Finally a voice of reason in this El Paso downtown development debate and I can’t believe who it’s coming from—Joe Olvera. For possibly the first time I agree wholeheartedly with what he had to say in Newspaper Tree. An excerpt:
“Well and good. Let’s preserve what should be preserved. For example, let’s preserve the housing units for which Carmen Felix and other activists fought such horrendous battles against powerhouses like Jonathan Rogers when he wanted to destroy El Segundo. Let’s preserve the Farmworker Center, let’s preserve El Sagrado Corazon Catholic Church, and let’s preserve some of the structures that have been a part of El Segundo for decades, and, yes, let’s preserve such historical buildings as where the book, Los de Abajo was first written and honored as the first book about the Mexican Revolution.
“But, do we need to preserve everything? We all know that the vast majority of housing units are rat infested, with roaches constituting a large portion of the vermin population. Do we need to preserve the Drug Lords/Smugglers who are using children as ‘mules?’ Can we preserve The Armijo Recreation Center and open it up to every youngster in El Segundo? That might be hard to do if the gang that controls that area doesn’t allow it. Oh, yes, gangs still control and create mayhem against children, youth, adults, abuelitos y abuelitas. That part of El Segundo hasn’t changed, although some people would like for us to believe that it has changed. But, no!”
To read the entire article click here. Mr. Olvera published a book “Chicano Sin Fin!” with Zapata 1910 Press for more information about it visit his blog.
A big congratulations to fellow El Pasoan Vanessa Ramos for winning the Dobie Paisano Jesse Jones Fellowship Award.
