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Central El Paso business owners and residents urge council to delay 10‑month Piedra Street closure and improve outreach
Summary
Small business owners and property owners in Central El Paso told council Sept. 16 that a proposed multi‑month closure of Piedra/Piedras Street for water‑line repairs would harm businesses and employees and that outreach about the project had been inadequate.
Business owners and residents near the Piedra/Piedras Street project area urged the El Paso City Council on Sept. 16 to delay a proposed extended street closure for water‑line repairs and to strengthen community outreach and mitigation measures.
Mustafa Refaill, who said he owns property in the middle of the project area and houses eight businesses employing roughly 200 people, told council he and several other property owners were not notified about the project despite longstanding local notice requirements for property impacts. “Not one person contacted me,” Refaill said. He said the project’s outreach relied on association contacts who do not represent all owners and tenants.
Rico Velasquez, owner of Dewey’s Corner Pub in the area, told council that a proposed 10‑month closure for water repairs — which he said was not an emergency — would be “not survivable” for small businesses that already operate on thin margins. Velasquez said businesses had endured pandemic closures, code enforcement actions and safety problems including inadequate lighting; he asked the city to address neglected safety issues such as alley and crosswalk lighting before shutting streets for extended periods.
Mia Refaill, who identified herself as a customer and local resident, said construction displaces customers and that the district’s recovery has been led by local entrepreneurs, not city grants. She urged better consultation with business owners and asked that the city build improvements “with businesses, not around them.”
Council members who heard the comments did not take immediate action on the project at the Sept. 16 meeting. Speakers asked the council to require additional public notice, produce the data used to justify the closure and to schedule mitigation planning meetings with affected businesses and residents.
No formal city vote on the closure was recorded during the meeting; developers, utilities and city staff were asked in later meetings to provide data, timelines and mitigation strategies to business owners and to consider delaying non‑urgent work until impacts can be mitigated.
