Hoping Good News Holds, (blue) El Paso Prepares for Growth at Fort Bliss

[DeepModem Mom]

NOTE: El Paso is one blue town that won big in the recent military base restructuring. A border town with a largely Hispanic population, El Paso votes blue -- and needs the economic boost the expansion of Fort Bliss will bring, if approved. Politicians and private citizens lobbied for Fort Bliss -- but I heard an opinion expressed that the decision to expand Fort Bliss may have something to do with the likelihood that we will be fighting wars in deserts for many years to come.


New York Times:
Hoping the Good News Holds, El Paso Prepares for Major Growth at Fort Bliss
By RALPH BLUMENTHAL
Published: May 22, 2005


EL PASO, May 17 - "It's a great day to be a soldier," proclaims the big sign at El Paso International Airport.

It is a great day, too, for struggling El Paso, or it will be if the Army follows through with plans for a huge buildup at Fort Bliss, the neighboring Army post and air defense center, which is set for the greatest increase in the number of troops under Pentagon recommendations announced on May 13.

"It's so significant, it's hard to put into words, an economic impact of maybe $2.5 billion a year," said Richard E. Dayoub, president of the Greater El Paso Chamber of Commerce, who spent May 14 at a Soldier Appreciation Picnic dishing out so much barbecued brisket that he was nursing a cramp in his hand.

If the expansion plans survive a coming round of hearings by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission, Fort Bliss - larger than Rhode Island and the only installation where every weapon in the Army arsenal can be fired - would see its military strength, now about 18,000 soldiers and civilians, grow by more than 50 percent. Its net gain, over the next six years or so, would be 11,354 troops.

That would prove a welcome boost for El Paso, a sun-baked city of 563,000 that was known as the blue jeans capital of the world until the garment industry took flight in the 1990's....


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/22/national/22bliss.html

[wakeme2008]

1. I said it many times... think GULF COURSES that can be used most of the

year and large areas for training....

PS I was born in El Paso :)

[DeepModem Mom]

2. Hi, wakeme -- yep, supposedly golf courses...

that can be played more days of the year than any other place?