Duranguito, what El Paso, Texas stands to lose.
Duranguito in controversial battle with the city of El Paso, Texas, who wants to build what mayor Dee Margo calls a “State-of-the art multipurpose performing arts and entertainment center,” in the area questioning Duranguito’s significance.
El Paso has always been a home to multi-cultural oasis. So when there is a situation such as this, it’s hard not to believe that there would not be some push back. The Duranguito area is one of the oldest in the county, so why exactly is the city trying to tear it down? Some believe it may in big part have to do with money.
There is no question as to the historical context of the Duranguito district, but what significance it holds exactly is under strict scrutiny by historians like Fred Morales.
Morales submitted a 38 page report to the El Paso city council in November of 2017, stating that the term Duranguito is actually false. Morales says that he mistakenly pinned the term in an article written Dec. 30, 1979 quoting civil rights activist Modesto Gomez.
Duranguito’s meaning then comes into question, "Duranguito was in actuality the name of a pandilla or gang that Father Rahm and Modesto Gomez and Salvador Ramirez used to work with at the boys club," Morales said, but the answer changes when you ask another historian like Mike Romo.
Romo says that in an oral interview with civil leader, Charles Porras, who lived in the area stated that the name of the area was in fact Durango, contradicting Morales’ claim, although the area does not have any designation in any city documents.
Source: ABC7 KVIA- https://www.kvia.com/special-reports/duranguitos-history-what-is-fact-and-what-is-fiction-/702004201
Barrio Duranguito was established by the early 1900s, with the oldest building dating back to 1879 making it one of the city’s oldest neighborhoods.
The $180 million dollar project to build the arena was proposed in 2012 and the area containing part of the Duranguito area was approved by the city council in 2016, with eminent domain at their disposal 150 people could be displaced.
This plan was in part because of the proximity to the convention and performing arts center El Paso Live, allowing the city to take advantage of $25 million in tax incentives for hotels over the upcoming years.
The plan immediately sparked an outcry from residents and preservationists alike. The El Paso city council, in a short lived glimpse of hope, voted to rule out that location in December of 2016 but in a feasibility study conducted in early January, 2017 considered the area once again.
Spring 2017 the study was scrapped, but the Duranguito area is still preferred by the city as the new sight of the arena.
Source: National Trust for Historic Preservation- https://savingplaces.org/stories/development-plan-threatens-el-paso-neighborhood#.W70QvvZRfIV
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