Historic Downtown is caught in the middle of a blame game as city representatives and building owners debate the best protection for older buildings, after the old First National Bank building went up in flames Thursday evening.

City Representative encouraged property owners to step up and take care of the older buildings during a "Remember Downtown Rally" at San Jacinto Plaza.

"The individuals that own those buildings that are about to fall down should feel ashamed," Byrd said. "There are several property owners in our community that have held up the redevelopment of this community for a long time and we need to engage them and pressure them to make a change."

One of those property owners, William "Billy" Abraham was in attendance at the rally. Abraham holds several of the historic properties downtown, including the Kress building, which was referenced during Byrd's speech.

"Obviously, Mr. Rubin and I have a tremendous interest in downtown El Paso or I wouldn't be here," Abraham said. "What comes first, the chicken or the egg? It's hard to have people invest in a project when you don't know the direction it's going."

Abraham said his vision for downtown includes a pedestrian only section near San Jacinto Plaza, filled with sidewalk cafes and merchant carts, but the vision will only work if everyone's on the same page.

"We need to work together to get all of the ingredients to the table, come up with a common direction, roll up our sleeves and get work done," Abraham said. "This is more of an economical issue than an architectural and code issue."

Byrd agreed the property owners and city need to work together, but said the city is already offering incentives to help owners draw investors.

"I think Mr. Abraham has a great vision for what he wants to do with the community," Byrd said. "I think he's been unable to implement on that vision, and we're starting to push hard on that. It's going to cost you substantially to hold a vacant building in downtown."

The city council is meeting Monday to discuss preserving historic buildings downtown. Investigators still haven't identified the cause of the fire that destroyed the First National Bank building on the corner of San Antonio Avenue and El Paso Streets Thursday evening.