Reviews & Comments
El Paso, TX
Mediocre -
4/3/2006If you can be satisfied with mediocrity--El Paso is the place for you. Tucked away in a forgotten corner of Texas, El Paso has been in search of its identity for decades. Still manages to be a place thousands drive right through on I-10 as they treck from east to west across the nation.
Education is horrible--if your child comes home from school safely at the end of the day, that is the best you can hope for. Avoid the Northeast, gang & violence-ridden high schools. The inability of fast food joints to correctly fill the simplest drive-through order is evidence of the poor quality of education in this city.
El Pasoans are nice and polite, superficially. Don't think twice when fluently bilingual friends and acquaintances choose to converse only in Spanish with others as you sit by--they are not talking about you. They just don't know better. Similarly, in busy stores, when people block the aisles and seem oblivious that you are trying to pass through--don't bother with an "excuse me." You'll be the only one expending your breath. To fit in--never arrive at any event on time. Fifteen minutes late is still going to be early. Make sure your car insurance is full-coverage. When you are hit, the other guy won't have ANY. Also, anticipate that at any second the car in front of you will suddenly turn (people here don't use turn signals).
The mountains are beautiful. Period.
El Paso, TX
Mediocre -
4/2/2006My family has lived here for almost 15 years. To live here happily: learn to embrace mediocrity or be constantly frustrated. Regarding education: if your high school child makes it through the day safely--that's about the best you can hope for. Avoid the Northeast schools--they are the absolute worst for gang violence on a daily basis. Not that it makes the paper very often . . . it's just an accepted fact of life. For a taste of the frustration that educators in local schools encounter, read some of the columns by local teacher, Ramnath Subramanian, in the El Paso Times online. The local newspaper is, however, also mediocre. It takes about 5 minutes to skim. Local politics--have been pretty horrid over the last decade. Watch the city council or county commissioners on TV and you will see a comedy of errors. Such a bunch of uninformed legislators--but we have few voters turning out at election time and a bad habit of straight-party voters no matter what. Healthcare across the board is substandard, some of the "nicest" facilities can be rivaled in developing nations. El Paso has a lot of good intentions, but those good intentions get old after years of incompetent attempts at progress that falls flat and costs the tax payers a lot of money in property taxes. Going to Juarez, Mexico is supposed to be a big draw for the tourists. In El Paso it's the place teens go to drink. There is plenty of gang-land violence and crimes against women going on over there. You can purchase medications inexpensively, but many are either expired from the developed nations & repackaged or just down-right counterfit, so be careful. Contact lenses purchased there have been associated with blindness, an opthalomologist recently advised me. El Paso has some breathtaking scenery and some choking pollution. We have some great food and the obesity to prove it. Our kids are pretty stupid--try to get a fast-food order correctly filled on the first attempt, I dare you. If you speak only English, don't take it personally when everyone around you speaks Spanish in the workplace--even if they are fluent in English, it's always falls to Spanish. Don't worry, the people are nice, they aren't talking about you. If people block the ailes in the store and haven't got the courtesy to move aside for traffic, don't take it personally. Don't worry about saying "excuse me" in that situation, you will get tired of hearing the sound of your own voice. Make sure your car insurance