JOINT CITY COUNCIL MEETING
Rep. Peter Svarzbein Office of District 1 October 30, 2017
Rep. Peter Svarzbein City of El Paso, District 1 October 30, 2017
"We want to achieve safety and security, but we also want to promote economic development. As you know, Mexico is our largest trading partner. We need to ensure that we are able to continue that very effective trade.� - Gov. Greg Abbott to new Homeland Secretary Secretary John Kelly, Jan. 26, 2017
The Problem • Our region is being defined by other people’s ideas of border security and border infrastructure. • We need to communicate what border security and border infrastructure mean to us who live and work on the border. – True Border Security is Economic Security
Border Crossing: The Facts
U.S.-Mexico Trade - -
Total Ports of Entry on US-Mexico Border: 52 El Paso 10th largest Exporter in the USA (2017) Goods & services trade between U.S. & Mexico totaled approximately $586 billion in 2015 - -
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Mexico is our 3rd-largest trading partner in goods (2015) -
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Exports from U.S.: $267 billion (approx.) Imports into U.S.: $316 billion (approx.)
The U.S.’s 2nd-largest goods export market (including 50% of all of Wisconsin’s cheese)
Source: Office of U.S. Trade Representative
Border Crossings Along the El Paso-Ciudad Juárez Ports of Entry (10-year Average: ‘06-‘15)
- 7 million pedestrian border crossings - 11.7 million personal vehicle crossings carrying 21.7 million people therein - 400,613 bus passengers - Daily: ~80,000 people cross to either side (2015) -
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics
Our History of Cross-Border Transit
1881: Up to 1881, a ferry was the only way of transportation to cross the river in El Paso & Juรกrez. 1881: The first mule-drawn trolleys of the El Paso Street Railway used a single track that went from Stanton Street (EP) down Avenida Lerdo (CJ).
1902: The first electric trolleys were used.
Original PCC Streetcars coming back to El Paso in 2018
The monorails that never were‌ Two separate plans for a monorail systems connecting El Paso & Ciudad Juårez in 1965 (Stephen Kent) and 1976 (Wilbur Smith & Associates). 1976
1965
1965 Monorail Plan: “With the installation of such a system, the central cores of the cities would be more closely bound for ease of continuing growth of commercial intercourse, by which the economy of the community has been established‌ No other thriving metropolitan community of equal size has been so restricted and contained by so relatively a small physical item as a channelized river.â€?
HOW DO WE CROSS
FAMILY
ART
MUSIC
MEXICO-USA PHILHARMONIC YOUTH ORCHESTRA
Any project that affects both sides of the border requires input and leadership from both sides of the border.
1987 Bi-National Task Force
City of El Paso’s Planning Dept. of Planning, Research & Development’s 1989 Paseo de las Luces Proposal “Two major metropolitan areas in two different countries, separated only by an imposed political boundary, have found that their futures are intertwined. What they cannot do alone, they must undertake together. Only through bi-national cooperation brought about by local leadership can the revitalization effort succeed.”
The Future of Cross-Border Transit
Texas Freight Shuttle System
Conceptual Draft of Monorail Route, 2017
Sketch by: Daniel Aburto
Proposed American Terminal
Proposed Mexican Terminal
Sketches by: Daniel Aburto
Make EP/JRZ the most dynamic & seamless bi-naUonal community in the world both economically & culturally.
Proposal • CreaUon of a bi-naUonal task force comprised of two city council members and relevant staff from each city that will work on bi-naUonal issues and projects. The creaUon of this task force will be approved by each city council within 30 days.
References -
“DHS Secretary Kelly, Abbott tour border” – by: Aaron Nelson, San Antonio Express News, Feb. 01, 2017 -
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“In border visit, Abbott urges balance between security, trade” – Patrick Svitek, Texas Tribune – Feb. 01, 2017 “Borderplex Business Barometer” - Border Region Modeling Project, Department of Economics & Finance, UTEP “El Paso, Texas Economic Outlook 2018” - Border Region Modeling Project, Department of Economics & Finance, UTEP “Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua Economic Outlook 2018” - Border Region Modeling Project, Department of Economics & Finance, UTEP “Rail in the Pass: Past Present, and Future Impacts of Rail in the El Paso Region” – by El Paso Metropolitan Planning Organization, 2008 “El Paso-Juarez Monorail System, a Substantiation” – Stephen W. Kent, A.I.A., P.E. – El Paso, Texas, July 1965 “Economic benefits of proposed El Paso-border Freight Shuttle highlighted in U.S. Treasury Department infrastructures study.” – Gordon Dorsey -
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https://www.freightshuttle.com/economic-benefits-of-proposed-el-paso-cross-border-freight-shuttle-highlighted-in-u-streasury-department-infrastructure-study
U.S. Trade Representative – Mexico Statistics -
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http://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/DHS-Secretary-Kelly-Abbott-tour-the-border-10901781.php
https://ustr.gov/countries-regions/americas/mexico
Paseo de las Luces: An International Revitalization Project, 1989, El Paso Department of Planning, Research and Development Paseo de las Luces Concept Plan, 1987, El Paso Department of Planning, Research and Development Daniel Aburto Mongovision