This came in from Max Higgs:
You know, we in El Paso have a lot of good things going for us. Great weather, clean air most of the time, wonderful cultural events, great food, and on and on. However, we come up real short on at least four things. One is rain. If we could get a reliable supply of more rain, it would be nice.
The second thing we lack is being smart politically. There is usually a lot of whining or other noise when a politico is discovered doing something really bad. But we as a community do not do a good job of selecting good candidates and electing those candidates. To do so requires an investment of time and energy that we choose to spend on after the fact castigation. None of these comments are directed to any candidate or office holder. I am merely relating history as I see it. I am also neglecting some other families who have been very generous to our community. I am only trying to illustrate my points.
Finally (for the day), we appear to be lacking in civility and gratitude. When people give us nice things, we just don’t do a very good job of letting them know we appreciate them and/or their gifts. Cases in point, and there are many more, include the following examples. Jack and Yvonne Cardwell family have given us millions of dollars over the years and now they are giving us millions more for the Medical Center of the Americas. All of us will benefit from this gift, but I have heard no expressions of gratitude. The Rubin family is Jewish, but they have given huge sums to Jewish and Christian organizations along with millions to our University. I have heard no thanksgiving from a city which claims a high rate of Christian affiliation. The Jonathan Rogers family has been extremely generous to our community, but no one spoke up when a demented former state legislator claimed his cancer was the result of greed. Where are the thankful hearts? The Francis family likewise has given great wealth for the benefit of people living here and I see no rush to name a school or public building after them even thought they would never ask for such a thing. The recent anger over the AAA baseball park is even more interesting. We have the Paul Foster family who has made it possible for us to have our own medical school years sooner than it would have ever happened otherwise working with the Woody Hunt family which has given us a nursing school. Were they working on an evil plot of some kind? No, they have been working on giving us the opportunity to have another place to take our kids and grandkids.
I am not a baseball fan. I don’t understand the game, but I am trying to learn because I will go to the games. I have good friends telling me that even if the ballpark is a good idea, they don’t like the way it was done. I remember the same kind of thinking expressed about the Astrodome in Houston, but that was extremely successful and added greatly to the quality of life in Houston, a place rife with lousy weather. The problem is that we are at a station in our evolution as a community that too many of us act as tin gods and too many of us want to put our mark on every new initiative, and all too often all the interference results in nothing getting done. The number of people who want their names on the bronze plates on buildings is in inverse ratio to the number of people who want to sign the checks to make it happen. Most people have no idea how difficult it is get things done in El Paso. Whatever else anyone says about Luther Jones, I thank God every time I walk into the courthouse for him because he was able to get the courthouse built. What ever anyone else says about Orland Fonseca, I remember him every time I go out of town to a swim meet for my granddaughter and I see magnificent aquatic centers which pull hundreds of people in from across several states for swimming events.
Two last points. Many are asking what is going to happen if the ball park is not a success? Several thoughts are in order. First, I don’t think anyone has made any money betting against Mr. Foster and/or Mr. Hunt. Each man has prevailed over national competition. That alone gives me some comfort about the odds for success. We will be able to measure the effect of failure of the ball park, but were we calculating the costs of continuing the status quo? Much has been said about property taxes. First, I pay property taxes, so this is an issue I care about. Second, I don’t pay as much property tax in a century as Mr. Foster and Mr. Hunt pay before lunch every day. I am grateful for people who bet on El Paso and when they are winners and givers, I am willing to bet on their bets.
Some of my very good friends totally disagree with my view of things, and that changes not one bit my appreciation of them. It is just that now, I think our new mayor, Oscar Leeser, is correct. It is time to move on. Hopefully, it is also time to move up.
Max Higgs
elpasospeak 
I completely agree with you about showing appreciation.
My concerns are about how our government employees and elected officials accomplish their goals the wrong way.
Good goal, done the right way is what we deserve in my opinion.
Brutus
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You make fine points about the many families who have given generously to El Paso. My problem with the ballpark has nothing to do with the benefactors but with the probabilities that 1) El Paso’s ballpark will not draw many season ticket holders from Juarez or Las Cruces, so that means the ballpark’s success depends on El Pasoans, 2) Most El Paso families will not be able to afford a night out at the ballpark very often, if ever, 3) El Paso taxpayers sign the dotted line, not the Foster and Hunt families. They can take their team elsewhere. El Paso will still have a ballpark, no matter what happens to the team. Yes, we can all try to make it a success but speaking in dollars and cents how will that happen? The reality is that the average El Paso family cannot afford tickets, ballpark food, and parking. The El Paso taxpayer is taking responsiblity for the risk, not the Fosters and Hunts.
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This comment came from Manny but somehow ended up in the wrong thread. I moved it to this discussion. Brutus
The generosity of Foster in providing funding for the medical school does not excuse the corrupt and undemocratic manner in which city hall was demolished and the ball park was approved. What are we supposed to do, bend over and take it just because rich people make some donations? If they are true philanthropists, they don’t do it so that you will kiss their behinds.
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One of the biggest philanthropists in the history of Texas was Ken Lay. Do we need to thank him? Were the people who thanked him wise? What about the teacher/viva El Paso pedophile who taught our kids how to dance? Should we thank him for his awesome contributions to educating our children, if not, why not? What about EPISD stalwarts Sal Mena and Carlos Cordova? Do they deserve our thanks for being unpaid school board members and sacrificing their time for our children? Luther Jones sure was one heck of a guy, wasnt he? Manny Barraza was a great judge. This entire article is sickening. You do not thank people for raping the community. You do not get a pass for doing some good when you ripped off the taxpayers or corrupted the justice system.
A real philanthropist is above politics. You dont see them making contributions to candidates. My uncle bid one hundred thousand pounds (double the next highest bid) in a charity auction to use the Queen’s ship for a day. He used it to con some clients out of millions of pounds, was he a saint? No he was a crook who bought pols here and in Europe.
The lady here in El Paso who was a finalist in the CNN hero of the year is worthy of our thanks. She cooks meals here in El Paso and delivers them daily to an orphanage in Juarez. That is charity, nothing about it was for personal gain.
Moderator, if Max Higgs wishes to know the real identity of Brownfield, feel free to give him my E Mail. I will gladly meet with him in person and say the above to his face.
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Great comments Brownfield. While I appreciate Foster being the highest property tax payer in the city and the wealthiest I have observed that he nor Hunt take a shit without a plan. Their donations are not donations when they expect to receive more back from the City than what they donated. Its called Bartering. A donation is not a donation when you expect something back and this baseball deal was so hen pecked about everything from not letting the people vote on whether to tear down City Hall and build it there or even in the very end when they asked for the Extra 14 mill edition to the stadium, but yet wouldn’t even supply a guarantee on that. At the same time Foster gave 30 to 40 mill to Baylor, but yet couldn’t sign a 14 mill guarantee even as a token of good gesture(faith) to the Taxpayer. The 75 percent who voted for Leeser saw this and I hope the voters won’t allow the Puppets of those 2 to be elected again.
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Ends don’t justify the means. Just because some of our “well-healed” families in town give millions of dollars to charities, it does not give them the right to use unethical chicanery to increase their wealth at the expense of El Paso’s citizens. It is very obvious to all of us that the City Hall/baseball stadium issue was used as a means of those families’ real estate investments downtown to increase in value by luring citizens downtown to watch baseball games. Along with that attraction, Mr. Foster is already building a high end restaurant near the stadium to cater to game patrons, thus padding his pockets further. It also gives one of his real estate investments an anchor tenant to lure other tenants into his building.
In the long run, El Pasoans will pay dearly for the donations made by these families. To me, those donations look like bribes, hoping that our city officials will look the other way and not pursue legal challenges to their underhanded methods of increasing personal wealth.
No, Mr. Higgs, I will not attend baseball games at the stadium built by “dirty dealings.”. I’m pleased to hear that many of your friends disagree with your sentiments, or I’d really fear for our communities’ future.
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In this recent Behind The Dish podcast, Keith Law talks with Neil deMause, author of Field of Schemes, a book that details why publicly funded sports stadiums are a bad investment. Here’s the link.
http://espn.go.com/espnradio/podcast/archive?id=9043211
It’s the first selection on the list of archived podcasts and the part about ballparks starts about 8 min 30 second into the podcast.
It is worth listening to.
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