El paso downtown revitalization (Dallas, Fort Worth: how much, hotel, houses)

[european27]

I would like to ask, how is the El Paso downtown revitalization doing? If is there a progress, is there a new developement, shopping and night life. Anyways, is El Paso pretty? I know that nature scenery is beautiful there, but how about the city.

I am a college graduate from Europe and I would like to come to Texas for an english language school....for mayby half year. ANd then I will decide, if I would stay or not. I am thinking about more places in texas and UTEP El Paso and "Language plus" language school are also my possibilities.

How is the nightlife in EP, shopping, bad neighborhoods, people. I am worried that EP is too much hispanic to learn english there. I am no racist, I love Mexico, mexican people and mexican food, but how about the spanish speaking enviroment. Do people in the shops, bars, streets speak spanish or english. I don´t speak spanish at all..so is it a problem? And mayby in the future is it necessary to be able to speak spanish to get a job there?

thank you all

[malamute]

Originally Posted by european27

I would like to ask, how is the El Paso downtown revitalization doing? If is there a progress, is there a new developement, shopping and night life. Anyways, is El Paso pretty? I know that nature scenery is beautiful there, but how about the city.

I am a college graduate from Europe and I would like to come to Texas for an english language school....for mayby half year. ANd then I will decide, if I would stay or not. I am thinking about more places in texas and UTEP El Paso and "Language plus" language school are also my possibilities.

How is the nightlife in EP, shopping, bad neighborhoods, people. I am worried that EP is too much hispanic to learn english there. I am no racist, I love Mexico, mexican people and mexican food, but how about the spanish speaking enviroment. Do people in the shops, bars, streets speak spanish or english. I don´t speak spanish at all..so is it a problem? And mayby in the future is it necessary to be able to speak spanish to get a job there?

thank you all

There are some clubs downtown - not like in other cities however.

Beauty is in the mind of the beholder - some people don't think El Paso is a pretty city - but others find it spectacular, there's a mountain right in the middle of town and the desert can be beautiful but you have to like deserts.

You could possibly learn English here. Not so much at social events but 3/4 of the people primarily speak Spanish. It's not necessarily a problem for those who speak no Spanish, it all depends on what kind of job they do and how much they have to understand people around them. For example in many workplaces, the break room conversations will be all in Spanish, some people don't care, others will feel left out. People here will tend to use Spanish even if they speak English and there are some present who can't speak Spanish. That bothers some, others prefer to sit and read a book or the paper anyhow and don't care if they're left out of conversations.

There are some jobs where you don't have to speak Spanish at all. Not so many "service industry" jobs of course. Jobs that don't require much interaction with the public may hire an English speaker.

And getting back to the "pretty", I think a lot of neighborhoods here are prettier than many in other cities. I like how they have xeriscaping in the front yards and the stucco houses and colors from the desert. Some of the older neighborhoods are vey attractive - for example the style of homes in Sunset Heights and the landscaping is nice.

If you like the big sky and sunshine, you might really like it here. However - it's hard to predict who will like it here, who will dislike it.

[TexasCCW]

Please visit this site. Although I think we are behind compared to some cities we are headed in the right direction.

elpasonext - DOWNTOWN EL PASO

[Rich Cabeza]

You'll finding living in EP costs about 1/10th as much as Europe. The food's much better too.

[cte1866]

Walmart is the pinnacle of shopping here. El Paso seriously needs some upscale shopping. You really have to like a desert environment.

[joqua]

Originally Posted by cte1866

Walmart is the pinnacle of shopping here.

This thread is about "downtown revitalization" and I know of no Walmart store near the downtown area.

And I can't argue with someone's personal level of shopping but there are MANY large-scale dept stores in the several very large malls. If "discount" shopping is your thing, there is even a "factory outlet" complex on Mesa for those who like to "shop til they drop."

[Rich Cabeza]

How's the Plaza Hotel renovation going? Anyone know? joqua?

[mistabinks]

Thank you Joqua. Very good post.

[european27]

Thank you for your comments. It helped me a lot. I agree that EP could be really cheap place.....even Dallas-Fort Worth area was pretty cheap to compare to Europe...housing, food...almost everything was cheaper... For the price of my small 1 bedroom appartment here in Europe, I could have a really nice 3-4 bedrooms house somewhere in Dallas suburbs - Waxahachie, Arlington, Grand Prarie...
And I love texas weather, mexican food, people and western heritage.... I can´t wait to come to Texas again. Europe is expensive, and for me also pretty boring..... only thing I don´t like in Texas is a dry law in some counties....and I dunno if everywhere, but in DFW all bars were closed about 1 or 2 AM

God bless Texas , I wish to come back soon

[ikanep]

Cortez Building is getting renovated

Restored Cortez: $1M investment to renew building's grandeur - El Paso Times