City moving ahead with Downtown arena despite holdout in Duranguito neighborhood

City Council says it is moving forward with the downtown arena project in the Duranguito neighborhood.

The city attorney says all properties have been bought except for one, so could the hold out be a hurdle?

“Council has not changed their direction and their resolve and we’re still acting to complete the project,” said city attorney Sylvia Firth.

Firth said Tuesday afternoon most of the properties needed to build the downtown arena have been acquired.

“At this point and time the city has been able to enter into contracts with all of the property owners. We’ve reached an agreement, we have willing sellers with all of the sellers except for one,” Firth said.

“I’m thinking they are just outright heartless,” said Duranguito resident and arena opponent Michael Patino.

Patino said the council needs to continue to seek other locations for the downtown arena, adding the arena will destroy the culture and history of one of the oldest neighborhoods in El Paso.

“What are we going to show our children later on in the future? A wall?,” Patino said.

Tuesday evening ABC-7 cameras spotted residents moving out of their homes after they say their property owner evicted them.

“I’ve lived here 18 years,” said Ana Maria Alferez as she was loading her car with clothes.

But Alferez says she’s for the downtown arena.

“We need more tourism, more people. We need everything to prosper,” Alferez said.

And what about that proper owner that doesn’t want to sell?

“We believe we can proceed with designing around that one hold out,” Firth told ABC-7.

“That is just a slap in our face as citizens,” Patino said.

Patino tells ABC-7 the fight to save his neighborhood is not over.

“Until they change direction, it’s actually going to still persist. We’re still going to be persistent and resisting,” Patino said.

Alferez tells ABC-7 she was happy with the offer from the city and felt happy with the new home she got.

Patino reminds everyone there’s still a lawsuit pending against the city and the city says it’s not stopping them from moving forward with the project.