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UTEP students, as future leaders of our region, we must take a stake in our community. We must concern ourselves with our local businesses, politics and school systems. El Paso will remain the stagnant city that many of its citizens complain it is unless there is an active effort to improve the business as usual.
For that reason, my organization, the Regional Economic Development Association, works to engage students with regional issues that directly affect El Pasoans’ ability to live, work and play.
This spring break, REDA visited Phoenix to learn how the city’s institutions work together to foster economic development. We met with various groups, including the City of Phoenix Planning Department, the Phoenix Convention Center, METRO Light Rail and RED Development.
The ability of Phoenix’s public and private sectors to work together to plan and implement exciting and innovative projects impressed our organization. During our tours and meetings, public officials and private investors constantly echoed how critical public-private collaboration was in ensuring their projects’ success.
Jeff Moloznik, development manager of RED Development, said the city of Phoenix’s investments in its light rail system, convention center and downtown ASU campus made RED’s $900 million CityScape investment possible.
CityScape is proof that a city has to pay (and take risks) to play.
Now returning to El Paso, REDA plans to investigate how the city’s public officials, businesses and institutions work together to create a more prominent city. Amidst downtown revitalization,
UTEP’s pursuit for Tier-one status, and a violent drug war across the border, our city must conceptualize how our current ambitions and issues affect future solutions and possibilities. If our city is not ready for forward thinking, we can look forward to staying left behind.
El Paso citizens, especially UTEP and EPCC students, can help shape our city’s future by educating themselves about regional issues and getting involved with local politics. To help serve as a forum for regional issues, REDA developed an online magazine and blog that publishes regional news, research and multimedia.
The magazine, the Regional Identity, can be accessed at www.regionalidentity.com. For more information about REDA, please visit www.redautep.org. Let’s make our Paso del Norte a better place.
Richard Sapien is the president of the Regional Economic Development Association.
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