El Paso bar possibly opening new location in Las Cruces
A group of Las Crucens is fighting to keep a new country music bar from coming to the city, but others say the city needs more nightlife.
Timothy J. Wilson, an El Paso businessman, is trying to build a new bar and restaurant on a lot on Union Avenue. The proposed bar would be located across the street from a student apartment complex and a few minutes away from New Mexico State University.
While some are trying to fight it, NMSU students and some nearby business owners said it’s a much-needed addition.
Our New Mexico Mobile Newsroom asked students on campus where they go out in Las Cruces.
“Uh, nowhere. The movies, maybe, sometimes,” one student said.
“There’s not really places to go here in Las Cruces,” another student said.
“We go usually down to El Paso,” a third student said.
That seems to be the consensus at NMSU.
Just a few minutes away, Whiskey Dick’s could open if the city approves.
A petition against the bar has been submitted to the city council with two and a half pages of signatures.
ABC-7 was unable to get comment from some of those petitioners.
“At the beginning, I signed a petition not to do it and then I thought about it and I didn’t see why not,” said Ricardo Rasura, the owner of A & R Home Goods, next door to the proposed club.
The petition cites concerns about the bar’s location near a church and bringing criminal activity to the neighborhood.
According to the application for the bar’s liquor license, the bar meets all of the distance requirements to be approved. The Alcohol and Gaming Division gave the bar preliminary approval.
Police and traffic reports also concluded the bar would not have a negative impact.
Rasura told ABC-7 the bar would be a great addition to the city.
“I feel like Las Cruces can use a new nightclub. Here we only have one downtown and all the kids either go there or have to drive to El Paso, which makes it very dangerous. They’re coming back from El Paso drunk,” he said.
The city will hear public comments on the issue at Tuesday’s city council meeting. Then the council will decide whether or not to approve the bar’s liquor license.
