An El Paso Story

I want to know that El Paso is moving in a different direction. I want to know that poverty is not our ultimate destination. I want to know that there is plenty of job opportunity and business opportunity. I want to know that we are digging ourselves out of years of low wages and zero confidence and even less expectation. So I mine the numbers and dig through data and keep my ears to the ground to see if I can spot a shift, a subtle seismic movement that shows a different trend emerging.

There's been some things worth shouting about lately: unemployment is low, three significant downtown buildings are under major reconstruction, a prominent Wall Street Journal article featured El Paso among the up and coming cities to be noticed, Beck decides to play at the Percolator and it makes it into Vanity Fair... Its all good.

But this one story made me think that times, they are a'changing:

A friend of mine took her tribe out to Orlando, Florida to brave three days of Disney World. One night, they took a break from Mickey Mouse and went out for a fancy dinner in the city. Their waiter was friendly, wanted to know where they were from.

"El Paso."

"El Paso? You know, I've been looking for a change of scene. I've been thinking about moving to El Paso."

"Why El Paso?" my friend asked.

"Seems like a cool city. I'm thinking about heading there or Dallas."

Who knows how he heard about us. But what he heard makes him think we are are a cool city. When folks in other cities have El Paso on their mind, I have to think that that is a very good sign.