Lets talk El Paso

[Panterro]

City-Data

Races in El Paso:

* Hispanic (76.6%)
* White Non-Hispanic (18.3%)
* Other race (18.2%)
* Two or more races (3.4%)
* Black (3.1%)
* American Indian (1.2%)

This was posted by a Soldier living in El Paso while stationed at Fort Bliss.

I just posted this for another thread and a family considering moving here. I feel for you! I'm outta here in a matter of months....

Let me put it to you like this. I am a 10 year veteran of the Army and stationed on Ft. Bliss here in El Paso, I am a 29 yo white male and I don't stand a chance here! Avoid it at all cost! My wife has TWO specialized degrees and can't get a job here. She is turned away at every interview because she does not speak spanish. She has an illness that the Army hospital here cannot treat so they are sending her to a doctor here in El Paso. We called twice onc her once me. Neither time could we talk to anyone in the office thatspoke english well enough to even schedule an appointment. Are these the people you want treating your family?
Your car insurance will instantly go up a minimum of 25%(ours was $200 @ 6mo.) because the auto theft rate is so high, and the recovery is so low(they end in up in Mexico). Home owners insurance does the same thing due to theft. To make it even better after 3 years of looking here we have yet to find a home in the 100K range that does not have serious issues due to poor construction, no doubt due to illegal unskilled labor.
Prices are considerably high compared to pay here. The summers are a 115 degree minimum, with regular sand storms that will break the windows in your car, and remove the paint. There is NOTHING green here unless you spend a fortune and have imported dirt put down for your lawn; otherwise you have sand, rocks, and sand.
It may seriously concern you also that "white" kids get beat up and left out in schools here since they don't speak spanish. Half the classes at schools here are in spanish! Most ALL people that I know here that have 3 or more children school age have pulled their children out and are home schooling.....

Good luck to you in your future endeavors

But to be fair lets add this post..

Let me be a different voice of opinion -

I am a 30-year old male who was born, raised, and lived for the first 26 years of my life in the Midwest (WI).

After that, I moved my family to Albuquerque, NM. (We really like living in Albuquerque). From Albuquerque, we visit El Paso extremely often...I have now spent 3 or 4 day blocks in El Paso literally 20-to-25 times.

And frankly, I think El Paso is terribly pretty and scenic. Thus, there are people who find El Paso anything BUT ugly (the complete opposite - quite nice) who were not born and raised there. Admittedly though, I do very much like the desert, as it is a very beautiful entity if you see its beauty.

For instance, in El Paso, there are tons and tons - everywhere - of huge palm trees, many different species...all very tall. In comparison to what I used to see, growth-wise, in the Midwest, this is extremely beautiful!

Also, El Paso has a tremendous growing season - something akin to an 8b zone - and as such, things grow for much of the year. Sure, it is a desert, so very dry. However, with reasonable planting and corresponding watering (not wasteful watering), you can grow such a beautiful and diverse amout of plants, trees, cacti, etc.

Everyone in the desert years for the "green" of the Midwest. However, truly, the Midwest is "green" only from May until September! Since the growing season is so much longer in El Paso, you will see things in their "alive" state (eg: not the winter dormancy) and thus "green" much, much longer - truly from mid-February often times until the end of November!

Heck, believe it or not, I have seen a few very select orange tree clusters being grown in El Paso! Although due to freezing many years the trees produce mediocre fruit (in comparison to places like Phoenix, LA, or Southern Florida), just the smells of the orange blossoms in spring are so unique and beautiful!!

Also, being from the Midwest, I am used to a topography that is nothing but FLAT. You literally can see pretty much to the end of your block...that is it! El Paso, like Albuquerque, is very hilly and mountainous, and thus, you can see for miles and miles.

El Paso is nicknamed "Sun City"...why?...because the sunshine shines so often. The dry, sunny weather is a fairly big constant year round. The winters are great - 50s and low 60s in the warm sun - and the summers, while hot, are overrated to a degree...they come nothing close to the extremes of Phoenix, Tucson, Palm Springs, etc.

Surely, if you are looking for tons of water and lush green grass, El Paso wouldn't qualify (by nature of its high desert location). But if you are looking for some of the best year-round weather in the country (without exaggeration), huge beautiful palm trees, and an extremely wide variation of amazing desert plants and fruit trees, mountains, etc., El Paso ain't too shabby.

From my stand-point, I cant wait to leave. there is nothing here for me any longer, Employment is scarce, and what you can get pays so little you can not support a family on it. Jobs I qualify for, are jobs you must know spanish to get. Jobs that pay above minimum wage here also require spanish. but with the stats of the city you can see why. If you are caucasion you will feel outta place here, you will be treated differently. If you have no choice but to come here due to a military deployment, you may want to keep your family back where your coming from if they are employeed and like the area they are in. Gang Violence is on the rise, and when the CAV gets here, love them or hate them they bring higher crime rates with them, this will hold even more true if you place CAV with ADA, or INFRANTRY, as they dont get along. They say that the 60K soldiers and family will bring jobs and an econemy boom. I see it bringing hardships and over crowding to a city already busting at its seems. 60K incoming, 23K new jobs, 20K kids or unemployeed, 20K looking for work where there is none. That does not take into effect the many people here looking for work now.. Or that El Paso's low end work force. Our Schools are over crowded, our streets have California like conditions early in the morning and in the afternoon. and with the many new drivers on our roads it will only get worse. El Paso is a.. no was a beatiful place to grow up and live. It has become a sub-burb of Mexico, I will miss the city, but I know it is noplace for me or my family any longer. I would look hard and deep if your considering moving here. I would not recommend it.

[Panterro]

I have some links to share.. Money Magazine, Best Places 2006.

http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/bestp...824000,&view=d

This is the compaired to the top 10.. click El Paso to get its data alone.. You'll see that it is not as safe here as some site may lead you to believe. And look at the education scores.. we're negitive.. that is sad.

[MyAzi]

the only thing I liked about El Paso was buying really great boots really cheap!

[Panterro]

Yeah El Paso has 3 of the World best Boot producers in the world.

[cleozmom]

Never been to El Paso, but hoping to swing through there to visit my niece and her son.

[ProEye]

Originally Posted by Panterro

City-Data

Races in El Paso:

* Hispanic (76.6%)
* White Non-Hispanic (18.3%)
* Other race (18.2%)
* Two or more races (3.4%)
* Black (3.1%)
* American Indian (1.2%)

This was posted by a Soldier living in El Paso while stationed at Fort Bliss.



But to be fair lets add this post..



From my stand-point, I cant wait to leave. there is nothing here for me any longer, Employment is scarce, and what you can get pays so little you can not support a family on it. Jobs I qualify for, are jobs you must know spanish to get. Jobs that pay above minimum wage here also require spanish. but with the stats of the city you can see why. If you are caucasion you will feel outta place here, you will be treated differently. If you have no choice but to come here due to a military deployment, you may want to keep your family back where your coming from if they are employeed and like the area they are in. Gang Violence is on the rise, and when the CAV gets here, love them or hate them they bring higher crime rates with them, this will hold even more true if you place CAV with ADA, or INFRANTRY, as they dont get along. They say that the 60K soldiers and family will bring jobs and an econemy boom. I see it bringing hardships and over crowding to a city already busting at its seems. 60K incoming, 23K new jobs, 20K kids or unemployeed, 20K looking for work where there is none. That does not take into effect the many people here looking for work now.. Or that El Paso's low end work force. Our Schools are over crowded, our streets have California like conditions early in the morning and in the afternoon. and with the many new drivers on our roads it will only get worse. El Paso is a.. no was a beatiful place to grow up and live. It has become a sub-burb of Mexico, I will miss the city, but I know it is noplace for me or my family any longer. I would look hard and deep if your considering moving here. I would not recommend it.

I'm really surprised that crime is not higher than it is looking at data from c-d. Yeah, I know, I used their website... Crime in '05 is lower than the national average.

I didn't like El Paso either. Been through there a couple of times and it seems like a city built out of dirt. Phoenix kind of looked like this too but I swear El Paso looks quite a bit poorer. Definitely a blue collar town...