of a real estate developer.

The New Jersey case centered on a 63-acre tract in Paulsboro made up mostly of wetlands just across the Delaware River from Philadelphia International Airport.

The family that owns the land started using it more than 100 years ago to dock boats carrying produce from southern New Jersey to Philadelphia. Over the last decade, though, the small industrial town of Paulsboro has been courting redevelopment, and in 2003, it included the property on a redevelopment plan.

The town planner at that time told the planning board that there was no activity on the land and that the community would be better served by having something there. The owners sued to keep the land, and the high court sided with them.

"The New Jersey Constitution does not permit government redevelopment of private property solely because the property is not used in an optimal manner," Chief Justice James R. Zazzali wrote in the unanimous ruling.


Critics of eminent domain -- many of whom were outraged a U.S. Supreme Court decision two years ago that governments may seize property for private development projects -- applauded the ruling.

"It is going to go a long way to preventing eminent domain abuse," said Ron Chen, the state public advocate.

The New Jersey Assembly has advanced a bill that would restrict eminent domain use, but the bill is stalled in the Senate.

Read the supreme court opinion


June 11, 2007

Shame on Cook and Other Mayors Who Want Perry to Veto Eminent Domain Bill

by TexasKaos

EL PASO MAYOR John Cook has written a letter to Gov. Perry to veto the eminent domain bill. So has Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief and several other city and county officials throughout the state of Texas. They don't seem to care that EVERY state representative and state senator from this 16 county COG region voted for the bill (HB 2006)! They don't seem to care that the people who elected them (and must re-elect them) support this bill! They don't seem to care that the citizens of Texas are hopping mad over the changes to the Texas eminent domain law enacted in the 78th and 79th legislature prompted the Legislature to give careful consideration to what they'd done a couple of years ago and to pass HB 2006 to rectify some of them!

Local and county officials who write the Governor urging veto of this bill will be remembered when they run for re-election. The people are mad. The people are uniting. The people have long memories when elected officials strip our property rights away and refuse to allow citizens fair treatment when property is consficated through eminent domain.

This bill levels the playing field. It does not prevent legitimate exercise of eminent domain. It will not prevent construction of necessary public infrastructure. Any elected official who tries to tell the public that passage of this bill prevents construction of necessary roads and public buildings is a liar! That is absolutely not true. Necessary roads and public buildings have acquired property through exercise of eminent domain since Texas became a state. This bill merely restores some equity which was robbed from private landowners to the benefit of rich developers who seek to exercise eminent domain for private profit over current landowners.



June 10, 2007

El Paso Times Misleads on Rachel Quintana and Eminent Domain
 

by Absurdity in the Pass

SUNDAY'S EL PASO TIMES announced Rachel Quintana's victory in the runoff election for the District 5 city rep seat with an article titled, "Opponent of eminent domain use wins runoff". This is misleading.

Rachel Quintana is not opposed to the use of eminent domain for public use as the U.S. Constitution allows (5th amendment, "nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation"). And how do I know this? Well one has only to read this article in which Rachel Quintana wrote, "Key to the downtown redevelopment initiative is the City’s plan to use its powers to take private property (lawyers call it eminent domain) and deliver it to a real estate investment trust headed by members of the Paso del Norte Group. As your councilperson, I will strongly oppose the use of eminent domain to take private property for purely private financial gain because, if it can happen to downtown, none of our homes or small businesses will be safe. A previously published statement inspires me from the wisdom of retired Justice of the Supreme Court, Sandra Day O’Conner, expressed in her dissenting opinion in the Supreme Court case authorizing forced takings:

“The beneficiaries of eminent domain are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political process, including large corporations and development firms. As for the victims, the government now has license to transfer property from those with fewer resources to those with more.”

Proponents of the downtown plan often obfuscate the historically and accepted use of eminent domain, which is the taking of private property for public use with the taking of private property for private use; there is a world of difference between the two. This is done either delibrately or out of ignorance.

Why does the EP Times do it?



June 9, 2007

Ten Ways to Lose Credibility

Some of the strategies used by public and private sector reps.
 


1. Don't involve people in decisions that directly affect their
lives. Then act defensively when your policies are challenged.

2. Hold onto information until people are screaming for it.
While they are waiting, don't tell them when they will get it.  Just
say, "These things take time," or "It's going through quality
assurance."

3. Ignore people's feelings.  Better yet, say they are irrelevant
and irrational.  It helps to add that you can't understand why they
are overreacting to such a small risk.

4. Don't follow up. Place returning phone calls from citizens at
the bottom of your "to do" list.  Delay sending out the information
you promised people at the public meeting.

5. If you make a mistake, deny it. Never admit you were wrong.

6. If you don't know the answers, fake it. Never say, "I don't know."

7. Don't speak plain English. When explaining technical
information, use professional jargon. Or simplify so completely that
you leave out important information. Better yet, throw up your hands
and say, "You people could not possibly understand this stuff."

8. Present yourself like a bureaucrat. Wear a three-piece suit
to a town meeting at the local grange, and sit up on stage with seven
of your colleagues who are dressed similarly.

9. Delay talking to other agencies involved. Or other people
involved within your agency, so the message the public gets can be as
confusing as possible.

10. If one of your scientists has trouble relating to people, hates
to do it, and has begged not to, send him or her out anyway.  It's
good experience.





May 30, 2007

TEXAS LEGISLATURE PASSES EMINENT DOMAIN BILL

But Governor Perry Is Considering a Veto
 


Friends:

AS YOU MAY know, over the weekend the Texas legislature passed H.B. 2006, historic and well-deserved eminent domain reform.  Among its important provisions, it would require the government or general public to own and occupy property acquired by eminent domain.  Roads, schools and courthouses will still be built, but local governments would not be able to acquire property for so-called blight removal or to increase tax revenue.

The bill now awaits Governor Perry's signature, so there's still a chance that the beneficiaries of eminent domain abuse could dissuade him from signing the legislation into law.  We encourage you to contact his office TODAY and urge him to sign H.B. 2006.  You can contact him via his website at http://www.governor.state.tx.us/contact or by phone at 800-252-9600.

Please let us know if you have any questions. Thanks!

Best,

Christina Walsh
Castle Coalition Coordinator
Institute for Justice
901 N. Glebe Road, Suite 900
Arlington, VA  22203
(703) 682-9320
www.ij.org
www.castlecoalition.org



May 27, 2007

EMINENT DECEPTION:

Pro-plan politicians lie about Downtown-Segundo Barrio taxes


CITY COUNCIL POLITICIANS and the supporters of the Paso Del Norte Group plan have repeatedly claimed that the Downtown-Segundo Barrio businesses and residences only pay $414,000 in taxes. They want the El Paso public to believe that this is the total amount taxes generated by the area although they know the real amount they pay is much higher. The true figure that includes the total taxes for this business-residential area is more than 1.8 million dollars per year. When the pro-plan politicians compare the downtown-Segundo Barrio taxes to other parts outside the redevelopment zone, they only use the City tax figure (25% of all taxes) for downtown-Segundo Barrio. Yet they use the tax figures that include taxes paid to all entities (100% of all taxes) to areas outside the redevelopment zone. In other words, they have been comparing a quarter of an apple to a whole orange. These politicians have been engaging in an outrageous and fradulent campaign of deception.
 
In fact, the commercial and apartment properties within the "redevelopment area" pay more in property taxes per square foot than comparable commercial properties in other parts of the city. For instance, while the El Paso Limousine Express facility on S. Oregon is valued at about $14 per square foot, the Verde Realty (Bill Sanders') facilities out near the Zaragosa bridge are valued at about $10 per square foot. Verde Realty goes through the process to fight property valuation increases at the Central Appraisal District. One of the Verde properties was lowered in value by one million dollars in this process. This is exactly what you can expect once Bill Sander's controls the land in Downtown and South El Paso.

The claim Downtown-Segundo Barrio residents and property owners as a whole are not paying their "fair share of taxes" is an outright lie. It has been used as a justification to whip up support for the expropriation and impending demolition of a large sector of our community.

What lie will the city come up with next? Weapons of mass destruction? Read article 

See comments about this city deception on the Strelz forum topic Dishonesty by Lilly and O'Rourke Re Property Taxes.


May 26, 2007

Anglos in El Paso Voted Along Racial Lines in the Recent Election


AN ANALYSIS OF the May 12 election demonstrates Anglo El Pasoans, “voted almost universally on the basis of race to reelect Anglo politicians,” says an Anglo political observer. “The Mexicans better wake up to the fact that while they may think they are American, Anglo Americans don’t think so and reject them out of hand.” Another Anglo political observer noted, “The Bank of the Whites" were orgasmic at having shown the Mexicans they will be thrown out of downtown.  That’s what cleaning up downtown means. They are not interested in picking up trash. They are interested in cleaning up downtown of Mexicans.”

A third Anglo political observer noted, “I spoke to Republicans and while they are whopping mad about taxes, they voted along race lines. Don’t be naïve, its about race in El Paso and the Anglos are out to prove they can still control this town, its banks, its schools and its institutions. In their mind, this is America and America does not include Mexicans.”

Taken aback by the comments by Anglo political observers, I asked if they were suggesting that people should organize around race lines. This strategy goes against everything I stand for and given the diversity within my own family and friends, seems counterproductive. One of the observers responded, “I know how you feel. I feel the same way. We are so way beyond racialism but do you honestly think Anglo conservative voters on the Westside voted for O’Rourke and Lilly because they support higher taxes and open spaces? No. They voted for them because they are white and they needed to send a message to the Mexicans they are in charge of this town and will never give it up." Read more



May 26, 2007

More Eminent Deception


NOT TOO LONG ago, a member of my family received via mail a flier prepared and sent by an organization called "Somos El Paso" asking "What's the real threat in our community?" followed by some pictures, five in total.

According to this group, the threat is the "status quo." Unfortunately, this piece of propaganda is not only misleading, and misplaced, but insulting to the people of El Paso. Of these five pictures, only one is under the planned 130-acre- plus redevelopment area. The rest are clearly outside of this particular zone; in fact, one of the pictures shown is from a downtown Juárez street.

As a person who has not publicly supported or opposed this particular plan, it is troubling that some from within our community would see fit to distort facts.

—George Salom Jr.

 



May 25, 2007

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"WHITE PEOPLE HAVE always had a divided theory of property rights in this country. If it's white property, the right of ownership is almost absolute. But if it's black property, the rights of ownership are something less. Hence Dallas, like most American cities, has seen waves of property seizure—sometimes called slum clearance, sometimes called flood control, whatever—in which eminent domain has been used to seize black-owned property. Black Dallas hates eminent domain. In Southern Dallas, eminent domain is a phrase only slightly less odious than the old man himself, Jim Crow."
                                                       
                                                 —Jim Schutze, Dallas Observer

 



May 24, 2007

Texas Senate Strengthens Eminent Domain Abuse Legislation

by the Texas Public Policy Foundation

AUSTIN – Senate amendments added to HB 2006 and HB 3057 earlier this week significantly strengthen both property owners’ rights and limit the abuse of eminent domain.
 
“We have waited for these bills since the Kelo ruling almost two years ago,” said Bill Peacock, director of the Foundation’s Center for Economic Freedom. “If the House adopts the Senate provisions, Texas will once again be known as a state that understands the importance of protecting private property rights.”
 
HB 2006 by Rep. Beverly Woolley defines public use and bans the taking of any property unless it is for a public use, levels the playing field when it comes to determinations of public use, and allows property owners to buy back their property if it is not used for the intended public use.
 
HB 3057 by Rep. Bill Callegari makes significant changes to existing law dealing with blighted areas that will reduce the ability of government entities to engage in Kelo-style takings in Texas. This includes changing the way in which properties may be designated as blighted, and requiring that such designations be made on a property-by-property basis.
 
“Thanks to the efforts of Sen. Kyle Janek, the Senate's version of HB 2006 is the fairest deal possible for property owners this session,” Peacock explained. “Going to conference will only benefit the traditional opponents of property rights, who are still jockeying to undermine and strip the fundamental property rights of Texans.”
 
For more information contact: David Guenther, (512) 472-2700

See article and press release on statewide eminent domain reform that the El Paso Times will likely not touch with a 20 foot pole unless it's heavily spinned, sanitized and camouflaged:  [Dallas Morning News article] and [Institute of Justice press release]


May 22, 2007

CHILDREN'S ART WORKSHOPS IN THE SEGUNDO BARRIO

MANY OF US have committed ourselves to empowering the Segundo Barrio
community in one way or another. As part of this ongoing commitment I'm
suggesting a summer art workshops for children ages 7-12. The
structure, educational content and dates for the workshops will depend
on volunteer participation and availability. This will also depend on
art supplies and any other materials we might have donated.

On Tuesday 22nd there will be a meeting in the Sagrado Corazon
Gym (Father Rahm and Mesa Street) at 6:30 pm to see how we can make the workshops a reality. I hope to see everyone there and please pass the word to anyone who might be interested in helping out.
 
Thank you,

Francisco Delgado.

(For more info contact Francisco Delgado at: fcopintor@aol.com.)



May 17, 2007

Memory as Resistance:
The Literature of South El Paso

THE OLD COUPLE lived in downtown El Paso, slightly north of El Segundo Barrio, the area of the city that passed for the poor district. Yet it was not really poor like Harlem or South Boston; it was only comfortable and familiar. The proper and proprietary sons and daughters of the city could not understand the concept of a neighborhood, and they certainly could not understand this neighborhood.  They lived in the suburbs that sprung forth from the desert with the guiding hand of the developer. The matching barbeque pits, rock walls, and cactus landscapes betrayed a cold and barren land where people merely existed next to each other. A nastifly self-righteous individualism pervaded the fashionable new neighborhoods,
and rightfully freeway restaurants and drive-up gas stations engulfed them.
But the area of El Segundo Barrio lay, as did all of downtown El Paso
and central Juárez, at the ancient pass that cut through the pyramidal Franklin and Chihuahua Mountain. The heart of El Paso had always been at this mountain pass.

The history that created the progressive Sunbelt city from the Old West town of mining and railroads was eagerly overstepped by the modernist, and only El Segundo Barrio lived reluctantly with this whole history. Red brick warehouses, cracked streets, and abandoned apparel factories were girdled by clothing-by-the-pound stores, foreign exchange houses, and tenements. Old people abounded: grandmothers, grandfathers, viejitos, and solitary oldsters. Some owned modest homes that were built forty or fifty years ago, while others stayed in goverment housing or inexpensive apartments. Here in El Segundo Barrio, the street life burst with a peculiarly patient mortality forged out of a life that was present as history. This life expected and understood the present as if this moment was at once disarmingly familiar and, yet, still alive with a newly aroused power. At any second, it seemed, the mortality of the barrio could hurl itself heavenward, into laughter, or toward death. Each way could just as easily rip away the looming seriousness. And only then could history seize the present. 

                                                —
Sergio Troncoso, The Last Tortilla, 1998            

May 16, 2007

Then You Wonder Why People Don't Vote


CITYWIDE, ONLY 7 PERCENT of the registered voters even bothered to show up at the polls last Saturday. About 150 out of 2,800 registered voters in the Segundo Barrio voted. That’s because everything has been done by our local corrupt ruling class to exclude them from major decisions that affect their lives and their neighborhoods. In our city, what rules is the politics of exclusion and disenfrachisement. When people are in the way of the mega-developers and the powerful, you simply uproot them and move them out of the way, whether they want to move or not.  

When it comes to getting involved in the political process, the overwhelming majority of El Pasoans shrug their shoulders and ask, “Why bother! They sell their plans to us as done deals before we even get a chance to speak. There’s nothing we can do to stop them.”

There's also not much of a realistic choice. The politicians who are backed by the schemers have lots of money behind them—Republican money, Democratic money, all kinds of money. They've honed their skills well in the arts of deception and spin control. The newcomers that have kept their hands clean and naively want to "tell it like it is" don't stand a chance in hell of getting elected. And even if some of them do, as soon as they get into power, most of them sell out as quickly as you can say "PDNG."

Of course, it’s all blamed on the “apathy” and “ignorance” of the local community. But what is never brought up is that historically everything has been done—from racist gerrymandering practices in the Segundo Barrio, to urban renewal dispersals, to city charter manipulations, etc.—to make sure the majority of El Pasoans remain powerless.

When you occasionally do get a group of active citizens that wants to participate in these decisions,
City Manager Joyce Wilson sends out emails to the politicians and City Hall staff informing them how to "neutralize the losers."  To do this City Hall politicos strip the microphones from these citizen's hands (which happened during the summer 2006 PDNG monopoly game “chirades” while Mayor Cook and rep. Ann Morgan Lilly were present). They mock them, demonize them, threaten them with economic or professional retaliation, sic the cops on them, and if all else fails, they simply ignore them.

Then you wonder why people don’t feel their voice matters.



May 11, 2007

Who Needs Another Plastic City?


Here are some of the comments that were submitted to us by those of you who recently signed our petition.


Putting big-box stores in or near Segundo Barrio or downtown would itself be antithetical to the idea of downtown re-vitalization. Such development would drive many of the smaller downtown shops out of business, and it is these that help keep downtown and its environs vibrant and walkable. Big-box stores and other types of auto-only development would only put huge expanses of black asphalt into the heart of the city, assualting the same Progressive and New Urbanist notions that the city supposedly seeks to advance.

Additionally, Segundo Barrio is a long-established community that helps make El Paso special and unique. Keeping it would greatly benefit the city as a whole and help preserve our local culture. We can still attract outsiders and investors without selling ourselves out to them at the drop of a hat.

                                   —Aaron A. Edstrom

***

El Segundo Barrio is my home. Please dont let them destroy it!
                                    —Raul Antonio Velez

***

Greetings and peace. Eminent Domain is truly NOT American. This is about America and true Democracy of the people, by the people, for the people. A VERY FIRM stand must be taken to STOP this dead in it's tracks. If a free society cannot help (and thus defend) the many who are poor, it (surely) cannot save the few who are rich( Kennedy, 1961). Peace...
                                    — Carlos Humphreys

***

I support petition that will keep a historical place that I grew up in. It became a place of goals and dreams that allowed my life to become what it is and made me who and what I am. To destroy this historical place will shatter my inner-self as well as my heart. It is a part of me and will be for ever. Bless this place.
                                    —Joe Moreno

***

Give thanks to the Texas Observer for bringing the truth out. Growing up in the Eastside, it's hard for me to realize the troubles of people in other parts of the city. Even I'm convinced. I wholly support your group!
                                    —Adrian Juarez

***

The proposed Wal-Mart and the adjoining strip mall are an arrogant undertaking, to say the least. I find this initiative downright offensive and racist. Taking advantage of any specific ethnic/cultural group because of their perceived powerlessness is simply disgusting.
                                    —Mihai Peteu

***

The draw of the barrio is its historical heritage, which can not be maintained with modern chain-affiliated retailers!
                                    —Christopher Hill

***

Who needs another plastic city?
                                    —Nathan Cullinan

***

Stop cultural genocide!
                                    —Sarah Garza

***

SAVE SEGUNDO BARRIO! Let me know what I can do to help even though I live on the other side of the country now.
                                    —Tiffany N. Smith

***

I grew up in El Paso and still go back to shop Downtown. I will always love the area and am fighting for this cause.
                                    —Brooke Sloan Guerrero

***

La lucha sigue!
                                    —Alma R. Cuellar-Juarez

***


Please do not this great historic beauty for mere money!
                                    —Judeen Garza

***

Hijos de puta u better save segundo barrio.
                                    —Brenda

***

Los apollo con lo que hacen. Arriba el Segundo!
                                    —Eric Murillo

***

The Segundo Barrio was once the home of my family and many memories are left behind as well as being created everyday in many people's lives. One thing is for sure we will stand together to keep our land and no matter how many machines they bring or how many men come after us we will defend it!!!
                                    —ALMA JIMENEZ

***


Wal-Mart is a disease for our community and we need to keep it off of these historic grounds!
                                    —Valeria Moreno

***


I wish you guys good luck in keeping Segundo Barrio alive. Don’t give up!
                                    —Blanca Rangel

***

I believe in social justice, equality and fairness in public policy. I do not support the destruction of the historic heart of the Segundo Barrio in El Paso. Hopefully this will make some difference.
                                    —Juan Garza

***

This is just wrong.
                                        — Bryan R. Reitsma



May 9, 2007


POLL

El Paso Times Finally Reveals Result of Poll

Majority of El Pasoans Oppose Eminent Domain Abuse but Mayor Wants to Keep it as a Threat


THE EL PASO TIMES, one of the loudest cheerleaders for the PDNG demolition and displacement plan, finally revealed the results of its eminent domain abuse poll. It took them more than a week to do so. The Times/KTSM poll shows that 62% of El Pasoans oppose eminent domain to strip the Downtown-Segundo Barrio owners of their property to hand it over to super-wealthy developers. (It is likely that if the poll had been conducted by media outlets that were not as heavily subsidized by the PDNG, the anti-eminent domain result would probably be even higher.) Nevertheless, this bit of information was uncomfortable enough that the Times refused to report these results in their first story about the poll more than a week ago. Of course, once it finally came out in the open today, the pro-plan newspaper did everything to spin it in favor the the pro-Eminent Domain city council majority.

The Times reports that El Paso mayor John Cook wants to keep the eminent domain weapon in their arsenal, as a threat, cocked and well aimed, just in case they need to use it.

More El Paso Times misinformation. 

Crowder claims that the Times poll showed that a majority of El Pasoans backed the PDNG plan. Last year’s El Paso Times poll, however, never even asked the question of whether they supported the Paso Del Norte Group plan. It only asked whether people thought “Downtown redevelopment was a high priority for El Paso?”

Of course, if you ask people if it’s important to have a better downtown, most people will say yes.

But ask them if barrio residents should be forcefully removed from their homes, fewer people will be as enthusiastic.

Ask them if they would like their own homes and properties stripped from them and handed over to Wal-Marts and Targets because politicians and profiteers spread the lie that your community doesn’t pay it’s “fair share” of taxes and an overwhelming majority will say no.

Which is exactly what is happening.

Plus, how much journalistic integrity is there in rehashing an old poll and suggesting it still applies today? It would be like that saying 92% of the American public support Bush’s war in Iraq today because some polls said so a few years ago in the midst of a concerted campaign of government deception.

A year later, people have become more aware of the myriad of conflict of interests involved with the plan, the lack of inclusion, the corruption of some of the PDNG members (see Chris Balsiger coupon fraud scheme), the lack of serious studies investigating the social and environmental impact of the plan, and the injustice of eminent domain. More are becoming aware of the campaign of deception regarding downtown taxes that our local politicians have spread. They are seeing through the well financed-PDNG ad campaigns that trash our community. They are understanding the human rights violations, physical intimidation, arson and even murder that has been committed by those behind the binational redevelopment schemes in places like the Lomas de Poleo sector of Juarez.

Slowly the fronterizo community is waking up to the true nature of this beast that is taking over our communities on both sides of the border.



May 6, 2007

SHAPLEIGH PLAYS BOTH SIDES ON EMINENT DOMAIN ABUSE

Contributor Stephen Adler does his bidding


STATE SENATOR ELIOT SHAPLEIGH has spoken publicly against eminent domain abuse. Behind the scenes, however, he is backing up his good buddy’s efforts to make El Paso an exception to any statewide curbs on eminent domain abuse. Stephen Adler, a major campaign backer and good friend of Shapleigh, has floated some vague and deceptive language for the state's eminent domain reform legislation that would create loopholes in the law.
(Adler personally guaranteed a $150,000 campaign loan to Sen. Shapleigh in his race against Dee Margo last year.) If the Shapleigh/Adler duo have their way, the city would be able to condemn any private property if it was "reasonably essential for the successful operation of a public project..." (i.e. the PDNG Plan). The Adler-Shapleigh loopholes would in essence protect most of Texas, except for El Paso,  from having their property condemned and handed over to well-connected developers.

Adler, a legal expert on eminent domain condemnations,  spoke before the House Land and Resource Management Committee on March 21, 2007, calling for these exceptions. That good news it that so far his proposals have been rejected by the state legislature committee.  But don't be surprised to see Shapleigh push the Adler proposal as a floor amendment when the senate takes up eminent domain abuse legislation this summer. In fact, the language Shapeligh introduced during the special session in 2005 on eminent domain replicates almost verbatim the Adler language on . (See Section 2B of the Shapleigh proposal). What the Shapleigh addendum means is: Even if your property is not blighted, the City should be able to forcibly expropriate it from you if they feel it is "reasonably needed" by the rich developers for their plan.

In 2005, Shapleigh was only one of five Texas senators to vote against Senate Bill 7, a piece of legislation that placed restrictions on eminent domain abuse in the state. Shapleigh is a member of the Paso Del Norte Group. The major proponents of the PDNG demolition plan in city Hall—O’Rourke, Byrd and Ortega—are all his protégées. If the legislation reforms at the state level pass requiring cities to condemn only specific properties as blighted, but not entire areas, the landgrab designed by what the Texas Observer has called "a cabal of profiteers and politicians" would be in serious trouble. The PDNG plan requires non-blighted properties to be razed in order to create sufficiently large parcels of land to bring in a Wal-Mart or an arena.




May 4, 2007

The Campaign and Deception


MEMBERS OF THE city council who favor the Downtown-Segundo Barrio Plan are engaging in a continuing pattern of deception to drum up public support. For example, Representative Ann Morgan Lilly distorts the truth by repeatedly implying Cielo Vista Mall paid millions more in property taxes than owners of properties in the redevelopment zone. However, public records show downtown owners paid more property taxes to the city than did the mall in 2005. Ms. Lilly improperly compares taxes paid only to the city in 2005 with the total amount of taxes Cielo Vista paid to all taxing authorities in 2006.  This just shows the extent some public officials will go in distorting the truth and misleading their constituents.

Rep. Lilly also dismisses public objections to the Downtown-Segundo Barrio Plan by characterizing opponents as a small group of ‘nay sayers’ intent on hijacking El Paso’s future. This is a complete slap in the face to well-respected community leaders such as Bishop Armando Ochoa, County Attorney Jose Rodriguez, former County Judge Alica Chacon, and former Thomason Hospital CEO Pete Duarte who have condemned the plan as unjust and divisive.

The fact is that even Channel 9 News, reported that a recent poll carried out by them and the El Paso Times showed 62% of El Paso voters opposed eminent domain for the PDNG plan. Sixty-two percent hardly constitutes a small group of naysayers. Yet the loudest cheerleader in town for the PDNG landgrab, the El Paso Times, refused to mention the results of their own poll regarding eminent domain abuse in its recent front page article about the poll
. Is this bit of information too incovenient for them? Read more.



May 3, 2007

If the PDNG Plan Doesn't Frighten You, I Don't Know What Else Will


by Ric Schecter, Candidate for District #1

The Downtown-Segundo Barrio Plan

One of the most important issues is the downtown plan. If you think back over the last fifty years in El Paso, there has probably not been an issue that has divided the city as much as the downtown plan has. It’s divided people in district eight, it has divided people in district one, it has divided people all over the city and it has divided city council.

The reason for this is simple: it was done wrong.

PDNG

The previous administration had a policy that redevelopment needed to be done by private enterprise to be done right. The council at that time decided to give $250,000 of taxpayer money to the Paso del Norte Group (PDNG) to fund a plan for the redevelopment of downtown.

PDNG is a private enterprise. They came to city council and said they were putting up $250,000 of their own money and had obtained a grant from the federal government to supply another two hundred and fifty thousand dollars and they wanted the city to kick in a match.

Rep. John Cook came to council with a large stack of plans and argued that El Paso had fifty-three plans for downtown. He argued that we should go back to all of the old plans and pick out those parts that were good and devise our own new plan because the work had already been done and El Paso had already paid for it. He voted against giving PDNG the money.

The plan was late arriving. Unfortunately what also happened, during those six months, was that Mayor Wardy and a lot of the council members got shown the door and the representative from district four, Mr. Cook became our mayor.

The Mayor's Sudden About Face

One might think that since the new mayor would have opposed the plan. However, all of a sudden, Mayor Cook thought the plan was the greatest thing since the invention of the wheel.  My question is: how did that happen? What do you think persuaded now Mayor Cook to support the plan? He’s now a member of PDNG. How did it go from we don’t need this plan to everybody in the city should get behind it because it’s terrific and there is nothing wrong with it?

 There are a lot of things wrong with it. It was privately done, it didn’t have public input, eminent domain is in the plan, which I am opposed to for private development. There is not another area of the country that has been redeveloped that has allowed one individual or group acquire 127 acres of prime downtown real estate. If that doesn’t frighten you, I don’t know what else would. I hope you consider this critical issue.

Eminent Domain Abuse

I can’t answer why eminent domain has not been taken off the table in downtown. It seems like the current majority on council wants to maintain some kind of friction, some kind of ongoing battle to divide with other members of council. My question is how much in taxes is being generated by the historic district? I would bet the same disparity exists because of the building being left abandoned. Those buildings that have been left abandoned are in the historic district. Somehow, the historic district is being portrayed as not having the same problem. The way the downtown plan was laid out, the owners in the historic district are favored because if you look at the list of people who are in the PDNG, you’ll find that many of them are owners of buildings in the historic district. Read more



April 20, 2007

Conquest and Brutality Should Be Denounced, Not Celebrated


Attention all people concerned with justice:
 
El Paso community members, the Southwest Indigenous Alliance and the people of Acoma Pueblo invite you to participate in a protest against the Juan de Oñate statue.

This Saturday April 21st, 2007 at 10:00 a.m. the city of El Paso and the 12 Travelers Memorial of the Southwest will publicly dedicate and celebrate the man that is responsible for the murder of hundreds of native peoples, the enslavement of women and children, and a number of atrocities including ordering the feet of 24 men from Acoma to be chopped off. The City of El Paso should not be celebratiing brutal acts of conquest and spending over a million dollars to build a shrine to Oñate.

Now is the time to voice your opposition to the statue. Do the people of our city want El Paso to be represented to the world by a violent Spanish colonizer who was even rejected by his own country because of his cruelty?
 
Now is the time to show the city that people of El Paso stand for justice, human rights and dignity.
 
Join us at 8:30 a.m. this Saturday April 21st at the north corner of Boeing and Airway to make our call for justice heard..
 
In the spirit of peace and unity we ask that participants in the protest:
1. Remain calm and peaceful at all times.
2. Refer questions from the media to Dr. Yolanda Chavez Leyva and the spokesperson(s) from Acoma and the Southwest Indigenous Alliance.
3. Pick up your trash- respect the earth.
4. Wear red and black to symbolize our call for justice.
 
Spread the word- memorializing Juan de Oñate is memorializing brutality.



April 17, 2007

Remembering Our Roots, Building Our Future



The Paso Del Norte Civil Rights Project (no relation to Sander's PDNG)
cordially invites you
to join us in celebration of our first year Fiesta Fronteriza:


Remembering Our Roots, Building Our Future


Help us celebrate the legacy of civil rights struggle in the Paso Del Norte region and honor individuals who carry on that tradition by working to protect and defend human rights in our community today.
Where:  Café Mayapán

2000 Texas Avenue  El Paso, Texas

Date:  May 31st , 2007

Registration begins at 7:00 pm   Dinner served at 7:30 pm

This Year's Awards and Honorees are:

Thelma White Courage Award:  Hilda Sotelo of Austin High School
 
Rubén Salazar "Speak Truth to Power" Award: Diana Washington Valdez, author of Cosecha de Mujeres
 
Dr. Lawrence Aaron Nixon Social Justice Advocacy Award:  John R. Karr

Lifetime Achievement in Civil Rights:  Hon. Albert Armendáriz, Sr.  

Distinguished Speakers Include:

José Rodríguez, El Paso County Attorney
Fr. John Stowe, OFM Conv, El Paso Diocese Moderator of the Curia
Frank López, Director of the Non-Profit Enterprise Center
Jim Harrington, Founder and Director of Texas Civil Rights Project

We would be honored to include you among our guests. To RSVP please fill out and print the attached registration form and mail it to the address listed below by May 5th.

We look forward to seeing you at a very special Fiesta Fronteriza!

Paso del Norte
Civil Rights Project
att: Emily Warming
2211 E. Missouri   Suite 100
El Paso, TX 79903
Telephone: 915.532.3799
Facsimile: 915.532.0621
www.texascivilrightsproject.org
 

April 13, 2007

Let's Unite Across the Country


I AM A CHICAGO native with ties to El Paso, more so to El Segundo Barrio. My grandparents lived in the Barrio years ago when they first crossed with my mother and her siblings. Then my grandparents and parents came to the Midwest in search of work, but much of my mother's and father's family stayed in El Paso and Juárez. I still have family there that I do not keep in contact with, but I wish I did. I am sadden by the attempt to destroy a piece of this country’s history, but not surprised. I have witnessed similar events and situations here in Chicago and other neighboring cities like Aurora, Waukegan, Elgin, Cicero, etc. All these cities are located in Northeast Illinois.

I watched the videos on your site and "si tienen razon," we must fight as one to continue to up hold our culture and our homes.

All in all the time will come when the developers will realize that we our not the minority and the people will not stand for this. I hope that this message will encourage you all to continue and don't give up.

On that note I think we should unite and create a vast network(s) of La Raza issues so that these issues will by brought to the forefront of everybody’s mind, across the country and across the world.

— R.R.
(www.myspace.com/ritmoyresistencia)



April 9, 2007

O'Rourke Refuses to Respond to Question About City's Demeaning Ad Campaign


AS A SUPPORTER of “Refurbish the Segundo Barrio, But Don’t Destroy It,” I have sent emails regarding the racist ad that depicts an elderly Mexican/Chicano man as” “Old Cowboy, 50-60 years old, Gritty, Dirty, Lazy, Speaks Spanish, Uneducated” to both City Rep. Robert O’Rourke and El Paso Times editor Don Flores. I also sent an email to editorial page editor, Charlie Edgren to complain about the fact that the Times is not playing fair. Flores only responded by saying that he did not belong to the PDNG when I challenged him about his membership. As a newsman myself, I believe that it’s a huge conflict of interest for the editor of the major newspaper in town to support and promote only one side of this particular story. In this case, the ad that depicts our people in every negative way should be brought forth for the community to see where we are being bamboozled and maligned. O’Rourke, of course, hasn’t responded. To me, this means that he agrees with the depiction, otherwise he would be raising hell about the way his constituents are being portrayed. By not responding, this means that he agrees with the racist assessment of our elderly people.
 
Joe Olvera
El Sin Fin
jolvera@aliviane.org



April 5, 2007

The Antidote to Sanders?


Soul Development

BIG DEVELOPERS MOTIVATED by a sense of social mission do exist. One great example is Jair Lynch. The Jair Lynch Companies in Washington, D.C.,  are both for-profit and mission-based; its portfolio includes numerous successful urban-redevelopment projects in D.C. designed "to revitalize and create healthy neighborhoods holistically by creating live/work/play/learn environments in which communities can stand and grow on their own." Says Lynch Companies, "We create 'whole' neighborhoods that are socially, economically, and racially diverse, with places to live, work, play, and learn."

"How do you honor the soul of a place?" is a lead question on the Jair Lynch Web site. El Paso would do well to ask that same question – and require a stellar response – of any developer reshaping the city in which we live.



April 4, 2007

Radio La Chusma is Banned from La Fe


EL PASO REGGAE musician Ernie Tinajero and the Radio La Chusma band have been added to a long list of artists who are now officially banned from La Fe Clinic by orders of its director Sal Balcorta. [Other banned artists] Several La Fe employees, including former La Fe cultural programs director Frank Varela, have also been fired by Balcorta—a member of the PDNG Executive committee—because of "disloyalty" or because of their opposition to the PDNG displacement of barrio residents.

Radio La Chusma played in front of the Sin Fronteras center at the end of the Cesar Chavez March this Saturday where more than 400 people marched in celebration of the farmworker leader and in opposition to the destruction of the Segundo Barrio.




April 2, 2007

Question to O'Rourke about Glass Beach

dirty mexican

MR. O'ROURKE,
 
You know I was really disappointed that you used the race card in your last email to me (scroll down to February 28, 2007 update). I’ve been pondering how to use that, because you really did offend me. Why should I be afraid to meet with you because of your ethnicity? Do you think that you’re the only Anglo I’ve ever dealt with in my life? If that’s what you think, you’re sadly mistaken. I have four grandkids who are half Anglo and half Mexican. But, anyway, you used the race card to your detriment.
 
But, that’s not why I’m writing to you. I am today writing to you because of the way Glass Beach disrespected Mexicans when it came up with that idea to make fun of our people by denigrating our viejitos. You know what I’m talking about. They picture an elderly gentleman walking down the street, and this is the way Glass Beach describes him:
 
*Old Cowboy – as opposed, I guess, to a New Cowboy;
 
*Male – well, he certainly looks male;
 
*50-60 years old – maybe even 70;
 
*Gritty – from working the fields, you think?
 
*Dirty – again, from working the fields, you think? Although he does look clean as he strides down the street;
 
*Lazy – Now, how in the heck does Glass Beach know that the old gentleman is lazy? Do you remember when social scientists and the like would say that we Mexicans were lazy, bereft of ambition, and stupid?
 
*Speaks Spanish – yes, he’s probably bilingual too, although nobody asked him;
 
*Uneducated – maybe he doesn’t have book knowledge, but he certainly has knowledge of life, don’t you think?
 
Mr. O’Rourke, this depiction of my people, people whom you allegedly represent, is very offensive. Yet, why are you not coming to the defense of this elderly gentleman and others like him? I thought you said you represented all the people in your district. Do you or don’t you? Or doesn’t it bother you that Mexicans in El Paso have been disrespected? I’ll tell you what. It bothers me tremendously. Strange, though, the Times hasn’t even touched that stereotype. I wonder why? Do you know why?
 
Sin Fin,

Joe Olvera

(Joe Olvera, former El Paso Times reporter and USA Today columnist, was raised in the Segundo Barrio and was the first Chicano television reporter in El Paso. His column was syndicated in 64 newspapers across the U.S.)




March 26, 2007

Paso Del Norte Group Member Under Criminal Investigation

“Behind every great fortune, there is a great crime.”

                                                                  -Victor Hugo

THOMAS CHRIS BALSIGER, who is under investigation for a $250,000,000 coupon fraud scheme, is a member of the PDNG and a contributor to the political campaign of City rep Robert O’Rourke. [O’Rourke contributors]

Those are just two little inconvenient truths that the local media—that are for the most part owned and financed by the PDNG—have left out of their coverage. (Instead, KVIA prefered to report the highly significant piece of information that Mr. Balsiger has a passion for high-altitude mountain climbing!)

The criminal indictment alleges that Balsiger and 8 other defendants submitted millions of dollars worth of coupons that had never been legitimately redeemed in connection with the purchase of a product.

The indictment further alleges that Chris Balsiger, the CEO of the International Outsourcing Services:

1  “Advised employees to destroy records, to discontinue the use of certain internal reports that tracked the scheme, and to take certain electronic data home each evening;

2. To further conceal the scheme, Balsiger and others took steps to keep IOS employees and others with knowledge of the scheme from cooperating with
law enforcement and to retaliate against those who provided information to federal authorities

These steps included:
  
a. Attempting to condition severance benefits for departing employees on the employee's agreement not to speak to law enforcement;
  
b. Suing, threatening to sue, and threatening to financially harm   employees who cooperated with law enforcement; and
  
c. Directing a private investigator to attempt to forcibly obtain physical
evidence held by a witness in Mexico

Read more about the PDNG member’s international scheme.



March 24, 2007

Republicans, PDNG Fat Cats and a  Criminal Defendant Sponsor O'Rourke

o'rourke contributors

HERE IS THE INVITATION sent out for a fundraiser hosted by some of the City's top Republicans, several PDNG fat cats including Dee Margo and Woody Hunt and at least one criminal defendant. Chris Balsiger is the Chief Executive Officer of International Outsourcing Services and a lead defendant in a current criminal investigation against his corporation. Balsiger, along with three other El Pasoans and seven other individuals, were indicted in a binational coupon fraud scheme that allegedly bilked providers out of more than $250 million.

No Segundo Barrio residents who are about to be forcibly relocated from their homes are included in this illustrious list of hosts. For some inexplicable reason, tonight's event was canceled at the last moment.

Aw shucks! We wanted to go.



March 23, 2007

Invitation to the Cesar Chavez  March

"Our struggle is not easy. Those who oppose our cause are rich and powerful and they have many allies in high places. We are poor. Our allies are few. But we have something the rich do not own. We have our bodies and spirits and the justice of our cause as our weapons."

-Cesar Chavez

We invite those of you who wish to show solidarity with the Segundo Barrio to participate in another event that will demonstrate the people's opposition to the downtown de-vitalization plan.
 
On Saturday March 31 a march will be held to celebrate Cesar Chavez Day and to call for social justice in El Paso. This is another opportunity to voice your dissaproval of the downtown plan and to support the people of Segundo Barrio who are facing displacement.
 
We would like to organize a large group of students to participate in the march and demonstrate the support and awareness that exists on campus.  If you would like to participate in the march please join us at the Conquistador Lounge at the UTEP Student Union on Weds. March 28 at 4:30 pm to make posters and banners for the march. Thank you.
 
El Segundo Barrio No Se Vende!

Signed,

Cynthia Renteria
Teresa Sotelo
Karla Enriquez
Antonio Lopez



March 21, 2007

They Can't See the Log in Their Eye

"Behind every great fortune, there is a great crime."

                                                             —Victor Hugo

THE EMINENT DOMAIN BRAT PACK and the Paso Del Norte Group propaganda rags have decided that the whole issue of eminent domain abuse and the displacement of hundreds of families in the Segundo Barrio boils down to Luis Rosenbaum. Mr. Rosenbaum is a holocaust survivor whose family was stripped of their business by the Nazis in 1933. Today he owns several businesses in South El Paso that are under the threat of eminent domain. One of them is a piece of property that he rents out to poor Mexicanos who can’t afford their own Wal-Mart—in other words, people who sell their wares at an open-air flea market. Mr. Rosenbaum and his sons, according to City rep Susie Byrd, are responsible for all of the blight in El Paso. City Rep Steve Ortega—who is very proud that his best friends on City Hall, i.e. The Three Amigos, all come from very good schools—alleged at Tuesday’s City Hall meeting that people probably even sell stolen goods at the flea market. (Dear God! Quick! Let’s tear down all the swap meets all over the City!)

Therefore—according to the principles of higher logic that only such highly refined and well-educated minds such as that of Mr. Ortega can grasp—300 buildings in South El Paso and Downtown should be razed and handed over super-wealthy developers.

In other words, if there’s a flea market near you where there are allegations of pilfering, then your own property or home, even if it’s in good condition, should also be torn down. Especially if it’s within the same block or in the same 130-acre demolition zone that rich developers are lusting after. Guilt by association with no chance of appeal.

“Wow!” Is that what they teach you at Emory these days?

While we’re on the subject of illicit activities and other allegations, have these well-educated individuals looked into the alleged illicit activities committed by the members of the Paso Del Norte Group and the Verde Realty Company—the driving force behind several binational redevelopment schemes throughout the border? Or is that something our highly-schooled leaders would rather not look into?



March 19, 2007

It Also Happens in China



DEVELOPERS HAVE TURNED a house into an island in China after the owner refused to sell...read more


March 16, 2007

The Millionaires Behind O'Rourke: So What's Their Agenda?



AN EL PASO newspaper reports that on March 24, Dee Margo—a member of the Paso Del Norte Group, a close friend of George Bush and perhaps the highest profile politician supporting extreme right-wing causes in El Paso—will be one of the sponsors of a fundraiser for O’Rourke’s reelection campaign. It will take place at 504 Russet Street.

O’Rourke, who likes to call himself “a Progressive,” has become the political darling of the racist ruling class in El Paso. According to the Border Observer, the other conservative Anglo fat cats sponsoring the March 24th event include Woody Hunt, Chris Balsiger, Rick Francis, and Tripper Goodman.

Many believe O’Rourke has become the “Great White Hope” of the local ruling class. His campaign billboards—which apparently have already been the targets of graffitti even in the Westside—claim he has only one agenda.

It’s clear what the agenda of O’Rourke’s and his obscenely wealthy supporters is—$$$$$$! Lots and lots of it, at whatever social cost to the community and by whatever means necessary.



March 15, 2007

POEM OF THE DAY


Segundo Barrio Rezizte!

I drift through Oregon Street in the Segundo Barrio
And run into Mariano Azuela as he writes
“Los de Abajo,”
He’s still writing for the oppressed, the same people he used to write for,
Those who still live with a noose around their neck.
He writes as if the revolution were still going on today
Against rich developers and land-grabbers
Who see themselves as owners of the world,
Who don’t give a shit for history.
I cross the street and pass through many eras and enigmas
And on the other side
I see Teresita of Cabora
Aiding the cause with her metaphysical powers.
Everywhere I see “Segundo Barrio Rezizte” painted on the walls
And thousands of doves appear like flames.
“The Segundo Barrio is Not For Sale” is now tattooed on my chest.
I stay in the Denver Hotel where the Cristeros stayed.
Their struggle is my own.
I converse with Magonistas. They too oppose this. They want to fight with us.
The lucha is catching fire, like the trees in Armijo Park.
The parking meters are ablaze.
The Segundo Barrio resists. With its history, with its origins, with its people.
It will not be torn apart.
They shall not tear out the heart of El Paso.
Don Tosti and his Pachucos
With their kick ass tramos, and their tandos and their lima,  
Wnd their spit-shined calcos, bien machín ese, looking good!
And now they want to throw it all away
For a Wal-Mart and some tourist shops.
I turn the corner on Father Rahm
And find myself before the mural of la gente
With the holy image of Jesus crucified,
The priests who founded the church,
The street preacher cursing the night
As one would pitch a baseball into the darkness,
The Bowie High School matachín,
Praying before the Virgencita de Guadalupe,
The tiny luchador wearing his magic mask with pride,
Our general Pancho Villa eating some Chico’s Tacos
And all who have been part of this very real, magical history.
Extraordinary, like a Chekhov story or a poem by García Lorca.
I continue walking, never tiring, admiring and honoring the barrio.
Today I’ve decided to defend this barrio,
To the last breath of the last Chicano.


—Osvaldo Ogaz

 
(Osvaldo is a lucha libre-poetry slam performance artist and will be one of the featured poets at the Border Book Festival on April 20, 2007 at Mesilla, New Mexico.)


March 9, 2007

PETITION: Don't Tear it Down!


OPPOSITION TO THE DEMOLITION plan is still strong. If anything, the momentum against it is on the rise as community groups continue to organize and spread the word. In the last two days alone (March 7-8), 44 people have signed our petition. Here are a few of their messages:

anti-eminent domain picket

My mother was born and grew up in the Segundo Barrio in the 1920's - '40's and shared with me her stories of life there. The community is still alive, still thriving! What the world needs is communities that live and breathe, that remember their history and build towards their futures. What the world DOES NOT need are more strip malls and huge chain stores. Please don't touch the Segundo Barrio.
                                                                         —Rosemary Southward

*****

My father grew up in Segundo Barrio. I would hate to see it go.

                                                                          —Alejandro Alvarez

*****
I was born and raised in El Paso. You cannot oppress the people! This cannot occur.
                                                                          —Naomi Caballero

*****
Keep Segundo the way it is! Clean it but don't tear it down!

                                                                           —Yvonne Becerra

*****
I  agree 100% with saving "Segundo Barrio." That is where our roots came from. El Segundo Barrio shows our history and our true culture. Why would we want to destroy that?
                                                                           —Angela Cortez

*****

It's ridiculous how "disposable" the heritage and history of this city is to the administration running it. We may not be the richest, or the best, but we have our culture, and we have our unity as a PEOPLE of culture. Don't let them take that away from us!
                                                                           —Daniel Valenzuela

*****
It’s so strange why now after all these years they want to raze the Segundo Barrio. It has been there for generation after generation. And now, all of us who have grown in the Segundo Barrio will see it vanish.  As it never existed! Let’s save it and make it better for the upcoming generations.

                                                                        —Javier Mata
*****

As a prior resident of Segundo Barrio for 11 years, I agree with the petition stated. I believe that the historical buildings should be restored, but not demolished. Such buildings are appreciated by tourists and even El Paso residents themselves. The historic parts of this town should be left standing so that future generations learn from them.
                                                                        —Hilda CampoS


*****

I hope we get enough signatures. I would hate to lose our history to Wal-Mart.
                                                                          —Valeria Perales

*****
Stop the empire...at every turn!
                                                                         —Elisa Pintor

 


March 7, 2007

QUOTE OF THE DAY


"FIRST THEY CAME for the Jews
and I did not speak out

because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists

and I did not speak out

because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out

because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left

to speak out for me."

-Pastor Martin Niemöller, Nazi concentration camp survivor



March 4, 2007

EMINENT DOMAIN ABUSE BY ANY OTHER NAME...

Deception and confusion—the name of the game at City Hall nowadays

"Mayor and Eminent Domain Brat Pack will present a counter-counter ordinance"



BEFORE THE OPPONENTS of eminent domain abuse in El Paso have a chance to present their ordinance in the coming days at City Hall, the Mayor and the PDNG-Bordeplex special interest coalition at City Hall have come up with pro-eminent domain abuse ordinance of their own.

The anti-eminent domain abuse ordinance that will be introduced by City rep Eddie Holguin

    •    Limits eminent domain authority to traditional public use projects;
    •    Stops the taking of non-blighted properties;
    •    Outlaws using eminent domain to force the transfer of private                      property o developers; and,
    •    Protects homes and established small businesses.

On the other hand, the pro eminent domain abuse counter-counter-ordinance cooked up Mayor Cook (Juan el Cocinero) and by Los Chavos del Eminent Domain (O'Rourke-Byrd-Morgan-Ortega-Ortega)

    •    Allows eminent domain for economic development purposes;
    •    Permits condemnation of private property regardless of of condition;
    •    Enables eminent domain authority to benefit well-connected                        developers; and,
    •    Places the interests of "Big Box" chains and wealthy investors ahead            of residents, homeowners and established businesses Downtown.

All we have to say to this is:

Dear politicos,

Eminent domain abuse by any other name (no matter how many counter-counter- counter ordinances you concoct) is still eminent domain abuse.


February 28, 2007

Robert O'Rourke plays the "reverse racism" card

"Anyone who points out institutional racism must be biased himself!"

o'rourke

CITY REP O'ROURKE who recently has been campaigning furiously in the wealthy sector of his district—hundreds of his campaign posters are up in this part of town although the election is months away—and has completely ignored the part of the Segundo Barrio that is threatened with demolition—exactly
zero campaign posters in this neighborhood—responded to Olvera's open letter (see previous update).

O'Rourke's response to the assertion that the Segundo Barrio community has been the victim of institutional racism, displacement and neglect by the City for decades is rather predictable. O'Rourke essentially claims that if you point out the institutional racism in our city, you must be a "reverse racist" yourself.

Here's O'Rourke's response to Joe Olvera:

"I am open to your suggestions on how to improve things and how I might improve my efforts (you'll have to do better than suggesting breakfast locations). Can you see beyond your own biases and think about working with me and helping me to help South El Paso or is my ethnicity getting in the way?"



     

February 27, 2007

From an "Open Letter to Robert O'Rourke":

"Chicanos have been used and abused for decades..."

by Joe Olvera             




MR. O'ROURKE,

FIRST OF ALL, let me say that I used to admire your father very much. We weren't exactly friends, but we respected each other—he as the County Judge and me as a reporter/columnist for the El Paso Herald-Post. I've been keeping a real close eye on the events that would decimate El Segundo Barrio. Although I agree that change is badly needed in that part of town, I don't agree with the way the plan was created before it made its way to the peoples' conscience. We don't do things like that in El Paso. We don't make plans that will interrupt peoples' lives before we tell them what's going to happen. That was your and your group's largest mistake. You're relatively young and you didn't grow up in Chicano barrios as I did, and as many who oppose your plan did as well. Again, I think it's okay to refurbish parts of El Segundo, but you guys went about it the wrong way. Maybe you'll learn from this for future reference. We Chicanos have been used and abused since time everlasting, actually, since El Paso incorporated as a city circa 1881. Chicanos have always lived in barrios, and we grow attached to them because they are our hunting grounds, our security enclaves—where we are allowed to live without interference from the ruling forces—Anglos...

WHAT I FIND disconcerting about your representing residents of El Segundo is that you're not truly representing them. On the contrary, you are merely representing those constituents of yours north of the freeway. Why are all your meetings held at the Village Inn on Mesa? Why don't you hold some meetings at El Jalisco Café, or some other venue in El Segundo? Or have you? Tell me, don't you relate well to the people there? Have you been frightened by the opposition to your plan? What's up? When the streets were flooded in El Segundo and Chihuahuita during our monsoon, where were you? I didn't see you there, among the residents, helping them during their hour of need and turmoil. Somebody said you were out of town. Well, couldn't you have returned immediately to provide leadership? I'm somewhat bothered by what I believe is your lack of concern for El Segundo residents. Holding your meetings at Village Inn might seem safe and innocuous to you, but not to me. To me, it's like you're hiding from the people, and that just won't do. Either you represent everyone, or you represent no one...
 
JUST ONE THING in mind. Chicanos have been used and abused for decades, your actions and the actions of the PDNG remind me of earlier periods in El Paso's history, when Chicanos weren't consulted about anything having to do with their lives. The actions were taken, without regard to how those actions impacted on my people. Nobody cared whether we agreed with those actions or not. Witness the location of "Dizzyland," that foul-smelling contraption located on Delta near the Coliseum. That's a clear case of environmental racism. The odors emanating from that site were horrendous. But, nobody asked our community if we wanted it placed there. It just was placed there, without any repercussions. That's just one example of the environmental racism that has been perpetrated against us. So, you see, we've been there before. Why should we trust you and the rest of your PDNG group? Have you earned our trust? Have you accepted us as an intelligent community? Have you tried to work with us on issues which can have negative impacts on our community? I don't think so. To me, it's more of the same old same old, do whatever you want to Chicanos - they're used to it. Well, Mr. O'Rourke, those days are gone. If you want to be a representative, then represent all the people. And, I do mean all the people. Orale.

SIN FIN.

........

From an email to the Paso Del Sur Group

I WONDER WHERE the PDNG has been all these years. They appear suddenly, with what they think are majestic plans to improve the barrio, but where were they when Jonathan Rogers and his cohorts were trying to destroy El Segundo by turning it into a warehouse district? The late Richie Telles used to say that land in El Segundo was worth more than in any other part of town, including Coronado, and other parts West and East. Richie should know, he was one of the worst slum lords in the city. But, Richie had a rhyme and a reason for having those slums. He used to tell me that if he fixed them up, he would have to charge higher rents, which the people couldn't afford. Thus, his justification for never completely refurbishing the buildings he owned. Well, I don't know about that, but I guess one can justify anything. Similarly, the PDNG has taken it on its own to create a new Segundo, but without consulting with the people who have lived there for decades. While I agree with some aspects of the plan, I don't agree with the way it was presented to the people. They justify their actions by saying that we need to ignore our past and our antepasados and climb on their bandwagon to create a new, modern, money-making Segundo...

I stand behind the efforts to prevent El Segundo's destruction. Now, I know I'm going to make enemies from the other side—those who agree with the demolition. Oh, well, such is life.

(Joe Olvera, former El Paso Times reporter and USA Today columnist, was raised in the Segundo Barrio and was the first Chicano television reporter in El Paso. His column was syndicated in 64 newspapers across the U.S.)



February 26, 2007

FROM OUR READERS:

"Are these people from La Luna?"

indian

I FIND IT thoroughly appalling and nauseatingly vicious that they want to demolish the Second Ward in order to make downtown “improvements.” What in the world are they thinking? Are these people from La Luna? Can’t and don’t they see that history is El Paso’s future?

Although I don’t reside in El Paso right now, I am very much a part of it—as a 6th generation born and raised there. My maternal grandmothher was the first and best historian for me in El Paso when I was growing up. She used to take me on walks around Downtown, and show me all of the buildings that are now under threat. I know the history behind them as well. In fact, the one with the massive, beautifully majestic Indian Head (located on Overland St. behind JCPenney's) used to be an apartment/boarding house, where my own stepfather used to live (1945-1947) prior to marrying my mother.  I remember it well! 

I already feel “raped” by what they intend to do and they haven’t even done it yet! Please keep me informed about your  efforts to save the barrio.

                                                    — Teresa Hidalgo-Giron

******

THIS IS INCOMPREHENSIBLE, to move people out of their homes under the guise of creating more jobs and a better economy. The whole purpose of a good economy is to have stable homes and families, in allowing families to be displaced under the pretext of more economy to the city, we let ourselves be led by money instead of our families.

                                                      —Michelle Castillo

******


THE CURRENT LEVEL of resistance to the Downtown Plan is steady. Is somebody gonna have to die before it is realized that the people don't want it? If there is now a total disregard for what the people are thinking and feeling then what more can the people do to stop this?

                                                         —Miguel Checho

(Indian Building photograph by Bruce Berman)


February 21, 2007

Those Displaced by Eminent Domain Pay a High Price

by the Baltimore Examiner

RESEARCH SHOWS THOSE displaced by eminent domain pay a high price.

Historically, urban renewal schemes disproportionately uproot blacks from their homes and businesses, triggering a host of other losses. A new study by Dr. Mindy Thompson Fullilove, professor of clinical psychiatry and public health at Columbia University, outlines them. The Institute for Justice, a nonprofit that legally represents home and business owners whose property has been seized through eminent domain, published the report.

Under the Federal Housing Act, in force between 1949 and 1973, urban renewal projects “displaced 1 million people, two-thirds of them African American,” writes Fullilove. Given the disproportionate number of blacks affected by eminent domain, Fullilove sees the policy as part of chain of events starting with slavery that “have threatened African Americans’ lives homes, and family.” It’s hard not to agree.

Segregation policies in place during part of the time the Federal Housing Act was in place made finding a new home more difficult. That issue does not exist today, but the other losses are still very much in effect. They include separation from family, friends and political organizations, the need to pay more for a new home in a different neighborhood, increased risk for depression and heart attack, and loss of respect for government.

A better solution for renewing cities would be to make structural reforms such as improving schools and lowering property taxes to make the city attractive to the professionals it wants. Cities must not perpetuate the legacy of displacement.



February 20, 2007

Texas Eminent Domain Reform Needs Your Help!

WENDESDAY, FEBRUARY 21 (tomorrow), the Texas House Land & Resource Management Committee will be holding a public hearing on H.J.R. 11, a constitutional amendment introduced by Representative Frank Corte that would limit the use of eminent domain to traditional public uses.  We encourage you to contact the members of this committee and urge them to support this vital legislation.  Here is the proposed amendment:

A JOINT RESOLUTION proposing a constitutional amendment to limit the public taking of private property.

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1.  Section 17, Article I, Texas Constitution, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 17.  (a) No person's property shall be taken, damaged or destroyed for or applied to public use without adequate and just compensation being made, unless by the consent of such person, and only if the taking, damage, or destruction is necessary for the possession, occupation, and enjoyment of the property by the public at large or by  the State or a political subdivision of the State; and, when taken, except for the use of the State, such compensation shall be first made, or secured by a deposit of money; and no irrevocable or uncontrollable grant of special privileges or immunities[,] shall be made; but all privileges and franchises granted by the Legislature, or created under its authority, shall be subject to the control thereof.
(b)  The State or a political subdivision of the State that takes, damages, or destroys property must prove by clear and convincing evidence that the contemplated use of the property is public and necessary at the time an attempt is made to take, damage, or destroy the property.  Whether the contemplated use is in fact public and necessary shall be a judicial question.
SECTION 2.  This proposed constitutional amendment shall be submitted to the voters at an election to be held November 6, 2007.  The ballot shall be printed to permit voting for or against the proposition:  "The constitutional amendment to limit the power of the state and political subdivisions to take property in certain circumstances where the use is public and necessary, which shall be a judicial question."

If you are near Austin, we also encourage you to attend and show your support for this reform:

Here are the phone numbers for the members of the committee:
Rep. Anna Mowery (Chair):    (512) 463-0608
Rep. Rob Orr:                      (512) 463-0538
Rep. John Zerwas:               (512) 463-0657
Rep. Bill Callegari:               (512) 463-0528
Rep. Robert "Robby" Cook:    (512) 463-0682
Rep. Yvonne Davis:              (512) 463-0598
Rep. Charlie Geren:             (512) 463-0610
Rep. Joseph Pickett:            (512) 463-0596
Rep. Allan Ritter:                (512) 463-0706

Please let us know if you have any questions.

Best,
Christina Walsh
Castle Coalition Coordinator
(703) 682-9320
www.ij.org
www.castlecoalition.org



February 20, 2007

QUOTE OF THE DAY:


"BEHIND EVERY GREAT fortune, there is a great crime."
                                                          
                                                         —Victor Hugo


February 19, 2007

SANDERS WILL USE SEGUNDO BARRIO PEOPLE AS SO MANY TRINKETS

Former employee of William Sanders speaks out

AFTER HAVING LIVED for several years in Santa Fe, I know that
rampant slash and burn revitalization does not always need to happen. Re-use the buildings, modify, and always, always include the current residents in the planning for a targeted area. To me, that is the way to go.

It is scary what one man thinks he can do (by way of enticing investors) to
historical areas. The entire heart and soul of the Segundo Barrio and the
Downtown area is in danger of becoming another mini-mall for the rich. He

will use the people of the Segundo as so many trinkets to give the place
ambiance and charm. The overriding feeling I have when I hear this man's
name is dread. The dread comes from my previous employment of William Sanders's various REITs. From late 1997 through 2001, I was a web designer and wsandersorked for several of his companies including ProLogis, Archstone, Homestead, SC-US Realty, CWS Communities, and of course, Security Capital.

When I was working for Security Captial my Dad sent me an article about Sanders that he'd clipped from the Wall Street Journal. That was back in the heyday of the REIT market, yet the Wall Street Journal reporter was openly sketpical of Sanders' plans. He pointed out the strange secrecy that surrounded Sanders' Santa Fe office, in a building without any company name on it or other identifying features. That's rather odd for a company that (a) doesn't have large amounts of cash, gems or precious metals on site; (b) doesn't have a big art collection; and (c) isn't populated by Hollywood stars.

Remember the underlying sub-plot of "Pretty Woman?" "So, you don't make anything and you don't build anything? What do you do, Edward? What do you do?"

This plan of Sanders is not new. As I said earlier, I worked
for his company, Security Capital (and its subsidiaries) for just several
years. If you want to understand more about this project,
look to his blueprint—particularly, his former real estate investment company, Urban Growth Property Trust. In 2002, another of his companies owned 98.8% of Urban Growth—U.S. Realty. All are defunct now. 
Urban Growth Property Trust eventually was combined with Interpark,
which is only interested in developing parking facilities and reducing
employees. (http://www.interparkholdings.com).


The thing to remember about Sanders is that his companies are all tightly
tied together—rental properties for multi-family complexes, rental
properties for retail, at times, hotels, manufactured housing communities,
and of course, the almighty parking garage. In addition to the “Binational City” Sanders is currently planning for Santa Teresa, in other locations, particularly Arizona, communities are now being developed as all-encompassing gateds with the residences behind gates.

Overall, I think Sanders will try to get the ball rolling, get big city and foreign investors in on the downtown plan, then cash out. He will not see the project to fruition. He will move on to something else and, because of his track record, I don't think that will work for El Paso.

—C.R.D.




February 17, 2007

FROM OUR READERS:

THIS PLAN KILLS THE HEART OF THE CITY!


i want your home

NO CREO JUSTO que la ciudad y sus representantes traten de sacarnos de nuestras casas en donde hemos vivido por muchos años.

—Arturo Cisneros

*********

SUCH A SHAME to dismiss the culture of the Segundo Barrio for moderization. The Segundo Barrio has a life and feel of it's own that cannot be replicated. Though I have never lived in the Segundo Barrio, my family history is there. A modernized downtown will not tempt me to visit the area when I visit El Paso, hence, you will not get my dollars. The rich heritage of the Second Ward needs to remain for those currently there and for those of us who's family histories remain there.

—C. Strickland

*******

THE PLAN KILLS the heart of the city, the heart of the immigrant, and what I thought the heart of the mission for this country was; to embrace and not to erase our greatest differences. Let's work to enrich our city population with education on the roots of this city and why south El Paso should be celebrated and not eradicated.

—Esteban Terrazas

********

WE NEED TO STOP the large Businesses and the City from extorting the people of the 2nd Ward for their own financial gain.

—Gregorio Vera

********

I am thinking of purchasing a small house in El Paso in the downtown area. This revitalization plan gives me pause.

—David Wilton

(If any of our readers wish to send letters to the Paso Del Sur website, please email them to save_our_barrios@hotmail.com.)




February 16, 2007

The 21st Century Conquistadors Award Goes To.....

The politics of hypocricy and the ridiculous at El Paso City Hall

queen.gif

 

AT TUESDAY’S CITY COUNCIL meeting our “progressive” city leaders decided that they would change the name of the million dollar Oñate statue from the generic "The Equestrian" back to "Don Juan de Oñate" again. [See El Paso Times article]  The statue of the Spanish conquistador was first renamed by City Hall a couple of years ago as “The Equestrian” to make it seem less controversial. It is the  largest equestrian statue in the world dedicated to the bloody conquest