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Opinion: The Downtown deck plaza is an idea for a time of plenty. I’m not sure now is that time [1]

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Date: 2025-04-10

By Chris Canales

The deck plaza, a proposed cap over the trenched portion of Interstate 10 through Downtown, isn’t a bad idea on its face. Reconnecting both sides of the highway through Downtown with a green space amenity, and the potential for housing and other surrounding development, could ideally be a real benefit to El Paso both in urban design and long-term contribution to the tax rolls.

Chris Canales

This is the kind of bold project that makes a lot of sense when the economy is thriving and we have the funds to spare on a massive but catalytic investment.

Right now simply might not be the right time.

The latest analysis suggests the deck plaza would have a hefty total project cost of around $412 million, which is currently totally unfunded. We are in a moment where local governments are being made to do more with much less. Major cuts to federal support for city services, particularly in critical areas like our Public Health Department, Community Development, and even the airport, mean we now face huge new burdens on our already limited local funding sources.

In this context, we have to ask ourselves hard questions about what we can afford to take on.

That’s why I’ve consistently maintained that I don’t believe it would be wise for the city to use hundreds of millions of dollars of its bonding capacity on a deck plaza, essentially taking out a massive loan with an obligation to pay that debt back over a few decades with future taxpayer money.

If the state and/or federal governments are able to provide the required funding, then by all means, we should take advantage. That would be ideal, but I’m just not so sure that it will be forthcoming, especially on the incredibly short timeline required. And if that funding doesn’t materialize, the pressure to close the gap will fall on the city and county.

Even if the total cost is ultimately shared across the local government entities, an investment of this magnitude would come at the expense of pressing needs that residents see and feel every day. That includes things like street repairs, capital needs for key city services, and long-deferred maintenance on city-owned buildings and facilities that people rely on every day.

These may not be headline-grabbing projects, but they are fundamental to a healthy, functioning city, and like almost every city in America, we are already behind on maintaining our existing infrastructure.

Even if the city and county were to maximize their posited contributions to this project, which would be no small lift given current constraints, it still wouldn’t be enough. Funding a deck plaza will require a heavy reliance on private philanthropic dollars to bridge the gap. And to date, I have not seen any firm commitments from philanthropic entities that would give the public confidence that this part of the equation is truly in place.

Hope is not a funding strategy, and I will struggle to support any city contribution until I can see that the other pieces have actually materialized.

One proposal out there is that the city could use its non-taxpayer-generated economic development funds to help pay for the deck plaza. You may hear them referred to as the Impact Fund or the Texas Economic Development (or TED) Fund. But this project is not a good use for those dollars, especially if it would require a large portion or even all of them.

These funds are critical tools we use to attract high-wage, high-quality jobs to El Paso without dipping into taxpayer money. That’s their purpose: to grow our economy and create opportunity. Using them to bankroll a single capital project, however well-intentioned, risks undermining one of our most effective tools for long-term economic development and job growth, which I think the whole City Council agrees is the true long-term path to property tax relief and economic sustainability.

If this deck plaza is going to move forward, the only appropriate and responsible way to fund it at the local level would be to ask the voters to consider a general obligation bond. That’s how you fund a project of this scale transparently and democratically. The public deserves the opportunity to weigh this investment against all the other needs facing the city of El Paso for the next decade and to decide for themselves if this is the right priority.

I want to be clear again: I am not advocating against the deck plaza. But I do believe strongly that if it continues to be advanced, it must only be done in a way that is realistic, responsible, and sustainable. That means every level of government involved in this conversation has to proceed with eyes wide open to the trade-offs involved and also has to be willing to acknowledge that the most responsible course of action may ultimately be not to do it at all. A lot will depend on where the puzzle pieces outside of our control ultimately fall.

Some will argue that we must act now or risk losing the opportunity, that TxDOT will move forward with its separate but linked highway expansion (which, for the record, I do oppose) and we might lose the chance to build the deck plaza on top of it. But pressure to act quickly is not a good enough reason to make a financially risky decision with taxpayer money that would have a decades-long ripple effect.

Sometimes good opportunities pass us by because of difficult circumstances, and that’s just the way of the world. The answer isn’t to panic and overextend ourselves. It’s to acknowledge the moment we’re in and govern responsibly as elected stewards of taxpayer money.

El Paso does deserve big ideas. But we also owe our residents the discipline to pursue those ideas only when we know we can do so without sacrificing the core services and infrastructure that keep our city running every day. That’s the balance we have to strike, not just when thinking about a deck plaza but in all of our public investments moving forward, especially in times of economic uncertainty.

I’ll only support a deck plaza if we can do so without placing a massive burden on the taxpayers without voter approval or using all of the money we have for job creation. This is the commitment you’ll get from me, and I hope our other elected leaders can agree.

Chris Canales represents District 8, encompassing the Southside, Downtown, and Westside areas, on the El Paso City Council.

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[1] Url: https://elpasomatters.org/2025/04/10/opinion-el-paso-downtown-deck-plaza-chris-canales/

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