Poll: Your relationship with El Paso

[EnjoyEP]

I have never resided in EP, so I don't know if I am allowed to vote in this poll!

However, given my tag-name, as others can attest to here, I love El Paso. I am a gringo in my early 30s who just lived in Albuquerque for four years; due to having inlaws' family in El Paso, we came down to visit El Paso quite a bit and I really grew extremely fond of EP. I actually applied for a few jobs in EP but didn't land any (jobs being a big drawback to EP for sure for many - myself included).

I recently moved back to Milwaukee, WI mostly for family/friends/roots reasons. My wife and I have two very young children, and we missed having the family/friends/roots network around us to help. However, we both already (it has only been a couple of months!) find ourselves surprisingly missing strongly the Southwest, and already are anticipating very likely a return in a few years when our kids are a little older. While we are surely going to be strongly considering a return to our old home of Albuquerque, we probably will be considering El Paso pretty heavily too (depending upon a job).

El Paso is a polarizing place and generally folks either really like it or hate it. While weather isn't a big deal to many, or folks think other things are far more important, they haven't lived much of their life in Milwaukee (with the 6-month winters) and then spent winter stretches in El Paso! Two years ago on New Year's Day I was golfing in El Paso in shorts under a glorious West Texas sun (was 73 degrees) and palm trees swaying in the background. This past February, I was in El Paso on a 75 degree day, and I was speaking to my folks back here in WI on the phone and it was sub-zero...hard to even compare they are so different.

To me, the great things about El Paso are the weather (it is so good it is hard to even fully describe), the food, the relaxed-manana-laid back like nature of the good-hearted folks, the unique culture, the mountains and vistas, the size of the city, the lack of commuting times, the cost of housing and the cost of living. Did I mention the weather?

The bad things about El Paso are the economy and local job market, and, to a certain extent, the lack of diversity in cultures, etc., or more progressive ammenities.

There are good and bad, but in the future, I will heavily be considering El Paso as a destination in which to live.