Early voting

October 21, 2019

Today is the first day of early voting.

In the city of El Paso the only issue (unless you vote in district 3 where there is a special city council election)  is whether we will authorize the issuance of $413,122,650 in bonds for public safety purposes.

According to the city it will cost $12 per year in year one for a $100,000 home.

In year two the cost will be $24 for that same home.

Year three will be $36, year four will be $48, five will be $60 and year six the bill will be $72.

Presumably it will stay at $72 for the life of the bonds.  The city reserves the right make the increases on a different schedule.

They also reserve the right to move the money around because after all they don’t really know what their suggested projects will cost.

Personally I can see the need for some new facilities.  I would prefer however that they actually figure out what they want and how much it will cost instead of asking for a blank check.

This is an arrogant money grab.  They evidently think that the voters will just give them a bunch of money and that they can decide what to do with it later.

We deserve better

Brutus

 

11 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Civil discourse

October 20, 2019

The blog readers got into some disagreements Saturday.

We are appreciative that on the whole there was very little offensive name calling and most of the discussion did not seem to be personal.

Yes there were a few exceptions but on the whole people were civil.

We thank you.

We deserve better

Brutus

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Open line Saturday

October 19, 2019

What’s on your mind today?

We deserve better

Brutus

6 Comments | Uncategorized | Permalink
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Another great honor

October 18, 2019

Our readers pointed out to us the other day that the purchasing award the city recently got involved the city paying a fee of either $400 or $600 depending upon whether the city is a member of the organization.

Following up on that thought the city also receives a “Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting”.

Maybe the certificate is designed to make us feel better about what the city is telling us.

As it turns out the Government Finance Officers Association is the group awarding the certificate of achievement.

The city uses our tax money to pay for their submission:

Would the city tell us if they failed to get the certificate that they bought?

We deserve better

Brutus

5 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Double negatives

October 17, 2019

The city hired an out of town firm to conduct a study of our downtown parking situation.

You can read it here.

The print is very light and difficult to read.

We did find this gem:

The consultants wrote:

We found numerous instances of overly worded and bureaucratic language  throughout all sections of the El Paso Code of Ordinances.  The use of double negatives and confusing language makes reading and understanding the code very difficult for the average citizen.

According to plan

This is part of how the functionaries down at the city maintain their power.

Will this out of town firm ever be hired again?

We deserve better

Brutus

6 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Award for innovation

October 16, 2019

One of our loyal readers sent this in with the note “You can’t make this up”.

From El Paso Inc.

The National Procurement Institute has awarded the city of El Paso Purchasing & Strategic Sourcing Department the 2019 Achievement of Excellence in Procurement Award. The award is earned by public and nonprofit organizations that obtain a high application score based on innovation, professionalism, e-procurement procedures, productivity and leadership. It is the sixth year in a row that the city has received the award.

Many of us can say first hand that they are innovative.

We deserve better

Brutus

12 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

False promise

October 15, 2019

The city is adopting a new parking app named “Park 915”.

This slide is part of a presentation that will be made in a special city council meeting Monday, October 14, 2019.

Real time?

Supposedly the app will allow us to parking spaces that are available at the moment we look.

How can it do that?

If someone parks a vehicle in a spot and ignores the electronic app the spot is still going to be occupied.

We can see that the app could tell us if a spot is supposed to be unoccupied but confirming that a spot is open will require visual confirmation or electronic sensors.

Is this another case of over-promising?

 

We deserve better

Brutus

8 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

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