The Good, The Bad And The Ugly Of Each Section Of El Paso

El Paso is the 6th largest city in Texas yet, it feels more like 5 small cities rolled into one.

Seriously, it does. There are even rivalries between the different sections. East siders like to dis the west side. West siders run their mouths about people from the Northeast. The Northeasters are anti-east, etc, etc.

Pretty much everyone talks smack about peeps north of the state line and south of the border but that's another story.

In all honesty, every part of town has it's good and bad points. That being said, here's 1 good, 1 bad and 1 ugly thing about each side of town.

I'm NOT sub-dividing each section. For example, east vs. far east or central vs. Fort Bliss. Ok?

East El Paso.

The Good - Fastest growing part of town  with tons of new businesses opening up everywhere.

The Bad - Traffic engineers and city planners weren't ready for all that growth so it feels very crowded, there's a ton of construction going on and traffic mega-sucks.

The The Ugly - It's so flat and and there is so much open and cleared land that, on windy days, the sand storms are nightmare-ish.

Central El Paso

The Good - I'm torn here. It's either McKelligon canyon or the architecture of the historic homes throughout the area.

The Bad - The traffic backup on and around the spaghetti bowl from the traffic headed into Juarez.

The Ugly - The dilapidated old Fort Bliss area between Dyer and Alabama.

Northeast El Paso

The Good - Nestled right up against the mountain, Northeast is not only one of the most beautiful parts of town, most of it is also "settled". It's pretty much expanded all the way to the state line, Franklin Mountains State Park and the Bowen ranch so, there really isn't a lot of room for very much more building.

The Bad - The Northeast still struggles with a ... very outdated ... reputation for having big crime issues. Hence the nickname "the devil's triangle" given to the area surrounding Hercules and Dyer.

The Ugly - There are so many shut down, boarded up an/or just closed businesses and strip malls.

West El Paso

The Good - Home to El Paso's "Beverly Hills", they've got a good point similar to the Northeast's but with a touch more going on as far as new businesses and growth.

The Bad - Back in the day, it was the heavy sulfur and crap belching from the Asarco tower. As for today, this was a tough one. I guess I'll go with construction and the related traffic issues.

The Ugly - That stretch of open land where Asarco once was.

Lower Valley

The Good - For the record, I'm not sure whether this part counts as central, east or both. A great mix of city and rural life with a green-ness missing elsewhere in town thanks to their proximity to the Rio Grande.

The Bad - It's cramped and can be smelly thanks to the water treatment facility and, in winter, smoke from fires and pollution drifting over from Juarez.

The Ugly - Alameda Street. The string of run down buildings, ancient motels, garages and car lots looks awful.

These are thoughts off the top of my head. Not necessarily fact and certainly not an attempt to insult anyone.

Just my two cents as they say