Resident’s concern calls for immediate action from city representative

A resident of an El Paso lower valley neighborhood is satisfied with how quickly his city representative got to work on some of his concerns.

Arnold Maldonado has lived on the 8100 block of Loma Terrace for more than 50 years, and recently noticed an increase in traffic.

Traffic included heavy duty trucks and cars Maldonado said were speeding through his street.

“My concern was the vehicles, the heavy traffic and the safety of the children that live on this block. Also, the worn out street because of the vehicles,” said Maldonado.

Last week, he addressed his concerns with City Representative Lily Limon and days later her office started working on the problem.

Turns out, the heavy duty vehicles belong to the Environmental Services Department located just blocks away from Loma Terrace.

“His concerns were valid,” said Limon.

This week she had a meeting with the ESD and the City Transportation Department for a plan of action.

“We pointed out that the community was being assaulted with all this traffic having to come through here and so a plan is in motion,” said Limon.

Limon added the ESD came to a conclusion that city vehicles can no longer take residential streets as short cuts, other routes will have to be taken.

The city also placed a monitoring device on Loma Terrace Road for a 24-hour period to track the amount of traffic driving through the street.

Limon said an assessment will be made once the results of the report are in.

Repaving the street is not an immediate option because city officials have to look at the level of the street and if it calls for repavement.

Arnold Maldonado said he noticed a difference in traffic after going to his city representative. He said the traffic is down and he is seeing less city trucks on his street.

“I appreciate that. At least someone is listening to us here,” said Maldonado.

“The citizens are the ears and eyes of the community and we are here to serve them. As soon as they make a concern, a complaint, issue or a question to us we react pretty quickly,” she said.

If constituents want to report non-emergency issues, call the number 311.

Constituents can also contact the office of their respective city representative.