TXDOT: Lincoln Center to be demolished

Senator Jose Rodriguez is calling it a “slap in the face.” Rodriguez and those fighting to reopen the Lincoln Center in south central El Paso were taken by surprise when the Texas Department of Transportation announced it’s tearing Lincoln Center down.

It’s a story we first broke on kvia.com.

“We found out because Senator Rodriguez went to go shine his shoes,” said Miguel Juarez, Lincoln Center Conservation Committee. And the person that was shining his shoes said that his son had received a contract for the demolition of the building.”

ABC-7 crews caught JMR Demolition trucks around Lincoln Center, further confirming the fears of those who doubted TXDOT’s transparency in it’s quest to connect I-10 west and eastbound to the Border Highway and U.S. 54.

“There’s lines there, there’s lines to the electrical. They’ve come and already marked where the lines are,” Juarez said.

Juarez and Rodriguez have been working for three years to save the building. Their optimism was renewed when last October, El Paso city reaffirmed it’s commitment to acquire the Lincoln Center for itself. But last week, Rodriguez learned through a letter, TXDOT had already made the decision.

“…having studied potential options, and given the building’s current condition and associated safety and liability issues, we must move forward with plans to remove the building from our right of way,” wrote LtGen J.F. Weber, executive director of TXDOT.

“They knew the freeway was coming through here, and they bought property along the way, for what they call right of way, in case they ever needed it in the future, and now they’re saying they need it,” Juarez said.

In connecting I-10 to the Border Highway and U.S. 54, TXDOT estimates everyday 10,000-to-15,000 drivers would served, but roughly five homes and a couple warehouses may have to be destroyed in the process, along with a part of El Paso’s history.

“This would be erasing a large part of our history, of our Corazon,” Juarez said. “This is a place where Mexican children were ‘Americanized’ when el paso was segregated. There’s a lot of history here.”

Senator Rodriguez addressed TXDOT in a letter, writing:
“Announcing the demolition of Lincoln Center without a public process that takes into account the social and economic effects of the surrounding community appears to add another chapter in the long history of TXDOT’s disregard for the community it serves.”

In February District Engineer Bob Bielek told ABC-7 the murals on the columns can be saved. They plan on disconnecting the ramp from the columns and preserving the columns.

On Friday, local activists are planning on holding a demonstration in front of the building to voice their opposition to the demolition.