Lower valley residents still waiting for the Brio system

the city’s brio system over the last seven years. our maria garcia learned the alameda brio was supposed to be operational now, but it may not be ready until 2018. she investigates why el pasoans are left waiting for the brio. it’s a story you’ll see only on abc-7. pkg 2:09-2:18 2:24-2:32 02:10 the bus really does take a long time to go from certain places maria jimenez rides sun metro from the lower valley to utep. it takes her almost an hour. 00:54 well it’s not fast but it’s here on time and that’s what i like about it maria’s commute could have been cut in half this year if the alameda brio would have been ready by the original date city officials envisioned. i combed through early planning documents obtained through the metropolitan planning organization. as well as prior city budgets. and found the city has over the years repeatedly changed the completion date of the alameda rapid transit system. in 2013; the city said all four brio corridors would be ready by 2017 – with alameda done by 2015. then in 2014, the city changed alameda’s completion date to early 2016. and now the city is saying alameda won’t be ready until late 2017 or early 2018 but don’t call it a delay. 07:14 we didn’t delay anything we were just trying to get things done the best way we could alameda brio is scheduled to run about 15 miles from deep in the lower valley near speaking rock through five points in central and downtown el paso. and initially the city said it’d cost 35 and a half million dollars. now that it’s coming three years later: city documents show it has increased to 38.8 million. 08:20 i get asked all the time well when it it coming? the city is under the microscope. residents questioning if it can deliver key projects on time. but city officials i spoke with say taking on almost 40 million dollars of debt for the alameda brio at a time of significant investment would have been too tough on taxpayers. according to early planning documents i obtained through the metropolitan planning organizaton: the federal government agreed to pay for three routes – and the city agreed to pay for one: alameda. but then voters approved nearly half a billion dollars in debt for the quality of life bond projects and the city said it couldn’t take on that much debt at that time. 04:07 that money has to fit in the debt model and so when you look at the quality of life projects that got added onto that debt model, we had to extend alameda little bit the other reason for delay: not all businesses were welcoming to future brio stops. 09:07 there were many situations when businesses did not want them in front of their business and we had to change that and change the whole plan 03:12 it is worth it 02:54 i’m staying positive about it just getting faster to places so i do appreciate it the alameda brio – will run almost ten years after the city began planning for it. if it stays on its new schedule. mg abc-7. el paso county will be suing one of the world’s largest automakers … for local damages from an emissions cheating scandal. commissioners say there have been air and water quality impacts in the borderland from volkswagen’s diesel emissions cheating … and they’re filing a case that won’t cost the county a cent. commissioners voted unanimously to file the case in an el paso state court… the case will be handled on a contingency payment basis … meaning the firm hired will only be paid a percentage if there is a judgment for the county, or a settlement. tomorrow night on abc-7 at ten — he’s