🚨🏗️ Are we about to copy California-style spending… El Paso? 👀 Because this is how it starts… (and yeah, the song is parody… but the mindset feels a little too real 😬) Big vision Nice renderings And a price tag that keeps growing… The Downtown Deck Plaza (park over I-10) sounds great — until you see the real numbers 👇 🌳 What it is A 6.5-acre park built over the freeway with green space and event areas 💰 The real cost • Around $206–$207 million total • $74.5M secured so far • $20M just for design • The latest funding request is just a small piece So that headline number? That’s not the cost… that’s just the starting point 😬 And it’s not final Costs can still go up… and they usually do 💸 Cost overruns aren’t rare… they’re expected 🐻🌉 I came from California… I’ve seen this playbook before Projects start one price… end way higher… and taxpayers are locked in 📍And here in El Paso? We’re still paying for projects like: • The ballpark • Water parks Those didn’t end when they opened… they became ongoing costs 📉 Meanwhile… El Paso is losing population And people are already feeling squeezed 🤔 So the real question: Who actually benefits? • Locals… or tourism? • Something we’ll use… or something that just looks good on paper? 🗳️ Because once projects like this start… they don’t get smaller or cheaper 📍What do you think? Would you use a $200M+ park over I-10? 📎 https://cbs4local.com/newsletter-daily/el-paso-seeks-24m-in-federal-funding-for-proposed-downtown-deck-plaza-project https://www.downtowndeckplaza.org/faqs https://www.aol.com/articles/california-unfinished-wildlife-bridge-nowhere-150000671.html #ElPaso #DowntownElPaso #CitySpending #Borderland #ElPasoTX