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Debris flies from the former City Hall building as the charges are detonated Sunday.

As the 10-story, 34-year-old former City Hall building came crumbling down Sunday morning, a guest watching the implosion at the DoubleTree Hotel just blocks away shouted, "Play Ball!"

The demolition marked a time of change, where El Paso's Downtown skyline will no longer be defined by a concrete and glass government structure but a Triple-A baseball stadium that city officials hope will invigorate economic development.

The Tucson Padres, an affiliate with Major League Baseball's San Diego Padres, are expected to play in El Paso in April 2014. The minor league team was bought by MountainStar Sports Group, a team of local investors.

Many who watched the implosion wipe away a long-standing building said they felt

"It's sad because there are so many great memories in that building and you just remember driving up Interstate 10 and seeing City Hall and thinking, "This is El Paso,'" said Jim Scherr, who owns the DoubleTree Hotel Downtown and was once on the City Council. "But I think at the end of the day, this is progress and hopefully will make El Paso better."

City Hall stood right where home plate will be, and from where ballpark visitors will be able to see the Franklin Mountains. The symbolism was not lost on the city's Ballpark Project Engineer Alan Shubert, who called the demolition a new beginning and a milestone.

The construction of the ballpark will take 11 months, and work has already begun. Just to the north of the 1,000 truckloads worth of debris, the base of the outfield retaining wall can be easily seen.

Much of the electric line work is already completed.

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Demolition means real work begins on El Paso's new baseball stadium

HAZLETON The crane was in position to begin demolition of a massive smokestack but it appeared too short to do the job.

There were other also other concerns.

State environmental officials say when the stack is torn down the air will be monitored, in case the stack contains cancer-causing asbestos.

That testing is good news to neighbor Richard Onuschak.

Yeah, I think thats a good idea, keep it as safe as possible, Onuschak said.

Penn Earth Works is doing the job and one of their employees will have the job of being lifted to the top of the 130 foot stack and begin taking it apart.

Lee Houser said hes looking forward to the experience.

Ive never been up that high before but I should be pretty safe in that basket. Im not too worried about it. We use some electric chipping guns and hammers. I guess were going to try to knock everything down inside as we go down.

On Friday, Hazleton city officials called for the voluntary evacuation of homes and closed several businesses, fearing the smokestack would collapse.

Lorie Malloy said she helps manage one of the closed businesses.

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Hazleton Demolition Effects

The demolition of the former City Hall was a home run, reducing the 10-story building to a pile of rubble.

For many who watched the demolition, it means the city is really going to bring baseball back to the borderland.

Despite "Save City Hall" petitions, rallies and even court cases, "D-day" eventually arrived.

"I wanted to make sure we were going to get the best view, so I was here really early," said Angel Herrera, who found a great view from the Union Plaza Garage, just about 200 yards from the blast.

If the months leading up to the demolition were long, the implosion was anything but.

"From the first boom to the time it was over, it was really fast," said Herrera.

The quick blast might have made it hard for some to get the best shot. "I barely got my camera ready," said Herrera.

It is full-speed ahead from now until opening day without glancing back.

Maggie Tercerco is a native El Pasoan, who now lives in SanDiego. She said she's looking forward to cheering for the same ball club, in her two hometowns.

"I think this ballpark is going to benefit El Paso," said Tercerco.

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Demolition of City Hall gets El Paso a big step closer to baseball

EL PASO, Texas (AP) The head of a demolition team assigned to topple two massive smokestacks at a former West Texas smelter said Thursday that the demolition will go this weekend as planned.

Roberto Puga heads the trust in charge of cleaning up the site where the ASARCO smelter stood for more than 100 years. He told reporters Thursday that all tests of the dirt surrounding the stacks and the smelter towers have shown no signs of contaminants.

As the Saturday morning demolition approaches, some people have raised concerns about the possible contamination caused by the cloud of dus0t the towers might cause as they hit the ground and the dust from the stacks themselves.

Former employees of the smelter demonstrated last week demanding the demolition be rescheduled until after tests for contaminants have been done by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Texas Environmental Quality Commission.

Puga said that "even though we found no reason to test for asbestos or chemical weapons," tests were ordered. And, he added, all the results "have come back non-detect."

It'll take 300 pounds of dynamite to bring down the 600-ft and 829-ft tall chimneys. The massive structures are set to fall through a dense water mist produced by 26 mist cannons into beds of dirt brought from a non-contaminated site.

The smaller structure will to fall first and is expected to take nine seconds to topple, while the larger tower will start falling shortly afterward and will take approximately 20 seconds to do so.

The blasts are scheduled for some time between 6:30 and 7:00 Saturday morning. Puga explained it's when the winds are calmer. The demolition will be postponed if wind speeds are higher than 15 miles an hour.

A section of Interstate 10 will remain closed between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. Saturday and traffic will be diverted through El Paso streets.

The ASARCO smelter was shut down in 1999 amid complaints of incinerating materials recovered from a military facility used to manufacture chemical weapon.

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