New city representative oversees renovations for Modesto Gomez Park

EL PASO, Texas-- District 2 Representative, Alexsandra Annello, met with residents in the area and committed to accelerating the re-opening of the community's park.

"People would come out here and dump a lot of things several of us residents who are here today remember playing baseball in what we made into a park," said Carlos Aguilar, a long-time resident of the area.

This landfill underwent some additions and renovations and became the base of Modesto Gomez Park, but the decomposing waste underneath has kept the ground shifting, deteriorating the park.

Last year, Sam Rodriguez, the city's Chief Operations and Transportation Officer told ABC-7 they were planning, "to flatten out the fields and add some additional dirt to stabilize it as much as we can."

Aguilar said, the plan was not well received throughout the community.

"The city official and previous representatives have said that 'no, they can just go and put a new layer of dirt around it,'" said Aguilar. "Which is kind of putting a new layer of icing on a cake that was built wrong, it ain't gonna make the cake better."

The areas in the districts of El Paso have recently been reassigned, Annello is now in charge of overseeing this project.

"We need to sit down with staff, and if it comes to it we have to have a conversation with council and a decision needs to be made because this community has been in limbo for too long," said Annello "'Well somebody said this and somebody said that, we could do this.' It's like, no, we need a definitive decision as to what's gonna happen and we need to do it quickly."

Annello said this is a project which shouldn't be done at the lowest cost to the consumer, because a park is open to the public, and is needed especially in the underserved parts of the city.

The park was built right next to a water sanitation plant, which fills the air with a strong smell, and is surrounded by lots full of waste or construction material. Residents wish to see all of these gone.

"Anything is realistic, it's just how much the city wants to put into a commitment to these communities right?" said Annello.

Annello told residents she met with Wednesday in front of Modesto Gomez Park, that she would bring this issue up to council in July.