Journey Across Our America blog - El Paso stop

"My time in El Paso was short but intense at multiple levels. It was made particularly productive and easy by the presence of friends and family. I spent Friday evening and part of Saturday as guest of UTEP Chicana historian Yolanda Chavez Leyva and her artist- photographer friend Lucia. Over a wonderful home-cooked breakfast on Saturday morning I interviewed Yolanda about her work with Paso del Sur, an emergent organization founded to resist the urban renewal plans crafted by the city’s political and business elites who crafted a redevelopment plan for the downtown area and the historical segundo barrio adjacent that sits adjacent to it. The plan was developed and subsequently adopted by the city council without input from residents and has proven to be quite controversial because it involves the displacement of numerous people and re-design of the neighborhood that would destroy the barrio’s structural and historical integrity." - by Louis Mendoza (click link to read on, see pics, watch videos with carlos marentes of the farm workers' center, and more).