Visit the El Paso Museum of Archaeology

The El Paso Museum of Archaeology always has worthwhile exhibits, events and lectures. It's well worth the visit at any time. You can even keep up with events at the archaeological museum by joining their email list.

Curator of Education, Marilyn Guida, tells us about what's happening this week at the museum:

Dear Friends of Archaeology,

This week at the El Paso Museum of Archaeology we have a Zip Tour of the Traditions and Symbols exhibit at 2 pm on Sun. Nov. 28 (tomorrow), an Adult Tour of the museum on Wed. Dec. 1 at 10 am, and a Family Workshop on Sat. Dec. 4 from 1:30 to 3:30 pm. Please see details below and share this message with your friends and family.

Zip Tour, Sunday, November 28, 2010, 2:00 pm, Free Admission

Curator of Education Marilyn Guida presents this brief tour of the Traditions and Symbols exhibit in which ten members of the Juntos Art Association of El Paso explore contemporary, historic, and prehistoric Mexican, Mexican-American, and indigenous Native American cultural traditions and symbols.

Adult Tour, Wednesday, December 1, 2010, 10:00 am, Free Admission

Docent Mike Iglar presents this free one-hour tour of the El Paso Museum of Archaeology and surrounding Chihuahuan Desert Gardens which will introduce adults to the people of El Paso’s ancient past from the Paleoindians who lived here 14,000 years ago to the Mescalero Apache people of today. Visitors will also see prehistoric artifacts from several regions of México. To enjoy the gardens, wear suitable clothing, shoes, and sun protection. Reservations are not necessary but contact the museum if you plan to attend, 915-755-4332; guidamr@elpasotexas.gov.

Family Workshop: Holiday Designs in Metal Embossing/Repujado with Maria Almeida Natividad

For Adults and Children Ages 6 and Up

Seating for Maximum of 30 Participants

Saturday, December 4, 2010, 1:30 – 3:30 pm

Admission: $2.00 for museum members; $5.00 for non- members

ADVANCE PAID REGISTRATION REQUIRED

Information and registration: 915-755-4332 or guidamr@elpasotexas.gov.

El Paso artist Maria Almeida Natividad leads adults and children in creating holiday-themed art using the ancient art of embossing or pressing shapes into metal to create a design in this workshop. Aluminum foil metal and other materials will be supplied. Traditional holiday designs such as Christmas trees, candy canes, stars, and ojos de Dios/eyes of God will be provided. Adults and children may select a design or create their own, then add an antique look with paints and/or markers. The metal embossing technique, called repujado in Spanish, arrived in Mexico during Spanish colonization.

Museum Location: 4301 Transmountain Road, El Paso 79924

You may also want to consider joining the El Paso Archaeological Society.

Hike Planned to Plane Crash Site

Click image to enlarge.

The Sunrise Group of the Elpasonaturally Hikers are planning a hike to see the site of the November 9th single engine plane crash. Miraculously all 3 game wardens escaped critical injury including one female who was trapped in the plane for 2 hours. All 3 are reportedly well now.

Hikers plan to meet this Tuesday morning at 7 a.m. at the Shell station on I-10 and Transmountain and will carpool just east of mile marker 5 along Highway 404 (O'Hara Road). The plane, which came down in the same canyon where the trail to the Anthony Gap cave is located, is believed to still be there.

Our Place in Nature

Veronica Chavira sent a lovely note to Judy Ackerman which was forwarded to me since I am a board member of the Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition. Veronica shared a passage from What Is Tao by Alan Watts, someone whose writings have had a deep influence on me. With all the recent political ramblings and rumblings, it is easy to forget that our subject is sustainability and that sustainability must be grounded in matters of the spirit and the heart. It is impossible to speak of sustainable agriculture or sustainable community, for example, without thinking about the things which sustain the spirit.

Responding to the issues around Natural Open Space, Veronica wrote:

"When I climb the mountains I feel renewed. I look at the development on our mountain and feel a sense of loss as an animal having to find a new home, a sense of displacement overwhelms me. Understanding the same feelings of loving the mountain and wanting to live in a natural environment, construction and land development continues in this space. A sense of oneness with the land penetrates my body and I feel I am home."

She shares this passage from Chapter One ("Our Place in Nature") of What Is Tao:

Our Place In Nature- Chapter One
Many years ago, when I was only about fourteen years old, I first saw landscape paintings from the Far East. It was as a result of looking at these painting that I first became interested in Eastern philosophy. What grasped me and excited me about the Asian vision of the world was their astonishing sympathy and feeling for the world of nature.

One painting in particular that I remember was called Mountain after Rain. It showed the mist and clouds drifting away after a night of pouring rain, and it somehow pulled me into it and made me feel part of that mountain scene. It is fascinating for us to consider that pictures of this kind are not just what we would describe as landscape paintings, because they are also icons, a kind of religious or philosophical painting.

In the West, when we think of iconographic or religious paintings, we are accustomed to pictures of divine human figures and of angels and saints. When the mind of the Far East expresses its religious feeling, however, it finds appropriate imagery in the objects of nature, an in it's very important respect their feeling for nature is different from ours. The contrast in these two forms of expression arises as a result of the sensation that the human being is not someone who stands apart from nature and looks at it from the outside, but instead is an integral part of it. Instead of dominating nature, human beings fit right into it and feel perfectly at home.

In the West our attitude is strangely different, and we constantly use a phrase that sounds peculiar indeed in the ears of a Chinese person: We speak of "the conquest of nature" or "the conquest of space," and the "conquest" of great mountains like Everest. And one might very well ask us, "What on Earth is the matter with you? Why must you feel as if you are in a fight with your environment all the time? Aren't you grateful to the mountain that it lifted you up as you climbed to the top of it? Aren't you grateful to space that it opens itself up for you so you can travel right through It?"

Indeed, it is this domineering feeling that underlies the way we use technology. We use the powers of electricity and the strength of steel to carry on a battle with our external world, and instead of trying to live with the curvature of the land we flatten it with bulldozers, and constantly try to beat our surroundings into submission.

CPC Says "No" to NOS Zoning

At its long awaited meeting this afternoon and after a long period of staff, PSB and public comment, the City Plan Commission passed a motion that recommends not designating land in the Transmountain Scenic Corridor as Natural Open Space and, instead, to recommend development of the land using Smart Codes. It would seem that City Planner Matt McElroy had the most influence on the CPC as he argued that more land would be preserved as open space under smart code development rather than rezoning the corridor as NOS. Furthermore, McElroy argued that preserving the corridor with NOS zoning would cause leapfrog sprawling (north and south of the corridor) which is something Council and the City wants to prevent. (Nothing was said that the corridor could be preserved and that smart code would then be applied to development north and south of it and that such development - rather than be leapfrogging - would be joined by adjacent developments west of the area.)

Also, in spite of proposed changes to the NOS ordinance itself, CPC members were persuaded that zoning the land as NOS might jeopardize the $80 million non-public approved TxDOT plan (which includes the illegal Plexxar intersection) and needed water utility infrastructure could not be built. Neither McElroy nor EPWU spokesman, Nick Costanza, attempted to clear up these misrepresentations.

The suggestion was also made by McElroy and Costanza that some "deal" had been struck between City Manager, Joyce Wilson, and EPWU CEO, Ed Archuleta, regarding smart growth plans. Of course, the public is never privy to such behind-closed-door deals that should be out in the open.

The Westside Master Plan has huge problems according to URS, the consulting firm that gave the City as stormwater master plan. TxDOT proposes to build a freeway/highway that includes an illegal intersection - Plexxar. Finally preserving the Scenic Transmountain Corridor does not mean leapfrogging - but that argument was not countered certainly because advocates of open natural space did not expect the knife in the back from Matt McElroy. Et tu, Matt? Twist it a bit more the next time, will you?

What's next? The matter goes to City Council probably in early January after a final survey is done. Assuming that there are not sufficient votes to override a veto from John Cook, then many have already begun talking about forcing TxDOT to get an Environmental Impact Statement (certainly a lose/lose proposition) and going to a special election by which the people of El Paso can finally be heard. This one is far from over.

Coalition of Neighborhood Associations Overwhelmingly Passes Resolution Supporting Natural Open Space

Last night at their monthly meeting, the Neighborhood Coalition of El Paso voted overwhelmingly in support of a resolution for preserving the Transmountain Scenic Corridor by rezoning it as Natural Open Space. 79% of registered City of El Paso neighborhood associations present supported City Council's direction to staff to rezone the land and to seek a conservation easement to preserve that land in perpetuity.

The resolution also called for modifying the TxDOT plans by moving Paseo del Norte west toward Gas Line Road and expanding Transmountain east of Gas Line at grade - no overpasses or interchanges. They also called on the City to modify the Westside Master Plan.

Coalition President, Mark Benitez, called the resolution "perfect". He told me that he has signed it and, once I have a copy of the signed resolution, I will publish it. For now, here is the text:

Resolution Supporting Re-Zoning Land in the Transmountain Scenic Corridor as Natural Open Space

WHEREAS: the Transmountain Scenic Corridor in northwest El Paso is the only scenic corridor and can be preserved by rezoning it as Natural Open Space and by creating a conservation easement which will keep the land as Natural Open Space in perpetuity;

WHEREAS: the City Council of El Paso, Texas directed City staff to initiate the process for rezoning at its regular meeting on October 12, 2010;

WHEREAS: amenities such as open space, parks, additional outdoor recreational opportunities and scenic beauty will attract quality businesses and industries to re-locate to El Paso and offer higher-paying, quality jobs;

WHEREAS: the PSB’s selling land for the Westside Master Plan will not significantly affect or reduce our water rates and, in fact, additional infrastructure costs associated with land sales, result in a net loss to rate payers;

WHEREAS: more development especially on the mountain side requires more additional City services in the way of fire, police, schools, roads and more and those services become a heavier burden on us as tax payers;

WHEREAS: all of our neighborhoods and all of us benefit from natural open space and scenic beauty;

WHEREAS: preserving the Transmountain scenic corridor by rezoning approximately 800 acres as Natural Open Space will not hold up the TxDOT proposal for improvements to Transmountain from I-10 to the entrance to the Tom Mays Unit of the Franklin Mountains State Park nor jeopardize the $80 million for the project as some have misrepresented;

WHEREAS: the Open Space Advisory Board of the City of El Paso has recommended moving the proposed Paseo del Norte interchange west toward Gas Line Road and expanding the current two lanes to four at grade only from Gas Line to the State Park entrance as a further means of preserving the scenic corridor;

WHEREAS: that expansion can be done because of right of ways given to TxDOT by the Public Service Board in exchange for conduits under Transmountain;

WHEREAS: necessary major and minor water utility infrastructures can be built on land zoned as Natural Open Space so that our fellow El Pasoans in adjacent areas can be provided with water and sewer services;

WHEREAS: the Westside Master Plan was created one year before the 2006 floods and needs major revision;

WHEREAS: the City, since 2006, has adopted Smart Growth policies and made other major changes to land planning that were not available when the Westside Master Plan was created and which are beneficial to all El Pasoans;

WHEREAS: Transmountain Road and the Westside Master Plan will impact our family’s and neighborhood’s quality of life for decades to come and those plans should be modified to protect the scenic corridor of Transmountain Road and reflect principles of Smart Growth, Green Infrastructure and Low Impact Development which are better for the environment and for protecting the cherished beauty of our mountains;

THEREFORE, BE IT HEREBY:

RESOLVED: The Neighborhood Coalition of El Paso strongly supports the City Council’s direction to staff on October 12, 2010 to rezone land in the Transmountain Scenic Corridor as Natural Open Space and to seek a conservation easement which will keep the land as Natural Open Space in perpetuity;

RESOLVED: The Neighborhood Coalition of El Paso supports moving the Paseo del Norte interchange to a location closer to Gas Line Road and expanding lanes east of Gas Line Road at grade only.

RESOLVED: The Neighborhood Coalition of El Paso asks City Council to direct City staff and the PSB to modify the Westside Master Plan in light of newer ways to protect natural open space while maximizing the use of developable land;

RESOLVED: The Neighborhood Coalition of El Paso requests that TxDOT modify their plans for improvements along Transmountain from I-10 to the entrance to Tom Mays Park to comply with the conditions of this resolution and do so immediately so that money for the project will not be lost.

Facts and Myths about Preserving El Paso's Only Scenic Corridor

Charlie Wakeem and Richard Teschner led the fight to preserve Resler Canyon which is now the Wakeem-Teschner Nature Preserve managed by Frontera Land Alliance.

Charlie Wakeem has been one of the principal leaders of the natural open space conservation movement in El Paso. Beginning with his efforts to preserve Resler Canyon, Mr. Wakeem has influenced the master plans for open space and stormwater. He has been an architect on the re-write of several ordinances and codes. Charlie Wakeem is now the Chairman of the Open Space Advisory Board for the City of El Paso.

The op-ed piece below also appeared in yesterday's El Paso Times:

You’ve recently read about the proposed upgrades to Transmountain Road on the west side of the Franklins, including the rezoning—to Natural Open Space—of 800 acres of Westside Master Plan land. I’d like to dispel some myths about that.

One of the myths is that the Open Space Advisory Board wants to sabotage the $80 million expansion of Loop 375 (Transmountain) from I-10 to the Tom Mays entrance of the Franklin Mountains State Park. We’ve also been accused of squelching any development of public land in Northwest El Paso, thereby undermining the Westside Master Plan. Other misinformation: the Public Service Board owns that land; taxpayers will suffer if the land is not sold to developers; the present Westside Master Plan is too good to be changed.

Texas Department of Transportation has used the proverbial carrot stick to persuade us that, as submitted, its Transmountain expansion is necessary. The carrot is the $80 million to widen/upgrade the 3.3 miles from I-10 to the Tom Mays entrance. Are parts of the carrot too rotten to eat? OSAB thinks so.

One important fact: the Transmountain Road Scenic Corridor is the ONLY scenic corridor in the City of El Paso. The Scenic Corridor begins at the Gas Line Road about half way east of I-10. [See slides below.] West of Gas Line is private property and flatter land good for development. OSAB has no objection to the freeway-style construction with overpasses and frontage roads there. The gas company wisely placed its pipeline just below the scenic foothills. That’s where the hillsides, deep arroyos and canyons begin, and that’s where the PSB’s Westside Master Plan is located.

OSAB also has no objection to widening Transmountain from two lanes to four at grade level from Gas Line to Tom Mays, where the present road widens to four lanes and crosses the mountains toward Highway 54.

So that the City can remove (from I-10 to Gas Line) the Mountain Development restrictions along Transmountain that the developers want removed, OSAB made five recommendations to City Council (now undergoing the rezoning review process): (1) Expand the landscape buffer by 10’ on either side of the roadway in the privately-owned section between I-10 and Gas Line. City Planning recommended this for public safety purposes. Research showed that a minimum 20’ buffer between the hike/bike path and roadway was necessary. (2) Don’t remove the Mountain Development restrictions east of Gas Line. (3) Construct an exit ramp north from Gas Line and parallel to Transmountain into Tom Mays for a safe entrance. (4) The fourth and most important recommendation is: delete the Paseo del Norte overpass half way between Gas Line and the Park. (5) The fifth is to rezone, to Natural Open Space, about 800 acres. Many of these 800 acres are currently zoned Residential with plans for Commercial. The final recommendation is that the City negotiate a conservation easement with a land trust to perpetually preserve the 800 acres.

Will El Paso Water Utility ratepayers pay much more in water bills if the PSB land is not sold for development? No. EPWU claims it would sell the land for $20 million. El Paso currently has 177,000 ratepayers. The very most the ratepayer would save is a once-only $112, and that’s being generous.

The land within the Westside Master Plan is City land, thus public land. It does not belong to the PSB, which owns no land anywhere. The PSB only MANAGES land. We citizens of El Paso own this public land. Only City Council, representing us, can choose to preserve OUR land and OUR Scenic Corridor, or else sell it off for development.

Trans Mountain Distances

Re-zoning Will Not Jeopardize the Transmountain Project

A long time open space advocate, Dr. Bonart is an avid mountain biker and climber.

Dr. Rick Bonart is the lone voice of reason on the Public Service Board. He takes his fiduciary responsibility seriously. Yet, his insistence on reviewing contracts and seeing other documents has been thwarted by EPWU's top brass - most especially Ed Archuleta. It seems enough for the other board members to hear what Archuleta believes and then bob their heads and go along. In this manner, they conduct no real oversight over the business of the El Paso Water Utilities.

Dr. Bonart is the owner of the Belvidere Animal Clinic. His PSB bio may be viewed here. He is an avid mountain biker and rock climber.

The op-ed piece below was published by both the El Paso Times and the El Paso, Inc. this weekend.

I’ll say it again; I’m old but I’m not “old school”. Unfortunately the Westside Master Plan is both. I oppose the current version of the Westside Master Plan because it’s out dated. The Plan is not Smart Growth. The storm water system was designed before the floods of 2006 and for safety must be redesigned. Economic projections were calculated during the housing bubble, which has burst. We don’t need to scrap the whole thing, but we do need to renovate.

I’m the Citizen Advocate on the PSB. I take my position very seriously. I do the research and make decisions based on the facts. I’m uniquely qualified to comment having participated in the first PSB master planning process and the proposed expansion of Transmountain Road beginning in 2002.

Over the years the PSB has done an excellent job of water management. Conservation programs have reduced consumption to 1968 levels. The Hueco Bolson is actually refilling. Our rates are comparable to other southwestern cities. However as land managers, the PSB hasn’t done so well. We’ve developed two master plans, neither has sold. The Northeast Master Plan is currently being revised to Smart Growth, and so should the Westside Master Plan.

Contrary to popular belief, the PSB does not own land. However, there are some very good reasons for the PSB to manage land, such as protecting the water supply and preventing leapfrog development.

Any responsible discussion about preserving open space in the Westside Master Plan must consider the financial consequences. Land sales do not significantly affect El Paso water rates. The yearly gross income for the PSB/EPWU is about 175 million. Land sales accounted for only 0.2% of revenues. Prior to May 2010 and before impact fees, infrastructure costs associated with land sales, probably resulted in a net loss to rate payers.

While private developers expect to realize profits on retail sales. The PSB is a wholesaler, who unlike private developers remains fiscally responsible for maintaining infrastructure in perpetuity. Development simply doesn’t pay for itself, and that’s one reason your taxes continue to increase even as our city grows.

The proposed 80 million dollar expansion of Transmountain Road, which passes through the Westside Master Plan, has focused the spotlight on these issues. Zoning changes in the Westside Master Plan will not affect the Transmountain Road project. The PSB has already provided TxDOT with all necessary rights of way and even voted to increase that amount to match additional private developers’ contributions.

The real danger to these projects is poor planning by TxDOT. They have failed to produce the required environmental studies. The proposed Plexxar overpass is our “bridge to nowhere” and possibly illegal. The entrance to Tom Mays needs to be reconsidered.

I’m not some tree hugger against all development. I want higher paying jobs to come to El Paso. However, to compete successfully with other cities and attract those types of employers, we need to offer amenities including more open space, parks, additional outdoor recreational opportunities, and scenic beauty. Quality jobs increase the bottom line much more than land sales.

As your advocate on the Board, here’s what I think we need to do. Don’t be confused by the rhetoric or bullied by scare tactics. Contact your city representative and support Council’s effort to save more Open Space and update the Westside Master Plan. Participate in the upcoming public comment period for the Transmountain expansion. Petition TxDOT, ask them to modify their project into the best possible design. Transmountain Road and the Westside Master Plan will impact your family’s quality of life for decades to come. We deserve better.