A Path Forward for El Paso’s Downtown

By Carlos Gallinar

One thing we are learning as we adapt to COVID-19 is that the future cannot be like the past. If El Paso is to recover from this pandemic, we will need to reimagine the possibilities for our economy, quality of life, and civic responsibility we have to each other. We also cannot allow this pandemic to paralyze us to the point of further inaction.

The last eight years should have been one of the City’s most prosperous periods. Instead, it’s been one of the most disappointing. We have now had two mayors with the opportunity to lead the effort on the quality of life bond and both have failed. By now we should be a city with new and varied parks, recreational amenities, and a robust downtown with a children’s museum, a Mexican American cultural center, and a multipurpose performing and cultural arts center.

I recognize the public sentiment varies on the quality of life bond. Some people doubt these projects will be completed. Some have concerns about the City’s processes. And many would like to see something get done. But the overall public consensus is we need a resolution that includes a thoughtful and genuine effort to end the impasse and continue to improve our downtown.

The responsibility for leading rests with the mayor of El Paso.

As mayor, I will work to unite our community around a comprehensive downtown strategy that includes a resolution on the multipurpose performing and cultural arts center.

Complete the Downtown Resurgence: Every major American city has revitalized its downtown and El Paso should be no exception. A vibrant downtown adds to the quality of life for residents and fuels a robust regional economy. I would add that building the multipurpose performing and cultural arts center and revitalizing Duranguito must exist as part of a broader downtown vision. But this bold vision must be developed and gain consensus by our community.

As a framework for this community conversation, I propose we aspire to a downtown with these essential elements:

• Housing: We will create a tangible and practical housing strategy. This will include market-rate housing, mixed-income developments, and affordable housing for working families.
• Central Park: San Jacinto cannot be the only park in our downtown. We need a multi-use and multi-purpose sizeable urban park that can attract businesses and residents to downtown.
• Ground-Floor Retail: There are still many inactive buildings with vacant first floors. By incubating small businesses in these ground floor spaces, we can create local jobs and assist property owners with the costs of refurbishing their properties. Priority should be given to historic structures that can benefit from state and federal tax credits.
• Grocery Store: If we are going to attract new residents to downtown, we need a large grocery store that can augment the small family-owned grocers. A full-fledge grocery store can facilitate everyday purchases attracting residents to downtown.
• Movie Theatre: A movie theatre downtown would invite residents from various parts of the city to come downtown. Movie theatres help augment the success of other related businesses such as restaurants and bars.
• International Mass Transit: There are very few cities in the world situated on an international boundary. We have a unique opportunity to create physical and economic linkages with our sister city through a mass transit system. This can create a seamless binational urban core for residents on both sides of the border.
• Art District: As more and more people visit downtown El Paso, we need to showcase our region’s many cultural and artistic talents. Through an official Art District, we can provide the world a glimpse of our unique culture and character while creating jobs for artists.
• Increasing Capacity to the Judson F. Williams Convention Center: If we are going to increase our tourist economy, we will need to increase the capacity of the convention center. Now that several of our key landmark hotels are renovated, we need to have a strategy for how to fill them up. Increasing capacity to the convention center will increase the city’s ability to attract conventions and events resulting in more visitors to El Paso.

Relocate the Multipurpose Performing & Cultural Arts Center: I believe there is still an opportunity to salvage the project — but it starts with changing the location. I will work with members of the public, Duranguito stakeholders, the private sector, and downtown property owners, to identify an alternative location within the downtown footprint. As part of this plan, we need to identify sources of financing that do not add more debt or increase taxes. I will advocate for public-private partnerships and sources of revenue from the state and federal governments.

The City has not given this project the attention it deserves. My administration will engage in robust public participation, present financing options to complete the project, and determine how to move forward.

Revitalize Duranguito: Engaging and working with residents, artists, historians, architects, and city planners, we can find creative solutions to reinvigorate this area. Duranguito can once again be a vibrant and thriving neighborhood with mixed-income housing, neighborhood retail, locally-owned shops, and opportunities for cultural heritage tourism through historic preservation. This can augment the past efforts of the Union Plaza Entertainment District and complete that area’s revitalization.

El Pasoans know how to come together. We’ve seen it done before. And if we are going to ensure that El Paso recovers from the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, we will need to be better together. We will need to do things. Let’s fulfill our ambitions and finalize these bond projects once and for all and finish what we’ve started downtown. We need a path forward that is inclusive of everyone and provides solutions for a future that is different from our past.

About Carlos

Carlos is a native El Pasoan, the first person in his family to attend and graduate college. He has dedicated his life to improving the lives of El Pasoans. His work includes affordable housing development, community master plans, modernizing school facilities, and international philanthropic work. For the last three years Carlos has managed his own small business — Gallinar Planning & Development, LLC focusing on community development and urban planning. His goal is to improve the quality of life for all El Pasoans through a more sustainable and healthier city.

Carlos has been married for 15 years to Janine, a social worker and mental health professional. They met while volunteering at Annunciation House, an immigrant shelter and refugee advocacy center. They live in El Paso’s historic Sunset Heights neighborhood with their two young children, Olivia and Joaquin.

You can learn more about Carlos and his run for Mayor of El Paso at www.gallinarforelpaso.com.