Bravo Work-in-Progress Presentation!

Dover Kohl team members Pam Stacy, Megan McLaughlin, Steve Price with elpasonaturally author and Tommy Young at top of Ann Morgan Lilly Arroyo 41A. Picture by Judy Ackerman.

On Wednesday evening the Dover Kohl team of consultants gave a summary of their work so far regarding ASARCO and three transit corridors: Five Points, Oregon and Remcon Circle. You can read their post about it here.

There were a number from the open space/environmental community among the 80 or so attendees at the Main Downtown Library auditorium. The City Council members present were Susie Byrd, Beto O'Rourke, Steve Ortega and Ann Lilly. Conspicuously absent was Mayor John Cook. City Manager Joyce Wilson was there as were Debbie Hamlyn, Pat Adauto and Lupe Cuellar. Of course, Matt McElroy and Fred Lopez (the two unsung heroes for getting Dover Kohl to El Paso) were present.

DK's values of infill, preservation of natural open space, community building, walkability, understanding of peak oil and sustainability are enough to make one stand up and cheer. I cannot wait to see these people back in El Paso. I'm already missing them. I wanted to shout "Bravo" just to see their vision of Five Points which is walking distance from my Newman Park neighborhood. Obviously the team's knowledge of zoning laws and economics will help guide El Paso.

I asked Karen Peissinger-Venhaus for her comments and she replied:

"I have to say that the engaging streetscapes depicted during last night's WIP [Work-in-Progress] presentation were a sight for sore eyes. And, the whole Dover Kohl team was a breath of fresh air that El Paso has so desperately needed. I am so very glad City Council spent the (our) money to bring the team to El Paso to show all of us what is possible.

"I was especially encouraged to hear Peak Oil mentioned during the presentation, that it is being taken seriously.

"However, from what I heard and saw, my concerns are these: focus on consumption as a form of leisure, and the potential for displacing low-income people from their neighborhoods. My mantra is, 'design to include, not exclude.'"

Read Karen's blog, The Adventures of Pei. She is particulary interested in the issue of environmental racism which is particularly germane in this region. Also check out the blog where Karen was a guest author: Cheap Like Me.

City Council Creates new Open Space Advisory Board

At their regular meeting yesterday and by a 7 to 1 vote, the El Paso City Council created a new Open Space Advisory Board. Currently there is an Open Space sub-committee of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. Beginning with a retreat attended by some committee members at the end of January, a proposal was slowly formed to create a separate advisory board appointed by the Mayor and Council in order to focus additional attention on open space.

The Open Space Master Plan (Toward a Bright Future) is now over two years old. It recommended that several items be implemented in the first six months after its acceptance by Council. Not until PSB began formulating a Stormwater Master Plan this past fall were any of these recommendations even discussed. Why the delay to implement? Open Space was a sub-committee of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board and would report to that Board - a cumbersome group of 19 individuals most of whom were interested in neighborhood issues. If a suggestion did get out of the Advisory Board, it still had to go before a Legislative Review Committee of the City Council before reaching City Council itself. (By the way, Council also created yesterday a new nine-member Board of Parks and Recreation.)

Another reason for the delay has been the inability of the Open space sub-committee to overcome the departmental layers of the city bureaucracy: Developmental Services, Parks and Recreation, Planning, and so forth.

With a new Advisory Board that works within the Parks and Recreation Department and reports directly to City Council, the Master Plan can begin to be implemented in a more timely fashion. The creation of the new Board removes levels of bureaucracy - something Representative Holguin didn't understand in spite of a chart created by Dr. Rick Bonart that shows the simpler pathway from Board to Council. (Holguin was the lone "no" vote against the proposal.)

The new ordinance states clearly that one of the board's duties will be to "provide recommendations on the implementation of 'Towards a Bright Future: A Green Infrastructure Plan for El Paso, Texas', commonly referred to as the Open Space Master Plan."

A Stormwater Engineer of the El Paso Water Utilities Public Service Board shall be an ex-officio member of the Council - an important ingredient again in implementing the plan. Moreover, the Board will provide input to the Mayor and Council on "legislative matters pertaining to open space submitted to the board by the director of the Department of Parks and Recreation, the director of the Developmental Services Department, the Chief Executive Officer of the Public Service Board, the director of the Economic Development Department and the City Flood Plain Administrator or their designees."

Implementing the Open Space plan not only preserves and protects huge areas of the El Paso environment, it also will help to control sprawl. Similar to Boulder's decades old "blue line", the creation of open space will help the City better manage growth. Such management can lead to more infill so that developers will do more to improve not just vacant areas in El Paso but possibly the most blighted areas as well.

El Paso is certainly on the right path and that was further demonstrated by a Trail Master Plan Citizens' Group organized by Shamori Whitt, the City's Open Space, Trails and Parks Coordinator. The group met last night for three hours and helped to identify hike and bike trails around the City for preservation. Attending the meeting was Jared Mendoza of the Engineering Traffic Division. He is helping to make El Paso a more walkable community.

Open space, walkability, ecotourism, outdoor recreation - these are key terms for El Paso's future. City Council took a big step into that future by creating an independent Open Space Advisory Board.