Richard Genera, candidate for El Paso City Council District 5
Name: Richard Genera
Occupation: Community organization
Relevant Experience
My experience in public administration and community organizing has prepared me to serve in this office. Working in the District Attorney’s administrative office gave me firsthand experience in local government operations. Since transitioning to full-time community organizing, I have led community aid projects, organized volunteers, engaged directly with residents, and helped turn community concerns into meaningful action. As a lifelong El Pasoan, I understand our community’s needs and challenges. I bring a strong record of building relationships, encouraging civic engagement, and bringing people together to deliver results
Personal
I’m a born-and-raised El Pasoan and graduate of El Dorado High School. I hold a bachelor’s degree in Multidisciplinary Studies from UTEP, with focuses in Education, Political Science, and Computer Science. After working in the District Attorney’s administrative office, I transitioned to full-time community organizing. Over the past several years, I have organized community aid projects, mobilized volunteers, knocked on doors, and listened directly to the concerns of El Pasoans. This work has strengthened my ability to build relationships, bring people together, increase civic engagement, and turn community concerns into meaningful action.
What is your position on data centers?
Data centers have no place in our community if they cannot demonstrate a clear benefit to the people who live here. The available data I’ve seen does not show that another data center would make life more affordable for El Pasoans. Instead, these projects risk placing additional strain on our resources and housing affordability.
The current administration failed to sufficiently challenge or thoroughly explore the Meta agreement, which offered far too generous tax incentives. I would not support additional data center projects without clear, measurable benefits to our community. I would also push for policies that protect our resources and ensure tech companies are held accountable, rather than offering incentives that make El Paso an easy choice at our expense.
Our resources are valuable, but our people are more valuable. We should pursue business partnerships that share our community’s values and invest in our future. Success should not be measured by how many data centers we attract, but by whether our decisions make life better and more affordable for El Pasoans.
What would you do differently to reduce property taxes?
Effective oversight requires consistent engagement, accountability, and a clear understanding of how our city operates. I have it on good authority that many City Representatives, including my own, do not regularly meet with every Department Head, choosing instead to focus on a select few. Neglecting a significant portion of our city workforce leaves opportunities for wasteful spending and inefficient practices unaddressed.
During months of budget hearings, my current representative remained largely silent, offering staff pizza parties while failing to provide meaningful oversight or propose substantive changes. At the last minute, they voted against the budget without presenting a plan to reallocate funds or reduce spending while protecting critical city initiatives, including increased funding for firefighters. This created unnecessary chaos for city staff and resources and ultimately contributed to cuts to a proposed increase in Animal Services funding, despite the department’s importance to our community.
My office will take a different approach. I will meet directly with every City Department
Head, ask tough questions, engage with the people who understand their departments
best, and work collaboratively to identify wasteful spending and improve efficiency. I will
be present and actively involved throughout the budget process, proposing practical
solutions well before approval deadlines. Our responsibility is to manage taxpayer
dollars transparently, protect essential services, and ensure our city has the resources
to meet the needs of its residents.
What’s your position on the Deck Plaza project?
My first priority as a City Representative is affordability. When evaluating a project like the Deck Plaza, the fundamental question I have to ask is: how will this investment make life more affordable for my constituents, and what is the return to the city?
At this point, I have not seen a plan that demonstrates a clear and sufficient public benefit to justify the use of public funds. I would, however, be open to exploring partnerships with private entities, including opportunities for naming rights or other forms of private investment, that could reduce the burden on taxpayers and generate a positive return for the City sooner.
We also need to look beyond the initial construction cost. Much of the conversation has focused on how much it will cost to build the Deck Plaza, but we also need to ask who will pay to maintain, operate, repair, and eventually replace it. Those long-term costs could become a significant burden on the City and its taxpayers. I would support exploring public-private partnerships that could help cover ongoing maintenance and operating expenses, so the City is not left carrying the full cost for decades to come.
For those reasons, I am not currently supportive of using public funds to finance the Deck Plaza. Any future proposal should demonstrate a clear public benefit, responsible use of taxpayer dollars, and a compelling case for how the project improves the lives of District 5 residents.
What are your plans to ensure transparency and make sure you are accessible to constituents?
Transparency and accessibility go hand-in-hand. One of the practices my office will implement is weekly community meetings where constituents can directly engage with me and ask questions about the work of City Council.
At these meetings, I need to be able to answer: What am I working on this week? Why am I voting the way I’m voting? Where are taxpayer dollars going? Most importantly, how will these decisions make your life more affordable?
Transparent government means making information about votes, budgets, city projects, and spending, accessible and easy to understand. Constituents should not have to navigate complicated government processes to know what their elected representative is doing. I want my office to be accountable every week, not just on Election Day.
What makes you the best candidate?
The key distinction between my experience and my opponent’s is the opportunity each of us has had to demonstrate our leadership. My opponent has an established record in office. I bring years of community organizing, direct engagement with residents, and leadership in community and political organizations. My experience has taught me how to listen, build relationships, bring people together, and turn community concerns into meaningful action.
I believe effective leadership requires active engagement, accountability, and a genuine commitment to public service. I will not sit silently on the dais or treat attendance and voting as the extent of my responsibilities. I will ask tough questions, challenge assumptions, engage directly with city staff, and listen to residents before making decisions that affect their lives. I will do the work to understand the issues, examine the details, and ensure our city’s decisions reflect the needs of the people we serve.
I am running to bring an engaged, accessible, and accountable voice to City Hall. El Paso deserves a representative who is present, prepared, and willing to do the work—not just during council meetings, but every day. I intend to lead with purpose, ask questions without hesitation, and ensure that the voices of our community are heard and acted upon.
