City reps discuss east El Paso growth on ABC-7 Xtra

One visit to east and far east El Paso leaves no doubt the city is expanding at a rapid rate.

Now, city council is forced to catch up to the growth that has left residents without enough resources.

On Sunday night’s ABC-7 Xtra, city representatives Claudia Ordaz and Dr. Michiel Noe discussed what their districts need and what is being done so far.

Ordaz represents the Montwood, Americas, Del Valle and Ysleta high school neighborhoods.

Dr. Michiel Noe said his district continues to move eastward and has seen some shifts. Noe’s district covers Montwood Drive and neighborhoods north of that toward Montana Avenue. The western boundary lies between Lee Boulevard and George Dieter, along Montana.

Both agreed that their districts lack some of the basic necessities like fire stations, a police command center and quality of life amenities. The closest police command post is located near Yarbrough and Pebble Hills.

“We don’t have a police station, we’re the only district in the city that doesn’t have one. We don’t even have one near the district. They’re having to pull police out of Pebble Hills (command center), so response times are bad,” Noe said.

Ordaz said the average wait time for police response is seventeen minutes in east El Paso.

She said council approved funding so that there are 300 new officers by 2020, but no plans for a command center have been approved.

Noe attributed the growth to cheap land being developed into new homes and businesses.

He said council did follow the ‘Plan El Paso’ master plan by adding small parks, but none are large enough to house a recreation or senior center.

Noe said the far eastside will see a recreation center in 2020.

Transportation is also a big challenge for residents, according to Noe.

He said the growth of the eastside is causing major congestion because there are not enough streets to get drivers to major highways and streets.

Ordaz said streets maintenance is also on the priority list for improvements in east El Paso neighborhoods.

“When we’re talking about the massive growth on the far eastside of town, now we can’t really define what the city limits are anymore,” Ordaz said.

She said the 79928 zip code, which sits just east of the city limits, grew eleven times faster than El Paso from 2011 to 2016.

The 79928 zip code grew by about 13,000 residents and the city grew by about 17,000 in the same time frame.

“It’s going to be imperative that we have a strategic plan that’s going to be sustainable to provide these services, whether you’re inside or outside of the region,” Ordaz said.

It is still unclear when the eastside master plan will be complete.

You can watch last night’s ABC-7’s Xtra here.