Members of the El Paso City Council may take up a proposal next week calling for the city to protect several buildings in the historic Duranguito neighborhood.
Those structures, several of which were partially demolished several years ago, have been left vulnerable to the elements, prompting some activists to ask that they be secured from winter weather as well as possible fire damage.
What the council will decide is just the latest ripple in a struggle that has been going on now for nearly 6 years. In the fall of 2016, the City of El Paso announced that it wanted to demolish the more than 100-year-old Duranguito neighborhood in order to make way for the construction of a new multi-purpose arena.
That $180 million facility, officially called the Multipurpose Cultural and Performing Arts Center, was to be paid for out of Quality of Life Bonds approved by city voters in 2012.
It has since been estimated that because of the delays in getting the project underway due to the various legal challenges, the price tag is now probably in excess of $250 million.
Some city officials have suggested that while work on the project obviously cannot begin until all of the legal issues have been resolved, that prohibition may also apply to doing anything to protect the Duranguito structures in their current condition.
By Garry Boulard
