Sunday's demolition of City Hallis expected to take15 seconds15 seconds. With 400 pounds of dynamite, El Paso's oldCity Hallbuilding will come crumbling down at 9 a.m.

El Paso's Mayor John Cook says his message to those who opposed the demolition, like he did once, is to accept it and move on and accept the change coming to El Paso.

"It's time to move on," said Cook."The two events symbolize change. Whether you agreed with it or you disagreed with it is besides the point."

The company in charge of the blast, controlled Demolition Incorporated, says all should run smoothly.

There is a potential for flying debris and people are being told that the demolition is not a sports spectacle event.

Also, engineers are reminding people there isnopotential for hazardous materials.

"The building has been completely abated of all those things -- there are no hazardous materials that remain," said Alan Shubert.

KFOX-14's live coverage of the demolition begins at 8:30 a.m.

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City officials: What to expect from Sunday's City Hall demolition

The 47-year-old, 828-foot Asarco smokestack falls to the ground early Saturday morning. (Rudy Gutierrez / El Paso Times)

Photos: Asarco smokestacks demolition Replay live coverage of the demolition Video: Different views of Asarco smokestacks demolition Video: Aerial view of Asarco smokestacks demolition Video: Asarco smokestacks demolished

Saturday's demolition of two Asarco smokestacks caused no emergencies, according

Police at the Westside Regional Command Center, where the patrol area for its officers includes the former Asarco smelter site, reported no major incidents connected to the demolition.

George De La Torre, a spokesman for the El Paso Fire Department, also said firefighters reported no demolition-related emergencies.

The closings of Paisano Drive and both sides of Interstate 10 did create traffic headaches along Mesa Street between Sunland Park Drive and Downtown El Paso. A minor three-vehicle crash was reported at Mesa Street and Argonaut Drive, and heavy traffic was also reported at the Mesa Street exit of I-10 East in West El Paso.

Road closings at I-10 and Executive Center Boulevard and Executive Center at Mesa began about 5:30 a.m. Saturday.

A spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Transportation in El Paso said the roadways reopened within about two hours of the demolition.

The dust cloud immediately began traveling south toward Jurez just after the tallest Asarco smokestack fell, then spread southeast toward Downtown El Paso.

Adriana M. Chvez may be reached at achavez@elpasotimes.com; 546-6117. Follow her on Twitter @AChavezEPTimes.

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Asarco demolition day goes smoothly

Friday, April 12, 2013 - 10:49pm

El Paso, TX (KTSM) On the eve of demolition weekend, the crews at City Hall continue to work around the clock.

Right now they are preparing the basement area, along with the fourth and eighth floors, making 410 holes total in the supporting structure, said Controlled Demolition, Inc. President Mark Louizeaux.

That is where they'll stick 214 pounds of explosives, made of nitroglycerine.

That Sunday morning, the official countdown begins right at 9 a.m. That's when the public will hear the first horn, signaling the 2-minute warning.

That horn will sound off again, at the 1-minute warning.

Then just before 9:02 a.m., the command center will begin its 15-second countdown, said Louizeaux.

But do not expect the big fall then.

First, you'll hear the initiation charges, then a four-and-a-half-second pause, said Louizeaux.

Then, the main charges will go off, and that'll be the start of the end, he said.

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Details revealed behind City Hall demolition

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Street closures for El Paso City Hall demolition. Click on the map for a larger version.

What you need to know about El Paso City Hall demolition Photos: El Paso City Hall demolition countdown Watch live video, get updates from El Paso City Hall demolition Sunday

It's happening today.

The long-anticipated, much debated demolition of the old City Hall building is happening at 9 a.m. today -- the day after the two Asarco smokestacks were toppled.

About 400 pounds of dynamite will be used to implode the former City Hall, a 34-year-old, 10-story building. The demolition is expected to produce a giant cloud of dust and leave behind about 1,000 truckloads of debris.

The city's street sweepers, as well as crews with leaf blowers and brooms, will begin to sweep up dust immediately after the blast, said Raymond Smith, the project manager for a ballpark that will be built on the site by C.F. Jordan/Hunt Construction.

Smith said the cleanup will begin at the farthest

"All that will fall is dust, no debris," he said. He added that cleanup workers will also be on nearby rooftops clearing up the dust.

Demolition crews have said that the implosion will be contained and that the rubble will remain within the site. Most of the debris will end up in the city landfills.

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El Paso City Hall demolition: Cleanup to begin immediately

WATERVLIET, N.Y. - Voices of a Citizens for St. Patrick's group have been heard outside the church and in court during the past few months, but as demolition of the church began Saturday, reality set in for many.

"It's kind of been sitting there sad for a while," said Donavan Kuber, of Watervliet.

Its demolition has also saddened the Citizens for St. Patrick's group who have been fighting to save the building, but Saturday crews began tearing it down.

"I'm sorry for their loss, but sometimes change is necessary and change is good," said Kuber.

Although Kuber admits he does often miss the sound of the bell, he is ready for the change.

"It's a positive reinforcement that Watervliet is new and up and coming and the future is here," said Kuber.

As a Price Chopper is set to take over the space, the new business on 19th street is giving some residents a glimpse of what happened in the past to create this kind of a future.

"I think the demographics changed. People moved out of the city. I just don't think they have the population around to support the churches. The old Price Chopper is really run down, so it might help the area," said George Hupe of Bob's Diner.

As demolition is completed during the next few weeks, the historic church will no longer be the tallest point in the city.

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Demolition begins on historic church in Watervliet

Photos: Asarco smokestacks demolition Replay live coverage of the demolition Video: Different views of Asarco smokestacks demolition Video: Aerial view of Asarco smokestacks demolition

JUAREZ -- Mara Flix Luna, who has lived in the Ladrillera de Jurez neighborhood for more than 30 years, gasped the moment she saw the two Asarco smokestacks fall Saturday morning.

"I feel sad and happy at the same time but more worried of what is going to happen next," Luna said a few minutes later while watching from the improvised balcony of her

Luna was among the hundreds of spectators at Ladrillera de Jurez who were waiting -- some of them for hours -- outside their homes, in the streets and on top of roofs and hills for the demolition of the 828-foot and 612-foot smokestacks.

Minutes before the blasts, residents said they had mixed emotions.

Gabriela Bonilla, who lives three blocks from Luna's house, said she felt the stacks should have been kept because they were part of El Paso and Jurez's history.

"Besides, it was a point of reference for everyone. All this time I have said I lived where Asarco is," said Bonilla, who has lived in Ladrillera de Jurez for 25 years. "Now what am I going to say?"

Bonilla said she and her family got up at 4 a.m. to see the "historic moment" with other neighbors and their children who met in Luna's home.

The neighbors did not know why the stacks were being demolished. However, most of them were concerned about the effects of the demolition.

"They (Asarco and U.S. authorities) took out their contamination problem, but they left it to us," Luna said after clouds of thick dust

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Asarco Demolition reaction mixed in Juarez

As the smokestacks came crumbling down, many El Pasoans were emotionally affected, including former ASARCO employees, many of which tried to stop the demolition.

The former employees worry that the negative health impact the smelter had on them might spread to the public after the demolition.

"We used a darker pigeon to symbolize the bad things that we found out were going on in the plant," said Dan Arellano, a third-generation ASARCO employee. "The white dove was to start beating the beat of a new drum we're in for progress, and we're for it, but still, we're going to be monitoring what happened here."

The group of worker, most of whom dedicated at least two decades of their lives to working at the smelter, watched what many of them considered a symbol of death and destruction, disappear from the distance.

"It was their chemicals. It was chemical warfare; stuff that you use on your enemies, widely used in Vietnam, nerve gas, napalm gas, serum gas. These are poisons; why bring it to us? We were at ground zero," said Carlos Rodriguez, a former employeewho worked at ASARCOfor 24 years.

In the days leading up to the ASARCO demolition many of these former ASARCO workers became members of a group calling itself El Paso AWARE. The group questioned the remediation efforts, and petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency to stop the demolition until more research could be done.

The movement prompted to ASARCO to do more testing, which it says showed no negative results and the EPA gave the demolition project the all-clear.

"If you see it from right here, you see the yellow right here. This is all sulfur. These are all chemicals involved and supposedly, these guys were at ground level. But, if you see this before it was torn down, these guys were 20 feet down, said Pat Garza, a 13-year former employee.

Rodriguez, 64, is one of the former ASARCO workers with AWARE (Answers Wanted on ASARCO Remediation and our Environmental Health). He said he worried then, and he still does.

"Are they going to get true, honest testing on that dust? Was there earth movement? Are we going to get the true answers? Is the city going to get the true answers? At this point, I don't even (know) who to believe," Rodriguez said.

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Demolition an emotional event for former ASARCO employees

Posted at: 04/14/2013 7:48 AM | Updated at: 04/14/2013 8:19 AM By: Dan Bazile

The teeth of an excavator takes a major bite out of Saint Patrick's Church in Watervliet, drawing tears from those with an emotional connection to the century old structure.

Many residents stood by and watched. Some were taking pictures and brought their children along with personal stories of their baptism and weddings inside the church.

I'm taking pictures and saving them because I'd like my children and grandchildren to remember what was here before they chopped everything down, says neighbor Misty Lemay.

Demolition resumed early Saturday after Citizens for Saint Patrick's, a group of residents that have been fighting for more than a year to preserve the building, lost a court decision that lifted a restraining order on leveling the structure.

"This wasn't supposed to be done until next week, but they came in and took off the porticos, says neighbor Donna Wellworth.

Police were notified early Saturday that the work would begin. The demolition crew told us they'll return on Monday to start finishing the job. They plan on starting from the back of the church and work their way toward the front. You can see the prep work and heavier equipment standing by.

Developer, Nigro Companies, bought the church from the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese. It's coming down to make way for a supermarket.

You could see this building from miles away. You're going to tear it down to put a grocery store there. I don't understand it, says Lemay.

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Demolition resumes at St. Patrick's Church

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