El Paso Water decision to not move horrible

El Paso Water Utilities needs to talk to Hunt/WestStar to see how they are only paying $75 million for an 18-story building. Seems as though the water company could learn a thing or two from them since they say it is too expensive for them to move their headquarters to anywhere else in the city. Instead they opt to build or renovate on their current site. El Paso Water, that is a horrible decision and I hope you get a lot of negative feedback and the Public Service Board decides to take another look at the situation.

Jesus Miramontes

East El Paso

More: El Paso Water rates going up in March to help pay for projects, higher river costs

There are better options, El Paso Water

El Paso Water, it is the wrong decision to stay in your current building. Funny how you make these types of decisions and don't consult the public? I mean aren't you a city of El Paso entity? Shouldn't you want to receive feedback from your customers? Why are important decisions like this one kept out of the public view until you have already made up your minds? Go ahead and spend tons of money on that old bank building on Hawkins, but just know that there were better options out there.

Freddy Ramirez

East El Paso

More: El Paso Water CEO John Balliew talks about projects, water bills

El Paso Water making a huge mistake

The El Paso Water Utilities is making a huge mistake by not moving Downtown. Instead, they are going to dump millions of ratepayers’ funds into their dilapidated building. When they presented this item two years ago, they stated that preliminary estimates to renovate their building were $17 million. You can't find a building to renovate Downtown for that price? Very disappointing.

Nick Fernandez

East El Paso

More: Here are the benefits of an El Paso Times subscription

Sell Hawkins building, move Downtown

I saw on the Public Service Board agenda that the El Paso Water Utilities staff is recommending they stay at their current Hawkins location and do renovations to the building and possibly construct a new building. I think this is the worst decision the Water Utility can make. Wouldn't they rather renovate a Downtown building and construct a parking garage there? Think about how much you would be contributing to the revitalization of Downtown by doing that.

I read on the agenda that they stated it would cost less to stay at the Hawkins building, I don't think they are considering all they money they can make by selling that property to the Fountains, or to El Paso Community College (didn't they express some interest?). So, the millions you spent Downtown would be offset by the millions you made in the sale of the Hawkins building.

Peter Lopez

East El Paso

More: Texas House Committee looks to curb gun violence

Is that the best Walmart could do?

Kudos to the El Paso Times for an excellent op-ed piece on how El Paso can move forward after the mass shooting in August. However, waiting for the Texas Legislature to take any meaningful action to prevent another shooting or to provide any other assistance to El Paso is an exercise in futility.

Gov. Greg Abbott will make more empty speeches, legislative committees will meet in El Paso, and nothing will change. What if the shooting were in Dallas or Fort Worth? Would the Legislature act more forcefully?

As for Walmart, first they reopened the store where 22 people lost their lives and countless others were traumatized by the shooting. Then the multibillion dollar corporation erects a sad memorial to "honor" the memory of the victims. That's the best Walmart could do? How sad.

Richard Gutierrez

West El Paso

Affordable Care Act must be upheld

As both a benefits adviser and a small business owner, I’m worried about the future of the Affordable Care Act. With a federal appeals court putting its future in limbo once again, there will be more chaos and confusion over the law. I have no doubt this will hurt small businesses’ bottom lines.

Every day I see firsthand how important affordable health coverage is to the success of our small business community as they struggle to keep qualified employees. Many small businesses already find it difficult to afford health coverage, and continued threats to the ACA are only going to cause costs to rise further.

While I think the law can and should be improved, particularly by expanding the small business tax credit, it’s helped countless small businesses and consumers gain access to health services that are desperately needed. There are many here in New Mexico with pre-existing conditions who stand to lose if the federal courts don’t uphold the law. This is why, for the good of small businesses and their hardworking employees, the ACA must be upheld and protected.

Gabriel Rodriguez

Anthony, New Mexico

Read or Share this story: