An established research center is a main component as we take steps to become the foremost hub for studying and treating health problems indigenous to life on the southern border.

Achieving that will give El Paso its third large economic driver. Trade with Mexico and Fort Bliss lead the way at present. The University of Texas at El Paso is also a considerably large player.

Last week City Council gave El Paso a good booster shot toward that endeavor. It agreed to lease an 11.7-acre parcel of land it owns in Central El Paso to entice biomedical companies to step under the overall umbrella we call the Medical Center of the Americas.

Pieces have already begun fitting together. This parcel is in the vicinity of the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, University Medical Center and the soon-to-open El Paso Children's Hospital.

This biomedical park is located between Interstate 10 and Texas Tech, which is home to the Paul L. Foster School of Medicine and is working toward a major expansion of its nursing school.

This lease, for 100 years, is another step the city has taken in its MCA strategy. Earlier it voted to help develop the medical center by using part of the franchise fees, some $3.3 million, it gets from El Paso Electric.

Facilities, such as the hospitals and the schools, are the footprints needed to become the hub of border-related health care. But to become the true, recognized Medical Center of the Americas, there must be a large cluster of research companies to go with them.

This biomedical park is a good fit in our goal of being the top center for not only caring for, but researching, U.S.-Mexico border health issues.