Sam Armijo, candidate for El Paso City Council District 1
Name: Sam Armijo
Occupation: Retired
Relevant Experience
I have an excellent education and extensive leadership experience in business and government. I have earned the following degrees:
- BS in Metallurgical Engineering from Texas Western College
- MS from the University of Arizona
- PhD in Materials Science from Stanford University
In addition, I have completed several General Electric business management courses including GE’s Executive Development course in Europe and have taken courses in Contracts and Torts from Santa Clara University School of Law.
During my GE career, I served in several executive positions including:
- General Manager of GE’s Nuclear Energy Technical Services business, providing engineering and licensing services to operating Boiling Water Reactors worldwide.
- General Manager of GE’s Aerospace Space Power business supplying advanced nuclear power sources for civil and defense applications. I managed classified and non-classified projects for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense.
- General Manager of GE Nuclear Energy’s Global Nuclear Fuels business. This business provided engineering services and nuclear fuel to numerous clients in the U.S., Mexico, Asia and Europe from factories in the United States, Japan and Spain.
- Director, Japan Nuclear Fuel Co. Ltd. (Hitachi, Toshiba, GE Joint Venture)
- Founding President, GENUSA Nuclear Fuels S.A. (GE ENUSA Joint Venture)
After retirement from GE, I joined the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards and served for eight years. This Congressionally-mandated independent committee advises the Nuclear Regulatory Commissioners on all regulatory and licensing matters. During my Chairmanship from 2012 to 2014, the ACRS dealt with many issues including:
- The U.S. response to the Fukushima disaster.
- The safety review of the new nuclear power plant design for the U.S. Navy’s Gerald Ford aircraft carrier which was then under construction.
Personal
I was born and raised in El Paso. I grew up on Myrtle Avenue in downtown El Paso and attended St, Mary’s grade school, and Cathedral high school. I had three brothers and one sister and had a safe and happy childhood. Like most El Paso families, my parents believed in God, hard work, education, living within our means, and helping our community whenever possible. Those values have guided me through life.
After earning a degree in Metallurgical Engineering from Texas Western College and a commission in the U.S. Army at age 20, I made the best decision of my life and asked my beautiful Raquel to be my wife. She accepted and we were happily married for 67 years, and have two sons, one daughter and two grandchildren.
I am a United States Army veteran, and served at Ft. Hood Texas, Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Md and Ft. McCoy Wisconsin. After military service I earned advanced engineering and science degrees from the University of Arizona, Stanford University.
I have held many jobs, but the most important have been with the General Electric Company, the Nuclear Regulatory Agency and my own consulting business. In the course of my career, I managed several large businesses and travelled all over the world. I have published over 50 engineering and scientific papers in peer reviewed journals, been granted 14 U.S. and international patents, and received many awards.
I have been amply rewarded in my career and have earned the means to give back to my hometown. In 1984 I endowed a presidential scholarship in Materials Science at UTEP and last year broadened eligibility to all students in the College of Engineering. To date over 60 scholarships have been granted and sufficient funds are available to award many more.
I am blessed with excellent health, a good sense of humor, and the ability to solve difficult problems with organizations and people from many different countries. I enjoy reading, playing golf, and swimming.
What is your position on data centers?
I oppose them. If elected, the first thing I will do is urge fellow district representatives to ban the permitting of any new data center application and focus our efforts on resolving the many problems created by the META project.
The current city council seems to think that El Paso has no ability to bring META to the negotiating table to correct the worst provisions of the existing 380 agreement.
I disagree. If elected to the city council, I will use every available regulatory and permitting authority to protect our citizens. These include exercising oversight involving El Paso Water’s decisions that would increase the cost of water to our citizens, advocating against any El Paso Electric policy that could increase the cost of electricity to our citizens due to the construction and operation of the META facility.
Today the city council appears to be negotiating some sort of community agreement with META. El Paso taxpayers don’t want a basket of token goodies or promises from META. El Paso taxpayers want an amended 380 contract that will insulate them from all costs for electric power and water created by the construction and operation of the META data center. In addition, El Paso taxpayers want significant reductions of the tax abatement giveaways in the current 380 contract.
META management is aware that El Paso citizens are united in opposition to data centers in general and META’s in particular. I have run large businesses and know that most want to avoid long-term acrimonious relations with the citizens and governments of the communities in which they operate. If META wants to have good relations with El Paso, I believe that it is possible to renegotiate the current 380 contract into one that is reasonable and fair to both El Paso citizens and META.
What would you do differently to reduce property taxes?
I was the only candidate for city council to speak before the city council during their discussions about setting next year’s tax rate and budget. On August 4 and August 17, I presented the council with a detailed plan to defer and cut $21 million from low-priority activities in the proposed budget and permit the council to adopt a no-new-revenue tax rate. This proposal would not have cut funding for our first responders, city employees or essential services. The city council instead voted on August 18 to set a tax rate that substantially increased our property taxes.
There is plenty of wasteful spending in this new budget. If I am elected, I will work to cut this spending permanently from the budget and promote the adoption of a permanent no new revenue tax rate for El Paso. In addition, I will work to extract much more revenue for the general fund from the various businesses and properties that the City of El Paso owns.
What’s your position on the Deck Plaza project?
I oppose the Deck Plaza because it will be a costly entertainment facility that El Paso doesn't need, doesn’t want, and can't afford. Here are my reasons:
The promoters of the project want to build the Deck Plaza over four of the six downtown overpasses between Santa Fe and North Kansas streets. The overpasses on El Paso and North Stanton streets will be completely blocked, forcing drivers to use the remaining overpasses. Unfortunately for drivers, the traffic over the adjacent overpasses on North Oregon and North Mesa will be impeded by the need to create safe crosswalks to allow visitors to walk from one end of the Deck Plaza to the other. In other words, it will create chronic traffic congestion in downtown El Paso.
The widening of I-10 in downtown El Paso is not necessary. Today traffic in this part of I-10 flows smoothly at all hours of the day in both directions. Widening of I-10 to provide a base for the Deck Plaza will take years and create a traffic nightmare for El Paso drivers.
I-10 is a federal highway, and its purpose is to provide safe and efficient transportation. Its roadways and overpasses should not be used by local developers to build entertainment facilities. I have written to the Secretary of Transportation to urge the Department to deny permission for such use.
The Deck Plaza will cost far more than the original $207 million touted by promoters and their powerful backers. Thanks to Max Grossman's use of the Freedom of Information Act, we now know that the city council paid one million dollars for a detailed cost estimate by a reputable engineering and construction company. Their estimate was a whopping $412 million. Like all major city construction projects, it will probably cost a lot more. The promoters aren’t worried because they plan to pass these costs on to El Paso taxpayers.
The promoters of the Deck Plaza claim that the project will pay for itself because it will attract thousands of tourists who will spend millions of dollars in El Paso and provide a long-term revenue stream. This is nonsense, the claimed financial benefits to the city have no basis other than unsupported assumptions, unsupported claims, and the unrealistic hopes of the project's visionaries.
El Paso has the worst combination of low income and the highest property taxes of any large city in Texas. It is unconscionable for City and County officials to ignore these realities and insist on adding hundreds of millions of new City and County debt for a totally discretionary entertainment venue. I intend to stop them.
What are your plans to ensure transparency and make sure you are accessible to constituents?
During my business career I maintained an open-door policy for my colleagues, employees and clients. This timely communication alerted me to pending problems or opportunities and gave me time to solve the problems and exploit the opportunities. I plan to use the same easy communication with my constituents in addition to regular District 1 meetings.
What makes you the best candidate?
I have much more experience in managing large and complex enterprises than the incumbent and the other candidates for District 1 Representative. I know how to read and negotiate multimillion dollar contracts, and how to find and cut wasteful spending. I have no problem saying no to new spending proposals that do not directly benefit the taxpayers of El Paso. I do not seek or accept large campaign donations and am funding my own campaign. Unlike other candidates, I do not have any business in or with the city and will not be a part-time representative. Most importantly, my sole commitment is to the hard-working taxpayers of El Paso.
