Texas sanctuary cities bill worries border community leaders

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EL PASO – Lawmakers from this border community are concerned about the harm that would result if Texas begins requiring law enforcement and other agencies to act as immigration agents. The Texas Senate on Feb. 9 passed SB4, which Sen. Jose Rodriguez, D-El Paso, called “a thinly disguised attack on immigrant communities.”

The so-called “anti-sanctuary cities” bill would allow the state to penalize cities over policies that obstruct enforcement of immigration law or discourage police agencies from inquiring about a person’s immigration status. The Texas House is now considering its version of the bill. The senator says he, along with other opponents of the bill, offered amendments to decrease the negative impacts the passage of bill would have on health, safety and social life of communities.

Muslims feel embraced by border community, even in times of Trump

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El Paso, TX – The recent temporary ban on seven Muslim-majority countries signed by President Trump came with a surprising instantaneous outpour of support towards Muslims and refugees across the U.S., and on the border. About 3,000 to 4,000 Muslims live in the Sun City, said Omar Hernandez, Public Affairs Director at the Islamic Center of El Paso located in the West side. Despite a rise in anti Muslim sentiment in some part of the country, several El Paso Muslims say they continue to feel a warm embrace from El Paso residents. “I have fallen in love with El Paso because of its people,” said Zahra Taki, 31, a student at El Paso Community College. In 1987, Taki was two years old when she and her parents emigrated from Kuwait.

Look again to see the wonders growing in the desert

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EL PASO – Is that scrappy plant on the side of the road a weed or a wonder? Desert landscapers say there’s often more to the Borderland’s flora than meets the eye. The term weed is usually meant for a plant that is considered a nuisance, growing where it isn’t always wanted, says John White, curator of the Chihuahuan Desert Gardens at UT El Paso. But where some people see weeds, others see wildflowers, healing herbs and critical sustenance for desert wildlife and other helpful uses. “Some of the weeds are actually good, some of the weeds can be edible, and some of them can be used for different purposes,” White says.

Tech turns hiking into mystery adventure for geocachers

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EL PASO – There’s a little treasure in the mountains. Actually, there are a lot of little treasures tucked in among the rocks and other landscape features throughout the city. They are little trinkets left by hobbyists known as geocachers, who use GPS devices or cell phones to follow clues like breadcrumbs as they explore the great outdoors. “Geocaching is a modern day treasure hunt,” said Diana Moy, a park ranger with Texas Parks and Wildlife. “Instead of using a map and a compass, we’re now using technology.”

1966 NCAA legend Willie Cager passes basketball dream on in youth program

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EL PASO – Willie Cager is a household name in this city. He began his journey when he was picked up from the Bronx to come play for the Texas Western Miners, now UT El Paso. To most El Pasoans, Cager and his teammates are legendary for winning the historic 1966 NCAA national championship. But many may not know that Willie has continued to be a big influence on the community through his work with youth sports. Since graduating in 1967 it has been Cager’s passion to give back to the children of El Paso.

Borderland fencing studio preps athletes for sharp competition

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El Paso is not known for being a fencing city but through the efforts of Master Margaret De Long that is changing. Tucked away on the corner of Octavia and Yandell streets in Downtown El Paso is the Salle De Long Fencing studio. The clang of foils striking is ever present, along with the beads of sweat rolling off hard-working students’ foreheads. The classes are taught by fencing master Margaret De Long who has been in El Paso for the past 30 years and instructing students at the Salle De Long Fencing and Wellness Center since 2002. In order for her to attain the title she had to master the foil, épée and saber which are the main weapons of the sport. Her specialty is the foil, which is one of the most fundamental weapons and most technical of the sport.

Practice snake safety while out on the trails

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It’s that time of year when you see an increase in people exploring El Paso’s mountain trails. But it is also the time when some hard to spot local wildlife may be out warming themselves on sunny trails and rocks in the foothills. “I like coming to Mckelligon Canyon because of all the beautiful scenery. It’s a way to step away from reality for a bit and become one with nature,” said El Pasoan Natalie Fernandez. Just be on the lookout for the venomous kind of nature that ruin your day when you may least expect it.

The colorful past you didn’t know about Ardovino’s Desert Crossing

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EL PASO – Ardovino’s Desert Crossing in Sunland Park, NM, is known as one of the region’s premiere spots for special events and fine dining. But few people may know of the man who inspired it all and how his family is expanding on his legacy. Frank Ardovino’s family came to the U.S. from Italy. The young man first lived in New York, but found his way to El Paso when he joined the U.S. Cavalry and was stationed here. “He fell in love with the desert,” said his great-niece, Marina Ardovino, who co-owns Ardovino’s Desert Crossing with her brother, Robert.

El Paso getting education on preventing Zika

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The current rainy, windy and hot weather makes ideal conditions for mosquitoes to breed. And with the Zika virus spreading into the Americas, El Paso is beginning to take preventative measures. The problem with Zika is that it poses a threat to unborn babies. In May of 2015, Brazil saw a link between pregnant women who had been infected with Zika virus and a birth defect in their babies known as microcephaly. “Also, it can effect the general population with an autoimmune disease that is called Guillan-Barre syndrome, so it has a different connotation and a different behavior from other viruses,” says Fernando Gonzalez of the El Paso Public Health Department.

Alligators still stars among features in El Paso plaza renovation

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After several years worth of construction and waiting, the reconstructed San Jacinto Plaza is now open to the public, providing a place for families and friends to meet and enjoy their surroundings. “It is quite exciting to see that the San Jacinto Plaza hasn’t fallen into just dirt and dust,” Estrella Gonzalez said. “It is a lot more beautiful due to the green scenery.”  

Gonzales was enjoying reading a book at the park on a recent hot afternoon and, like many other residents, quite happy about the “new plaza.”

Stephanie Piedra said she now brings her daughter to the plaza whenever she has time off from work. “The park is quite a blast. My kid can play with the water and I can walk around on the beautiful green grass and look at the amazing alligator sculpture,” Piedra said.

El Paso’s endangered historic buildings in dire need of refurbishing

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EL PASO —  Many historic downtown buildings are in a state of neglect and disrepair, including some designed by prolific, well-known Southwest architect Henry C. Trost. Among the landmarks in serious neglect are several Trost buildings, and the Kress Building, designed by architect Edward F. Sibbert,  said Morris Brown, a Texas Tech professor and architect. According to the El Paso County Historical Commission, 12 buildings within the downtown area are “endangered,” a condition the commission defines as in risk of architectural and interior deterioration. Four of these 12  are registered in the National Register of Historic Places. The upper floors of some of the buildings are empty, while bottom floors are rented to vendors selling trinkets, clothing and other merchandise.

Art helps tell Holocaust story

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Concentration camp survivor David Kaplan says that art speaks louder than words. In 1941, when Kaplan was 12 years old, he and his family were sent to separate concentration camps.  Although he survived four years at several camps, his brother perished in Landsberg, his mother and sister were killed in Majdanek.  

The 88-year-old believes that it is often better for survivors to write poems and create art to represent the Holocaust rather than to simply recount their personal experience. Creating art about a dehumanizing experience like the Holocaust can bring hope to people who are the victims of such traumatizing events.

Rescued from the wrecking ball, Plaza Theatre shines again

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The Plaza Theatre – one of the showcase historic entertainment venues of the Southwest – was close to demolition before community leaders stepped in and saved the historically significant building. “The significance of the Plaza Theatre is that it is one of the very few working atmospheric theaters,” said Eric Pearson, president and CEO of the El Paso Community Foundation.  The Plaza Theatre was built in 1930 and went out of business in 1983 due to the region’s depressed economy.  In that decade, many of of El Paso’s key businesses in the downtown area closed down. “In the 1980’s, the devaluation of the peso was a big hit to El Paso’s downtown economy,” Pearson said.

Children struggle to keep 2 languages in El Paso’s bilingual culture

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EL PASO — As Mexican-American students in this border community struggle to find balance between speaking Spanish at home and English in the classroom, local organizations and schools are providing programs to promote bilingualism. Many Mexican-American children in El Paso spend the entire day at school where normally the language and material is in English. However, the majority of students go back home to speak Spanish with their family. Many students often mix the languages and struggle to speak Spanish fluently with native Spanish-speakers. Census 2010 figures show that Hispanics make up 82 percent of the El Paso County population.

Family-run RIA Market attracts diverse clientele downtown

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In the middle of tall Downtown buildings, well hidden is a grocery store that is the only market in the area to serve area residents. RIA Market is a locally owned business run by the De La Torre family. Located across the street from Café Central and near San Jacinto Plaza at 204 N. Oregon St., the store sells fresh produce, grocery items, Mexican products and cooked food to go. “What we sell the most is the subs, tortas and sandwiches,” said Rosa De La Torre, one of the owners. De La Torre says they are busiest at lunchtime when people are looking for something to eat.

The Green Ingredient presents healthy plates packed with flavor

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The Green Ingredient – nestled on the bottom floor of the Chase building in Downtown El Paso – is a unique restaurant that offers a large number of dishes with fresh and green ingredients. Jacqueline Cordova says what sets her restaurant apart is the not-so-normal cuisine. Customers won’t find live octopus or a moldy corn delicacy, she said the items on her menu are a healthy alternative. Food varies from quinoa pancakes with yogurt and fresh berries to a Feel Good Falafel and a Mediterranean salad. Cordova started the restaurant after losing a friend, she said.

Cafe Central thrives as El Paso’s downtown regenerates

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Downtown revitalization has brought many changes to the central part of the city. The construction has brought street closures, orange barrels and headaches for businesses, visitors and motorists. But the renovations and demolitions haven’t kept one local business from flourishing. “We definitely increased in business,” said Café Central Assistant Manager Juan Franco. “ The last two years, business has gone up 45 percent.”

The restaurant is open six days a week from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. It’s busiest days are Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays and their busiest time of day is after 5 in the afternoon.

San Jacinto Plaza has long history as El Paso’s gathering place

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Newly renovated San Jacinto Plaza has been a gathering place for more than 100 years as El Pasoans have congregated there for holiday festivities, to listen to live bands and recently for memorials. “It really is the epitome of what a public square is,” said Robert Diaz, El Paso County Historical Society spokesman and historian. The Plaza was conceived in 1881 and built in 1883. In 2015, San Jacinto Plaza was designated a Lone Star Legacy Park, the highest honor that can be given to a Texas park because this recognizes that it has special historical prominence and has endured the test of time. As recorded by the Texas State Historical Association the first time in history that the American and Mexican presidents met was in San Jacinto Plaza, President Taft wanted to meet with President Diaz in order to continue American investments in Mexico, President Diaz accepted the invitation to regain lost popularity and remind the people he still had firm control of Mexico’s affairs despite his age.

La nueva estación de camiones da una experiencia más cómoda a ambos lados de la frontera

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EL PASO — La estación de camiones que antes se localizaba en San Jacinto Plaza ha tenido mucho de qué hablar a causa de su mudanza hacia el sur a un punto mas cercano al

puente Santa Fe. Se especulaba que los usuarios de autobuses de esta ciudad fronteriza tendrían una reacción negativa a la mudanza, pero personas entrevistadas expresaron muchas opiniones positivas sobre este cambio y sobre la nueva plaza. La nueva estacion de está situada en el cruce de las calles Santa Fe y El Paso, unas cuatro cuadras de San Jacinto Plaza. Dice Antonio Flores, guardia de seguridad de la plaza, que ¨es mejor que se mudara ya que así la gente tendría que caminar y eso le ayuda a su salud porque hay muchas personas

que padecen de obesidad y estas personas quieren todo a la mano.¨

Aunqe muchos estaban de acuerdo que es bueno caminar cuatro o cinco cuadras más para poder llegar a la estación donde pueden tomar el camión para ir a su trabajo, su

escuela, su hogar, pero la única opinión que todos compmartieron fue que estaría mejor que los camiones tuvierna horarios más flexibles y versátiles. Para la gente que sale tarde de trabajar o de la escuela por alguna actividad tienen que esperar más tiempo para tomar el camión ya que no hay muchos horarios en la tarde.

As Holocaust survivors age and die, their stories must remain alive

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Out of the 30 original Holocaust survivors who resettled in El Paso several decades ago, just a handful remains alive. As these survivors reach the end of their lives, many wonder how future generations will learn their stories and history.  

“Somebody asked me, ‘Tell me, is it true, that there was a concentration camp?’” said Holocaust survivor David Kaplan recently during an interview at the EL Paso Holocaust Museum and Study Center. Kaplan, about to turn 88, says he knows of only four remaining survivors still alive in El Paso.  http://www.elpasoholocaustmuseum.org/local-survivors/

“Young people now don’t know that there was such a thing,” Kaplan said, adding that it’s possible that in the future, “there will only be one or two lines about it in history.”  

The retired El Paso businessman, born in Lithuania, endured four years as a teenager in concentration camps in Lithuania and later at Dachau in Germany.

Holocaust museum education program careful in approaching subject with young children

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Children only above sixth grade should attend the El Paso Holocaust Museum and Study Center because they will understand the Holocaust better than youngsters, the Holocaust education director said. “The gallery here is geared toward sixth graders and above,” Education Director Jamie Flores said. “So below that, we believe the maturity level of a young child it’s not advanced enough for the depth of the Holocaust,” Flores said. Although Flores said she believes students should wait until they are older, she does see some younger children visiting the museum with their parents. “Generally before (a tour) I warn students about what parts are graphic,” Flores said.

El Paso’s grand dame to be renovated as convention hotel, as a nearby boutique lodging strikes a modern chord

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The 100-year-old Camino Real Hotel is about to receive a major facelift after a $70 million sale, a year after the introduction of another hotel that owners hope will become part of the downtown landscape. The Camino Real was built in 1912 by Zach T White alongside the local architectural firm Trost and Trost, for $1.5 million at the time. Its classical architecture is what keeps tourists ringing the hotel bell. The elegance of the lobby is certain to be noticed, as are the Tiffany glass dome in its variety of blue hues, multiple glass chandeliers and polished marble floors. “You can see a lot of the features [from 1912] in architecture back in the day,” said Paul Dillard, a visitor from Fort Worth.

Downtown El Paso shops outfit quince celebrations with tradition and style

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EL PASO – This border city’s downtown shopping district has become a flourishing quinceñera Mecca as girls turning 15 and their families flock to buy lavish party dresses and accessories to celebrate their transition into womanhood. Outfitting quinceañeras, one of the most important celebrations among Hispanics, has become a booming business here where 82 percent of the population is Hispanic. “Customers are very faithful to this location. There’s a lot of traffic coming from everywhere. There are even people coming from outside of Texas,” said Yuridia Villagran, co-owner of Imperial Real Boutique.

Holocaust survivor’s first act of freedom was to embrace forgiveness

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When someone has “put you through hell” it’s often hard to forgive. But Holocaust survivor David Kaplan, who spent four years in a concentration camp, has made forgiving Hitler and the Nazis look easy. “I stop, I relax and then I don’t hate them anymore,” Kaplan, 88, said recently in an emotional interview at the El Paso Holocaust Museum and Study Center. Born on July 20, 1928 in Kaunas, Lithuania, the retired businessman is one of about 35 Holocaust survivors who settled in El Paso after the Second World War and one of just a few still alive in El Paso. When the Nazis and Adolph Hitler rose to power in Germany when he was a child in Lithuania, he and his parents and siblings were forced to move into a small house in the Slobodka Ghetto.

Exterior Mac's Place restaurant

Cajun meets the border on the menu at Mac’s Place

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EL PASO — From steaming jambalaya to blackened salmon, Mac’s Place introduced Cajun-inspired cuisine to El Paso’s downtown dining scene. The Louisiana style restaurant, co-owned by Gregory Wayne and Gelaine Apuan, offers an alternative to the usual Hispanic food, with their collection of homemade spices. “It’s a different kind of spice that people aren’t used to here, people are used to jalapeno or siracha,” Apuan said. “It’s a lip burning, oh-my-goodness spice where oh, I just can’t stop eating it.”

Like other entrepreneurs in the El Paso area, Apuan and her partner decided to roll the dice and open up Mac’s place on the East side in 2012. After a few years in the business they decided to expand the restaurant to their newest location downtown near San Jacinto Plaza and have now been operating that location for more than a year.

Reinvigorated San Jacinto Plaza draws crowd to downtown El Paso

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After three years spent renovating the San Jacinto Plaza, the heart of downtown has officially captured everyone’s imagination once again. El Paso’s oldest area of the city has now become one of its newest attractions. What used to be just “Los Lagartos” is now something more than a park that many years ago displayed as many as seven live alligators at one time. “It’s really nice, there’s a lot of shade for people to sit around, walk and enjoy their time here,” Estrella Gonzalez said. “Today me and my friend came to a Pokemon hunt with the new Pokemon Go game.”
Pokemon Go is a popular and rapidly growing mobile device game that focuses on finding characters in various places and locations in a city or community.

Storify: Social media reflections on pope visit to Juarez

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Borderzine photographer Jorge Salgado created this Storify collection of the buzz on both sides of the U.S., Mexico border when Pope Francis visited Juarez Feb. 17, 2016. [View the story “Jorge Salgado looks back on #PapaEnCDJ for #Popezine” on Storify]

And Borderzine reporter Eragdi Macias shared highlights from her classmates’ coverage of the day. [View the story “My classmates favorite tweets #Popezine ” on Storify]

A newly arrived Cuban migrant fills out paperwork in El Paso.

El Paso social services respond to Cuban refugee surge

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Cuban refugees continue to seek asylum in the U.S., traveling from Juarez, Mexico to El Paso for a third straight week, with many staying in El Paso longer than expected, which could strain local organizations that traditionally provide services such as food, shelter and legal advice to immigrants. Elizabeth O’Hara, communications director of Catholic Diocese of El Paso, said about 300 Cuban migrants have been arriving each day since May 9 for a total of about 3,000 in the last three weeks. “Some of them will stay 24-36 hours, but now we’re seeing some of them staying longer,” O’Hara said, adding that the first wave of refugees seemed to be better off financially. “Most of the first ones to arrive had money left so they could bounce out of El Paso faster.”

That seems to be the case as well at the Ysleta Lutheran Mission, which is housing up to 80 refugees at a time. Karla Gonzalez, Ysleta’s chief operating officer, said most immigrants will just pass through El Paso on the way to family or friends in other parts of the country.

Downtown El Paso set to ride streetcar revival

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Beginning in 2018, El Paso residents will be riding the rails again. Streetcars, once a staple in El Paso, will return. A $97 million grant from the Texas Transportation Commission and $4.5 million from the City of El Paso is funding the 4.8-mile route. The revamped streetcar system is an example of art becoming reality. A graduate thesis by City Council Representative, Peter Svarzbein, was the impetus for the project.