Meet the Candidate: Daniela Garcia | El Paso City Council District 1

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Welcome to another episode of Talking About It.
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Meet the candidate of the.
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More You Know series. So I have been bringing you
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candidates who have been wanting to come on and kind
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of let you get to know them in kind of
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an informal type of way. I am, again, not a
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moderator or anything like that. So if you're expecting like
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a CNN town hall or whatever it is, ain't happening here. Um,
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so bear with me, but this week we have district
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one candidate, um, Daniela Garcia, and I'm, we have some questions.
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So thank you all for engaging. Um, if you are
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on YouTube, you can.
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Put your comments in the comment box there or in
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the comments, they'll pop up Instagram. If you want to
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ask questions, then you can do them there.
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If you're watching on Facebook, I recommend if you can.
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Go to YouTube or Instagram, because for some reason, StreamYard
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doesn't let me see the comments from Facebook.
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Like it doesn't come over.
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But again, thank you all for joining me for the
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past month. I've been bringing y'all candidates and trying to
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get you to know a little bit more about each person. Well,
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the ones that wanted to come on at least and
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their platforms. I think it's very important that we learn
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about the candidates who are asking for our votes because
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city council is a mess right now and we need
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to make sure that we are getting leaders in who
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are gonna get some jobs done. So welcome to the show, Daniela.
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Thank you for coming on.
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I am grateful.
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So yeah, if you'd like, just for people who may
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not know who you are, if you can just kind
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of give yourself a quick little introduction.
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Yeah, thank you for having me and facilitating this. I
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do think it's very important to have that transparency because
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city council affects us the most. But my name is
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Daniela Garcia. I'm 37. I grew up here and born
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and raised in El Paso, Texas. I graduated Coronado in 08.
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And I been all over the place in terms of
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just the learning. I'm a big fan of learning. So
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I have a bachelor's in arts in ceramics specifically and
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innovative education. I worked at the city level doing program
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planning for their education department. Um, for parks and recs,
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the education department under parks and recs. I, um, I
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was a loan officer for, for quite a while. Uh,
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and then when the pandemic hit, I started working for
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the state, uh, because they needed a lot of, a
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lot of help with the vaccine intakes. So my primary
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job was to orient people and especially doctors on how
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to navigate the new system that the state has released.
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And now that I'm back here in El Paso, I
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moved back as many of us do, moved back a
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bit ago because I have aging parents and I want
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to be close to my family. And I started working
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with my family's business, small business. My dad has been
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running it for over 40 years. And this year I
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took a little bit of a step back. to get
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more in depth on land restoration. So I work at
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a company that focuses on land restoration and I'm also
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involved with a little startup that focuses on agricultural sustainability
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and land sovereignty. So that's what I've been doing right now.
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And that's, that's kind of where my time has been spent. Okay.
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Well, that's good. Thank you so much.
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I think that, you know, how I learned about you
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was from.
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The desert, protecting the desert.
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I've seen you a couple times on the meta discussions
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in City Council. But, you know, I'd like to know
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why you chose to run for City Council.
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Honestly, I've been involved with the City Council for a bit,
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just like following and seeing how greatly we're impacting day
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to day by the decisions they make. And it is
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one of the offices that gets the least scrutiny. And
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that's a problem. The reason that I decided to run
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this cycle is because I spoke to every candidate that's
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running in my district. And I just was not, I
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was just not excited about my choices. I did not
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agree with their platform or their views.
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I felt.
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They were very reductive and we were getting the same
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candidates again. And I decided that something needed to change.
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There needs to be a jumpstart to change. Otherwise, we're
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going to be doing the same thing for the next
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four years, going to the same meetings, begging the same
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people to do things that they're just not doing.
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So let me ask you, you say that, you know,
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you spoke to the other candidates that are running and
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that you just don't feel like they shared your values
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or they didn't share what you are looking for in
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a candidate. What specifically is it that kind of stood
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out to you from all of the candidates plus the
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incumbent as to why and what will you do differently
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than those candidates? Like, what do you bring to the
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table that's different?
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Yeah. So as far as going from candidate to candidate, Chavez,
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the incumbent, we know where she lies, right? She just
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received donations from the affiliate that Meta is giving money towards.
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And that's a huge conflict. But on top of that,
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we've seen how she's voted on Flock. We've seen how
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she's voted on Meta. We've seen how she's voted on
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increased taxes. And just last week she came on saying like, Oh,
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Donovan is okay, but we have new potholes. Where are
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you talking about new potholes? These roads need to be
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fixed before the potholes appear. That is how our, our
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taxes get so high because you're not attending to the
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cracks in the road and the maintenance before we get
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these potholes and sinkholes. You know, so we know what
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Chavez stands for. Armijo, um, Honestly, like a stout Republican,
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I've seen his policy. I've spoken to him and I
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do agree that we have to have greater oversight over
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the decisions the city council is doing. But his outlook
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is to keep hacking at social services and just basic needs.
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There's a point where we can no longer amputate our
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city and still expect a livable city. Right. Like there, there,
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there has to be something else. Um, and then as
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far as Kosek, like, to be fair to the guy,
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I spoke extremely briefly with him. Um, but when I
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spoke to him, I, I, I asked him, and this
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is because I had been hearing from other people that
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were having interviews with him and conversations with him. So
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I was familiar with what he was saying. But the
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first question I asked him is like, how are you
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specifically going to fight the data centers? And what he
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told me was, and this was on July 28th, 29th,
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very close to the 17th deadline. He told me that
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he was going to present a writ, which is essentially
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a letter that Meta has 30 days to show us
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that they're adhering to their contract, and this is not
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going to cost the city anything, and they're only going
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to have 30 days. But guess what? It's not going
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to cost the city anything, and it's not going to
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get us anywhere, because the META contract is written in
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such a way that they have no obligations, practically no
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obligations to the city. The regulations and the Evaluations that
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they have to do yearly. They don't even have to
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release the findings of those to the city. So what's
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the point of auditing their own system if they're doing
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it themselves and they don't have to release the results
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to us. Those are, that's the kind of contract meta has.
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They have all the cards and showing and writing this
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letter and asking them, hey, you have 30 days to
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show us this. It's going to get us nowhere. And
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what that told me about the candidate, Kocik the candidate,
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is that he hugely underestimated how well-informed I am on
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the subject. And that is a problem because I am
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a District 1 constituent. He was asking for my vote,
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and he just told me exactly where he's coming from.
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Very shallow responses, a lot of platitudes. And that's what
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I've seen in his campaign so far. What would I
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do differently?
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I think.
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Yeah what's your what's your what's your idea of what
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what will be done differently so bringing so i think
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with him with him bringing a writ right that's a
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step that's more than district one has done currently at
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all she hasn't even wanted to hear anything So with
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you as District 1, because you're informed on the META agreement,
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what would you do differently?
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The first thing I would do is pause the project.
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We've had a lot of work on the back end,
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and not even on the back end. We know that
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the project that they came to present with the city
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and the project that got them the incentives is not
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the same project that they are building at all. Yeah.
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The first thing I would do is pause their project
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because the more they advance on the project, the more
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expensive it becomes to the city to do anything, to
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write a letter, to negotiate anything. The first thing you
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do is pause that project.
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How do you do that? How do you pause the project?
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You throw in litigation. And there's so many issues that
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come with it. Because right now we have a city's
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attorney office that is so opposed to doing anything about it.
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The estimate that they're giving us of like, this is
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going to cost us $ 1 billion. That's not how litigation works.
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It's not just like a one-time first payment $ 1 billion.
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But we need to actually have full city reform. Because
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the person right now, city attorney, that is having... that
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would be in charge of following up this litigation is
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the person that oversaw how terrible that contract was drafted.
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Right.
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And honestly, the first thing I would have to do,
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and even COSEC would have to do, anyone in there,
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it would have to get a majority rule in city council.
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Exactly.
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But the majority rule has to be geared towards, we
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have to pause this contract, evaluate that they still meet
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the conditions that they were that they were that that
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they got the incentives from and go from there and
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not oh well can we get more jobs because some
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of the numbers that Jose has thrown I've heard he's
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saying like they should be giving us 300 jobs like
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50 jobs 300 jobs when you compare it to the
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close to 700,000 people in El Paso that are going
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to see their electricity rate increase, that are going to
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see the water in their tap run low or dry,
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the 300 just doesn't really compare at all. Not to mention, like,
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our metropolitan area, our Paso del Norte, is close to
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3 million people. And we're all going to be affected
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because we all share the same water basin.
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Right.
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So if you're... Let me get clarification real quick. So
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Kozik District 1 says he'll bring a writ. So basically
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the beginning of litigation, trying to bring it back to
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the table, right? You're saying that you want to stop
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the project, but that takes litigation to do, right?
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And it takes a majority. So how do you get
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that done.
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On council? And really, what is the difference between what
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he's offering and what you're offering?
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What he's offering and what I'm offering, I mean, as
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far as giving them, giving them a letter and bringing
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them back to the table, that also takes a majority,
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a majority rule.
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Yeah. Yeah.
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Well, that's why, that's why I'm at, that's exactly why
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I'm asking for clarification because I feel like what you're saying,
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it's the same, you each doing the same thing. So
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both of you are kind of like, okay, you for
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sure know that city, the city attorney, right. Totally just
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sold us out basically. Counsel, allowed it to happen. And
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in order to stop or bring any.
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Any change, right?
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Because basically we're, like you said, we're kind of stuck
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in it with what the city attorney, with what the
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contract is. So I guess that's just kind of where
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I'm a little bit confused. So if you're both proposing
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litigation or coming back to the table, then, you know,
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I don't understand.
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Because COSEC's primary focus is, is to negotiate more jobs
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under the contract, which MEDA will never, like MEDA has
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no obligations to offer us more jobs. And the ones
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that they would offer would be minimal at best, right?
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Like the increase from 50 to 300, that's not that
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many compared to the damage that this center could do.
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If you're asking for a majority and like his path
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is like, let's ask for this bare minimum thing. My
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path is let's ask them or demand from them, because
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I'm done asking, let's demand from them that they stick
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to the original proposal that they came with, that they
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have 400,000 gallons a day. That's what they said that
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they were going to be using. That's a lot. But
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right now they have a cap of 2.5 million gallons
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of water a day. Bring it back. We're going to
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go back to the original thing. They said that they
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were going to use solar. Go back to solar. That's
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what got you the incentives.
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But all of that, you need to bring them back
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to council. I do have questions here from TruthMaxer on YouTube.
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I understand how harmful Metadata Center will be to El Paso,
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but do you think Meta's 380 agreement could have been renegotiated? Oh,
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we kind of hit on that a little bit. And
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then they have a follow-up. What process would you apply
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to determining if a policy idea was possible or worth pursuing?
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Like if a policy was introduced and honestly, I would
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consult with third party unbiased members of the community. I
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would consult with experts because I would research the project
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before voting on anything. Like, that's step number one.
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Yeah.
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So you've also talked about being, like, a logical thinker
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and your ability to learn different industries. But this job
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involves budgets, contracts, ordinances, state law, procedure, and working with
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the entire council. What makes being a logical thinker translate
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into being an effective city representative?
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I think we need.
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Forefront, we need logical thinkers. Like that's the requirement that
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every city council member should have. Like people that think
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logically on what is being presented to them. Because I've
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worked in a lot of different industries, I do have
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a lot of experience looking at different contracts, looking at different,
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just samples of different various things. I've worked at the
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city council where we've had to write contracts for bids.
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And I've also worked in private businesses where we're answering
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to those bids and submitting those contracts. I've worked in administration,
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administrative duties. I've worked in finance. On and off, I've
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been administering my family's business and my own business. I'm
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not unfamiliar with what it would take to do this job.
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It's administration at the basis. And at the forefront, it's
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listening to your community and actually staying on top of
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the information, being able to reach out to experts, being
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able to logically think things through before presenting it to
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the community, because that's a big, big part. You're representing
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people and your job is to present them with actual facts.
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Okay. Thank you.
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Sorry, my light popped off.
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Let's see.
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So District 1, you've said every district in El Paso
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has the same issues. How will you represent District 1.
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In its issues?
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Um, specifically differently than how it's being handled currently.
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I mean, for one, uh, the road maintenance, a huge
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part of district one is located on what should be
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the Rio Grande. Uh, and this is the reason that
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we have so much flooding. Um, so addressing that specifically.
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because our district is built very, very, the topography in
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our district is very, very different from let's say the
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Northeast District 4 or District 6. It would be addressing
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the district specific concerns when it comes to road maintenance.
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We also have a lot of concerns with some of
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the intersections here that are just not receiving proper speed limits, stoplights.
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We have a lot of growth happening in our district
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because we're at the very edge of the west side.
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So a big issue that we're confronting right now is
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how urbanization is happening. the type of roads that are
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being built. And right now there's a lot of communities,
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new communities that are being built in a bottleneck approach
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that is choking up traffic. We need to completely change
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the way that we are urban planning to avoid that.
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Because right now, where's the Coronado, where Coronado meets Donovan,
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that place has been That place has been a bottleneck
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for years. It's very beautiful. They planted a ton of trees.
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But that has been an issue for quite a few years.
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Coronado area is just experiencing and has been experienced for years. Now,
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Frontera area is experiencing as well. Not only should we
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have fixed the problem already, but it shouldn't be happening
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in a new area if we already know that it's
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going to be an issue. So that's a big concern
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here in District 1, how these roads are being maintained
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and how they're being planned. Yeah.
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Yeah, I agree. I think that I think the streets
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definitely are something that we have a big problem in
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specifically district one.
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I know you guys.
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Have a big problem with that because of how it's
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built on the out, out far West, you know? So
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it's kind of like the far East, how they need
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a lot of infrastructure. They need a lot of things
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like that. So I think that.
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I get that. So go ahead.
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No, that's just not something that our district should be
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experiencing because of, like, all the money that's going into
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these roads. Like, if you're going to put this much
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money in it, you need to plan it better. And
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you need to actually look at past projects, like, what worked,
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what didn't work, and that's not something that is happening
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right now.
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Yeah. Yeah, agreed. I'm trying to get my camera back on, y'all,
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so you'll just have to deal with my voice. Internet technology,
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you got to love it. Question that we received from.
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Instagram.
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A lot of people may first know you through your
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advocacy around data centers. Are you a one-issue candidate? If
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a District 1 resident says, Meta isn't my priority. I'm
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worried about my streets, property taxes, public safeties, or whether
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my kids can afford to stay here. What does Daniela
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Garcia and council do for them?
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Yeah, absolutely. I don't believe that I'm a one issue
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candidate at all. The data center is just a symptom
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of very poor representation and the kind of management that
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we've received for years. The issues that we're confronting right
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now are the same issues that that I was seeing
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20 years ago when I graduated high school. And this
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is why I'm running. It was like, why has no
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one done anything about young people leaving? But here's the
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thing about the data center, about the deck plaza, about
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the rising property taxes, about road infrastructure, is that you
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have built a system where a lot of businesses have
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come in to exploit our resources and are not giving
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back to their community. So if we want to maintain
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a functioning city, we either increase taxes, which is the
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wrong thing to do, or we find new avenues. Now,
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my concern with the data center is, and it's not
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just meta, like that's not the only data center that
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we're going to see, is you have data centers moving
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in and we have a decade or more of research
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of these hyperscale data centers emptying towns because of the
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exploitation that these towns and communities experience, they empty. How
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do you address a diminishing population when the projects that
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you're allowing to happen here in our city are provoking them?
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Because we can talk about canopy and putting trees everywhere,
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which I want, But if those trees are not able
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to access the aquifer, because our native trees could water themselves.
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Putting native trees as one of the most sustainable things
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we could do, they water themselves. But if they cannot
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reach that aquifer, because we have four data centers surrounding us,
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stealing our water, there is nothing we can do. All
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the money that has gone to putting trees in the streets,
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It's completely gone. It's a waste. It's a complete waste.
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So you can't really address of a, like if you're
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not building a town where young people want to stay,
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where housing is affordable, where the quality of life is high.
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I mean, they all come together.
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You have to.
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Build a town where people want to stay. And that's
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one of my main concerns is that they're making these
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decisions as if they don't affect each other. They're all interconnected.
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Everything is interconnected. And you can cover every pothole in town,
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which they're not doing. They're not even doing that. But
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if you have so many exploitative companies coming in There's
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no amount of potholes you can cover that will make
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people want to stay or be able to afford to stay. Yeah.
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Yeah, I agree.
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I definitely think that we're outpricing ourselves. Let's see.
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We have a question here from Instagram. Nim Ogle, I
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heard your answer regarding the deck plaza at the candidate forum.
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Can you explain what a deck plaza entails today? a
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little bit and why it's not a good idea for
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El Paso.
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Absolutely. Absolutely. So the deck plaza, which they're called park
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plazas in, in other cities and every city gets their
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own like fancy name for it, but they're known as
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park plazas. So the deck plaza is going to be
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built on top of the I-10 expansion on top of
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I-10 and on top of the I-10 expansion. And this
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is what's being proposed. They're proposing a park plaza that
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is almost, they're saying it's about five and a half
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football fields, almost six football fields along the highway. And
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it's possible because they're expanding the highway. And the people
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that could have stopped the expansion of the highway, because
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we have a ton of expert opinions that said and
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showed data on how detrimental the the expansion would be
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to our city. The people that could have stopped it
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are the ones that are pushing the Park Plaza. So
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right off that bat, that's a red flag. But you
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look at the Park Plaza and it's six acres, close
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to six football fields of Bermuda grass and shops around,
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I guess they're putting shops around and trees, right? This
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project is so expensive, like so, so expensive. They're estimated
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an initial of 200 million, but that's just initial. And
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they haven't even reached the half of that. You know,
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they're supposed to have reached their goal by sometime in October.
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They haven't even reached half. And I know Armijo is
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also against the deck puzzle, but Chavez and Kosick, are
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very adamant that the city is not going to pay
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for this. They're saying it's going to be funded outside funding,
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which is like, what are their interests in funding? We
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have to look at who these people are and where
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they're coming from. I think Kozak said, well, it's going
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to be state and federal funding. Travis just said it's
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going to be outside funding. Funding is financing.
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I think that's what the council is saying, right? Is
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that TxDOT is covering the infrastructure for it, which is
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right now why there is a section on I-10 East
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or something like that on the west side, I-10 East
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closed because they're trying to get the TxDOT portion set.
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Well, that's the expansion itself and not like the park
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is going to be like a whole other.
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Right.
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But in order to do that, they needed the infrastructure.
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And that's where TxDOT is taking the lead, which is
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why city council voted to pass that was because they
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were like, well, it's better if they're already going to
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fix the road anyway that we get the infrastructure for it. Essentially,
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what they said was that them doing this is going
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to save money because it's not going to be coming
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from taxpayers or or anything like that that it's going
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to be funded by you know corporations or whatever it
448
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is I just want to ask right quick have you
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have you looked have you read the Matthew Kozik's.
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Plan Yeah.
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Or you just talked to him for that few minutes.
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I'm asking because I was going through your website and
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some of the things you guys do have similar. So
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I was just wondering.
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No, I haven't. I've heard quite a bit of his interviews.
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And specifically when people say like, oh, it's going to
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be outside funding, it's going to be outside funding. That
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funding is finite. And what a lot of the cities
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that have gotten the deck plus that have have confronted
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is that the project goes over time and over budget.
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So when the funding is not enough, are we waiting
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for more funding? Are we going to have a project
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that is not wholly built? Or are we going to
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be paying for the completion? And not just that, because
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of the way they're planning it, and I mentioned they're
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going to have a lot of trees and they're going
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to have Bermuda grass. We know how difficult it is
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to maintain Bermuda grass in our city. How difficult it
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is to maintain these kinds of grass. And I'm going
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off of the projects that they're showing, the pictures that
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they're showing. We know how difficult that is for close
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to six football fields. That Bermuda grass is going to
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be rocks. by the time it opens, because there's no
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way in our environment, we're going to be able to maintain.
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So what is going to be the cost up to
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the city of the maintenance? Even I don't believe, I
477
00:31:34.700 --> 00:31:37.220
do not believe that the city will not end up
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00:31:37.279 --> 00:31:39.559
covering half of it. I just don't. I've seen the
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projects that they've approved.
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Yeah, I agree.
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And then the trace, if we're moving towards sustainable environmental, solutions.
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And I've brought up the native trees before. We have
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native trees that when they reach maturity, they're self-watering. So
484
00:32:01.279 --> 00:32:04.880
that's actually cost-saving to the city to have these trees.
485
00:32:05.619 --> 00:32:08.369
And this deck plaza, they're saying like, oh, it's going
486
00:32:08.390 --> 00:32:13.349
to mitigate heat because, you know, having grassland and having
487
00:32:13.730 --> 00:32:18.069
green spaces actually decreases the overall heat and temperature in
488
00:32:18.109 --> 00:32:22.180
the city. It's very ecological. But you can't plant native
489
00:32:22.279 --> 00:32:26.079
trees the way that they're putting them on those platforms
490
00:32:26.420 --> 00:32:29.980
because native trees have a root system between 20 feet
491
00:32:30.440 --> 00:32:38.289
and 200 feet. And whatever bed they're going to put,
492
00:32:38.410 --> 00:32:42.559
it's not going to be 25 feet that they need
493
00:32:43.180 --> 00:32:47.400
for starters, let alone 200 feet. They're never going to
494
00:32:47.440 --> 00:32:49.769
be able to reach the aquifer. they're gonna have to
495
00:32:49.869 --> 00:32:55.019
be watered. So we're gonna lose that water. They don't
496
00:32:55.160 --> 00:32:59.880
require a ton of water, but when you overwater native trees,
497
00:33:00.420 --> 00:33:06.059
their root systems don't have vertical growth. They grow out
498
00:33:06.180 --> 00:33:10.839
because the water is at the top. And when a
499
00:33:11.000 --> 00:33:16.660
windstorm comes and those trees are not cemented properly the
500
00:33:16.700 --> 00:33:20.890
way they're meant to by nature, They're going to blow over.
501
00:33:21.009 --> 00:33:23.630
They're going to fall. They're going to collapse. The maintenance
502
00:33:24.170 --> 00:33:26.779
on the plants that are going to be going on
503
00:33:26.819 --> 00:33:29.660
the Dead Plaza, we're being sold this like, oh, it's
504
00:33:29.700 --> 00:33:31.579
going to be like Central Park. Central Park was built
505
00:33:31.619 --> 00:33:34.420
on top of a jungle. Manhattan used to be a jungle.
506
00:33:34.680 --> 00:33:37.779
They used to have a jungle landscape. And Central Park
507
00:33:38.019 --> 00:33:40.960
is in the middle of that, on the ground. We
508
00:33:41.140 --> 00:33:44.740
could have something very similar to Central Park if the
509
00:33:44.839 --> 00:33:48.779
city put funding towards it. We have a botanical garden.
510
00:33:49.190 --> 00:33:53.710
that is hugely underfunded. And we could have a gorgeous,
511
00:33:53.789 --> 00:33:58.589
gorgeous park in my district, district one, but they don't
512
00:33:58.650 --> 00:34:01.579
do that. Instead, they sell you this vanity project that
513
00:34:01.599 --> 00:34:04.920
when you look at it with even like a small
514
00:34:04.980 --> 00:34:09.599
amount of scrutiny, and again, with an expert eye, because
515
00:34:09.639 --> 00:34:13.260
we always have to look at who can look at
516
00:34:13.300 --> 00:34:16.369
this project and tell me the truth. Who is out
517
00:34:16.409 --> 00:34:19.289
there in the field working on these projects and can
518
00:34:19.449 --> 00:34:22.809
tell me how it's going to work and not what
519
00:34:22.869 --> 00:34:25.110
the developers and the people that are hoping to earn
520
00:34:25.159 --> 00:34:26.280
money from it are telling me.
521
00:34:27.360 --> 00:34:27.599
Yeah.
522
00:34:27.760 --> 00:34:34.059
When we scrutinize it with information, with a knowledgeable approach,
523
00:34:34.860 --> 00:34:38.610
we can see how many red flags and how many
524
00:34:38.739 --> 00:34:42.269
ways this is just not going to work. Yeah. In
525
00:34:42.289 --> 00:34:44.889
the masking scenarios, it's just not going to be viable.
526
00:34:45.170 --> 00:34:47.010
It's going to be hugely expensive. And I don't think
527
00:34:47.030 --> 00:34:48.610
they would ever complete it. I just don't.
528
00:34:49.550 --> 00:34:52.800
Yeah. So we have a question on YouTube.
529
00:34:52.880 --> 00:34:54.980
Looking at your website, I see you have a plan
530
00:34:55.039 --> 00:34:56.340
to elevate downtown.
531
00:34:56.440 --> 00:34:58.940
Could you elaborate on that? Yeah.
532
00:34:59.139 --> 00:35:02.820
So, and this is like a great segue from the
533
00:35:02.840 --> 00:35:05.909
deck closet because some people are claiming like, oh, it's
534
00:35:05.949 --> 00:35:07.750
going to bring a lot of people to downtown. Yeah.
535
00:35:08.139 --> 00:35:11.730
The problem with downtown right now, it has received some revitalization,
536
00:35:11.789 --> 00:35:15.829
especially since I've grown up. I've seen how much better
537
00:35:15.869 --> 00:35:18.650
downtown has gotten. I mean, to be fair, when I
538
00:35:18.690 --> 00:35:24.530
was a child, downtown was really a lot better. Because
539
00:35:24.550 --> 00:35:27.849
I was born in the 80s, I remember how many
540
00:35:27.889 --> 00:35:30.590
businesses were there and what it was like. And then
541
00:35:30.610 --> 00:35:33.559
I remember the downfall. And then now I see it
542
00:35:33.599 --> 00:35:38.820
in the last few years. It has received revitalization. It
543
00:35:38.860 --> 00:35:43.550
has received some love. But it's all aesthetic. It's all aesthetic.
544
00:35:43.710 --> 00:35:46.829
If you talk to the business owners there that are
545
00:35:46.889 --> 00:35:49.750
setting shop there and are running their business, they're losing
546
00:35:49.829 --> 00:35:53.309
a ton of money on just being there. And people
547
00:35:53.349 --> 00:35:55.329
want to be there. People want to walk around downtown.
548
00:35:55.349 --> 00:35:57.570
People want to walk up a city. But the businesses
549
00:35:57.610 --> 00:35:59.860
there are losing a lot of jobs, a lot of
550
00:36:00.280 --> 00:36:07.530
money because... The buildings are not up to code. They
551
00:36:07.550 --> 00:36:13.480
have not been maintained. They haven't been maintained for a
552
00:36:13.559 --> 00:36:17.139
very long time. And the tenants that are there in
553
00:36:17.179 --> 00:36:23.320
those businesses, they are responsible for any maintenance that the
554
00:36:23.360 --> 00:36:27.099
building needs. But those huge buildings, you can't just repair
555
00:36:27.139 --> 00:36:29.679
the bottom floor. One, it's hugely expensive for a tenant
556
00:36:29.699 --> 00:36:31.780
to be doing that. It should be done by the owner.
557
00:36:33.559 --> 00:36:37.070
but the tenant is also expected to address any issues
558
00:36:37.739 --> 00:36:40.090
in the rest of the buildings. And some of the
559
00:36:40.250 --> 00:36:44.949
owners are actually expect tenants to pay for multiple floors
560
00:36:45.010 --> 00:36:48.690
of leasing just to be at the bottom, even though
561
00:36:48.710 --> 00:36:52.789
the rest of the floors are unusable. So that's a
562
00:36:52.809 --> 00:36:59.110
problem because there's, you're injecting money into these businesses and
563
00:36:59.130 --> 00:37:05.019
these businesses are only able in their capacity to do
564
00:37:05.219 --> 00:37:11.559
aesthetic and bandage approaches to fixing things. They're not able
565
00:37:11.639 --> 00:37:17.630
to do long-term repair. And I'm not even blaming the
566
00:37:17.670 --> 00:37:23.750
independent owners of these downtown buildings at all, because maintaining
567
00:37:23.809 --> 00:37:27.130
and fixing the issues that have been neglected for years,
568
00:37:27.329 --> 00:37:30.320
that have just not been viable for years, it is
569
00:37:30.500 --> 00:37:36.219
extremely expensive. and maybe just completely unreachable to them. So
570
00:37:36.739 --> 00:37:41.610
our only choice when it comes to that, to fixing
571
00:37:41.710 --> 00:37:44.949
it is that we have to look for outside funding,
572
00:37:45.550 --> 00:37:50.329
large corporations, large monopolies to come in and fix it.
573
00:37:50.400 --> 00:37:54.659
And now we have interests, outside interests that are coming
574
00:37:54.699 --> 00:38:03.449
up with these weird unfair tax incentives. They're monopolizing industries.
575
00:38:03.949 --> 00:38:10.210
They're underpaying employees. And we are again at the hold
576
00:38:10.250 --> 00:38:14.349
of private interest. So what I think should be done
577
00:38:14.530 --> 00:38:17.960
and is done in a lot of other places, and
578
00:38:18.019 --> 00:38:21.059
it's a shame El Paso doesn't have a more extensive program,
579
00:38:21.920 --> 00:38:29.289
is we should be expanding our our local community buying power.
580
00:38:30.030 --> 00:38:35.559
So similar to housing loans, accessible housing loans, you create
581
00:38:35.619 --> 00:38:42.659
loan programs that are city run, where people have, they
582
00:38:42.699 --> 00:38:50.369
have a low down payment, low asset requirements, deferred interest payment,
583
00:38:52.610 --> 00:38:57.400
and lines of credits that reflect those types of loans
584
00:38:58.039 --> 00:39:02.000
and you allow community members that would otherwise not have
585
00:39:02.280 --> 00:39:05.679
the buying power to get in and invest in these
586
00:39:05.760 --> 00:39:07.530
projects and.
587
00:39:07.289 --> 00:39:09.690
Does the city does the city fund that are those
588
00:39:10.329 --> 00:39:13.190
programs that the city implements and funds the.
589
00:39:13.110 --> 00:39:17.170
City the city would be um subsidizing some of the
590
00:39:17.190 --> 00:39:19.670
loans that's how like the accessible loans.
591
00:39:19.820 --> 00:39:21.659
Uh work right so they do that and.
592
00:39:21.760 --> 00:39:24.590
But The problem with the accessible loans here in the
593
00:39:24.630 --> 00:39:28.769
city is that they leave a lot of the population out.
594
00:39:29.980 --> 00:39:33.159
A lot of the population out. They have very low
595
00:39:33.199 --> 00:39:39.260
caps on who can access these programs. So expanding that
596
00:39:39.320 --> 00:39:44.010
program would mean that we could actually get community involvement
597
00:39:44.670 --> 00:39:49.530
to invest in these communities and and generate a true
598
00:39:49.610 --> 00:39:53.199
local economy where money circulates and it's not just going
599
00:39:53.280 --> 00:39:57.239
to these private entities and to their stock portfolio and
600
00:39:57.320 --> 00:40:00.940
to something that is not within the city. Because that
601
00:40:01.000 --> 00:40:06.530
is how you generate income that is not dependent on
602
00:40:06.570 --> 00:40:07.309
property taxes.
603
00:40:09.329 --> 00:40:12.469
But I think eventually that is kind of where it
604
00:40:12.510 --> 00:40:15.360
would lead either way, right? Just like everything else, because
605
00:40:15.949 --> 00:40:18.739
a lot of the reason that some of these buildings
606
00:40:18.820 --> 00:40:22.199
went unmaintained for so long was because people, it is
607
00:40:22.260 --> 00:40:26.420
expensive to, to maintain down there and then also permitting
608
00:40:26.440 --> 00:40:29.260
and things like that. So I do feel like that
609
00:40:29.340 --> 00:40:31.849
kind of would bring us back to right where we
610
00:40:32.010 --> 00:40:36.170
are now, where we're still as a city funding the
611
00:40:36.329 --> 00:40:40.449
expansion or rehabilitation of, of downtown.
612
00:40:41.210 --> 00:40:42.289
Um, Let me see.
613
00:40:42.309 --> 00:40:46.590
I do have questions on the Snapchat.
614
00:40:46.769 --> 00:40:46.989
Go ahead.
615
00:40:47.550 --> 00:40:53.679
Yeah, no. So when you create these loans, you're not
616
00:40:53.719 --> 00:40:58.039
giving people money. You're giving them the opportunity to invest.
617
00:40:59.159 --> 00:41:05.239
So you're charging enough interest that it can be a
618
00:41:05.300 --> 00:41:09.900
sustainable program that is not a burden to the city.
619
00:41:10.699 --> 00:41:14.679
You're only opening an avenue of investment to community members
620
00:41:14.699 --> 00:41:18.239
that would otherwise not have it because our alternative to
621
00:41:18.340 --> 00:41:22.719
downtown revitalization, if it's not coming from community members here
622
00:41:22.739 --> 00:41:26.179
in El Paso, the alternative is for the private sector
623
00:41:26.920 --> 00:41:32.079
to monopolize everything and make us all tenants and make
624
00:41:32.139 --> 00:41:39.099
us all employees instead of making us all owners. equal
625
00:41:39.199 --> 00:41:44.880
community members. That's how you get to uplift your community.
626
00:41:46.070 --> 00:41:49.250
That is why I'm proposing not just loans, but also
627
00:41:49.309 --> 00:41:54.489
programs that allow business owners, everyday people to access grants
628
00:41:55.690 --> 00:42:00.570
that are already being distributed on the state and federal level.
629
00:42:00.969 --> 00:42:04.550
There shouldn't be any bar for community members to be
630
00:42:04.610 --> 00:42:08.349
able to access those. But accessing grants right now there
631
00:42:08.409 --> 00:42:14.230
is a huge knowledge gap and it is very difficult
632
00:42:14.929 --> 00:42:18.639
to access those if you don't have ample experience and knowledge.
633
00:42:19.219 --> 00:42:22.420
So the city should be promoting those so that we're
634
00:42:22.539 --> 00:42:27.260
not spending money on property taxes and we're actually investing
635
00:42:27.530 --> 00:42:29.090
in an alternate economy.
636
00:42:31.150 --> 00:42:35.480
Yeah, I see what you're saying. I just think as
637
00:42:35.519 --> 00:42:37.719
far as grants and things like that as business owners,
638
00:42:37.780 --> 00:42:41.420
as a previous business owner who tried to deal with
639
00:42:41.440 --> 00:42:44.320
some of these things, I think the city does need
640
00:42:44.409 --> 00:42:46.590
a rehabilitation. And I think they're doing a good job
641
00:42:46.630 --> 00:42:50.809
now where they're trying to kind of fix it. But yeah,
642
00:42:50.989 --> 00:42:55.070
I definitely think that we.
643
00:42:56.260 --> 00:42:56.900
I think that.
644
00:42:56.800 --> 00:43:00.280
We would, a better focus would be revitalizing downtown than
645
00:43:00.300 --> 00:43:03.519
a park over it, in my opinion.
646
00:43:04.800 --> 00:43:05.260
Let's see.
647
00:43:07.840 --> 00:43:11.050
I have a question here, a viewer question that I've
648
00:43:11.289 --> 00:43:14.610
asked each one of the candidates. If you were given
649
00:43:14.630 --> 00:43:18.190
a million dollar grant for an eligible city or public purpose,
650
00:43:18.369 --> 00:43:19.809
where would you put the money and why?
651
00:43:20.929 --> 00:43:22.489
I'm sorry, what was that? If you were giving a
652
00:43:22.510 --> 00:43:23.170
million dollars?
653
00:43:23.920 --> 00:43:27.320
A million dollar grant for an eligible city public purpose.
654
00:43:27.619 --> 00:43:30.030
Where would you put the money and why? Hold on
655
00:43:30.090 --> 00:43:32.050
real quick before you, I'll let you think on that
656
00:43:32.070 --> 00:43:34.590
just real quick. Y'all, if you're messaging, I am not
657
00:43:34.690 --> 00:43:37.409
on camera because if I go to switch it on,
658
00:43:37.570 --> 00:43:40.349
it's going to completely end the live and I don't
659
00:43:40.369 --> 00:43:42.829
want to do that. So that's why you're just hearing
660
00:43:42.889 --> 00:43:48.610
me like the Charlie Brown teacher. So just wanted to clarify. Again,
661
00:43:48.710 --> 00:43:51.849
if you have questions, please drop them in the comments.
662
00:43:52.809 --> 00:43:53.530
But go ahead, Daniela.
663
00:43:54.320 --> 00:43:57.780
Yeah, I'm going to be completely honest. I don't know
664
00:43:58.880 --> 00:44:02.949
if this would be ineligible or eligible, but if I
665
00:44:02.989 --> 00:44:05.730
had a million dollars and I could spend it anywhere,
666
00:44:06.570 --> 00:44:08.630
just in one lump sum, I would spend it on
667
00:44:08.670 --> 00:44:13.519
our public transportation. I would inject it back into public transportation,
668
00:44:13.960 --> 00:44:16.559
especially because of the way that it's functioning right now.
669
00:44:17.159 --> 00:44:20.000
The way it functions right now is that it is
670
00:44:20.139 --> 00:44:24.820
funded based on the demand of that public transit has,
671
00:44:25.579 --> 00:44:28.440
but a lot of the routes that are being used
672
00:44:28.599 --> 00:44:34.139
are completely unusable. So therefore there is lower demand on them.
673
00:44:34.239 --> 00:44:38.260
So I would expand that public transportation and give people
674
00:44:38.300 --> 00:44:47.329
an opportunity to actually experience true public transportation. Oh, I
675
00:44:47.329 --> 00:44:48.349
don't know if I lost you.
676
00:44:50.150 --> 00:44:50.590
I'm still here.
677
00:44:50.789 --> 00:44:54.829
Y'all, my, again, internet is giving me some trouble. So
678
00:44:55.170 --> 00:44:58.510
I am wanting to make sure that we're getting Daniela's questions.
679
00:45:00.030 --> 00:45:00.510
Let's see here.
680
00:45:01.409 --> 00:45:07.710
Well, Daniela, let me ask you, because I keep getting
681
00:45:07.869 --> 00:45:10.650
cut off here. Not by you, but by my internet,
682
00:45:10.710 --> 00:45:12.849
of course. So let me ask you.
683
00:45:12.869 --> 00:45:14.059
Oh, hang on.
684
00:45:14.070 --> 00:45:18.860
We got another question on YouTube. El Paso is a
685
00:45:18.909 --> 00:45:21.599
drive-through city unlike Dallas or Austin.
686
00:45:21.860 --> 00:45:24.500
Is this something we should work on changing and.
687
00:45:24.460 --> 00:45:28.059
What types of projects would you support to improve these
688
00:45:28.179 --> 00:45:29.079
aspects of our city?
689
00:45:29.099 --> 00:45:35.659
Yeah, I mean, it is a drive-through city, which is
690
00:45:35.719 --> 00:45:38.340
a shame because we're one of the largest cities in
691
00:45:38.400 --> 00:45:42.260
this region. We should be the number one stop. But
692
00:45:42.280 --> 00:45:51.489
the projects that I would support is making downtown... completely livable, walkable, affordable,
693
00:45:51.510 --> 00:45:55.869
a visiting spot. I would complete the amphitheater that's in
694
00:45:55.889 --> 00:45:58.530
the Northeast or push as much as I can to
695
00:45:58.550 --> 00:46:05.619
the completion. I would invest in our tourist industry because
696
00:46:05.639 --> 00:46:10.739
we have a lot of specific tourist places. And one
697
00:46:10.800 --> 00:46:13.780
thing that I've been thinking about for quite a while
698
00:46:13.940 --> 00:46:19.260
because I am very interested in food sovereignty is I
699
00:46:19.280 --> 00:46:24.920
would love to not only cover our streets with native trees,
700
00:46:24.940 --> 00:46:29.280
a lot of which offer edible solutions. A lot of
701
00:46:29.300 --> 00:46:37.050
them are edible. I would cover our streets in nopales,
702
00:46:38.690 --> 00:46:44.309
like from west to east, just nopales everywhere. And it
703
00:46:44.349 --> 00:46:49.269
would be like the Mecca of food sovereignty you can
704
00:46:49.329 --> 00:46:53.269
come in and cultivate and just eat off the sidewalk.
705
00:46:54.130 --> 00:46:57.010
But I would support these kinds of projects that, I mean,
706
00:46:57.050 --> 00:47:01.489
Nopales are native to here. They're completely edible. They're so
707
00:47:01.550 --> 00:47:05.030
representative of our culture. I would invest in those kinds
708
00:47:05.090 --> 00:47:08.809
of projects that make us so unique and really just
709
00:47:08.889 --> 00:47:11.699
wait for people to come because yes, it's a drive-through city,
710
00:47:12.179 --> 00:47:18.570
but we get billions in people visiting already. So it's
711
00:47:18.630 --> 00:47:25.630
just creating that one-stop place. And not just to attract outsiders,
712
00:47:25.690 --> 00:47:30.849
but to also influence local tourism. When we speak about tourism,
713
00:47:30.869 --> 00:47:34.829
we talk a lot about foreign tourism, but local tourism
714
00:47:35.130 --> 00:47:39.760
is extremely important to the economy as well. So I
715
00:47:39.989 --> 00:47:44.539
would definitely increase that. And I think one of the
716
00:47:44.599 --> 00:47:47.619
best ways to do that is to offer public transportation.
717
00:47:48.460 --> 00:47:52.639
have that public transportation that connects us throughout the whole city. God,
718
00:47:52.699 --> 00:47:54.920
I wouldn't connect it from Horizon to Las Cruces, to
719
00:47:54.940 --> 00:48:01.309
be quite honest. And just look at the flow of
720
00:48:01.429 --> 00:48:03.929
people that no longer have to be worrying about driving
721
00:48:04.489 --> 00:48:08.369
no longer have to be worrying about other people driving
722
00:48:08.429 --> 00:48:10.349
and drunk driving. They don't have to be worrying about
723
00:48:10.369 --> 00:48:13.070
where to park or if they drink and they go
724
00:48:13.150 --> 00:48:15.329
out and have a good time, can they make it
725
00:48:15.349 --> 00:48:20.280
back home safely? You have public transportation that now invigorates
726
00:48:20.320 --> 00:48:25.039
that local economy and people are able to spend their
727
00:48:25.179 --> 00:48:27.880
money elsewhere. And they're also more incentivized to go out.
728
00:48:28.480 --> 00:48:31.739
And then imagine if we were the city when Juarez,
729
00:48:32.000 --> 00:48:34.599
I mean, Juarez already is coming here to shop, but
730
00:48:34.619 --> 00:48:36.940
can you imagine if we flipped it so Juarez is
731
00:48:36.980 --> 00:48:39.989
the one coming here to drink? That would be amazing.
732
00:48:40.570 --> 00:48:43.050
And they're coming here to drink to ride the public
733
00:48:43.070 --> 00:48:47.769
transportation and not drive because that's a huge issue.
734
00:48:47.789 --> 00:48:50.909
Yeah, I don't know how realistic that would be. But
735
00:48:51.250 --> 00:48:54.320
it sounds good. I would not want that.
736
00:48:54.340 --> 00:48:58.119
I truly believe if we had a robust public transportation system,
737
00:48:59.090 --> 00:49:05.230
most of our issues with our economic downfalls could be
738
00:49:05.289 --> 00:49:08.429
addressed if not solved. I really do. Yeah.
739
00:49:09.869 --> 00:49:12.090
All right. Well, thank you so much, Daniela. How can
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00:49:12.130 --> 00:49:13.670
people get in contact with you?
741
00:49:15.289 --> 00:49:17.489
You can reach me. I'm on Instagram if you want
742
00:49:17.510 --> 00:49:20.980
to message me. My webpage is pinned to the comments
743
00:49:21.039 --> 00:49:25.840
it's daniela for the 915.com and if you go to
744
00:49:25.880 --> 00:49:29.519
my website there's a contact um toggle at the top
745
00:49:30.039 --> 00:49:32.059
and you can also sign up for the contact me
746
00:49:32.099 --> 00:49:35.659
through there uh you can uh sign up to the
747
00:49:35.719 --> 00:49:38.739
newsletter at the bottom If you give me your phone number,
748
00:49:38.780 --> 00:49:41.880
I'm happy to give you a call back. And you
749
00:49:41.900 --> 00:49:44.880
can always contact me through Insta, that as well.
750
00:49:47.159 --> 00:49:49.219
Perfect. Again, thank you so much, Daniela, for taking the
751
00:49:49.260 --> 00:49:53.230
time to come on and answer some questions. everybody for
752
00:49:53.269 --> 00:49:55.730
tuning in I appreciate you tomorrow we are back with
753
00:49:55.809 --> 00:50:00.110
Richard Heneda and yeah it'll be on the same platforms
754
00:50:00.610 --> 00:50:03.090
you'll be able to listen to the audio platform.
755
00:50:04.210 --> 00:50:06.010
Tomorrow and you can go and.
756
00:50:05.989 --> 00:50:09.019
Replay this shortly after so make sure that y'all are
757
00:50:09.059 --> 00:50:13.880
registered to vote and show up to vote early voting
758
00:50:13.960 --> 00:50:17.440
October 19th thank you all for continuing to engage with
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00:50:17.460 --> 00:50:20.239
these I appreciate it and we'll see you on the
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00:50:20.280 --> 00:50:22.750
next one bye Oh.