EL PASO, TX-The so-called "quality of life" propositionsthat passed Nov. 6 will do a number of things to helpthe city, ranging from downtown revitalization to development of atriple-A baseball park. As such, experts tellGlobeSt.com that the bonds, in excess of half abillion dollars, are the next step in bringing El Paso toanother level, so it can better compete with other Texasmetropolitan centers to the east.

"What these propositions will do is help make us morecompetitive with other Texas cities," comments WilliamBlaziek, general manager with the El PasoConvention and Visitors Bureau. "Much of our history isn'tso much what we haven't done, but what those other citieshave done. We'd fallen behind." Giancarlo DaPrato with local commercial and residential real estatecompany GDP Realty puts it another way. "The basicquestion comes down to, what is there to do on the weekends," henotes. "What is the culture, the restaurants, and where to shop. Itsounds crazy, but those are the basic fundamentals that had beenpreventing employers from coming to El Paso."

So the way to catch up and be a regional player was to focus onincreasing quality of life. And the way to do that was to put threequality-of-life bonds on the ballot. The model used for thereferendums was taken from Oklahoma City and its Metropolitan AreaProjects quality of life initiative – or MAPS, as it's known. MAPSwas initially approved by Oklahoma City voters in 1993, allowingsales tax to be increased by one cent over five years. The endresult was $363 million raised for a variety of projects includingBricktown Ballpark, which eventually led to thenearby mixed use Bricktown entertainment/restaurant developmentnearby. Over the years, additional Oklahoma City bonds, such as a$180 million bond, have also been passed to improve everything fromschools to infrastructure and public buildings such as museums.