One time, (okay, more than once), I accused the Big Money in El Paso of foisting all those Quality of Life projects on us so El Paso could become a bedroom community for Santa Teresa. You know, Santa Teresa would be a lot more attractive place to live if El Paso had all the leisure features of a larger, wealthier, community. You know, Triple A baseball. D League basketball. All that bling.
And if you live in Santa Teresa, you won’t have to pay that exorbitant El Paso property tax.
I’m sure it looked like a brilliant business proposition to those billionaire industrialists. All they had to do was co-opt some local elected officials.
Well, here’s the latest domino to fall. From the Albuquerque Journal:
A Texas oil billionaire has bought land in this fast-growing border industrial hub — a sign, observers say, that momentum is at last on New Mexico’s side and long-simmering tensions between two border communities on either side of the state line may be easing.
El Paso’s Paul Foster, chairman of Western Refining Inc., has bought more than 38 acres in an industrial zone of Santa Teresa from Albuquerque-based Titan Development for an undisclosed sum. Foster ranks No. 1,476 on the annual Forbes list of billionaires, which tacks his net worth at $1.22 billion.
See, the way it’s supposed to work, the politicians are supposed to work for the community, and the robber barons are supposed to try to make money. Those two ideals aren’t necessarily in opposition, but it’s the politicians’ job to look out for any conflict that might be detrimental to the community.
The way the election process works, though, invites the fox into the hen house. And the fox is going to do what foxes do.
It’s hard to blame the Robber Barons. They just don’t know any better.
Isn’t it interesting that this news comes to us from Albuquerque? El Paso will never learn, will we?
Paul Foster and his buddies who used to be Paso del Norte Group are the non governmental organization working with the local governments to implement UN Agenda 21 in the area. I know it sounds conspiracy theory, but it is true. Investigate the American Planning Association of which Plan El Paso is a part. Investigate ICLEI, of which El Paso has been a member since the early 2000’s. You will see. Look into city council records and you will find where Steve Ortega, Susie Byrd, and Beto O’Royrke voted to join ICLEI when they were on the Council.