Today’s City council was pure entertainment. Things went smooth until the Baseball stadium which was to cost 40 million was now costing 50 Million dollars. The Wilson quintet went ballistic. Finger pointing prevailed as the City engineer said he ‘never said’ and Courtney said, “you said”. He almost said “but Ms Wilson made us do it” but he didn’t have a new position yet from all the goodies he’s promised. In fact they threw him under the bus as Courtney wanted them all fired. Isn’t she the one who kept information from Byrd as the beloved chief puppet.
Doctor Noe kept saying “no, no I didn’t get that information”, risking the East Soccer Complex that he recently was promised by the City Manager for his continued cooperation and to stop trying to run the city like a business.
Let me tell you, Ms Wilson became, what you might say Testy. She said the original 40 million was not guaranteed but actually given by another consultant who is no longer on the job. It was just a “guesstimate”. Want to see fancy dancing, the lady was doing the Cha Cha. She ended with “you won’t know what it cost until we get to the end”. They should have known this right along so “what’s the problem”. This was the City Manager at her finest.
Ortega was looking at his 27% desolving. He’s almost convinced he should vote for Oscar. Let him take the heat. He wants out and back to teaching middle school in Clint.
Robinson and Holguin couldn’t believe what they were hearing. Both of them developed intention tremors.
Emma thought it would have been better if she wasn’t unopposed and lost the election.
Ms Byrd asked if we could watch the smoke stacks fall again.
Stay in touch. Maybe the El Paso Times will turn and do free, Hyundai advertisements.
elpasospeak 
Early last year it was announced by the El Paso City Council that they were in the process of soliciting ideas for 2 Quality of Life Bonds that were sure to catch up on much needed infrastructure and QoL needs to make life in El Paso more “attractive”.
What they DIDN’T tell us was that THEY, in collaboration with the City Manager, Joyce Wilson, had already determined what our QoL needs were and just wanted us to feel like we were part of the process. You know, like we and what we thought, mattered! They also failed to tell us that the city. What they ALSO failed to tell us that parties had been working with a consortium that later became known as the MountainStar Sports Group, LLC to bid for a AAA Pacific Coast Baseball League Baseball team to come to El Paso.
They would have us believe that this just fell from the stars but as we are slowly learning this has been in the works for at least two years, which, amazingly, is about the time that the team became “available” after the city of Escondido, CA was not able to secure funding to build a stadium. Even funnier was that the City of Escondido, CA had a 3 year stadium/team relocation plan that put the Padres in Tucson until they could get the stadium built… and the absolute funniest part? It’s that they left Portland, OR after their stadium was redesigned as a Soccer Only venue!
Today’s City Council Meeting was without a doubt the funniest comedy show in downtown El Paso in a LONG time! There was so much stuttering and stammering and deflecting; there was dart throwing, back stabbing and through it all Joyce remained defiant and seemingly in control! Today’s meeting was a CLEAR preview as to WHY the City of El Paso, Texas does NOT want to release remaining emails from City Councilmembers… And while Limp Dick, excuse me, I mean Lame Duck Mayor John Cook did his best to joke and keep the peace, his legacy will be a joke and his accolades will have all been for naught… a case of the gatekeeper being asleep while his city was stolen from beneath him.
Now is the time for the City Council to relook at the comments made today, attempt to discern the truth and the deceit and issue an order to cease and desist ALL operations for the Baseball Stadium until they can take control of the situation, find out the truth (and maybe contact Six Flags and see if they’re still interested in a prime downtown location) and maybe stop the drain on the El Paso Taxpayers before it’s too late!
NOW is the time for the El Paso City Council to relook their actions, entertain the feasibility of a one year delay and look for more efficient ways, WITH oversight, to accomplish what has proven so far to be a boondoggle far out of the capabilities of any local entity. They should request an investigation by the Texas State Attorney General into any possible malfeasance or criminal acts that have injured the citizens of this City and Representatives Morgan-Lilly, Ortega, Niland, Byrd and Noe, as well as Mayor Cook, should recuse themselves from ANY votes that may concern the Baseball Stadium OR downtown development until such a time as any investigation has been concluded.
And they should demand the IMMEDIATE resignation of City Manager Joyce Wilson… Or fire her. After all this IS a Right to Work state and she has NO right to work here!
And BTW, IF they recuse themselves, it would mean an absence of a Quorum and therefor no action could be taken…
https://www.facebook.com/john.conwell1?ref=tn_tnmn#!/photo.php?fbid=10151621592425067&set=a.286578565066.187840.695845066&type=1&theater
LikeLike
Methinks I need to watch a replay of the City Council meeting tonight…….I need to watch some good comedy starring our Progressives who are thrusting El Paso into bankruptcy. By the way, Kamakazi, rumor has it that the FBI is investigating this whole Stadium/City Hall mess, so we can sit back and watch the chips fall where they may! Should be an interesting next couple of years, but unfortunately our taxes will surely skyrocket thanks to our clowns at City Hall.
LikeLike
DRJ- I hope that it is more than just a rumor… It would seem that given the past decade or so the FBI would use El Paso as a training site for public corruption! I also would expect that the State Attorney General (if he can take time away from his pre-gubernatorial election efforts) should be investigating!
The real shame out of all of this is that for someone like me who really loves baseball, and enjoys getting out with friends and family on occasion for 25 cent hotdog or whatever, is that we are treated like a disease when we speak out about fiduciary responsibility. I truly believe that the Council had the right to vote on this but only AFTER conducting the due diligence anyone would expect… They just approved an “undisclosed” proposal to build a 4 Star Resort Hotel (kicking the EPISD off city property which is inevitably going to force ANOTHER construction/lease boondogle) and gave them (wait for it…) HOTEL TAX RELIEF! Of course the kicker is that they will include Retail Shops in case you don’t want to go 5 or 6 blocks to the Cielo Vista Mall or a mile or two to Bassett Center or the soon to open Outlet Mall,,, Of course I doubt anyone coming here for a Resort experience will go to Bassett Center… That’s just for all us fools that will get stuck with higher property taxes to pay for the Stadium and QoL projects!
And, to follow up on the comment in the Double Speak blog… Giving Rep Noe the East Side Soccer complex was not really that big of a deal… it’s OUTSIDE of his precinct! Even though the property was donated (by a developer who will benefit indirectly!) we are going to get stuck with the costs to incorporate the land since it is outside of El Paso City Limits! It’s a great opportunity for Veronica to cash in on her friends at City Council! Maybe EPISD can get the same kind of deal!
The more things change the more they stay the same… just different actors!
LikeLike
PS- Did you watch the Council Meeting online? It was the best comedy on TV Tuesday!
LikeLike
Its really worthwhile watching
Talk about jumping ship
The Quintet looked shocked
Looks like they got sold a bill of goods
No back up, no evidence
She called-them on it an did they squirm
Next few months should be trying
I trust Oscar can handle it
Easier than selling Hyundais
LikeLike
For anyone employed in the private sector, try using the City Manager’s “you won’t know what it cost until we get to the end” line in your next budget review. But do so only if you have another job waiting or if you, like Wilson, have an iron-clad contract that pays you regardless of termination. Her statement reminded me of another Wicked Witch of the West quote: “Why my little party’s just beginning.”
No one who works for Paul Foster or Woody Hunt would dare to say “you won’t know what it cost until we get to the end” midstream in a project after telling one of the big guys it would only cost “x”. Why? Because when it’s their money, they are concerned about making a profit. They didn’t become billionaires by being fiscally irresponsible with their own money or that of their companies.
Here’s the real irony of today’s dodgeball free-for-all. When Foster was asked if MountainStar would consider sharing the $10 million overrun, he said nobody had talked to him about that and he didn’t want to get ahead of any discussions on the matter. Did he say that with a straight face?. Am I the only one that choked on that line? Mountainstar and their city puppets had no problem getting way ahead of the rest of us on committing our initial $50 million to fund their sandbox. Foster’s statement is similar to Mountainstar refusing last week to comment on the request for another $10 million. Mountainstar’s principals are a little less talkative these days now that truth is slowly being revealed.
I voiced a more detailed opinion on the double talk related to this overage in response to Brutus’s weekend post on Double Play:
I noticed that other people are providing links to other comments and posts, which I find helpful.
Keep your eye on the cabal.
LikeLike
Thank u both for your comments.
Its a 3 hour show and I just watched some earlier clips. A citizen asked if they are covering up something in not releasing Email correspondence as directed by the State Attorney General and then suing the Attorney Gen. to not disclose them.
John Cook played dumb and asked what she was talking about more than twice. He played like he didn’t know about it. Can you imagine?
I think he should work for the US Justice Department or the IRS when he retires.
What a joke.
MT Cicero
LikeLike
Niland’s fiery speech and indignation were not sincere. It was purely for show. She was hot-dogging for the camera and for the media in an effort to save her wannabee political career which she is seeing slip away in just her first term. Watch how many times she turned to the camera. More importantly, we know how she and Wilson communicate on their own little back channel, so no way was she in the dark about what’s really going on. Niland threw her friend under the bus today for her own personal political posturing. Let’s also not forget that Niland had her own personal, private meetings with Mountainstar. Let’s recognize Niland for what she is — a hypocritical, back-stabbling, dishonest wannabee politician.
LikeLike
Nailed it!
LikeLike
Wow! Thanks for bringing this video to our attention. It’s amazing that city management and council ran with a guesstimate developed by Turner, a construction firm selected by Mountainstar, and that didn’t get the gig. No wonder Mountainstar is dodging questions. If Oscar Leeser wants to guarantee a win in the mayoral run-off election, he should simply pay to air the video of the ballpark section of this meeting.
City council can attack management, but our mayor and reps simply didn’t do their own jobs before voting for this project and then giddily putting on their baseball caps. They did zero due diligence because they totally bought into a bad deal purely because of special interests and the wealth of the Mountainstar principals.
LikeLike
Nancy Pelosi said “you won’t know what’s in the bill until we pass it”. Now we know who Wilson gets her talking points from. Audacious!
LikeLike
This is one of the best, most succinct posts I have seen on this forum.
LikeLike
Thank you.
LikeLike
This CRAZY has been at most council meetings since this heist started. I do believe and I’ll say it again, this ball park has already cost us over 200 million bucks with the demolition of city hall and relocation of city services! And that it will cost no less than 100 million to build the sand box stadium. The cost to fight some of us in court was paid to Fulbright and Jaworzky from the funds approved at Tues meeting. Probably in the range of 1/2 million.
LikeLike
It is also significant to note that the same meeting was used to present the Conquistador Award and that many of the El Paso Conquistador Awards from the past are currently being displayed in prisons…
LikeLike
Hasn’t anyone wondered what Guaranteed Maximum Price means? I thought it meant that if the contractor couldn’t build it for what he said he could, he’d take the hit.
LikeLike