Freedom of Information Rally held in opposition to hotel-motel tax proposition

Opponents of the ballpark stadium aren’t giving up. They held a rally Monday to encourage people to vote against all three ballot propositions, particularly the hotel-motel tax that would fund stadium construction.

Opponents of the ballpark stadium aren’t giving up. They held a rally Monday to encourage people to vote against all three ballot propositions, particularly the hotel-motel tax that would fund stadium construction.

Recently Mayor John Cook said the stadium is a done deal.

It’s not a done deal,” said community activist Alejandro Lozano. “Sorry.”

But to the eclectic assortment of El Paso rally attendees, including former and current elected officials, the ball park stadium and other quality of life bonds are the conceptions of a shadow government.

“Our city council is making deliberations and did deliberate for many, many months amog certain council members and our city manager about putting this stadium together outside of the public eye,” said rally organizer Stephanie Townsend Allala.

Townsend Allala says El Paso representatives have decided to give half-a-billion taxpayer dollars to private entities, such as the Mountain Star Sports group, and the city’s usage of public money to make private deals has led her to file nearly $3000-dollars worth of information requests from the city for the last three months, including the personal emails of city representatives she believes hatched a stadium deal before the issue was put to vote.

“I think they’re trying to delay to release of these particular documents till after the November election,” Allala said. “I think there is something in those documents that might change or sway the voters opinions.”

But City Representative Steve Ortega disagrees. He says public money is still going to public goods and the projects placed on the ballot came from community input.

“Even the stadium, which she is erroneously saying is going to private interest,” Ortega said. “That’s not true. The stadium, once its built will be the property of the City of El Paso and our citizens.”

But anti-ballpark ralliers say if it really is their property, then let them vote on it. They’re using their voting power next week, when they vote against all three ballot propositions.

Townsend Allala said if the city does not turn over the personal emails by next week, she will file a lawsuit. Ortega said state laws regarding personal emails are in flux, but recently the council voted in closed session to keep them private.

(Oct. 2012 story)