May 9, 2010, 8:09 pm

Summer Hiatus

by Richard Sapien

The Regional Identity will be on hiatus until the Fall 2010 semester. The staff plans to build a stronger Editorial Team and Marketing Committee in order to offer:

• A more consistent, quality content schedule;
• More current journalism and regional news;
• Stronger promotional efforts;
• More multimedia, especially videos.

The staff plans for the magazine to be a staple UTEP College of Business publication. If you are interested in joining the staff next semester, please contact richardsapien@gmail.com.

Thank you viewers for a great semester!

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May 3, 2010, 8:07 pm

No Inflationary Pressure on the Dollar

by Freddy Espinoza

The yield curve is steep enough to signal that investors think higher interest rates will appear in the future, but how high? 10-year treasuries (^TNX) are currently yielding 3.68 and the historical rate for these securities is 4.31%. Not so high, the steepness is caused by last year’s low rates. According to the Fed “inflation is subdued,” which makes sense since the unemployment rate has provided enough fear to discourage American consumption, therefore not pushing prices upward. Inflationary pressure has not yet appeared. This will calm inflation in the short term.

As for the long term, many people fear the huge national debt will bring down the dollar creating massive inflation. Fortunately we are not alone! Europe’s countries have also debt problems. Greece has an 115% debt/GDP, Italy has a 117% Debt/GDP, and Italy has a 117% Debt/GDP. According to Bloomberg Japan has a 190% GDP/Ratio. The US dollar Index (^DXY) measures the dollar against a basket of currencies,; according to the index, the euro and the yen are the ones that affect the dollar the most; this index has actually risen over the recession. Continuing a decline in the index from 2005-2007 the dollar rallied in mid-2008 to 2005 highs. Our dollar currently stands at an 81 level compared to the 75 level in 2006; our dollar is stronger than 4 years ago. So where is all the deficit reflecting? Its not since other currencies have debt problems too!

Unemployment rates are also high in other countries with Europe’s unemployment at 10%, Japan at historical highs and U.S. at 9.7% everything seems to move in synchrony, which cancels out the downward dollar pressure, so the dollar should not be affected as much as we think so.

Does than mean China will take over? Emerging economies will continue to develop, but for them to catch up to their GDP growth rate will have to be excessively higher than their population growth rate. They depend on the U.S. economy for many reasons besides national trade (such as trade and financial regulation.)

Unless the most currencies collapse and we return to a gold standard monetary system (extremely unlikely), in the medium term, which is in 1-4 years, the forex movement should move along rising individual currency interest rates. In the long term, that is later than 4 years, we should not notice a big effect on the dollar.

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April 19, 2010, 7:52 pm

SGA Elections: PIC or FUSE?

by Regional Identity Staff

UTEP students will vote for the next year’s Student Government Association representatives on Wednesday, April 21, and Thursday, April 22 at http://my.utep.edu. The positions include President, Vice President of Internal Affairs, Vice President of External Affairs,  Senators At Large, and Collegiate Senators.

The two major parties running are FUSE (For United Student Excellence) and PIC (Progress, Improvement, and Continuity). The Regional Identity endorsements will be published tomorrow.

FUSE

Platform

1. Student Constituency- The purpose of SC is to help SGA bridge the gap between the student population and its representatives. A listserv will be created in order to have each senator email its constituents asking them what issues need to be addressed on campus and in their college.
2. Union Expansion- A plan to expand the Union Building is in mind in order to attract the student population with a fun college campus atmosphere. Currently the Union is skewed to attract faculty and staff, through this expansion we hope to create an environment for student organization, fraternities and sororities.
3. PDA Program- Currently the university has access to software that will allow you to download books into three different computers, including PDAs. Through our PDA program, students will have the opportunity to download books for a cheaper price to three different sources. This will also create an efficient learning environment with applications that will allow forums, groups and notes to be created. In this manner you will be able to interact with your peers and even subscribe to their notes!

Candidates

• President: Cesar Monsivais
• Vice-President of Internal Affairs: Josh Acevedo
• Vice-President of External Affairs: Alejandro Ganem
• Senator-At-Large: Alejandra Baca, Ana Martinez, Anelisa Benavides, Arely Muñoz, Antonio Cifuentes, Isabela Gonzalez, Ivan Ramirez, Luis Santos, Maria Del Pablo, Rebeca Nuñez
• Collegiate Senator: Cesar Perez, Diego Martinez, German Sanchez, Juan Carlos Armenta

Website: http://fuse_2010.t35.com/Site/About_Us.html
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=108899492479341#!/pages/FUSE-Party-For-United-Student-Excellence/115818751770049?ref=ts

PIC

Platform

TECHONOLOGY

• Roll Over Printing Credit
• University Laptop Initiative
• E-Book, Rent – A – Book!
• Update Computer Labs

TRANSPORTATION

• Miner Roadside Assistance Program
• Sun Metro/UTEP Student Pass
• Boderexpress Bus
• ReZoning of Parking

ACADEMICS

• Restructure College of Liberal Arts
• Rate – A – Prof
• Academic Advisors Survey
• 1800-UTEP HOTLINE (National & International)
• Expand Lab Hours of operation
• More Online Courses

STUDENT LIFE

• Work on the Student Service Fees
• More Funding for Student Organization
• Mine Tracker SGA Scholarship
• Expand Hours of Food Services
• Student Lockers
• Disabled Student Enhancement Initiative
• University Student Center
• More SGA Student Life Programs

Candidates

• President: Diana Gloria
• Vice-President of Internal Affairs: Edgar Villasana
• Vice-President of External Affairs: Wendy Rios
• Collegiate Business Senator: Veronica Dominguez, Pablo Padilla, Oscar Lira, Iskra Rodriguez, Alexa Velasquez
• Senator-at-Large: Ronnie Friend, Rogelio Garcia, Lucia Murguia, Laurin Villanueva, Jonathan Alderete, Humberto Garcia, Hugo A. Ontiveros, Emmanuel “Manny” Arzate, Diana J. Gomez, Cilda Sandoval, Alexia Pena, Alejandra Valles “Pale”

Website: http://www.myspace.com/ipicyou
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=108899492479341

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April 15, 2010, 7:51 pm

Site Loading Time

by Richard Sapien

I was talking to Freddy Espinoza, Finance and Accounting major and Ri blogger, yesterday about the Ri website design and Content Management System (WordPress). After sharing how impressed he was with the website, I told him about my frustration with the site’s slow loading times. After all, the perfect way to deter site traffic is to make visitors wait for pages and posts to load.

Freddy said he hadn’t noticed the slow loading times, but he told me he would “check it out.” I thanked him and we went our separate ways. A few hours later I learned a lesson: Never give a financial analyst a task without expecting the cold hard truth and a corresponding graph.

Freddy, by way of comparative analysis and volatility radars, confirmed my fear: the site was slow. It became clear to me that if somebody was willing to put this much effort to show me that our website was slow, I should put equal effort into speeding the site up. After a long day of trial and error (site caching, image optimization, database optimization and repairing, plug-in testing, etc.), the site should be much running much snappier. Please leave a comment in this post to give the site loading time a thumbs up or down.

To me, this story exemplifies what I love about the magazine. The magazine requires collaboration and hard work, but at the end of the day, all parties involved can feel proud that they helped create something impressive. As my staff and I have learned, it is not easy to run a publication. A lot of work goes into brainstorming, research, writing, editing, photographing, recording, marketing, and managing schedules. Having said that, the mag has been a great experience thus far and I encourage anybody interested in participating to step on up. We have big plans.

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April 11, 2010, 9:07 pm

National Center for Border Security and Immigration Opportunity

by Regional Identity Staff

I’m posting a great opportunity on behalf of Dr. Cristina Ramirez:

Homeland Security Scholars Academy Undergraduate Research Program (Pilot)

The University of Texas at El Paso

Summer 2010 June 1 – August 6

The National Center for Border Security and Immigration is offering a 10-week summer research program for undergraduates contemplating a career in homeland security.  Students will work on relevant research projects with professors from the Departments of Business Administration, Engineering, Computer Science, Criminal Justice, Psychology and Political Science.

Undergraduates will receive a stipend of $4,000.  Students who do not live within commuting distance (approximately 100 miles) will be offered on-campus housing and a meal allowance.  Students will be expected to work 40 hours a week.  In addition to working on research, students will be exposed to DHS agencies through field trips and speakers.  This program is designed to introduce students to the many  possiblities of careers in the homeland security field. 

If you are interested, please complete the application and submit it by May 7.  The review process is currently on-going.

If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Cristina D. Ramirez at 915-747-6406 or email at cdramirez@utep.edu or also Dr. Gail Rioux at 915-747-7422 or email at garioux@utep.edu.

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April 2, 2010, 8:12 pm

REDA women help domestic violence victims

by Iris Smith

Because of El Paso’s close relationship with Juarez, immigration has always been at the forefront of local politics. One connected issue is domestic violence in immigrant households, especially towards immigrant women.

Recently, five women, Maria Elena Garcia, Mayela Lopez, Isabel Aleman, Samantha Gomez and Melissa Batista Limon formed BELLA (Benévola, Exitosa, Líder, Libre, Apasionada) with the goal of fighting domestic violence and empowering the women affected by it. The group offers classes every Tuesday to two shelters, Dame la Mano and La Posada. The classes encompass a variety of subjects, such as leadership, self-esteem, nutrition, and beauty. The women of the Regional Economic Development Association signed on with BELLA to teach a basic finance class in the two shelters.

On Tuesday, March 30, Alejandra Hernandez, Elisa Samaniego, Margarita Ortega, and I taught the first financial literacy class in Dame la Mano. Accompanied by the women of Bella, we were allowed entry into the shelter. The curriculum for the class is divided into three parts. The beginning consists of basic bank terminology, such as the different types of bank accounts. The second part was budgeting with the essentials of making of budget. The final part reviewed the pros and cons of debit and credit cards and demonstrated how to balance a checkbook. As a supplement to our discussion, we provided handouts for the women, including checkbook transaction registers.

When we arrived at the shelter, we first intended to teach the class as a whole and ask for questions after each section. However, the class began with about six women, so we divided into groups so we could answer more personal questions and help at different paces. This way, we could also speak English or Spanish depending on what the women wanted. Because women came and left, it became more of a counseling session than an organized class.

Since there were also many children, we took turns helping with childcare and entertaining the children so the mothers could have more time to themselves. With our first class being a success, we plan to have our next one on Tuesday, April 6, at La Posada shelter.

BELLA is constantly looking for volunteers to help look after children and for monetary and materials donations. To learn more about BELLA, email malena@las-americas.org or call (915) 544-5126 Ext 28. You can also join their Facebook group BELLA to learn more.

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March 30, 2010, 1:39 pm

Students take UTEP front stage

by Alejandra Hernandez

I have recently had the pleasure of attending all three of the most current productions here at UTEP. The Department of Theatre and Dance truly places and emphasis on the involvement of the community and also public outreach beyond the UTEP campus.

At UTEP, student productions of all background and diverse style techniques take place every year as a means to bring awareness to the Fine Arts department and the talent of its students. Moreover, as I have had the opportunity to experience the raw production process of the current musical inspired piece by the name of Billy the Kid and the mellow-dramatic-comedic piece, Some Girl(s), I have seen the dedication and time set forth to represent the department. This spring semester alone, the Department of Theatre and Dance took vigorous months worth of practice and rehearsal to prepare for the years productions, plays and musicals. Some of the most admirable pieces of work thus far consist of Billy the Kid (dance piece), SHOUT (musical), and Some Girl(s) (play). The soon to sell out Of Mice and Men is set to play thought-out April 23^th , 24^th,25^th,29^th,30^th, May 1^st and 2^nd, along with La Cage: Aux Folles, overlapping into mid May.

Personally, Some Girl(s) has been the most memorable UTEP piece. Not only does this piece of work set itself apart from others by its choice of stage; the Studio theatre but also by the style of technique used to incorporate a modern day period within four walls. In this outrageously funny yet serious dialogue you are likely to find a “Portrait-of-the-Artist-as-a-Young-Seducer casts an insightful light on our society’s views of the contemporary American relationship.” What makes this play all the more entertaining is the stage performed on.   The play takes places in the Studio Theatre also known as a “black box”, which is placed just feet from the audience in an almost personal environment, with minimal scenery or props. The experience of such a live performance is not only innovative but also an attribute that calls attention to a younger crowd of people. In Some Girl(s), a young blossoming writer is portrayed as a stud, ready to take on the married life that is before he takes a journey to his past ex-girlfriends to rattle up some unanswered questions before tying the knotting. It is performances like this one that help to engage not only the student body but also members of our community into UTEP funded programs and to provide an incentive for people to take part in what UTEP has to offer as a whole.

For more information on dates of performances and ticket prices visit:

http://theatredance.utep.edu/Site/Production_Photos.html

http://academics.utep.edu/Default.aspx?tabid=12633

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March 25, 2010, 8:48 pm

Regional Identity and REDA in the Prospector

by Richard Sapien

Be sure to check out my column in today’s issue of The Prospector. I talk about the Regional Economic Development Association, the importance of community involvement, and the Regional Identity.

http://www.utepprospector.com/perspectives/economic-group-advocates-community-involvement-1.1280985

Next week we will publish four new articles, a commercial, and a few blogs. Stay posted.

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March 20, 2010, 9:40 pm

REDA’s 2010 Spring Trip, Phoenix, AZ

by Richard Sapien

The Regional Economic Development Associated visited Phoenix, AZ this spring break to learn how the city’s public and private institutions work together to foster economic development. The trip is one part of a bigger plan to encourage discussion and activity between El Paso’s institutions and community in an effort to progress economic development.

REDA met with representatives from the Phoenix City Planning Department, the Phoenix Convention Center, the Arizona State University Downtown Campus, the Phoenix Economic Development Department, the Phoenix Visitors & Convention Bureau, the Downtown Phoenix Partnership, Valley Metro, and CityScape.

Below is a journal of the trip’s activities.

Saturday, March 13, 2010, 10:30am
Dairy Queen, Transmountain Road, El Paso, TX

REDA meets at the rendezvous point on the outskirts of El Paso. Members make last minute phone calls and stock up on water and ice cream.

Saturday, March 13, 2010, 10:30am – 5:30pm
El Paso, TX – New Mexico – Tucson, AZ – Phoenix, AZ

The REDA caravan snaps pictures of giant roadrunners, debates stopping at The Thing, discovers mountain full of cacti, and finally reaches its destination point: In-N-Out.

Sunday, March 14, 2010, 1:00-4:00pm
Downtown, Phoenix, AZ

REDA visited the Arizona Center in downtown to catch a movie and eat dinner. The Arizona Center, developed in the 1980’s, was the largest private downtown investment until RED’s CityScape project.

Sunday, March 14, 2010, 5:30pm
Comfort Inn, Phoenix, AZ

The group hosted a quick planning and research session in one of the hotel rooms. Members compiled maps and directions, information about our presenters and destinations, and potential questions for our meeting hosts.

Monday, March 15, 2010, 9:45pm
City Hall, Phoenix, AZ

REDA met with Curt Upton, staffer at the City of Phoenix Planning Department and Light Rail Planning/Development Coordinator, at Phoenix’s beautiful City Hall building.  Curt escorted us to our first stop, the newly renovated Phoenix Convention Center.

Monday, March 15, 2010, 10:00-11:30pm
Phoenix Convention Center, Phoenix, AZ

Dan Padilla, Event Operations Manager, introduced the Convention Center as “the best building in the world.” Mr. Padilla led a tour around the Convention Center, including the executive conference centers to the 48,000 sq. foot ballroom. The Convention Center was one of the city’s key projects for their downtown redevelopment efforts.

Monday, March 15, 2010, 2:00-3:15pm
Downtown ASU Campus, Phoenix, AZ

Jeremy Legg, Economic Development Program Manager, toured the group around the downtown ASU campus. The successful city and state collaboration that made the project possible impressed us most. The downtown campus, featuring the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, newly built student housing, and the College of Nursing and Health Innovation, brings a consistent flow of bodies downtown.

Monday, March 15, 2010, 3:30-4:30pm
City Hall, Phoenix, AZ

The group met with representatives from the Phoenix City Planning Department, Phoenix Economic Development, the Phoenix Visitors & Convention Bureau, the Downtown Phoenix Partnership, and METRO Rail. The meeting participants discussed their involvement in the city’s economic development efforts and shared how they collaborated to ensure effective public policy.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010, 10:00-11:00am
METRO Headquarters, Phoenix, AZ

Ben Limmer, Planner at METRO, talked about the Valley Metro light rail’s economic impact and the Metro’s importance to the city’s downtown revitalization efforts. He also touched on the political and planning sides of the project. Finally, REDA, Mr. Limmer, and Mr. Upton discussed the feasibility of developing a light rail system in El Paso.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010, 11:00-2:30pm
Downtown Phoenix, AZ – Downtown Tempe, AZ

REDA rode the light rail to Downtown Tempe. Mr. Upton selected this route because it showed that the light rail did not strictly stretch through high-income neighborhoods.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010, 2:30-3:30pm
CityScape project, Phoenix, AZ

REDA capped off the professional portion of its trip with a tour of the exciting CityScape project. The presenter, Jeff Moloznik, Development Manager of Red Development, discussed the importance of city assistance for private investment. CityScape is constructing towers and buildings for residential, recreation, and retail use. CityScape, said to be 80% leased, is Phoenix’s largest private downtown investment in over twenty years.

Special thanks to our sponsor Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua and Carol Johnson, Curt Upton, and the City of Phoenix.

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March 17, 2010, 1:15 pm

What’s happening with the U.S. and El Paso Economy?

by Alejandro Fernandez

The United States along with Europe, Britain, Australia and practically the whole world used Keynes’s bible of economics for the prevention of what could have been the worst recession since the 1930’s. A combination of both monetary and fiscal policy has been used in order to make money cheap by lowering the interest rates, cutting taxes, increasing public spending and not to mention bailouts. The United States lower their interest rates a record low between 0 and 0.25 percent where the recession initially began and as the ripple spread it made other central banks to do the same, Europe decreased theirs to a low of 1.00% and Britain to 0.50%. The recession also led to a flight of fear to the dollar making it appreciate from a record low of 0.63 euros to the dollar, $1.00 dollar = 0.63 euros, to 0.79 euros to the dollar, $1.00 dollar = 0.79 euros, which might not seem like a lot but it is because you are getting more euros for the same dollar. A strong Dollar is important as it will have more purchasing power to import from other countries. The problem is that the United States has more consumers than it has producers, in order to have a strong dollar the country must produce more or have some other way of financing its deficit. One way that the United States has been financing it deficit for so long is through the selling of bonds. China has been buying U.S. debt for some time now and they bought more after the prevent recession. So after about one year of worries and doubts where are we now as a nation and as a southwest community.

National Level

The job market has been slowly recovering after losing about 8.4 million jobs since the recession according to Bloomberg. This suggests that house hold worth rose at a slow pace. The unemployment rate was at a high of 10.0% for the beginning of this year, and has slowly decreased to a rate of 9.7% for the month of January and remained constant for the month of February also. This is a good sign that jobs are being kept and that new jobs are being created. In January the difference between jobs created and jobs dropped was only of a drop of 20,000 and in the month of  February there was a drop of 36,000, considering that these drops were in the hundreds during the recession. Another sign that the U.S. is recovering is that of rising Consumer Price Index and Producer Price Index that are indicators for inflation made the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates to 0.25% on January 27, 2010 in anticipation of forecasted inflation, and to give a little incentive to lending money. This, along with problems in Europe led to Dollar appreciation. Lastly GDP growth in the last three quarters, December, January, February, has been of 2.2%, 5.7% and 5.9% respectfully. As we can see recovery is continuing, some constraints are ahead like new regulations for credit will affect the recovery but are inevitable to prevent another crash.

El Paso

It seems that with so much unemployment in the U.S. one could expect the El Paso community to have lost many jobs. In fact El Paso lost 5,500 jobs during the year of 2009, which accounted for a contraction of 2% in the El Paso labor market and stood at an unemployment rate of 9.7% in Dec of 2009 where Texas stood at 8.3%. Las Cruces at the same time, Dec 2009, stood at 8.5% unemployment. This is a great improvement from the 10.0% unemployment in Oct 2009 and a sign of unemployment decreasing. El Paso gained jobs in education, health services and government where as it lost job in other sectors during 2009. There was government jobs created in order to assist in the expansion of projects such as Fort Bliss, which was a great benefit to El Paso and off set the recession, along with the maquiladora industry should help El Paso grow faster than other cities in the U.S. Trade in El Paso has increased dramatically since May 2009 along with El Paso housing sales up by 22% in Dec2009 for the 5^th consecutive month, considering the first time buyer’s tax credit and immigration from Juarez. El Paso was one the few cities that was the last in to the recession and seems that it will be one of the first ones out due to it large trading economy and housing boom and government projects. Also, El Paso business cycle has started to bottom out since the summer of 2009 and has now been slowly going up.

Sources

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=al2hTofSgDiQ, U.S. Household Worth Rose at Slower Pace Last Quarter (Update2) By Timothy R. Homan, March 11, 2010

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, El Paso Branch Feb 2010, Economic Update, both National and Regional

Dailyfx.com

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