Since the mayor called in 100 of his closest friends for a little chat last week, lots of numbers and names have been bouncing around town.

Is it a 20,000-seat sports arena for $196 million, built by the year 2020?

Or is it a 10,000-seater for $101 million, ready by 2005?

Could it be the Tecate Arena, Corona Complex, or El Paso Energy Arena?

And what’s the deal with Scenic Drive anyway?

Playing to a jam-packed council chamber, Mayor Carlos Ramirez presided over what he called a workshop on the future of downtown. He said the goal was to build consensus, and get the process started.

It’s clear he sees development of a sports arena as the centerpiece of downtown development. But he acknowledges it can’t be done without a public-private partnership, and that some funding may even require changes in state law.

And along the way, Ramirez may be putting in jeopardy the future of the city’s libraries and zoo, while substantially changing the course of this spring’s bond election.

The downtown summit lasted more than two hours, full of charts and graphs and oversized glossies, with lots of numbers to gnaw on. Here’s a blow-by-blow account of the proposals, and reaction from some important players.

“We’re here to see what we can do to, all in the spirit of making El Paso a better place,” Ramirez said as he opened the session, and asked for volunteers to serve on a 19-member arena committee. “We need to start a dialogue, build consensus and get every El Pasoan behind it.”

Then downtown planning czar Nat Campos began his detailed presentation.

“A downtown arena makes dollars and sense,” he said, because it provides venues for sports events, conventions, and entertainment. It creates income from sales tax, employment and spin-off development.

Campos gave credit to former mayor Larry Francis for much of the work already underway in the Union Plaza district. He said that project, along with the new Museum of Art, federal building and street improvements, sets the stage for private investment.

Campos outlined four potential sites for the arena. The first two are at Cleveland Park. One plan would build the arena on the existing park, the other would expand into the neighboring block where the main library now stands.

Both sites have good access from Interstate 10, high visibility, and some of the land is already publicly-owned.

But the property values are high in the area, making it expensive to buy out existing businesses. And there are concerns about traffic congestion, sufficient parking, and moving the library.

Besides, Ramirez thinks the Twelve Travelers statue of don Juan de Oñate should go in Cleveland Park, and city architects have been working on plans to pair the statue with a new history museum. And maybe the holocaust museum finds its new home there.

That takes us to site No. 3, south of Paisano along Santa Fe Street. City officials like that it would link downtown development closer to the border, with plenty of parking. But they worry about limited land area, and the need to relocate major utilities and railroad facilities.

So finally, we come to site number four. It’s several square blocks immediately south of the civic center, bounded by San Antonio, Santa Fe, Paisano and Durango streets.

City officials really like this one. They like the easy access off Paisano, and the proximity to the Union Plaza district. They think it will be easy to buy the land at low prices. They like it as a companion piece to expansion of the civic center, and the potential to increase convention activity.

And they think the problems can be overcome. Problems like relocating 96 residential and some commercial units. Paying back some federal money already used for street improvements that would have to be torn up. And moving a proposed firestation.

Officials envision a 3,000-space parking garage and transit plaza next door. Maybe a new hotel. And lots of little shops and restaurants.

During Campos’ presentation, there was excitement in the air. Some audience members whispered about it being the most exciting thing they’d ever seen in El Paso.

When Campos started running down the numbers, the mood changed as the prices climbed.

The first scenario calls for an 18,000-seat stadium, with 520,000 square feet, at a projected cost of $144 million.

The second, more ambitious plan is for a 20,000-seater, with 650,000 square feet, and a price tag of $196 million.

Thirdly, there’s the downsized 10,000-seat facility for $101 million.

Campos said the proposals are based on studies of what other similar-sized cities have built in recent years. And he admits that there are lots of studies yet to be done, things like environmental impact and traffic flow.

Plus financing is a big unknown, and no one has looked at annual operating costs. So there’s a lot to talk about.

But for Ramirez, it’s time for action. He wants the city council to approve the new arena committee as early as this week.

Then Ramirez introduced appliance dealer Pat Goff, who’s been supporting downtown redevelopment for more than a decade. This day he spoke about El Paso’s need to turn recreation into revenue.

“Cities are packaging facilities where there is fun,” he said, showing slides of arenas and downtown projects in cities like Phoenix, San Antonio and Dallas.

He sees the proposed arena blending with the convention center providing much-needed eating, meeting and greeting areas.

But then Goff gushed about his true love, the Union Plaza district. He called Union Depot an under-utilized jewel in the “middle of Beirut.” And he surprised some in the crowd with pictures of work that is already underway in the Union Plaza district.

Did you know there is a small outdoor amphitheater under construction on Anthony Street between Paisano and San Francisco streets, complete with seating, stage, waterfall and rose compass cast in concrete?

How about the attractive new faux-stone and brick paver sidewalks throughout the area? Or the elevated area that could hold railcars turned restaurants along San Francisco Street?

That’s not all. Bright but quaint period lamps line the streets, and illuminate a small new park at Overland and Leon streets. Texas-sized stars mark some intersections. The design plays off the Depot’s turn-of-last-century charm, creating a money look that some say is distinctly El Paso.

The Union Plaza work is scheduled to be finished by November. That still leaves a lot of vacant buildings and aging houses. But that’s where Pat Goff sees small shops and cafes, thriving businesses, a fire department museum, maybe a radio station complex. He wants to move the old locomotive from the UT El Paso campus to the depot. He sees streetside waterfalls, clean public restrooms, and a place to go after a game or concert at the arena.

And he doesn’t stop there. He shows plans to renovate Scenic Drive, creating a must-stop tourist spot, serviced by trolleys up and down the mountain. Tourists would learn about El Paso’s history from built-in speakers and lights.

Goff wants to turn the Plaza Theater into a production house for Mexican music TV programming. Think about the Mexican Music Awards annual ceremony, and weekly TV shows, a la Austin City Limits.

Goff says he knows it can be done. Because if we don’t do it soon, San Antonio or Austin will, he says.

“I know people are sick of blue ribbon and ad hoc committees,” said Ramirez. “But we need to start the dialogue about how to develop the sports arena, and how to finance it.”

Plus, Ramirez is convinced there’s a way to find the funds without raising property taxes. First, he wants to hear from hotel and motel people. Could some of the hotel-motel tax go to this project?

Then there is the local sales tax. He says the tax subsidizes Sun Metro to the tune of $21 million a year. Could some of that go to an arena?

Finally, what about the very successful car rental tax? Designed to save the Sun Bowl, its revenues are twice the projections, running at $2 million a year.

And even though re-directing the tax moneys would mean changing state law, Ramirez says that isn’t really an obstacle, with friends like state representatives Manny Najera and Eliot Shapleigh in Austin.

Now Ramirez is on a roll. He says it’s time to find private partners, to create a strong private-public partnership. And it’s time to re-evaluate what goes on the bond issue election scheduled for May 6. And all that has to be done by the end of February.

Take the zoo, Ramirez says. Does it really bring in tourism? Should we really spend $33 million on expansion and improvements? Should it become part of parks and recreation?

Then there’s $23 million proposed for libraries. What about a city or even county-wide library system instead, utilizing schools and computers? Then would we need to build new libraries?

The mayor is still in favor of the parks and history museum issues, he says, but thinks we have to ask questions about the others.

You could almost hear the bond issue being pushed into the more-distant future.

As the two-hour session ended, Ramirez said he was pleased, and thought a few bursts of applause during the presentation augured well. Again he encouraged people to volunteer for the arena committee, and he thanked Pat Goff for his cheerleading.

“This is the beginning of the consensus building,” Ramirez said, smiling.

After the meeting, some of the important players looked for ways to say they liked the ideas, they’re all for anything that improves downtown El Paso, but it didn’t really change their plans.

Here’s a sampling of post-meeting opinion:

• Jim Paul, Buzzards’ owner, with plans to build a $39 million, 8,200-seat arena on the West side: “Other than the arena, it’s fabulous. The reality is, it’s not going to happen. It’s a good plan, but there are lots of problems. As for the Buzzards, we have to move ahead. We can’t wait eight to ten years. We need to expedite our own plans.

• Joe Tarin, head of group proposing $37 million, 22,500-seat open-air stadium in Central El Paso: “It’s very innovative. And now we know it will not compete with our proposal. We’ll continue to pursue a bond issue on the ballot. The key for us will be sports tournaments and events that take place in an outdoor arena.”

• Wes Jurey, president of the El Paso Chamber of Commerce: “It’s realistic, it’s achievable, even if the Buzzards and the soccer group do not play a role. And. public-private partnership is the only way to get it to work.”

• Charles Hooten, county commissioner: “There’s a lot of enthusiasm, but I am concerned about the lack of input from a qualified master planner. It could be a fiasco. I can’t see that the county would have a role in the project.”

• Nestor Valencia, vice president, El Paso Community Foundation; former city planning chief: “The community foundation is fully committed to downtown revitalization. We waited three decades for some projects. We hope we don’t have to wait another three decades for this project.”

This story was published Jan. 23-29, 2000, in Vol. 5, No. 20.