Future of Downtown Ballpark Now Lies in Mayor Cook’s Hands

The proponents of a downtown El Paso baseball park stood and cheered as if they were witnessing a game winning home run when the El Paso City Council voted to enter into a contract with the Mountain Star Sports Group.

Even though the council voted 4-3 for the contract, Mayor John Cook has the power to veto the contract.  The mayor is on the record saying he will make his decision tomorrow.

Just getting to a vote was a relief for all of the meeting's attendants.  Everybody, including the council and mayor, was starting to get a little stir crazy after the six hours of heated, passionate public comments regarding the ballpark.

At one point, Sal Gomez, who presented the certified petition to overturn June's vote, was told to sit down after returning to the microphone after public comments were closed.

I personally showed up a little before five o'clock, and was fatigued after just 45 minutes of public comments.  I can't imaging listening to six hours of that stuff.  You can only hear so much of the same thing before your brain reaches a breaking point.

It was a landmark day for El Paso and it would be a real shame if Mayor Cook shot down the agreement between the city and the Mountain Star Sports Group.