How El Paso Reimagined Capital Improvement Planning During COVID-19

The fiscal impacts of COVID-19 are forcing cities to
significantly rethink their budgets and spending decisions. But
when projected revenue shortfalls put most of the City of El
Paso's scheduled capital improvement projects on hold, planners
in this Texas border city saw an opportunity to rethink the
capital improvement planning (CIP) and budgeting process and
reprioritize projects using an equity-focused approach.


To understand how they did this, Ann Dillemuth, AICP, senior
research and professional practice associate at APA, speaks with
Alex Hoffman, AICP, director of the Capital Planning Division of
the city's Capital Improvement Department. Alex provides planners
with practical advice on how to reenvision their own communities'
capital improvements planning processes, and he underscores how
identifying priorities and aligning plans can make a city more
resilient in the future, if and when another disruptive event
like the coronavirus pandemic happens.