Shelving the Bicycle Plan?

Scott White and Mayor Oscar Leeser help to launch SunCycle Bike Share in September 2015.
(Picture stolen without permission from Scott's Facebook page.)

One wonders whether El Paso is really serious about its Bicycle Master Plan or if the plan was just window dressing like Tree El Paso. 

Recently the City announced that it was looking for a Bicycle Program Coordinator - someone to push the Bike Plan. Scott White applied. Scott is a leader in the bicycling community and the Policy Director of Velo Paso. He would have been the ideal person for the job. Unfortunately, after applying, Scott got this reply from the City:

"Thank you for your interest in the Bicycle Program Coordinator position with the City of El Paso. We appreciate your time and effort spent in completing the application and collecting the needed documents. Unfortunately, although this is an important position, the City has decided to cancel this recruitment and we invite you to apply for this position when it opens for recruitment, or other positions with the City as vacancies occur and are advertised. Please check our website weekly for new openings at http://www.elpasotexas.gov.

If you have any questions, please call us at 915-212-7321.

Hiring Department"


Hiring Department? How personal! The "City has decided to cancel this recruitment . . . " Probably it will be like the Veterans Officer that the City Manager also promised but is a position that doesn't seem to be going anywhere these days.

Scott emailed me that "canceling the recruitment" (great euphemism) "could spell the end of the Bike Program and lead to the shelving of the Bicycle Master Plan." Mr. White tells us that much time, energy and resources went into the plan.

El Paso is part of the important Southern Tier Bicycle Route. However, from city limit to city limit, bicyclers probably should do some praying.