EL PASO - Turns out, long lines at the international borders could be hurting El Paso's economy.
The Business Association is so convinced that's true, that they hosted a lunch today, to talk about the extremely long wait times from Mexico into El Paso. Customs and Border Protection was also there to hear their concerns.
"I used to have a shop at Cielo Vista...and I had to close that one, because of the clientele that stopped coming from Juarez," said business owner, David Burciaga.
"We look at what the wait times are every hour on the hour, both for vehicles and for pedestrians, and wherever we have flexibility, we pull people from other areas to try to provide the maximum amount of staffing... in order to facilitate the crossings," said Customs and Border Protection's Ana Hinojosa.
Hinojosa added that people can purchase special treatment at the bridges. The Century program, for example, can get a person into El Paso a bit faster; it costs $120 for five years.
what insight this story has!!! i guess if i don't want to wait 4 hours to cross the bridge to go to the mall, i'll shop at the walmart in juarez. here's a couple of concepts the story forgot to include: the sun is hot, water is wet, and taxes are high!!!!!
poor mall guy, btw!!! open a store in which people care to wake up early enough (before 10 am) so that when your patrons realize they need your product, they might wake up at 4 am to purchase your stuff.