Save Our Sierras

[A new group has formed: Save Our Sierras. It consists of neighbors below the proposed Sierra del Puente and Stoney Hills developments. Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition is sending out a call to action in their newest e-letter. Below is a list of actions and how you can help.]

Development Next to Mountainside Neighborhood

Are you ready for a swath of new houses between your home and our Franklin Mountains?  The heirs to Dick Knapp are working on development plans for the hundreds of acres they own between McKelligon Canyon and Hondo Pass.  You may have seen bulldozers and graders “improving” roads so that surveyors will have access.  Land owners are carefully abiding by all regulations and are within their rights.

However, development of our pristine mountain sides is NOT inevitable.  Creation of our Franklin Mountains State Park (FMSP) in 1979 and preservation of Kern View Estates II in April of this year demonstrate that citizen action can result in critical land conservation.

To protect our mountains, all neighbors must organize and take action to inform City officials of their desire that the land at the eastern edge of the Franklin Mountains State Park remain in its natural state. 

Please attend the next Open Space Advisory Board meeting and bring your friends and neighbors.  Anyone can speak during “Call to the Public.”  The agenda should include items related to this development.

Wednesday, August 5th, 2015, 3:00 P.M.

City 3 Building, 801 Texas Avenue

Basement, Thorman Conference Room

Other options to TAKE ACTION:

1.      Join the Mountainside Neighborhood Association.

2.      Join the Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition at FranklinMountains.org.

3.      Stay informed with blogs such as ElPasoNaturally.com.

4.      Attend meetings such as City Council and Open Space Advisory Board.

5.      Make your voice heard!

YOU can help save our sierras!

To sign the petition and for more information contact judy Ackerman, jpackerman53@gmail.com, 915-755-7371.

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Holy Hot Concrete! Shade Trees Really Do Make a Difference

Our Texas Urban Forester, Oscar Mestas, just forwarded an email from San Antonio Master Naturalist, Lissa Martinez. She measured the heat of concrete underneath some live oaks and concrete exposed all day to the hot sun. Here are the pics:

"At 3 pm, I returned home and parked the car in the expansive shade of the live oaks.  Shade is also provided by the neighbors’ live oak tree."

"Driveway temp - 93°

"Exposed driveway surface in the sun, where no car has been parking since about 0845.  Driveway temp 144°"

"Holy hot concrete!  Demonstrating clearly why trees matter to all of us in this climate."

And that's just San Antonio. Try El Paso.

Go to http://www.wtufc.org/. Click on Tree Selection. In the box select Tree Shade Type. In the box after "Tree Shade Type", select Shade. When is the best time to plant a tree after late fall or early spring? NOW. 

"The mission of the West Texas Urban Forestry Council is to promote the preservation, health and expansion of community trees in the El Paso region. Together with the friends of WTUFC, 'Los Tree Amigos', we work to promote desert green—shade friendly and water smart." Go HERE to become a Los Tree Amigo and help West Texas Urban Forestry expand our community shade trees.

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Hire Local!

Two factors led to the demise of El Paso's downtown. First, urban flight to the suburbs spurred on principally by the advent of the Interstate. Sprawl continues today and massive road projects only encourage it. The next reason why El Paso's downtown is now dominated by vacant, unmaintained buildings was the flight of wealth from local banks and investors to out of town megabanks. Thus, to rebuild El Paso, to increase the "common" wealth, local businesses should be favored by the City, especially local businesses who bank locally.

Noting what happens with financial drain, please read David Karlsruher's blog post today: City of El Paso cuts out local contractors again. David didn't just hit a homerun, he hit it out of the park. I just heard the loud bang of a baseball hitting the top of El Paso's downtown library.

Why should hiring locally and banking locally be important to environmentalists? With more money staying in town, there is more money for creating or buying areas with recreational opportunities, health benefits and sheer beauty: open spaces in other words. And open space benefits entire ecosystems and wildlife. 

If you are green, then every word of what Karlsruher wrote should make sense.


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Torchlight Energy Resources Isn't Going Away

USGS map shows Monday's quake centered 40 miles north of Oklahoma City. Click image to enlarge.

Two pieces of bad news for environmentalists on the fracking front just a few miles from the El Paso County line: Torchlight Officials “Elated” By Test Well Results – Company Seeks Partner to Develop “Major New Oil Field”. That's the headline and story from the Hudspeth County Herald less than two weeks ago. Now this from a stock risk assessment news site: Torchlight Energy - A NewCo Turnaround Story That's Been Derisked. 

In short: Torchlight has solved its financial problems and they have struck paydirt at their first test well just over the hill from Hueco Tanks. That's the first test well. They anticipate 2,499 more to go and they are seeking help from bigger frackers.

Keep this information in mind as you read about Monday's 4.0+ earthquakes in Oklahoma.


Please support elpasonaturally©. Go HERE to donate and help turn El Paso "green".

Invest in FMSP and Animal Hiking Corridor OR the Trolley Folly?

Racetrack Drive to Spur 1966

Neighborhood Development Services sent out a pdf of a recent issue of the Border West Expressway newsletter showing how 1-10 and Spur 1966 will look once the job is completed. You can read that letter and see the pictures HERE. A prominent El Paso environmentalist commented: "Cement everywhere! How about some animal/hike/bike crossings?" She was referring to the long anticipated project at the Tom Mays Unit of the Franklin Mountain State Park - one that will benefit the park and spark ecotourism dollars for the city.

But the "cement" and the I-10/Spur 1966 projects are just really a part of the story. 

One wonders how much TxDOT Regional Engineer Bob Bielek's hands are tied when it comes to funding. We can interpret his delayed promises as deceit or we can interpret them as agony. Let's get to what is truly agonizing.

The mega projects such as I-10, the Spur, 375, 601, yada, yada, yada (not to mention the much less expensive animal corridor with a hike and bike trail that will connect the north and south parts of the FMSP at Transmountain) are not the first priority of the backroom movers and shakers of El Paso. What is? The trolley folly. Bielek has pointed out that El Paso may have the worst highways in the state. Yet, the priority is the $97 Million unnecessary trolley folly that will enrich a few, cost a bundle and will probably fail in a few years. (Or maybe it won't fail because "enlightened" city leaders like Niland, Romero and Noe will just vote to borrow more money and raise our property taxes more. We will subsidize the fat cats and a trolley system to nowhere.)

A trolley system (even with the expense of refurbishing our old Presidents’ Conference Committee (PCC) streetcars) might have had tourist attraction if built from the downtown historic district to the Magoffin House. However, you can forget that because there won't be a downtown historic district, there will be an arena taking over 12 blocks and paying lots of money to building owners who have never intended to renovate their buildings. That's my bet.

A trolley system at the airport could have been a tourist attraction or one through Segundo Barrio or one to the zoo. But no.

More people are leaving El Paso than other major cities in the nation. Passenger traffic at our airport is down 20%. And, according to Scientific American, our toxic air is harming our school children's progress. Yet, what's our priority? The trolley folly. It is this "priority" of our city policy makers that complicates funds for an animal corridor at Tom Mays.

So, my green friends, we can all blame Bob Bielek for the delay with the animal corridor, or we can blame the colonialism of our backroom wheelers and dealers who wield the power and bank the bucks in El Paso. As a linguist friend told me: "It isn't vox populi, it's hoax populi."


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San Elizario and Clint Citizens Rightfully Concerned about Gas Pipeline

San Bruno, CA: "A massive natural gas explosion on Sept. 9, 2010, killed eight people, injured more than 50 others and destroyed or damaged more than 100 homes." From Naturalgaswatch.

San Elizario meeting video: Lower Valley residents concerned over proposed pipeline

Also read the El Paso Times story: http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_28538794/far-east-el-paso-residents-get-little-answers

Check out Naturalgaswatch.org.


Please support elpasonaturally©. Go HERE to donate and help turn El Paso "green".

Living Green in the Southwest: Ceiling Fans

"Good Lord, don't they have a ceiling fan?"
Mary Cassatt, Lady with a Fan

Or any old fan . . . but ceiling fans circulate the air through your home better. (I do have a tower fan that stays on while I work at my desk.) Here's what I've found out:

Because ceiling fans circulate the air in your home, you don't have to set the thermostat so low for your air conditioner or run the central cooling or evaporative cooler for so long during the day. And, at night, you can shut the cooler off and let the fans keep the home cool. It works. You don't have to have ceiling fans roaring at the highest speed - slow is fine for circulation, a bit higher for comfort when you are in a room.

All of this costs about two dimes per day per fan and you save big time on air conditioning costs. 

Dress cool. Drink more water and aqua frescas. Graze and eat light. Dress cooler. (Men tell your boss that the doberman trashed your suits and ties and you only have guayaberas and linen pants left.) Hang your clothes to dry if you can. Dryers produce lots of heat. If you have to use one, do it late at night or early in the morning. Keep the curtains and shutters closed.

And use those ceiling fans. Save energy. Stay cool.

Question for architects: Why don't more buildings have ceiling fans?


Please support elpasonaturally©. Go HERE to donate and help turn El Paso "green".