City Street Projects Lead to Controversy

street paving in el paso continues… … with city rep. larry romero taking criticism for allegedly changing the master list of projects… … to have more improvements in his district. but now we’re learning that there were other projects added as well. we continue our complete coverage tonight… … with abc-7’s andrew j. polk live outside city hall. andrew? rick and estela, the original list was voted on back in 2012. but the city capital improvements department says it’s worked on about a dozen projects this year that aren’t on it: “it wasn’t until i got the call from you actually that i was able to go out and find that list.” district 7 cit rep lily limon says she had no idea that streets were being repaved this year that weren’t on the original list made in 2012. “the issue is complex. the original list of projects approved by city council includes zion street here in northeast el paso, a major thoroughfare for this neighborhood. but also getting worked on not in the original list includes yosemite, a block long street just off of zion.” “o of the other streets not on the original 2012 list is polk avenue, here in north central el paso. this also happens to be where representative for district 2 larry romero lives.” romero sot “s after doing a tour of our district, we told them okay, well we think these are the streets that you should be concentrating on first. whether it was because they were in worst shape than others, or whether strategically for our district that we have good access…” romero responded t questions about his involvement in the process monday… he said city staff asked for his input and toured the district with him. limon and robinson say the same thing.. “i have no knowledge as to how that happened.” but robinson and limon say that they were then waiting to hear what would happen with their input “you go out and see the street and say okay, this street is worse off than another that has a higher priority. yes, i have asked that. but in no way, in no time have i directed anyone to do anything.” “but i’m still waiting. tha just never happened even those these are critical streets.” ok andrew, thank you for the latest. step outside this evening and you can