El Paso Times from El Paso, Texas • 58

Ei Paso Times Sunday. March 25. 2001 BUSINESS Agenda Preparedness, 1359 Lomaland. Information: 831-7742. The U.S.

Small Business Administration, the Service Corps of Retired Executives and the Small Business Development Center will have a loan workshop from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at the SBA office, 10737 Gateway West, Suite 320. Topics will include business plans, SBA loans, and business counseling services. The cost is $10. Information: Anna Rivera, 633-7013.

Quickbooks Pro Part 1 and 2 seminar designed for small-business owners from 6 to 9 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday at the One Stop Capital Shop. Information: 831-7742. A mayoral candidates forum will take place at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday at the El Paso Club in the Chase Bank Building Downtown.

Lunch will cost $17, which includes parking. This event is sponsored by the El Paso chapter of the Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants. Information: 833-3616. For people just starting a business, the IRS will have a free small-business seminar from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Thursday at the Center for the Workforce The board of directors of the Better Business Bureau will have its 47th general meeting from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at the El Paso Airport Hilton. The guest speaker will be I eon Metz. The luncheon will cost $20 for members and S25 for non-members.

Information: 577-01. The Westside Branch meeting of the Business Resource Division Chamber will be at noon Tuesday at the Holiday Inn Sun-land Park board room, 900 Sun-land Park, and the East Valley Branch meeting will be at noon Wednesday at. Logan's, 11865" Gateway West. The Small Business Development Center of El Paso Community College will conduct a LU Ruben R. Ramirez El Paso Times Nestor Valencia, vice president for planning for artist's rendition the El Paso Community Foundation, holds up an area.

Plans are in i i ltA rC every part of the Downtown will be invited to view them. Then the Partnership will have community meetings in every sector of the Downtown to discuss the maps and models. Participants will be invited to add their ideas. "We're not going to say this is precisely what a block should look like. All we'll do is say this looks like a good area for retail.

Then we'll get the merchants involved with the details," Helbing said. Paul Dipp, whose family owns the Plaza Hotel, likes the inclusive nature of the process. "What's unique is that people who have an interest in Downtown have an opportunity to step up to the plate," Dipp said. The next step after that is to arrange for the financing and the way Downtown properties will be fixed up. Helbing said members of the Partnership spoke with attorneys last week about the best way to establish an entity that will oversee these activities.

No conclusions were reached, he said. Those who own property in the Plaza Central area, of course, have their own visions of how they want to use their property. The Dipp family for years has talked about converting the Plaza Hotel into an upscale apartment complex and constructing a 200-car parking garage on a lot adjacent to the hotel. "Our plans call for restoration of the building, put retail shops in the ground floor and perhaps a mixed use for the rest of the building in the form of a residential application andor a potential hotel," Paul Dipp said. Dipp did not say why these plans have never been carried out.

"How the Partnership applies to the Plaza have not yet been determined. The assessment regarding financing has not been made. We may go with private financing or we may participate in grant money made available through the Partnership," Dipp said. "We do not view the Plaza as a stand-alone project. We view it as part of the total Downtown renewal," he said.

One Texas Tower continues to function as an office building under owner Jim Scherr. "We've spent a lot of time and money already upgrading One Texas Tower. Floor after floor has been improved immensely," he said. Abraham has distinctly different ideas for his two buildings in the Plaza Center area. Plaza Continued from IE development throughout Downtown.

Among the partners are Downtown property owners, the Association of Banks, the Central Business Association, the El Paso Community Foundation, the Empowerment Zone Fannie Mae and the Greater El Paso Housing Development Corp. Fannie Mae, the nation's largest source of financing for home mortgages, and the Fannie Mae Foundation contributed a total of $50,000 to cover part of the cost of hiring the consultant, Christopher B. Leinberger. I.einberger consolidated previous plans for Downtown renewal and conducted a survey that showed 37 percent of El Pa-soans would like to live either in or near Downtown. He also conducted town meetings with residents in various sections of Downtown to determine their interest in the project.

Though many El Pasoans may want to live Downtown, "there 4has to be things for them to do. Many of those elements are not in place," Leinberger said during an interview last year. So the Downtown Partnership expanded the scope of its mission. In addition to residential units, the Partnership now advocates attracting a multiplex theater, an outlet mall, an entertainment arena, perhaps even a river park. "To get someone to live Downtown, you need a place where they feel comfortable.

You need to give them a reason to be Downtown," Breitinger said. So far the Partnership has spent about $120,000 on travel expenses and for the consultant, Helbing said. The group's bank account is empty, but Helbing is "cautiously confident" money can be raised in the business community when the need arises. "Our next financial test will be when we find out how much the map and maquettes will cost," he said. The Partnership is now awaiting a proposal from a company that will translate the plans synthesized by Leinberger to maps and a scale model of what the revitalized Downtown could look like, Helbing said.

The maps and scale model will just be a starting point. They will be displayed in a ground-floor retail shop in the Plaza Hotel. Stakeholders from Send Bulletin Board items to El Paso Times, Business News, P.O. Box 20, El Paso, TX 79999. Black-and-white photographs accompanying items will be used when possible and cannot be returned.

Deadline for Bulletin Board items is noon Wednesday, two weeks before the preferred Sunday publication date. Schwartz Refaeian Molinar McCollum Announcements The Child Care Management Service completed its assessment and awarded El Papalote the highest designation possible, the Four Star Vendor Designation. El Papalote is a nonprofit child-care center that specializes with children who have disabilities. El Paso's Barragan's Hair Salon Day Spa, owned by Yolanda Reyes, Terry Barragan and Margie Garibay, was named one of the fastest-growing salons by Salon Today magazine, a business publication for the professional beauty industry. Send Bulletin Board items to El Paso Times, Business News, P.O.

Box 20, El Paso, TX 79999. Black-and-white photographs accompanying items will be used when possible and cannot be returned. The deadline for Bulletin Board items is noon Wednesday, two weeks before the preferred Sunday publication date. Maria Candelaria Soto, dba Maria Candelaria Soto, 1449 Sierra De. Oro, 79936.

Maria Del Carmen Lile, dba Real De Santa Fe Restaurant, 4433 N. Stanton, 79902. Maria Goodwin, dba Maria Silvia Goodwin, 15270 Perlite, 79928. Millennium Plastics Technologies, dba Millennium Plastics Technologies, 1305 Henry Brennan, 79936. Mira Goldstein, dba Mira Goldstein Design, 816 Agua Caliente, 79912.

Norma Cazares, dba Norma C. Serrato, 3504 Alameda, 79905. Omar Heberto Negrete, dba Omar Heberto Negrete, 4525 Sunrise, 79904. Pablo Mena, dba Rainbow Fountain, 201 S. Americas, 79907.

Precision Duct Products dba Precision, 11721 Pueblo Fuerte, 79936. Ramon Anchondo, dba Phones, 9258 Alameda, 79907. Raul Acosta David A. Bibeau, dba Articulos Mexicanos, 1912 E. Yandell, 79903.

Rental Service dba Rental Service Corp. No. 670, 6914 Gateway 79915. Reynaldo Cordero, dba King's Computers, 11104 La Quinta, 79936. Romelia C.

Nieto, dba Romelia C. Nieto, 611 Greggerson, 79907. Rosalia Unlimited dba Rosalia Unlimited 225 S. Mesa, 79901. Ruben Badillo, dba Savol, 6400 Edgemere, 79925.

Selma Ann Juarez, dba Del Sol Builders Reporters, 5500 Doniphan, 79932. Socorro R. Brito, dba Gifts from the Heart, 11560 Jamaican Palm, 79936. Son Hui Kim, dba Kwang Ju Chinese Restaurant, dba 5660 Alameda, 79905. Sundesert dba Sundance Bar, 11638 Alameda, 79927.

Teresita Dejesus Fong, dba Terry and Glow, 151 S. Resler, 79912. Thomas G. Goodwin, dba Tom's Tire Road Service, 15270 Perlite, 79928. Victor M.

Gamino, dba A to Water Heaters and Plumbing, 7472 Lakehurst, 79912. Vincent Townsend, dba Select Car Detail, 10656 Pico Norte, 79935. William R. Palmer, dba Bills Antiques 491 N. Resler, 79912.

Business people Casa Ford was recognized with a Partners in Quality Award from Ford Motor Credit. Clay Lowenfield is the dealer principal. Since 1993, Partners in Quality has honored Ford and Lincoln dealers who maintain a strong partnership with Ford Credit and achieve high levels of customers satisfaction. It is considered a prestigious dealer recognition program; only 88 were selected in 2000. In the Southwest Region, covering Texas and Oklahoma, only eight dealerships were selected.

An awards ceremony took place March 15-18 in Naples, Fla. Armando Estrada was named Sales Satisfaction Leader for El Paso I Ionda for February. Sales Satisfaction Leader is an honor given to the salesper. with the most sales and highest customer-satisfaction ranking. Mark D.

Sheets recently joined Raba-Kistner as senior certified industrial hygienist. John Wesley Heide will be included in the 32nd edition of "Who's Who in Finance and Industry." Stuart R. Schwartz, a shareholder with the law firm of Scott, Hulse, Marshall, Eeuille, Finger Thurmond PC, was co-editor of the third edition of the Texas Collections Manual published this month by the State Bar of Texas. Dr. Manouchehr Refaeian announced that he has been awarded subspecialty at pain management as of September 2000 by the American Board of Physical Medicine Rehabilitation Medicine Pain Clinic.

Brian L. Grass was named assistant chief financial officer for Business permits These are the new Texas sales-tax permits issued by the Texas comptroller for the week ending March 19 for businesses in El Paso. (Tax permits are issued to new businesses and new outlets or new owners for existing businesses). Abel Aguilar, doing business as Sportsman's Lounge, 1900 E. Yan-dell, 79903.

Adollo Bazdresch, dba Adolfo's Tortas, 9530 Viscount, 79925. Agustin H. Aragon, dba Agustin H. Aragon, 10902 Yogi Berra, 79934. Alicia E.

Rosales, dba 'The Sun Stone Ceramic, 1703 Montana, 79902. Alliance Marketing Group F.tal, dba Alliance Marketing Group, 1504 Cessna, 79925. Alonso Castillo, dba Castillo's Maintenance Facilities Services, 13198 Fordham, 79928. America West Airlines dba El Paso International Airport, 6701 Convair, 79925. Anita Gupta, dba Anita Gupta, 1800 Gurss, 79902.

Armando Salvatierra, dba Armando Salvatierra, 10151 Tapir, 79924. Arsad Co. dba Arsad Co. 6415 Mohawk, 79925. Mold dba Mold Ill S.

Concepcion, 79905. Bank of the West, 601 N. Stanton, 79901. Bernadette Ontiveros, dba Talk N. Go, 821 N.

Copia, 79903. Carlos Dena, dba Sun City Wireless, 7678 Alameda, 79915. Carmelo Guzman Contreras, dba Acapulco's Bakery, 7660 Alameda, 79915. Cesar Chavarria, dba Players Style Clothing, 223 Mango, 79915, Claudia Lara, dba Jump Jump My Clown, 5528 Longview, 79924. Cristina Sanders, dba Cristina Sanders, 14130 Labreck, 79938.

Dailey Roofing Construction dba Dailey Roofing Construction 8139 Beatrix, 79907. Deborah R. Ortiz, dba Arte Mexicans 5925 Via Robles, 79912. Delia Saldana, dba D.S. Diversified, 119 Ben Swain, 79915.

Domenico Depinto, dba D-Tech, 2081 Pueblo Nuevo, 79936. Elizabeth Jane Smith, dba Elizabeth Jane Smith, 5526 Carousel, 79912. Eseline R. White, oa Seventh Heaven, 4730 Titanic, 79904. of the future Downtown Plaza the works to redevelop the area.

In the American Furniture building, Abraham wants to maintain retail shops on the ground floor but plans to remodel upper stories to create 104 artist studios live-work spaces, he calls them that range in size from 1,000 to 1,500 square feet. Although it's impossible to tell from its facade on Oregon Street, the American Furniture building was designed by Henry Trost. Abraham said he wants to restore the outside to its original appearance. Two weeks ago, Abraham completed the purchase of the Kress building at Oregon and Mills, across the street from the Plaza Hotel. "On the first floor, we're in the process of designing and developing an upscale restaurant that features Asian-fusion cuisine," he said.

The Asian menu items will be "fused" with Mexican spices. The restaurant will feature a martini bar. The entrance will be off Oregon Street and beckon customers who frequent the nearby Cafe Central. Abraham said a group from Austin will operate the restaurant. The upper floors of the Kress building will be turned into "live-work" studios, he said.

North of the San Jacinto Plaza, Chase Bank owns a 75-car surface parking lot. Partnership members have talked about turning that into a pedestrian-friendly retail development, said Demetrio Jimenez, vice president of the El Paso Housing Development Corp. Chase Bank apparently favors that idea though it wants to somehow retain the parking spaces, Jimenez said. Chase officials could not be reached for comment. The Plaza Theatre, run by the El Paso Community Foundation, is also in the Plaza Center project area.

Nestor Valencia, the foundation's vice president for planning, was formerly the city's director of planning. He's seen Downtown revitalization plans come and go. While he entertains some doubts about the way the Partnership is progressing, he believes the atmosphere among businesses has changed with improvements to the Downtown infrastructure made by the city and the transit system. "We are now interested in improving life Downtown," he said. Mike Mrkvicka may be reached at mmrkyickaelpasotimes.com Bush policy with autos and light trucks accounting for 20 percent of the nation's carbon dioxide emissions.

The United States is responsible for one-quarter of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. Reductions in carbon-dioxide emissions is likely to be hotly debated this summer when lawmakers take up the administration's national energy plan. Congress is also scheduled to begin debating revisions to the Clean Air Act this year. Automakers are already consulting with the Bush administration's energy task force, led by Vice President Richard Cheney. General Motors Daimler-Chrysler AG, Ford and other automakers are seeking policies to encourage the development of new technologies to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions, such as tax credits for alternative-fuel vehicles and gas-electric hybrids.

"We need ways of encouraging these technologies into the marketplace," said Janet Mull ins Gris-som, ice president of Ford's Washington affairs office. Lowenfield Sheets Grass Hurtado Sierra Providence Health Network. Wendy Hebestreit, El Paso comptroller, was recently selected the 2001 Outstanding Faculty Member by the University of Phoenix at Santa Teresa. Rene Hurtado is the new director of media and consumer information for Sierra Providence Health Network. Eric Nieto was promoted to assistant vice president of Marsh Risk and Insurance Services.

Oscar J. Molinar and Associates have been issued a license from the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. The firm has announced the opening of international artist management, a division of Oscar J. Molinar and Associates. Home Loan Corp.

announced the addition of Mary McCollum to its full-time staff. Felisa T. Martinez, dba Felisa T. Martinez, 4600 Britton, 79904. Francisco E.

Gonzalez Benita Serrano, dba Francisco E. Gonzalez Benita Serrano, 10906 Highwood, 79936. Gcor dba Hobart Sales and Service, dba 6596 Montana, 79925. Guadalupe Rodolfo Acosta, dba Guadalupe Rodolfo Acosta, 2301 Lake Omega, 79936. Gustavo Arriaga, dba G.Y.

Medical Supplies, 1808 Loanda, 79928. Hernandez Office Machines dba Office Machines 1168 Barranca, 79935. J.W. Welsh Enterprises, dba J.W. Welsh Enterprises, 1225 Airway, 79925.

Jaime Flores, dba Jaime Flores, 1215 Myrtle, 79901. Jaime Quintero, dba Jaime Quin-tero, 349 Grambling, 79907. Javier Bernal, dba Javier Bernal, 10221 Khyber, 79927. Jesus Alvarez, dba Jesus Alvarez, 9300 Viscount, 79925. Jose Cervantes, dba Alee Import Export Industrial Supply, 511 N.

Raynor, 79903. Juan Carlos Renteria, dba Juan C. Renteria, 2201 Federal, 79930. Jude M. Misic, dba Japan Spec, 1111 E.

Robinson, 79902. Klaus Messerer Kenneth Schwartz, dba The Gadget Store, 3400 Lee, 79936. La Queen dba El Paso Hot Tamales, 11360 Montwood, 79936. La Queen dba La Reina, 7649 North Loop, 79915. Lawrence Greg Gutierrez, dba Concrete, 1443 Jim Larabel, 79936.

Leticia Flores Lopez, dba Leticia F. Lopez, 8566 Delfina, 79907. Leticia Navarro, dba Wireless Express, 6201 Escondido, 79912. Luis G. Garay, dba Best Way Motors, 7273 Alameda, 79915.

Luis Gonzalez, dba Control Equipment Industrial, 12296 Am-stater, 79936. Magdalena Carbajal, dba Coma's Bar, 2720 Montana, 79903, Manuel Lopez, dba Manuel C. Lopez, dba 2801 McKinley, 79930. Manuel Mendez, dba Libreria Cristiana Manna, 418 S. Santa Fe, 7990L Margaret McQueen, dba Margaret McQueen, 701 W.

Sunset, 79922. Margarete Sifuentes, dba Mar-garete Sifuentes, 9639 Albacore, 79924. rssi i ffifjCj rfjdSlil Auto industry watches safety engineering at Ford Motor Co. In a letter to four Republican senators, Bush reiterated his opposition to the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty that would require mandatory reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by participating nations. And because of mounting electricity shortages, the president said, he was backing off plans to impose mandatory limits on carbon-dioxide emissions from power plants.

But Bush also wrote, "My administration takes the issue of global warming very seriously." The president outlined several other initiatives that he said could require a drop in carbon-dioxide levels, including the development of new technologies, such as fuel cells, and market-based incentives, such as so-called emissions trading credits. While it is still unclear what the administration may do to curb global warming, the issue is likely to have a significant impact on the auto( industry. Motor vehicles are the econd-leading producer of carbon dioxide after power plants, By Jeff Plungis Detroit News WASHINGTON President Bush's recent retreat on a campaign pledge to treat carbon dioxide as an air pollutant is likely to spare electric utilities and some other industrial giants from strin- gent new environmental regulations. But the stakes remain extremely high for the auto industry, the nation's second leading producer of carbon-dioxide emissions. And Detroit automakers are only ly relieved.

A close look at Bush's position shows that the administration is not abandoning efforts to cut carbon-dioxide emissions. Indeed, while stepping back from strict emissions limits, the administra- tion says it is still poised to seriously tackle the complex problems of global warming and climate change. "It's a misreading of this administration to say they won't do anything about carbon-dioxide emis-sins said Helen Petrauskas vice president for environmental and.