I recently had a great phone conference with members of the Paso del Norte Group, which “promotes the economic, social and cultural vitality of the El Paso region.”
I spoke with Richard Behrenhausen (Gen. US Army, ret.) and David Buchmueller (COO of the PDN Group), who spoke with enthusiasm about the many assets of their city, and even discussed the regions challenges and misconceptions.
For example, most people are aware of El Paso’s large Mexican sister to the south – Cuidad Juarez. Wracked by drug wars and corruption, Juarez recorded over 3,000 homicides in 2010, which is easily the highest murder rate in the world.
Yet just across the Rio Grande river, El Paso remains a world apart. El Paso has the lowest violent crime rate in the United States for cities over 500,000 population, with only five homicides in 2010.
