Transmountain Scenic Corridor Is Still on Minds of Many

It's been 60 days since we presented to City Council the petition to preserve in perpetuity the Scenic Corridor along Transmountain. There was no decision except to begin a process to re-do the Northwest Master Plan with the guidance of Dover Kohl and include in that process the preservation of the land. Dover Kohl can't get started on that project until they finish the Comprehensive Plan for El Paso. Nevertheless, members of the Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition went to Council this morning and gave gentle reminders that the issue has not been forgotten. Planning will present an update next Tuesday to City Council. By schedule, that day will be the first time to make the promised 60 day update since September 20th when the certified petition was formally presented to Council.

Judy Ackerman and Raul Amaya spoke during public comment. Judy made it clear that, as Secretary of FMWC, she hears from many people. FMWC is a coalition of 30 other non-profit groups and has for its own membership 1200 people. Nearly 1600 signatures were certified on the petition.

Here is the text of Judy's remarks:

Good morning Honorable Mayor and City Council.

Thank you for this opportunity to address you on the topic of the Scenic Corridor. I am judy Ackerman, Secretary for the Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition. The Coalition has been a non-profit local organization since July 1978, dedicated to preserving and protecting the unique bio-diversity, geology and historical cultural heritage.

We are a coalition with 30 local non-profit organizations as members and they each have their own individual members. Additionally the Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition has over 1200 individual members.

The coalition members are YOUR constituents from the far east side, through central, northeast and all the way around to the far upper valley.

I’ve been getting phone calls, e-mails and members stopping me on the street asking, “What’s going on with the Transmountain Scenic Corridor?” They see the Scenic Corridor as vital to the integrity of our mountains and they are concerned about the delay in permanently protecting the city-owned land along the western slopes of our Franklin Mountains.

They see the mountain as vulnerable to bulldozers and paving and want YOU to protect our mountains.

We fully support the charrette process to gather public input to the planning process for El Paso’s future. We support your efforts with Dover Kohl.

We just wanted YOU to know what I am hearing from YOUR constituents. They want City Owned land permanently protected as natural open space.

Here is the text of Raul's remarks:

There are places in the world that should be left as they are; that should be preserved, conserved & protected for everyone’s benefit. Things like beautiful beaches, mountains & mountain vistas like the 700 acres of land along the western slope of Trans Mountain road that we the citizens of El Paso own.

There are places in the world that should belong to everyone in general & no one in particular & that because of their uniqueness & beauty shouldn’t be sold for private development & profit like the 700 acres of land along the western side of Trans Mountain road.

Everything, everyone & everyplace should not be for sale. Money is not all that matters in life. Commercial & residential development on every parcel of land regardless of its beauty & uniqueness should not be the predominant value.

Environmentalist author Edward Abbey wrote: "The love of wilderness is more than a hunger for what is always beyond reach; it is also an expression of loyalty to the earth, the earth which bore us and sustains us, the only paradise we shall ever know, the only paradise we ever need … wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit, as vital to our lives as water and good bread."

I’ll close my comments with a few lyrics from a popular song of my youth written by Joni Mitchell named Yellow Taxi.

They paved paradise and put up a parking lot with a pink hotel, a boutique and a swinging hot SPOT.

Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got ‘til it's gone.
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.

Please don’t be the “they” in this song.