Would El Paso Support this: (Dallas, San Antonio: 2015, movie theater, versus)

[SoldierBoyBliss]

I saw a post in the AZ forum about a sea life thing in Tempe.

Do you think El Paso would, or could support something like that here?

Welcome to SEA LIFE Arizonaâ€Â¦ | www.sealifeus.com The Official Web Site of SEA LIFE Aquarium US

I hope it could and would. I would love to SEA something like that here.

VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLU6MXMi_B4

[mistabinks]

Absolutely.

[Enmity]

Of course I'd love to see an aquarium. But it's all about money. I doubt any financial interest big enough to cover it would build it here. Those things belong in wealthy towns not here. I have a better idea. How about a Joshua tree vendor? I would like to populate this whole city full of those trees.

[jaxart]

Sea World in San Antonio has been successful for many years.

[smguy101]

I can see something like this in El Paso, possibly as part of the zoo or something in downtown. The problem is would it be successful or not.
If the city was to support this, it would probably be in 2015 or later.
And Werone, unfortunately, most of the city's attitude is like that. El Paso is a great city, but the city is years behind other cities its size. it wasnt long ago that El Paso was larger than Austin, Tucson, and Albuquerque MSAs. Now all three of those Metro areas surpassed the El Paso MSA if you don't count Juarez, and it doesnt help that UTEP students that graduate get the hell out as soon as possible because good jobs in El Paso that doesnt involve Call centers are scarce.

[mistabinks]

We aren't a true metropolitan. That is what hurts us. City versus city, we are in the top 30 in the nation, size wise. Once you factor in all the people, city, and towns surrounded a certain market, you realize how isolated we are - which brings both good and bad things. Economically, our isolation is a hindrance. It is what it is though. We need to fully integrate utilize Juarez and Ft Bliss and see where we actually stand.

People in Dallas do not fully fund and attract all the things they have. It is the Dallas/Ft Worth metropolitan that brings all those events and attractions in. Same thing with Austin, San Antonio, LA, San Diego, Phoenix, etc. There are tons of cities, towns, and people surround all the major markets.

[Enmity]

Moderator cut: orphaned

As far as the trees, even that would be an expensive and risky venture, but given the weather I think it's doable for those trees. They're native to the mojave desert.

[HookTheBrotherUp]

The trees you speak of are not native to the El Paso area, and so evironmentalists would not let that fly, and for good reason I suppose.

However, an aquarium is an artificial environment, self contained, so that would fly. I recall going to the zoo when I was a child in El Paso, but there was never an aquarium around. I never saw the beauty of saltwater environments until I went to the resorts in Mexico as a kid and got hooked... now I have a nice marine reef tank with lots of nice corals and fish.

Anyway, there aren't any real aquariums anywhere near El Paso that I know of, I mean one that is not only an exhibit, but a learning center for Marine Biologists, etc. One with 10 foot sharks, octopus, corals, eels, etc. They require lots of water, so that may be an issue, but El Paso does have access to unlimited brine water, it would just be a matter of filtering it, and getting the salinity to a point where it is safe for marine use. I know it is over simplifying it, but you get the idea.

I have not been to the El Paso Zoo in decades, so I cannot say if it would be best to put it there, but it is always a good idea to have them together. Since we are just thinking out loud here... I think it would have been a better idea to relocate the Zoo near the mountains, this would have been a new facilty and could have been built to accomodate a world class aquarium... 'The Aquarium of the Americas' sounds good.

Anyway, an aquarium is a good idea, El Paso would have a sure thing, I hope they would consider it before someone else does... Las Cruses, Albuquerqe, Midland, even Juarez!

[Enmity]

Of course the trees aren't native to here, that's the whole point behind mentioning their introduction. But they are from a very hot desert, more similar than where the palm trees are, palm trees that thrive here, to a point.

A real marine aquarium would be in an entirely different league than these trees as far as economics; a league that is well beyond El Paso. If that sounds negative, sorry, but it's reality. Let me put it this way, a basic IMAX would be less of a big deal, and we won't get one of those, either.

[mistabinks]

Originally Posted by Enmity

A real marine aquarium would be in an entirely different league than these trees as far as economics; a league that is well beyond El Paso. If that sounds negative, sorry, but it's reality. Let me put it this way, a basic IMAX would be less of a big deal, and we won't get one of those, either.

IMAX simply licenses out their name. The days of actual five story tall independent IMAX theaters are long gone. Different movie theater chains pay a licensing fee and build their own IMAX screen in their theaters. Cinemark-El Paso chose to go with XD instead of IMAX. So that is not out of El Paso's league.