Residents living in Chamizal area plead with EPISD to not build bus hub

Wednesday evening, residents living in the Chamizal area pleaded with El Paso Independent School District board trustees to not build a bus hub at Bowie High School.

Residents say the bus hub would create more traffic and pollution.

“We don’t want the bus hub in our community. Our community cannot handle any more stress that pertains to our environment and the safety of our children,” said Hilda Villegas, a Chamizal resident.

Villagas was one of several that spoke out against EPISD’s plan to build a hub that will hold 80 buses on the Bowie High School campus.

“Our school is not a junkyard I’m sorry,” said another resident.

Residents living in the Chamizal area say they already have to endure pollution from the nearby Bridge of the Americas.

They say 80 buses and a maintenance shop for the rest of the district’s buses will only compound the problem.

“We’re talking about our children … our children matter and they don’t have a price. Their health doesn’t have a price,” Villegas said.

District spokeswoman Melissa Martinez said the district is moving forward with the project.

“The buses meet all the required environmental standards. They run on natural gas they don’t have the emissions of older buses,” Martinez said.

Martinez added that the school will be beautified in the process.

“Some new landscaping, some new green spaces will be added to that area so we are not taking away green space. What’s currently there is a parking lot and we will actually be adding some green space to that location,” Martinez said.

Opponents of the bus hub say they are going to create a campaign to stop the construction of the hub.

The district says the hub will be completed by 2019.