Date of Award

2015-01-01

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Political Science

Advisor(s)

Gaspare Genna, Ph.D.

Abstract

This Thesis has sought to highlight a controversial event that occurred in El Paso, Texas when a wealthy group of local business interests, entered into a public/ private agreement with the City of El Paso to bring Triple-A baseball to the city. In doing so, the partnership drew large amounts opposition to their plan, when it was revealed that the city hall building would be demolished to make way for a new stadium, and that the issue would not be put to a vote. After analyzing all of the behaviors utilized by both opponents and proponents of the ballpark during the controversy; this Thesis sought to determine why after 30 years of opposition to similar projects, did this one venue survive? In addition, this Thesis has revealed that oppositional behavior, coupled with a lack of political will to ever use entertainment and leisure as a development strategy, has saddled El Paso with a poor reputation as an impoverished and lack-luster city that has struggled to keep pace with other cities. This Thesis has suggested that in order for El Paso to make-up for its declining post-industrial economy, it should embrace a pro-development mindset, that sets its sights on creating an entertainment and leisure industry that will help improve its image, create jobs and help off-set the tax burden with tourism related revenues.

Language

en

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Size

90 pages

File Format

application/pdf

Rights Holder

Alan Matthew Serna

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