2012 Quality of Life Bond

The City of El Paso is soliciting ideas for the 2012 Quality of Life Bond. You can find more information on the bottom of the City's home page. Representative Susie Byrd wrote this to all of us:

Hello,

The City of El Paso wants to bring a Quality of Life Bond Election to the voters for consideration in November of 2012. We are in the process of soliciting ideas and priorities from constituents about the projects they would like to be considered for the bond election. As you know, we fund the repair of existing infrastructure (streets, facilities, etc) using Certificates of Obligation that are authorized by the City Council. For new quality of life projects that would require new capital and new investment in operations, we take those items to the voters for their approval. The last Quality of Life bond initiative was authorized by the voters in 2004.

There is a lot of demand out there for new projects so the next couple of months will be spent prioritizing those projects and determining what projects will be included on the list for the voter’s consideration. Can you take some time to either email me your ideas or provide your comments online at www.elpasotexas.gov (there is a submission form and additional information about the bond election towards the middle of our home page)?

It is our hope to be able to fund a signature project for Downtown, one that will flip the switch for Downtown and our economy. There are several ideas floating around including: an arena, a trolley project, further improvements in the streetscape of Downtown... What do you think? What else should be considered?

There will also be new projects made throughout the city to improve the quality of life in neighborhoods. I’m hoping the focus for these dollars will be in building new parks, recreational facilities and libraries for those neighborhoods that are underserved. District 2 residents, please give me some ideas about priorities for our district. I’ve been cataloguing requests over the years, waiting for this very moment. I’ll need your help figuring out what needs to get on the list.

District 2 proposals listed in order of how often I get requests are:

• Rec center towards the southern part of the district to serve neighborhoods between Grandview Park and Memorial Park
• Soccer fields throughout district, but particularly in Lower Dyer neighborhood, maybe a soccer complex on Airport land
• New park at Radford (PSB purchased the land in this area that was identified as having inadequate park access and is willing to let us use the part that they don’t need as a park)
• Pave remaining alleys
• Skate park towards southern part of the district
• Quiet Zone in Five Points neighborhood
• Trowbridge street improvements to slow traffic
• Convert Monroe and Van Buren to two way traffic to slow traffic

So let me know what you know. I’ll keep you posted as the process unfolds.

Hope all is well.

Susie Byrd

City Council Representative, District 2