This is your weekly news roundup, which takes a quick look at some developments in government, politics, education, environment and other topics across El Paso.
‘All They Will Call You’ Author Raising Funds for Film on 1948 Plane Crash
UTEP creative writing associate professor Tim Z. Hernandez, who spent years researching the stories of 28 Mexican workers who lost their lives in a tragic California plane crash as they were being deported in 1948, is turning his books into a documentary film.
“All They Will Call You,” featured in the El Paso Matters Book Club in 2023, tells the story of the crash involving the migrant workers, as well as the two pilots, a stewardess and an immigration officer on that deportation flight. His follow-up book, “They Call You Back,” further explored their stories.
“The film follows my 15-year quest as I went searching for the victims’ families, captured their memories, recovered their buried legacy, published two award-winning books about my journey, and ultimately inspired the state of California to formally recognize this historical injustice,” Hernandez writes in his GoFundMe page.
The story is “part historical investigation, part personal calling,” the GoFundMe page states. The documentary will be narrated by Hernandez, who uncovered the names and identities of the 28 Mexicans who were previously only identified in the cemetery catalog as Mexican nationals 1 to 28, and tracked down the victims’ relatives.
The author is seeking to raise $25,000 to produce a feature-length documentary on the crash. The donations will go toward production costs for the second phase of the documentary, which will include filming in El Paso, New York City, Central California, and Jalisco and Michoacan in Mexico. Anything raised above that will go toward post production and seeing the film to completion, the fundraising page states.
The fundraiser includes incentives for donations, including personalized signed copies of Hernandez’s books, invitations to a first-look screening, as well as associate and executive producer credits depending on the level of giving.
The documentary is expected to be completed and begin showing in film festivals in August 2026. Information: GoFundMe and timzhernandez.com.
Proposed City Budget, Tax Rate Could Increase Homeowners’ City Taxes
While the city’s preliminary budget for the next fiscal year would keep this year’s tax rate, homeowners may see about a $100 increase on the city’s portion of their property tax bills if their property valuations increased.
The city is considering a tax rate of 76.1 cents per $100 valuation, which translates to about a $104 increase on the average $223,435 value home. Homeowners now pay about $1,600 in city taxes on an average-value home of about $205,000.
Next year’s preliminary general fund budget is about $624.4 million, an increase of about $25 million over the current year. That budget primarily pays for operating costs for basic services such as public safety, streets and maintenance and parks and recreation and is funded mainly through property taxes and sales tax dollars.
The majority of the general fund increase – about 80% – is needed to fund previously approved police and fire pay raises, as well as to increase public safety staffing and equipment, City Manager Dionne Mack said.
The preliminary total proposed budget is at about $1.4 billion – and about $50 million over the current year. That includes the general fund budget and other revenue sources and expenditures.
Mack and Chief Financial Officer Robert Cortinas held a budget briefing for the media Thursday to go over budget highlights ahead of City Council meetings beginning Monday, July 7.
“This is my very first budget and I think this budget pretty much focuses on the things that we know that the community have identified as their highest priorities,” said Mack, who was hired in August.
Mack said the budget focuses on public safety, maintaining essential services such as street maintenance and quality of life, as well as increasing non-uniform employee wages.
“(We are) really working to make sure that we can stabilize operations across the board … (and) getting back to basics,” she said.
The city will present preliminary revenue estimates during the Monday budget work session. Budget presentations will be held Monday and Tuesday, July 7 and 8, at City Council chambers at 300 N. Campbell. The city will introduce the tax rate along with certified property values July 31. A public hearing on the budget and tax rate will be held Aug. 12.
Community meetings will be held to go over the proposed budget and tax rate on the following dates:
- 6 p.m. Tuesday, July 15: Beast Urban Park Recreation Center, 13501 Jason Crandall Drive.
- 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 16: Veterans Recreation Center, 5301 Salem Drive.
- 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, July 23: Nolan Richardson Recreation Center, 4435 Maxwell Ave..
- 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 23: Irving Schwartz Library, 1865 Dean Martin Drive.
- 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 29: Memorial Senior Center, 1800 Byron St.
- 6 p.m. Wednesday, July 30: Municipal Service Center, 7968 San Paulo Drive.
- 6 p.m. Thursday, July 31: Westside Regional Command Center, 4801 Osborne Drive.
- 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 7: (VIRTUAL) Link: https://tinyurl.com/5daf46dz; Meeting ID: 279 758 006 806 2; Passcode: Yy65Lo3g; Phone: 915-213-4096, 684 747 074#
Information: elpasotexas.gov/budget
Public Art Gift Honors UTEP, Paso del Norte Health Foundation Partnership
The University of Texas System Board of Regents voted last week to accept a gift of public art from the Paso del Norte Health Foundation that would be installed at the University of Texas at El Paso as a symbol of collaboration to advance health care in the region.
The sculpture is described as 5-feet tall with three “stylized” vertical metal elements covered by molded fiberglass with a bronze finish to blend with the natural landscape in the Paso del Norte Health Foundation Terrace located next to the Health Sciences and Nursing Building.
The sculpture, which weighs about 400 pounds, and the installation will cost about $40,000. The steel base will be set in concrete and include a commemorative plaque. UTEP did not respond to a question about when the artwork would be installed.
The artwork by El Pasoan Julio Sanchez De Alba is similar to one installed in spring 2022 in front of the Texas Tech Dental Oral Health Clinic on Rick Francis Street. In that case, the human-like figures were colored red, green and blue to match the foundation’s logo.
Sanchez De Alba, a native of Bolivia, immigrated to America in 1980 and settled in El Paso 15 years later. He worked as a mechanical engineer for more than 20 years before he decided to become a full-time sculptor and photographer who specializes in wildlife and human figures.
His sculpture, “The Treacherous Crossing,” a memorial honoring the Men of Company E, is at Cleveland Square Park in Downtown El Paso. Another smaller Company E memorial by Sanchez De Alba is at World War II Veterans of Company E Park in South Central. Among his other works in El Paso is a sculpture Nestora Granillo Piarote at the Tigua Indian Cultural Center in the Lower Valley. He has shown his sculptures and photographs in shows and galleries around the world. His clientele included former U.S. President George H.W. Bush.
The post El Paso author producing documentary on deadly 1948 deportation flight; plus, city’s proposed budget could mean tax hike appeared first on El Paso Matters.
Read: Read More