I am not going to delve into the weeds regarding what happened at City Council earlier this week.
But I will share unorganized thoughts as someone who enjoys hiking.
First, there was a point in time that there could have been two staunch environmentalists on City Council. One of them lost to developer-friendly candidate, and the other was naïve and was taken advantage of because of his naïveté and lost re-election. Point being environmentalism unfortunately does not sell well in El Paso.
Now why could that be?
Again, I enjoy hiking, but I can see how hikers, environmentalists or whatever you want to call them or us, rub people the wrong way.
In short, we ask for everything, yet contribute nothing.
Here is what I mean by that.
There was outrage last year about how the National Park Service increased fees.
An annual pass now costs $80.
I know because I have one.
I'd pay $200 bucks for it and I still think I would be phucking over the NPS.
But alas many others do not see it that way.
Some people were losing their shit over this.
However, those same people spend Gaia knows how much at REI on hiking boots and a pair of Patagonia hiking pants.
It is kinda amazing how much we will spend on synthetic material to enjoy the great outdoors, but I digress.
They do not mind spending money on themselves, they just don't want to spend money on others.
This whole "Earth belongs to us all!" is kinda of a cop-out, and ultimately back fires.
These folks are not solutions-oriented people.
If people bitch and moan about Republicans being the party of "No", well, what do you think environmentalists do most of the time?
And you know what? Sometimes "No" is the right answer, but that's when you need to take ownership....literally. Much like the Audubon Society has done in the Davis Mountains and other areas across the state.
But short of outright buying land because we have collectively spent too much at the REI....there is always government, right? Which more often than not is the only tool enviros use.
Back to square one.
The problem with using government, in this case City government, and you have no shareholders on the board per se, you end up looking like the greedy ones. Remember the "Earth belongs to us all". Well, exactly.
Obviously there is something wrong with your sales pitch.
And from one tree-hugger to another...if they do indeed build a resort near the mountains, as someone who does enjoy the outdoors, do you think I want to stay at the HoJo on Gateway when there is mountain resort nearby?