Wake Up, El Paso: What Does Segundo Barrio Really Need?

Wake up, El Paso! The question which should be asked is what does Segundo Barrio need? It needs to be left in the hands of the people who live there-- and the needs of the Barrio's residents must continue to be the main focus. It is not right, and it is not okay, for the city government to neglect that fact in favor of what "they" believe is best, for they are only looking at the situation from their own point of view rather than the effect their proposed actions will have on the people themselves.

Unlike most El Paso residents, I have lived in many different places and seen firsthand the effects such concepts as "neighborhood revitalization" has on what should be the primary consideration-- its people.

The worst consequence of attempting to "improve" a neighborhood by such means as it being taken over by either government agencies or real estate companies is that such so-called "improvement" very quickly lends itself to regulation-- not only in thinking the new arrangement is just cause to increase rents, but, even more acceptable, deeming who is and is not qualified or "desirable" to inhabit the apartments. Taking residential buildings out of the hands of local apartment owners and managers becomes an absolute nightmare. El Paso does not need to repeat the mistakes-- and the repercussions thereof-- which have destroyed other neighborhoods in other cities.

In neighborhood revitalization, what suffers the most is the sense of community; and what Segundo Barrio has, above all else, is Community. While south El Paso is occasionally and snidely referred to as "the United States of Juarez," the cultural contributions it has made to El Paso as a whole as well as the inclusiveness of the Barrio itself, is something which cannot be discounted and we cannot afford to lose.

Leave "All El Paso Has To Offer" in terms of tourism and "big business" to the rest of the city-- there is certainly enough room for everyone-- but don't walk into the Barrio and take over people's homes and lives, expecting entire lifestyles to change in order to adjust to someone else's standards. And please don't assume that the people of the Barrio, simply due to lack of money and political clout, should hide in the shadows while the city government decides whose place it is to rearrange a community which is Home, for the Barrio is not merely a statistic on a map set for someone else's definition of what is and is not satisfactory.

Segundo Barrio is a community unto itself. This is good. Let's keep it that way-- For the people who live there, By the people who live there.