One of the stated purposes for our city’s multiple deals with the railroads these last few years was to help the trains go through El Paso faster. The city paid a high price for land that it needed to build the new ball park. Railroad crossings around town were closed as part of the bargain.
Freeway closed
This Friday, to use the words of a tweet from an El Paso Times reporter, a train “derailed off tracks”. One of the cars struck a pillar supporting Interstate 10 as it crosses over Cotton Street.
The train was evidently travelling at less than 10 miles per hour when the incident occurred. The Times published this picture:
According to the Times, “TxDOT officials said a structural engineer from Austin visited the site early Saturday morning to inspect the Cotton Bridge columns and that the closure of I-10 West was just a safety measure.”
Well I guess looking at the picture that is a safety measure, otherwise we wasted money building the pillar in the first place.
How much faster
So now the question is how much faster would the city like the trains to go?
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
OK, I agree that perhaps “we deserve better.” The question is how do we move from deserving to getting? Why would anyone agree to serving on the school board, the commissioners court or city council? Why would anyone put his/her family through the trauma that is politics in our city? Why would anyone go through the humiliation of trying to raise money from friends and family? Why would they invest the money they have worked for? If have complained about the quality of office holders, why don’t you run? Or find a candidate to support? Why does the El Paso Times base their endorsements solely on the basis of interviews of the candidates? Does the Times ever send a reporter out to see what of reputation a candidate has within their professional community. Has the Times ever asked candidates to submit their credit reports prior to the interview?
This forum is a great beginning but problem identification is just the first step in our transition from a very large and diverse small town to a high performing community.
How do we develop a road map to success as a community when we have so many challenges and when the assets we do have are unknown or unrecognized.
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Max,
I try to stick to the facts, but will offer some thoughts in response to your request.
At the risk of sounding “preachy” one of my suggestions would be to somehow get the Times to at least present two sides of a story. I recognize that they do not pretend to be impartial. If they would show the major sides to a story those people who run for office would not have to fight whatever uphill battle the Times can still create. The voters could make better decisions.
Other things will have to change before we “get better”.
Doing a better job of helping the next generation understand the value of “service to public” would clearly help.
Overcoming the perceived disadvantage that not having a latino name seems to inflict on candidates is another issue. Let me be clear, I am not saying that a person’s name makes anyone a better or worse candidate. Unfortunately many without a latino name feel that they should not run because they will not have a chance.
Developing a case of “color blindness” would help in this case.
Brutus
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I am a proud capitalist. However, our system of campaign finance needs a serious overhaul. Qualified candidates who want to serve often do not have a chance because they cannot raise the funds necessary to compete against candidates who are well connected and well funded, or endorsed by a political party. In a perfect world, no candidates would accept contributions and would have to run on their ideas and character alone. I know that will never happen but I can wish.
As for the El Paso Times, it is pitiful. The only reporting and in depth story lately has been the EPISD mess and Times jumped on that bandwagon late in the game. Newspapers need subscribers and advertising to pay good reporters and the Times’ supply of both is dwindling.
And I agree the Latino name issue is a problem.
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