Plan turns Rio Grande into binational meeting place

Two Californians have come up with a winning idea on how to turn the Rio Grande into a Downtown centerpiece for El Paso and Juárez.
El Paso Times

El Paso Times Article…

—

Plan turns Rio Grande into binational meeting place
By Vic Kolenc / El Paso Times
Published: September 2, 2007

Two Californians have come up with a winning idea on how to turn the Rio Grande into a Downtown centerpiece for El Paso and Juárez.

The idea is to open up the space between the Santa Fe and Stanton Street international bridges, greatly expand the Rio Grande channel there, and turn that area into a parklike environment with pedestrian bridges and entertainment pavilions, which people from both sides of the border could use.

It’s called the Rio Grande River Center, and it’s the winner of the El Paso-Juárez Binational Arts & Cultural District Design Competition completed last month by the New Texico Creative Cities Leadership Project. The project is made up of a year-old group of El Paso community leaders looking for ways to improve the quality of life here and stimulate economic growth.

The Rio Grande has played an important part in the history of El Paso and Juárez, and now “the two cities seem to be turning their backs on the river in the urban space,” said Chesney Floyd, 32, who works for an architectural firm in San Francisco. He and Sarah Lopez, 29, a doctoral student at the University of California-Berkeley, won the design competition and its $7,500 grand prize.

As long as the river in the central area of El Paso-Juárez is “treated as it is now, you’ll have two separate cities facing opposite directions. By opening up the river area, it will open up corridors on both sides, people would want to be there. Restaurants, (and other) businesses would open there,” Floyd said. He became interested in the El Paso-Juárez area several years ago when he was doing research for his master’s degree in architecture at UC-Berkeley. He’s now in the process of getting his architect license.

Lawrence Speck, an Austin architect, professor of architecture at the University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture, and one of three judges for the El Paso design competition, said, “What was so striking to me about this, is it kind of redefined what a border is. Instead of a line” with El Paso and Juárez on each side, “it made a zone, or place between the border that could be shared by people on both sides, and it made the place active and lively. É It’s like a duty-free area in an airport.”

Lopez, on the winning team, said no border town now uses the international boundary “to bring people together,” and this project would do that. It also would reconnect people on both sides of the border to the river, she said.

The River Center proposal calls for relocating railroad lines and roads, putting the Franklin Canal underground, and moving ports of entry away from the river, so that people could use the River Center without going through a customs checkpoint.

If the project is managed correctly, Rio Grande cottonwood trees would return to the river area, further enhancing it, Floyd said.

The California pair isn’t the first to come up with an idea to change the way people cross and view the border in this area. Cecilia Levine, an El Paso business owner, for almost seven years has been pursuing her idea—an enclosed, pedestrians-only, multimillion-dollar bridge linking the downtowns of El Paso and Juárez. One proposed location for the bridge is the same area proposed for the River Center.

Levine sees the proposed bridge, designed by Mexico City architect Fernando Romero, as an icon to symbolize the unity of the two countries and an economic development tool. She has lobbied leaders on both sides of the border to support her dream, which, she said, has already cost her and Romero more than $500,000.

“I don’t see it (River Center idea) as a competing program,” said Levine, who has not seen the River Center proposal. “Once decisions are made to fix that area is when we can all sit down and see how we can fit all parts of the puzzle together.”

Michael Breitinger, executive director of the El Paso Central Business Association, said the River Center is a “great idea,” but may not be very practical “given the times we live in and the (government) policies involved.” Moving railroad lines and dealing with homeland security would be difficult issues, he said. Levine has been pursuing her idea for years, he noted.

Speck, the Austin architect, said, “It’s not easy to implement, but it’s an interesting and powerful idea. Right now, the experience of crossing the border is kind of a difficult, miserable experience. If you make it something that becomes beautiful, interesting and not a hassle, I think it would attract a lot of businesses” to that area.

Julie Wong, dean of students at the University of Texas at El Paso and chairwoman of the committee that organized the design competition, said the Rio Grande River Center is “a big idea, but so needed. É We can’t afford not to do it.”

It’s a way to make El Paso thrive and be a “creative city” where people want to stay, Wong said. “If we develop our culture, art, and technology, then economic development will follow.”

Wong’s committee plans to put the design competition’s three finalist presentations in a slide show to use to lobby for support on both sides of the border. The committee will ask government and community organizations to help implement ideas from the finalists.

The River Center idea would take years to develop, but ideas from other finalist teams could be implemented in a shorter time, Wong said. A UTEP team proposed many ideas, including putting locator maps on Downtown street corners, and holding various binational festivals and competitions.

A team from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago came up with an idea for putting an interactive light sculpture above the Santa Fe Bridge. The lights could be manipulated from both sides of the border.

South-West city Rep. Beto O’Rourke, who’s championed a proposed Downtown revitalization plan, said the River Walk Center idea is interesting because it “capitalizes on our greatest asset Ð our border.

“Some kind of river walk and a way to celebrate the international boundary is a good idea,” O’Rourke said. Getting such a project done “is a daunting prospect for a lot of people, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t pursue it.”

O’Rourke said he’d like to talk to city economic development officials about the River Walk idea and other ideas presented in the design competition. He also wants to hear Cecilia Levine’s take on the River Center idea, he said.

Gary Edens, assistant vice president of student affairs at UTEP, who attended last month’s design competition presentations to the judges, said he’d like to see city leaders “do everything they can” to make the River Center project happen.

“I’ve lived here over 25 years, and I think we hold back a lot on our potential,” Edens said. “San Antonio is known for its river walk,” which, he noted, is a man-made river. “We actually have a river here, and it could become even a better attraction, and symbol of the communities coming together.”

Vic Kolenc may be reached at [email protected]; 546-6421.

For more information: www.elpasotexas.gov/texico.

River Center
- The winning Rio Grande River Center proposal calls for widening the Rio Grande channel to over 600 feet, more than four times its current size, in an area between the Santa Fe and Stanton Street international bridges.
- Railroad lines and streets in the area would be relocated, the Franklin Canal placed underground, and ports of entry moved away from the river to allow people to use the center without going through customs checkpoints.
- Six performance pavilions would be built in the river channel and viewing platforms placed at the river’s edges. Four small pedestrian bridges would also be built.
- Seasonal flooding of the river channel would be the impetus for a river festival, and also distribute Rio Grande cottonwood tree seeds so the trees flourish in the area. For much of the year, the river would remain in its natural, mostly dry state.
Source: Rio Grande River Center presentation.

Other ideas
- Two other finalist teams, which each won $2,500, in the Binational Arts & Cultural District Design Competition had a variety of ideas on how to bring El Paso and Juárez together through art, events and environmental changes.
- A UTEP team’s ideas included locator maps on Downtown streets, a high-tech solar lighting system for a corridor linking the two cities, a trolley system between the cities, special security-tourist guides in Juárez, and binational festivals and music and cooking competitions.
- A team from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago proposed an interactive light sculpture above the Santa Fe Bridge. The lights could be manipulated from kiosks on both sides of the border. It also proposed public art projects, and a day of no passage on the Santa Fe Bridge to be used as a day of reflection and special events in both cities.
- The winning and finalist presentations can be viewed online at www.elpasotexas.gov/texico, and click on “Initiatives.”