Border Highway to remain closed during papal visit

international airport in juarez. for those of you hoping the city of el paso would reverse its decision to close off the border highway … so you could possibly catch a glimpse of the pope… sorry to tell you, it’s not happening. good evening and thank you for joing us on abc- seven at six tonight. i’m estela cas. and i’m rick cabrera. the city of el paso is sticking to it’s decision to close the border highway to spectators for the pope’s visit next week. city employees say it would cost the city an additional 188- thousand dollars to allow a crowd of people to stand on the border. they say 173-thousand would go to pay 350 officers for 12 hour shifts – including the overtime. the rest of that money would go toward fencing … signs … security … and even porta- potties. this would be on top of the million dollars the city is expected to spend on security and logisitcs. the mayor in december briefly entertained the idea of allowing spectators but the city attorney says that would blur the separation of church and state. council heard from the secret service and the railroad police who support the police’s plan to close the highway. law enforcement says there’s not enough time, resources and money to safely allow spectators: “we need to plan for medica response, we need to plan for medical access. we need to pan for facilities for both people who are able to ambulate and those who have some disability. we have to plan for the hazmat component for the waste removal.” city rep. emma acosta proposed notifying the public that providing security for spectators of the mass would cross the line between church and state. the discussion created some tense moments between the mayor and the newest city rep. abc-seven’s maria garcia continues our top story coverage.. city rep. peter svarzbein put this item on the agenda, along with emma acosta. he says it’s not okay that the police and the mayor were talking about pope plans weeks before they notified the city manager and council. the mayor says he acted within his purview and the police presented the plan to council as soon as was practically possible: 00-07 09:38 why dindn’t we have an opportunity to review this plan or to vet it out or to ask questions about it two month ago or a month ago and not two weeks ago 04:10 not until you know what the process is going to be and it’s going to involve city resources than you can involve the city manager mayor oscar leeser says he first learned about the pope’s visit on december 10th from the juarez mayor. and then called the fbi. he says he and the police didn’t notify the city manager about logistical plans until january because there was nothing concrete before that. as federal and local agencies were still trying to figure out who’d be the lead on the event – depending on if the pope crossed the border. 06:50 the issues of police, the issues of fire, the issues of security are operational issues. these are issues that should be handled through the city manager’s office 07:12 we have a council manager form of government, it’s not a strong mayor form of government. 04:22 when i became involved is because i’m the governing affairs for the city of el paso and workign with the city of juarez, that is my job chief greg allen and the mayor at one point agitated with svarzbein’s questioning: 03:21 and to continue to question the chief which was and that we question their integrity or maybe their decision making at one point we have to stop questioning and start supporting 08:09 we’re in a democracy. we have a government that is based upon checks and balances. questioning authority and questioning what we’re being told is part and parcel of being a city representative. svarzbein and city rep. claudia ordaz were the only ones who voted against acosta’s motion which solidified the closure. the segundo barrio will be closed to traffic on the day pope francis is in juarez … from three that morning … … until he is back on a plane heading back to the vatican. the perimeter includes loop 375 to the south… campbell street to the west … paisano to the north … and coles and first street to the east. tonight… abc-7’s ashlie rodriguez takes you inside the segundo barrio… and shows us why one council rep.