El Paso City Council Considers Putting Fate of MPC Project to Voters

A group of El Paso City Council members are calling on voters to decide the future of a proposed multi-purpose performing arts and cultural center.

In a press release issued Thursday, July 11, City Representative Chris Canales announced that he, along with City Representatives Brian Kennedy and Art Fierro, would propose that El Paso voters vote on whether they think the project should move forward.

“Voters have waited 12 long years, since the 2012 Quality of Life Bond vote, for a resolution on the MPC project, and after so long, they should once again make their voices heard at the ballot box,” Canales wrote in the press release. “In the more than a decade since the MPC project was first approved, the project has morphed, through a series of headwinds and high-profile roadblocks, into something that no longer resembles the original concept.”

“The reality today, in 2024, is that we don’t have the funding to build an arena,” he added. “A project of that magnitude would cost $400 million to $500 million, not the remaining $128 million in unsold bonds.”

The handling of the voter-approved arena project is one of City Hall’s biggest blunders, compounded by public and legal battles over the project’s financing and location.

The proposal seems particularly timely after the City Council recently greenlit a plan for Venu Inc., formerly Notes Live, to build a 12,500-seat amphitheater in northeast El Paso at no cost to taxpayers.

The City Council has officially scrapped a plan announced earlier this year to build the MPC on the Union Depot site. Opponents argued the proposed arena was too small to attract larger entertainment groups to the Borderland.

If the city council approves the project on Tuesday, July 16, the issue will go to voters on the Nov. 5 ballot. It is not yet clear how the remaining funds will be used.

“I have consistently opposed spending more money on the Multi-Purpose Center (MPC) than voters approved in the 2012 election,” Fierro said. “While I initially supported and voted for the MPC, many voters, as well as community and business leaders, expressed concerns about its location and size. More importantly, this project has been underfunded from the start. Given these ongoing issues, I believe the most equitable approach is to let the community decide the next steps for the MPC.”

Kennedy, who announced on July 11 that he would run for mayor in the November general election, agreed that the fate of the project should be left to voters.

“Voters know better than anyone what they want,” he said.