The folks at our city airport have taken over half of the short term parking we used to have and are now using it for the benefit of the rental car companies and the limousines. Some reports indicate that this will last for two years.
Many airports that I have been to shuttle rental car customers to off-site facilities. I guess in El Paso business and money interests are more important to our governments than are the citizens.
Declining business
The city has decided to build a new garage and service facility for the rental car companies. The facility is supposed to be paid for by a levy against rental car customers. The city projects that there will be a one percent increase in business each year.
The first quarter numbers for 2014 show a decline in business. Passenger counts at the airport are down 4.4% from the same quarter last year. Freight traffic is down 8.1%.
This is before the Wright amendment expires later this year and Southwest Airlines will no longer have to stop in El Paso before going on to more western cities.
Financial Awfulsir
We are experiencing shortfalls in many revenue categories that the city has forecast. Hotel occupancy taxes, sales taxes, airport business, franchise fees, revenue from fines and forfeitures, and residential building permit fees are all short of the budgets that our chief financial officer presented at the start of the fiscal year.
Now one rumor has it that she is in the running to be the new city manager.
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
And isn’t she also on the EPISD Board of Managers which are facing a 18 million dollar shortfall, no small part due to the $5.4 million tax rebate the district had to pay Western Refining? And isn’t she a member of the Central Appraisal District, along with fellow EPISD Board of Managers Dee Margo and Ed Archuleta?
These “Business people” are killing our city along with our kids education. Next time you hear the phrase “We need to run this like a business” head for the hills!
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These people are not business people. They could not run a popcorn stand.
Brutus
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As Brutus said, these are not business people. They view themselves as an elite political and government class. Most have proven they have no sense of accountability, financial or otherwise.
The EPISD doesn’t even know how to handle a basic media request to tour the EPISD executive offices (paid for by taxpayers), which implies that they think there is something Cabrera and the board don’t want the taxpayers to see. Perhaps we should all ask for tours of our various local government offices.
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There was a news story, many years ago, about how business people picked stocks. They had a chimp throw darts at a board, which had a listing of stocks. The chimp picked better stocks than the business people.
These business people will try to confuse you with all sorts of jargon and charts. In the end, all bs.
We were sold bs, in the belief that a triple a baseball stadium would draw tourist to El Paso in droves, much like a flock of geese migrating.
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Carmen has definitely been positioned to replace JW. The EPISD appointment and “loaned executive” to the County were meant to polish her credentials for the job. But as we have seen, CC turns a blind eye to major fails for the favored few, e.g., recall the $5MM spent at the recommendation of the transit director to get ” shovel-ready” (they love that term) for trolleys but forgetting to get a binding committment from the state. There is no accountibility anymore for city management screw ups, if there ever was. These people live under Wilson’s protection, cost us millions, and keep on doing it.
In Carmen’s case, don’t even go near the millions thrown away on the Oracle Financials that didn’t work, and then the stadium business case that she downloaded from the stadium pimps. But she is the Club’s choice for CM because she will help to keep the juice flowing to Woody and Company.
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They are not business people. They are Paul and Woody’s water boys and girls.
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