downtown plan counterpoint

After my last post concerning a significant downtown neighborhood, I thought it would be interesting to talk about the positives of the downtown plan. It's true it has it's issues that I believe need addressing, but there are some interesting things that I think will do a whole lot of good. This includes those neighborhoods who stand to gain (or lose) the most. Aside from the positive changes regarding preserving the most significant historic areas in downtown, I do like the infill residential development planned for the magoffin neighborhood. Much deserved, as I think it is one of the cooler neighborhoods in the city.

There is an area of south el paso in the segundo barrio neighborhood that attracts a large part of border commerce, fueled by the mexican shopper. It is this area that takes up a sizeable chunk of the redevelopment acreage. The "golden horseshoe", as it's known, unquestionably is highly profitable. This area could be seen as somewhat run down and rough around the edges, but it does have character. I've often wondered why it hasn't been designated a historic district. That's probably my biggest beef with the proposals to revitalize this part of the neighborhood. There is nothing to my knowledge that recognizes (and protects) the cultural and historic aspects before slapping a "redevelopment" sticker on it and passing it over to developers. The city really needs to take a better look at that. I do know there have been surveys to ascertain the historic significance of buildings in the downtown plan, but the city has so far kept this information out of the public domain. It's a step in the right direction, but I think the public really needs to be made aware of what could potentially be demolished and what will be saved. In my opinion, the fabric of these buildings is more important as a cohesive whole than their individual worth. Plus the crap people build today will always be architecturally inferior to what was built back in the day. Just my opinion.. Back to the topic at hand. Ahem.

The golden horseshoe does need work. Property owners in this area ride the wave of profit all the while keeping their buildings up just enough in order to keep their property taxes low. This, in effect, has caused a downward spiral over the last several decades. The same could be said for much of the downtown area. I do respect that aspect of the plan. There are several property owners (I can think of one in particular) who have invested the absolute minimum to make their buildings meet code, usually on the first floor. Meanwhile, the building overall (particularly on the upper floors) proceeds to degrade and fall apart. This really burns my hide. Eminent domain has come to be a dirty word around these parts lately, but in the case of irresponsible building owners, I wish someone had done something sooner. And so it goes. I'm sure in the coming years, the specifics of what will actually go down will come to light. And I intend to be there to blog about it. :)

For your reading pleasure, here are a couple of articles I've dug up. The first was written by one of our city representatives regarding the golden horseshoe and the other about negligent building owners. Enjoy!

1. Downtown plan (golden horseshoe)
2. Downtown cancer