Former City Council Representative and Mayoral Candidate and current member of the board of the Downtown Management District Steve Ortega,
Category: Quality of Life Projects
Quality of Life
If you found fifty bucks on the street, what would you do with it? Pay down your credit card debt?
Stuart Blaugrund’s Column in the Times
Stuart Blaugrund “represented a group of Downtown business and property owners who successfully resisted the taking of their properties for
Looking Back
Look at this chart from Interim Director of Municipal Financial Operations Robert Cortinas’ presentation last Tuesday: It shows the growth
Support For the Arena?
Those arena advocates are always quick to point out that the Quality of Life bond measure was supported by over
Retrovision: The Road to Economic Development
This is a lightly edited version of an article that originally appeared on 6 June 2013. Since then, very little
Big Changes at City Hall
Remember when the rationale for all those pricey public amenities was “to shift the property tax burden from residential to
Does This Sound Like El Paso?
From a 2009 El Paso Inc. interview with Woody Hunt: Q. How does corruption impact economic development? If the procurement
Retrovision: An Arena? Really?
This article originally appeared on January 10, 2017. Over the last twenty years, we’ve spent a lot of money on
Ballpark Numbers Updated
An alert reader sent me this spreadsheet which shows the actual numbers for the ballpark. Four years in and we’re
Will Tourism Save Us?
Besides call centers, the City of El Paso’s economic development policy seems to be solely focused on tourism as a
Rent Seeking
From Investopedia.com: What is ‘Rent-Seeking’ Rent-seeking is the use of the resources of a company, an organization or an individual
Retrovision: Commercial Property Tax Valuations Down
[Our shrinking tax base isn’t a new thing. This article originally appeared on August 5, 2014. Since then, our city
About That Children’s Museum
El Paso Community Foundation President Eric Pearson says the Children’s Museum is going to be an economic driver. From KVIA:
How Do We Evaluate Our Economic Development Policy?
Short answer: We don’t. I mean, except by the bank accounts of our community’s wealthiest citizens. They’re not going to
El Paso Then and Now
Perhaps they meant well. Maybe they were trying to seize the moment. Maybe they thought that the tide had turned,
That Crab Pot Analogy
Lately I’ve been hearing that crab pot analogy a lot. Paul Foster mentioned it in his TEDx talk, and Jim
Se Fueron de Rancho El Paso
City Government does what the rich folks want, and then tells the rest of us it’s good for us. It’s
All I Want is Good Government
That’s all I want. Government responsive to the needs of its citizens. All its citizens. Not just the campaign donors.
Surprise! We’re Poor!
According to this story in the El Paso Inc., jobs in El Paso pay only 72 percent of the national