Old Upper Valley Home vs. Garage Row |
Photos Courtesy Brax -Valley Publishing Co. Can you find the Upper Valley in this picture??? |
Photos Courtesy Brax -Valley Publishing Co. Stripmall to get Dollar General as Flagship Store. |
Opinion: Development Way Off.
The Upper Valley is STILL under siege and it is up to the voters in the Upper Valley to unite and stand guard on ALL the valley... not just one small section or road. Also, the NIMBY (not in my backyard) mentality must end.
The interests of the Upper Valley can no longer be solely the dictate of one neighborhood. In order for the valley to survive there can no longer be any "sacrificial lambs" like Artcraft was for the Country Club area groups.
There was considerable opposition to Artcraft by the Upper Valley Alliance but the residents of the Country Club Road area wanted relief from the increasing commercial traffic.
If NIMBY continues, the developers need only put pressure on Country Club Road or another road, such as Gomez Road, and they can get those residents to sell out another part of the Upper Valley.
As far as that portion that is within the city limits; the last three District #1 City Council Representatives have assaulted the valley by discarding the Master Plan and the value of the valley's farmland to the neighborhood and those residents that have put down roots because they wanted to live in the country.
It is a disgrace to the heritage of the Upper Valley to see it covered in asphalt and rows of garages with attached apartments. When you have thousands of acres of desert to build "affordable housing" it is nothing more than greed and "bought" elected officials that dictate the doom of the valley which should be treated as our "community resource".
When will there be enough common sense in the El Paso City Council to understand that it is a fair compromise to parcel out a farm at five (5) acres sections for homes and horses and an orchard. The current City Council was presented these options. They were presented graphic depictions of how to layer the land from Artcraft outward. They failed and to make matters worse they followed Representative Austin's lead in granting larger tracts of land at the corner of Artcraft and Upper Valley for commercial interests.
It is beyond the realm of reason to pave over the only portions of land that have water rights and the ability to actually grow something on them. Where does it say that it is "patriotic" to rape the land and sell to the highest bidder only so they and the developers can make and extra 10% profit margin to add to their multi-million dollar bundle. Now there is a "Dollar General" planned for valley soil. With six "6" "dollar" stores on Doniphan, the building of this store on valley soil is the as twisted as is greed itself.
The reason that Laguna Meadows, Artcraft and the "garage row" were approved is because the Upper Valley was fragmented. People thought that it would just be that portion and it wouldn't affect them on Gomez Road or north of Borderland Road. But the truth is that the developers want it ALL
There is no finality on the Gomez Road Bridge proposal. Officials at the Metropolitan Planning Organization were contacted and indicated that it is possible for the Gomez Road extension and bridge to be reconsidered at any later date as long as there is a sponsor. Therefore, it is important to support the Save the Valley group if and when the City of El Paso reintroduces the bridge issue.
The Upper Valley and the Mesilla Valley are historical national treasures and they are treated as so much sand. When contemplating the nature and psyche of the developers and elected official; one can only hope that they knew not what they did.
It is time to go to support a candidate for Dirstrict #1 who is intelligent enough to understand the playing field and ethical enough to actually stand up to the developers greed machine... not be bought by it.
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Editor, Upper Valley Beacon
Copyright 2004 Valley Publishing Company
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