Elections and More
Three important elections are coming up. We’ll talk about them in chronological order.
Board Elections
First, this Wednesday, Five Points Development Association will elect its Board of Directors. We will start the meeting a few minutes with announcements so that at exactly noon we can have the report of the Nominating Committee to be given by Chairman Stephen Heimer. Nominations, if any, will then be taken from the floor followed by the vote. Results will be announced at the end of the meeting and Directors will be installed at the December Christmas party that will take the place of our monthly meeting. Officers will be elected by the Board at some point after the installation in preparation for the January meeting.
City Council District 2 Election
Second, on December 9th District 2 voters will elect Representative Annello’s replacement on City Council. Early voting will run from November 27th until December 5th. Candidates are Veronica Carbajal, a local attorney and activist; Dr. Josh Acevedo, in his second term as EPISD Trustee for District 3 that includes Five Points and a speaker at our meetings; and a late entrant Miriam Gutierrez who as Judy Gutierrez was defeated by Representative Annello for City Council District 2 and by Commissioner David Stout for County Commissioners’ Court Precinct 2 in the most recent elections for those offices. Since there is no time for a candidate forum for FPDA, I urge you to study the candidates, their positions and their records; do your research and discuss your thoughts with those whose knowledge and opinions you respect so that you will be prepared to make your best decision when you vote.
Texas House District 77 Primary
Third, on March 5th 2024, the Democrat Party Primary will be held to choose their candidate to replace Texas House District 77 Representative Lina Ortega who has chosen not to run for reelection. The Primary candidates are Alexsandra Annello, current City Representative District 2, former County Commisioner Vince Perez who was defeated in the last election for that position, and controversial former Texas House Representative Norma Chavez who was defeated in the 2010 primary. We will try to schedule a candidate forum before this primary. The primary winner will face any other candidates, if any, in the general election to be held November 5, 2024. Since the winner of the Democrat Party Primary could be the sole candidate in the general election, this is an important race.
Bylaws
Our revised bylaws were unanimously approved by the membership at October’s meeting. My thanks to the Board and members for this achievement. We are now operating under these bylaws.
An Anniversary
The likely oldest continually operating entity in Five Points is celebrating its centennial this year! Yes, Zion Lutheran Church, led by our own Pastor Stephen Heimer, is celebrating 100 years in Five Points and 125 years in El Paso. An Open House with exhibits will be held Thursday November 16th at 4 PM followed by a concert at 7 PM. Take this opportunity to see an historic El Paso church and enjoy a number of musical performances.
November Speaker
November’s speaker will be Alex Hoffman with City of El Paso Capital Improvements. Mr. Hoffman is no stranger to us, having spoken on a number of occasions. This month he will be speaking on a new Master Plan for Five Points. Everyone should remember that a Master Plan for Memorial Park was presented by the City and was greeted with “torches and brickbats”, figuratively speaking, as residents vociferously expressed their outrage, disdain and disgust with a plan that not only did not reflect what they wanted and were promised but included things that they specifically did not want. The Interim City Manager has asked “how could we have come up with a Master Plan that no one wants? It is important that we make our desires and dislikes known and see that this process is not a repeat of the Memorial Park debacle.
In my conversations with Mr. Hoffman, I have suggested that we are interested in hearing about a number of topics including: the difference between City Planning and Capital Improvements Planning; plans for the police headquarters building when the police move out; the violence in bar districts euphemistically know as Entertainment Districts (where the “entertainment” consists mainly of mugging, murder and miscellaneous mayhem) that requires police overtime to keep a lid sort of on; the Piedras Street Road Diet (forced starvation); Downtown 10 with changing traffic patterns, the County’s alternate views and the Deck Park billion dollar boondoggle; Sun City Lights project put on hold several years ago; and lastly, a proposed trial area to study a blended code to utilize the best of the current zoning requirements and Smart Growth ideas that was proposed 3 or 4 years ago and seems to have disappeared. Please feel free to pose your own questions at the meeting
It would be fair to mention that Judy Gutierrez has worked in the District 2 office for about 15 years. Those who live in D2 have found her consistently helpful, knowledgeable and kind. Since defeats are being mentioned, you should include Veronica Carbajal’s defeat when she ran for mayor and the defeat of Carbajal’s environmental initiative Prop K in May this year.
It would be fair to mention that Judy Gutierrez has worked in the District 2 office for about 15 years. Those who live in D2 have found her consistently helpful, knowledgeable and kind. Since defeats are being mentioned, you should include Veronica Carbajal’s defeat when she ran for mayor and the defeat of Carbajal’s environmental initiative Prop K in May this year.