Women's Spring Soccer Season Starting

It's that time again. Spring soccer is starting. The Azteca Women's Soccer League is looking for new players and new teams. If you want to put a team together or if you want in on one of the existing teams, contact Cecy Rodriguez at cecyt1111@aol.com. If you are in great shape or you just want to get in shape, if you have never played before or if you are a seasoned veteran, we'll find a spot for you.

ASARCO Update

I had a meeting this morning with the trustee who has been appointed to implement the remediation of the ASARCO site. His name is Roberto E. Puga, R.G from Project Navigator, LTD in Brea, California. His charge is to use the $52 million from the bankruptcy settlement with ASARCO to clean up the now abandoned ASARCO site and then to sell the site for redevelopment.

Right now, Mr. Puga is in the process of meeting with various stakeholders and beginning the detailed evaluation of the site and the implementation plan. He wants to include the public in some of the decisionmaking about the ultimate use of the site, and he wants to make sure that the public is kept apprised of all progress on the remediation. Towards that end, he is developing a website that will go live at the end of the month. The website will provide information on progress, tools for providing input and a portal for contractors to find out about bids.

Once he has a solid lay of the land, we will host a community meeting sometime in late March or early April to provide information about the remediation plan, to answer questions about the plan and to solicit input on uses for the site that the community would like to see or uses the community might be opposed to. One of the questions he asked in the meeting was whether we wanted to see the ASARCO stacks demolished or to remain as part of the redevelopment of the site. Much of this will be determined by the buyer of the site, but Mr. Puga wants to work to the extent possible to make sure that the ultimate use is a good fit for the community. The City, including our Economic Development team, will work with him closely to find a good fit.

The other thing that he is mindful about is making sure that most of the work stays here in El Paso. Towards that end, he said he has two incentives to encourage El Paso contractors to bid on work. One, he is going to make sure that there is additional preference given to local bidders. For very small contractors who have not worked with hazardous materials, he will help to train their workers as an incentive to encourage them to compete for work.

I will keep you posted as I hear more but wanted to give you a quick update on what I know.

Red Mesa

Seems like the film scene is hopping in El Paso these days. Great new film festivals popping up. I received a notice from my friend Eric Pearson about an El Paso made film called "Red Mesa." Eric and Charles Horack organize the great Classic Film Series at the Plaza Theatre. They showed the film, "Red Mesa" this past year. "Red Mesa" has won Best Short Film at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival. Good news, but the great news is that the win at this festival qualifies it to submit to the Academy Awards for 2010.

To do that, the filmmakers need to make a film print, get a few more festivals under their belt and make a whole lot of DVDs. To get all this done, they will need to raise about $25,000. The El Paso Community Foundation is acting as their fiscal sponsor. Let's help them get to the Academy Awards. All contributions are tax deductible.

You can give by going to the Community Foundation's website and typing in "Red Mesa" on the subject.

It's All About the Panther Pride!

So most folks know I'm a proud graduate of Austin High School. Graduated in 1989. Just attended my 20 year reunion. The school has suffered in recent years from a vicious cycle of low expectations and poor performance. Parents pick up on that bad vibe and figure out ways not to send their kids there. Nothing is worse for a neighborhood than a neighborhood school with a bad reputation.

But all of that is changing. In ways big and small.

A couple of years ago, Dr. John Tanner came on board as the new principal. He had the big task of turning things around quick otherwise the State would go in and reconstitute the school. He attacked the problem at its root: low expectations. The teachers and counselors didn't expect much from the students. The students didn't expect much from themselves or the school. His crusade is against all the excuses for poor performance, and he is evangelical in his crusade. When he first came on board, the teachers complained that the poor performance was due to the fact that so many of the students were low income. Dr. Tanner went and dug up all the countywide statistics to show the teachers that schools with much poorer students were performing well above Austin High School students. No excuses. Anymore. Just hard work.

And pride. Panther Pride.

That's where Lisa Chavez and Juan Garza and Raul Renteria come in. Lisa Chavez, daughter of Abraham Chavez, is the Director of Piano and Choral Activities at Austin High School. At the beginning of the school year, I was invited to participate in the Freshman induction ceremony at Austin. Lisa Chavez' choir was featured. I was blown away by the performance. Incredible. First class. No one would have expected this from Austin High School.

Front and center was my neighbor Juan Carlos Garza and his buddy Raul Renteria. Seems like Juan Carlos had retired his skateboard and his raggedy skater attire and put on a tie and a suit and decided that he was going to be the best bass vocalist in the State of Texas. Raul Renteria, a tenor, and Juan Carlos have competed and won chairs in the All Region and All Area Choirs. Because they made it to the All Area Choir, they are now eligible to compete for the All State Choir. No one has placed in the All State Choir from Austin since the 1970s. Juan Carlos and Raul are set to make history for Austin High School.

But they need our help. They have been practicing for months. They have been invited to attend an All-State Music Workshop at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas on January 2nd, 2010. This workshop aims to fine tune their skills and prepare them for the audition on January 9th in Midland, Texas. The trip will cost them $900, but the school is unable to cover their costs. So let's all pitch in to make sure that they don't miss this chance for themselves or for Austin High School.

If you would like to make a donation, you can make a check out to Austin High School and add at the bottom of the check that it is for the "Choir Fund." Since school is out, we can collect checks here at the office and deliver them over to Ms. Chavez before the boys head out to Austin. Please let me know if you can donate by emailing me at byrdsm@elpasotexas.gov.

Happy Holidays! We will see you in the New Year!

City 15 to Air Global Public Policy Forum on the War on Drugs

A precedent-setting, two-day conference on the forty-year old war on drugs, hosted by the University of Texas at El Paso, drew speakers of multiple points of view from the academic, government, and advocacy sectors. The consensus reached by many in attendance was that U.S. consumer drug demand fuels profitable organized crime, wreaking havoc on societies and fueling challenges to democracies in the Americas. The situation demands serious consideration of a range of practical alternatives to the currently costly and ineffective prohibition policies.

Residents who were unable to attend the Public Policy Forum are invited to view the panel discussions on Cable Channel 15, Your El Paso Government Information Source. The following is a schedule when the panel discussions will be aired:

• Monday, November 30 at noon: History, Successes, and Failures of the War on Drugs
• Wednesday, December 2 at noon: Reporting on the Drug War
• Thursday, December 3 at noon: Drug War and Violence: Effects on Communities in Mexico and the U.S.
• Friday, December 4 at noon: Exporting the Drug War: Historical and Geographic Perspectives
• Monday, December 7 at noon: Social Consequences of the Drug War
• Wednesday, December 9 at noon: Alternative Strategies and Policy Proposals for the Drug War
• Thursday, December 10 and noon: Based upon his experience as a former federal prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles, a criminal defense attorney with the U.S. Navy JAG Corps, and a 25-year veteran on the trial court bench, Judge James P. Gray concluded that our nation's drug policy was not working. He offers policy alternatives to the current status quo.