Meetings scheduled across El Paso on arena project
The City of El Paso will be hosting a series of open-house style meetings to discuss the downtown arena project. One meeting will be held for every district.
Each of the meetings will be held from 6 to 7:30 in the evening. The dates and times are as follows:
March 23: Andress High School, 5400 Sun Valley, cafeteria
March 27: Pebble Hills Elementary, 11145 Edgemere, gym
March 29: Mesita Elementary, 3307 Stanton, cafeteria
March 30: Bel-Air High School, 731 Yarbrough, cafeteria
April 3: Montwood High, 12000 Montwood, cafeteria
April 5: Grandview Senior Center, 3134 Jefferson
April 6: Convention Center in downtown
April 10: Location TBA
So far, the city has been unable to finalize a location for the arena. The proposal to place it in the Duranguito neighborhood has been met with fierce opposition.
The city says the meetings are meant to increase community awareness about the multipurpose center project history, including the studies indicating the best location for the facility. According to a city press release, the location for the arena was set in November 2012, when voters approved the bond proposition in the 2012 Quality of Life Bond election. The city says the language of the full bond proposition created a legal contract with the voters that prevents the city from building the arena anywhere else besides downtown.
The city-wide meetings come as the potential increases for the arena issue to appear on the ballot again. Earlier in the year, the city hired an outside legal expert to see what would need to be done to change the arena location. Attorney Paul Braden said the city would need to hold another election, but even that move could open the door for lawsuits. Meanwhile, activists aiming to stop the arena from being built in the Duranguito neighborhood are gathering signatures to put their own measure on the ballot. The measure would exclude the Duranguito neighborhood as a potential site for the arena. Regardless if any of those proposals appear on a future ballot, the issue is already bound to play a major role in the upcoming mayoral and city representative elections.
According to the city, studies conducted in 2001, 2006, and 2015 identified the Union Plaza area, which includes Duranguito, as the preferred site for the arena.
