If things continue the way they are headed now we will soon have a new city manager.
Clean house
We have witnessed many problems with city staff over the past few years. The tearing down of city hall and building of the ball park have been supported by wildly misleading financial projections, backroom discussions that we cannot get the city to divulge through open records requests, and parliamentary tricks from our city attorney.
The facts will come out eventually.
A smart new city manager will distance himself from these acts. Replacing the administrators that have helped perpetrate the problems will make the new city manager look like part of our solution.
Replacing the city attorney is not one of the city manager’s prerogatives. Making life miserable for the city attorney is however.
Sweeps clean
A new broom sweeps clean. I predict that we will see many of the senior staff at the city leaving soon.
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
The better managers, who might have left if the CFO had been appointed to the job, will stick around and give him a chance. If he brings in his own proteges let us just hope they are qualified for their jobs and not just his friends. Recall that Wilson brought in a few of her own.
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The new regime will value loyalty above all else.
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Tom – Loyalty to what or whom? Just checking.
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Loyalty to themselves. Oscar and the new city manager’s number one goal is to gain and maintain power. Oscar found the right guy. They’re a good fit.
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There is something else also at play. . . . .
A female city manager, a female salesman, a female manager. . . a lot of people will not “Talk Back” to her, a female.
A lot of people will not “call her out”.
A lot of people will be afraid to “Call her a liar.”
But a MAN. . . . Most people will “Call him right out.”
Most will Talk right back at him.
So, in my perspective, a Man. . . . . in any position will NOT get away with what the female/ Wilson got away with.
Many many moons ago, I went to a seminar in California that suggested that businesses replace all men on the Front Counters and Sales positions where the Client was face to face with the salesperson. People will “Just take a face value what a female says and not question it, but a Male on the other hand, better have All the facts to back up everything he says.
And of course, they suggested “Pretty Females” could Outsell Males 4 to 1 because they were “female”. . . all other factors being equal.
So, it seems like a Male City Manager will have to stand on merits and facts, (rather than get away with half-truths and lies as a female could.)
As children, all Boys know that their parents will whip them and beat them behind the barn with a hickory stick for doing wrong. . . while their little lying daughters just get a scolding. So boys KNOW people will “Call them out, kick their butts, or take them to task”. . . while letting the girls. . . . . . slide.
I hope the new City Manager can see. . . . through the fog and get cracken !
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Homeowner,
Last time I called you out, you said your offensive comments were a joke. I’ll repeat what I said then – you should get your money back for that comedy class. Your comments there and in this post, even in a humorous context, are racist and/or misogynistic and, in all cases, uneducated. Even for you, I’m surprised.
So many things are wrong with what you posted – a point-by-point reply (which I love, incidentally), would make this a mile long. Either you’ve been watching too much Mad Men, or you’re taking gender sensitivity lessons from the Republican Party.
We all know the differences between how society perceives men and women, mainly to the detriment of women. But to suggest that a woman, especially one in the City Manager’s position, has gotten away with anything because she’s female is an insult obviously to women but also to men, who in your world don’t have the cojones to stand up to a woman. I can only say this…
Dude…….seriously?
One more thing – for all of the rantings about justice and fairness that I’ve seen on this site, and the interminable posts about inconsequential things like ballparks, taxes and other such nonsense, it took an a-hole like me to call out this guy. I won’t say you should be ashamed, but really — you should be ashamed.
Carlos
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carlosinelpaso:
I NEVER said that ANYTHING I ever said. . . was a joke.
(YOU are the one saying those things)
How are Male -vs- Female “racist” ?
Seems like everything you read or interpret is “Racist” or something. (You have quite a chip on your shoulder)
Rather than insult others posts. . . maybe you should stick to the task at hand for THIS Blog. . . and that is posing questions and answers about EL PASO.
And MY post says. . . if you read between the lines. . . That Females are or could be great “salesmen” and can/could outsell Men 4 to 1.
(There must be a LOT of miscommunication around your home and as we all know. . . THAT causes LOTS of problems.)
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Dude…seriously?
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There actually is some truth in what Homeowner777 says about women being treated with more deference, especially in Texas and the Southwest. Maybe that’s old fashioned thinking, maybe it doesn’t fit today’s gender equality rules, but it does exist.
Racist and misogynistic? Hardly. That’s a bit of an over-reaction, Carlos. There actually is a difference in how men and women are treated. Ask a woman about her experience when she takes her car for repairs. Or ask a man if he’s treating differently from a woman when approaching strangers. Mentioning these differences doesn’t come near to being misogynistic. (Carlos, Don’t get me started on how some in the Democratic party treat women. Can you spell BILL CLINTON — but’s that’s another issue.)
And do I read you correctly to say taxes and fairness are inconsequential?
I’m sorry, but who are you, Carlos, to tell someone they should be ashamed of an honest opinion? An opinion that has some basis in social research. Please quit reading this blog if the comments offend you so much. Seriously.
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Deference is one thing – in circles outside of yours and Homeowner’s, it’s called respect, much like I might treat my spouse or my parents. But let me tell you – if either asked me to sell my first-born, screw deference – I’d tell them shove it where the sun don’t shine. I also acknowledged that there is a societal difference with how men and women are treated, and I agree – it continues to exist to some degree.
But to allege that Wilson has gotten away with anything because she’s a woman is patently ridiculous. Maybe at first – I don’t think it would be any different from the “honeymoon” a man would get, much like I’m sure Mr. Gonzalez will have for a while. But if things were so obviously going off the rails, where were all the big-balled men here like Homeowner and you when someone needed to to go and stand up to her? Cowering in the shadow of her femininity and calling it deference? If the reason that the City has gone to the dogs is because Wilson is a woman, then guess what, dudes? That is entirely your fault – maybe you shoulda done something.
Taxes, in the big picture, are inconsequential. We have no control over them, unless we get off our duffs and DO something, like win an election. Ranting about them is just academic, if barely so. Fairness of course, is not – it is entirely within our control. And if you read my post again, I did not equate the two.
You can express an honest opinion if you like – far be it from me to deny your God-given right to do that. But I can too – all’s fair behind our cloaks of anonymity.
And to be clear – Homeowner’s other post was racist; this one was just misogynistic. And both are wrong.
Come join us outside the echo chamber; it’s pretty nice out here. And I’ll keep on reading posts on this blog and criticizing them if I damn well please.
Pardon my lack of deference on this issue.
Carlos
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Differences of opinion are fine. Using words like racist and misogynist stoops to name-calling. We agree that sometimes men and women are treated differently. Therefore it is possible that a female and male city manager will not be treated the same. They will also be treated differently because of personality, communication style, attitude and all the other factors that make us individuals.
Taxes are very important in the health of a community. Property taxes are at the top of the list of factors that individuals and businesses look at when relocating. High property taxes in a poor community like El Paso increase the chances of individual and municipal bankruptcy.
If you think I exist in an echo chamber, you are mistaken. Readers of this blog may agree on some issues, but that doesn’t make their opinions invalid. I like to see ideas challenged. I will read your posts but I have a bias. When a reply contains hot-button words like racist, socialist, communist, misogynist, sexist, etc. I usually stop reading because distilling ideas into stereotypes discourages open communication.
And you’re right. You didn’t say fairness is inconsequential.
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Sheesh! You’re making us come to Wilson’s defense with your a-hole rant. That’s how bad your neanderthal babble is.
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That was meant for the mysoginistiv homeowner
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Bal, we could go round and round, There’s no combating the entrenched views of some people.
It’s been said that a rose by any other name is still a rose. By the same token, misogynistic or racist comments disguised as honest expression of ideas does not change the fact that they are, indeed, misogynistic or racist.
It’s not a stereotypical statement. But let’s put this into another context. If Homeowner put his real name to his comments, or you to your defense of his post, would you be proud? Would it have an effect on how people perceive you?
I would put my name to my post. I risk pissing off other semi-neanderthals, but it’s a risk I’ll take.
Your turn.
Carlos
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I accept that we see this issue differently. Your are entitled to your opinion. But why are you risking anything by posting as Carlos? It’s a common name.
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Oh, that’s not my name. Not even close – that’s why I use it.
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Au contraire mon frere.
There are ways to combat entrenched views — civil discourse, dialogue and education. People change all the time. Labeling people or their comments (either fairly or unfairly) builds walls and closes minds.
Like you, I do not use my name. Unfortunately, the more dug in we humans are, the less tolerant we become — and this, my friend, applies to all ends of the political spectrum.
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Bal, this is where we’ll disagree. Entrenched views don’t really change with civil discourse. I believe people can change, but I think the process starts when someone points out their views are antiquated or just plain wrong.
I haven’t met ether you or Homeowner, but I don’t believe either of you are racists or misgynists – not in the classic sense, anyway. Old-fashioned, or set in your ways? Well, aren’t we all?
Carlos
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“Entrenched Views” are because maybe we have dealt with (and worked with) hundreds of local salesmen, sales managers and business owners over the past 50 something years and can actually SEE how people treat males and females differently.
As well as discussions with the Schwartz brothers from the Popular, and EVERY real estate broker from 1973 to present and hundreds of other business owners, accountants and many representatives from the SBA.
The TOPIC of: How salespeople treat male and female customers, clients and managers differently, because of their male or female “status” is widely known.
When you have 50 years of accumulated data from real person- first person accounts, then THAT is what I base my opinions on.
And not just from “everywhere”, but mainly from the El Paso region. And what we are discussing in this blog is about El Paso.
And in discussing that, I do not call others “Names” and “Bully them,” just because I do not agree with them.
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HO,
Obviously you have lots of life experience – as I’ve said, I don’t dispute that sexism exists. Wouldn’t the world be served by working against it, rather than rationalizing it as the root of our problems?
Disagreeing with your views, and expressing them strongly, makes me opinionated – but not a bully. If you endeavor to express yourself as you have, even anonymously, you should be prepared for someone to push back.
It’s why we’re here, after all.
Carlos
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