Lower Valley Residents Air Out International Bridge Concerns

The idea of a new international bridge is stirring up outrage in the Lower Valley. The Ysleta Independent School District held a public meeting Wednesday night to let residents air their concerns.

But some say the district is injecting itself into a heated political race. Many Lower Valley residents received a flyer this week from Congressman Silvestre Reyes’ campaign that shows a bulldozer with the question – “Will your neighborhood be next?”

The flyer also mentions “plans to bulldoze entire neighborhoods for a Yarbrough bridge.”

Reyes’ chief opponent, former City Rep. Beto O’Rourke told ABC-7, “This is blatant coordination between Reyes campaign and Marty Reyes and (YISD Superintendent Michael) Zolkoski. The worst part of this is there is no proposed bridge; they’re scaring people for votes.”

Marty Reyes is Congressman Reyes’ sister-in-law, and a YISD board member. O’Rourke alleges Marty Reyes got Zolkoski to stir up fears about the bridge.

The board president said that’s not true.

“Hmm, it is really not political,” she said. “We are concerned for our students. We are actually informing our community and it is a process that has been done, this is the fifth meeting we have had.”

City officials said no new ports of entry are in the works. YISD leaders said they still wanted to hold the meeting because they’re legitimately concerned for the future.

City Rep. Steve Ortega even issued a scathing statement accusing YISD of crafting controversy and engaging in scare tactics.

“I just want our parents to know the facts about the bridge, about the wait time, about things that happen with people crossing back and forth and we have a very large district that runs along the border,” Zolkoski said.

Activists presented documents they does indicate an international bridge involving Yarbrough is on the table – images from Metropolitan Planning Organization documents that put a price tag and proposed construction dates on a new Yarbrough bridge.

“It was a draft document that was approved and this is what i saw..it says on there draft, it doesn’t say final draft,” City Rep. Emma Acosta said funding challenges, staff shortages and community backlash will likely kill the Yarbrough bridge line in the MPO’s non-binding wishlist of proposals. “You can have different wishlists but it’s never going to happen. I can tell you the wishlists, some of them have been there for forty years.”

But City Rep. Eddie Holguin said he’s not so sure about that.

“You know it all depends who you ask if they’re going to build a bridge or not,” Holguin said. “You know Isit on council and I believe they’re gonna build a bridge.”

Rosa Montes Kahoe, YISD Board President said, “Our strategy is to be proactive as a community so if it does happen we are ready.”

The head of the City’s International Bridges Department is very clear in saying that El Paso has no plans to pursue a new international port of entry along Yarbrough and is instead focusing on reducing bridge wait times and improving infrastructure at the bridges that already exist.

As for the MPO wishlist as Acosta called it, she said many more meetings and at least a decade would have to go by for a Yarbrough bridge to be officially approved.