Great things Happening in El Paso, TX

Better and better: Enjoy Labor Day in El Paso
El Paso Times Staff
Article Launched: 09/03/2007 12:00:00 AM MDT

On Labor Day, today, it is not a cliche to put "hard-working taxpayer" and "hard-earned money" into one's conversation. By all means, El Pasoans have earned it.

It's easy to say "hard-working" and "hard-earned." But it's not easy to do that. El Pasoans are doing that better and better as more people are holding down jobs and more people are paying taxes that hopefully move this city forward.

Economically, we have been behind cities in our region for some years and, being a border city, we deal with problems other cities don't have. For instance, our unemployment rate continues high in relation to the state -- but the unemployment rate is still going down.

That's because good things are now happening in El Paso.

It seems there is more and more good news about Fort Bliss expansion, and its mission, every week. Late last month more than $100 million was earmarked for El Paso in the higher-education medical fields. The University of Texas at El Paso was granted $60 million to build a new facility for its College of Health Sciences. El Pasoan Paul L. Foster donated $50 million to the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center -- home of the new four-year Texas Tech medical school.

The many millions of dollars going into Fort Bliss expansion and health facilities will ultimately go into jobs and education for El Pasoans and it will help bring more taxpaying citizens to El Paso to not only give El Paso the top military installation in the Pentagon, but help it achieve its goal of becoming the Medical Center of the Americas.

Data show that 8,400 jobs were added to the El Paso market since July 2006. That is a 3.2 percent annual job gain at a time the rest of Texas was at 2.7. El Paso is ninth in job growth among 26 Texas metro areas.

Yes, things are looking better for El Paso -- better even than last year when reports were getting more and more positive.

Jobs are coming. We are learning that to get the best of those jobs, a good education is required. UTEP, with its border location, is a world leader in research pertaining to border issues, such as health care, health research and the overall economic issues of our country's southern border.
The Texas Tech four-year medical school will draw the country's brightest when it comes to the medical fields.

The Fort Bliss mission of Future Combat Systems is a mega-million-dollar endeavor.
To fuel the ongoing endeavors of UTEP, Texas Tech and Fort Bliss, other companies will come to El Paso and stand along side.

Last year, it was getting better in El Paso. This year, on this Labor Day, El Paso continues to be a better and better place to live.