An alert reader sent me this link to an article in El Diario.
We know that some of the members of city council cannot behave themselves during council meetings. It seems that one in particular touches and holds another during the course of discussion with the intention of interfering with the touchee’s speech.
The touchee decided to move to the other side of the council table. The problem with that is that the council table is not wired for that number of council members on that side of the table. The touchee caused the city representative that used to sit there to move further toward the edge where there are no electronic devices for her to use.
The touchee is wrong here. She should have found a way to settle the problem with the toucher so that she would not have to move.
The movee (the one with no electronics) is wrong in that she should have refused to move.
The mayor is right in taking the position that he is not going to pay to have the electronics installed.
Council has had to revert to a manual roll call when voting since one of the members has no buttons to push.
Personally I prefer the manual roll call. We got to see some unexpected votes when the members of council had to publically cast a vote.
These people are not just acting like children. They are acting like selfish incompetents.
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
iBrut, in the first place, the title for this post is awesome. However, l am going to slightly and respectfully disagree that ‘we deserve better.’ Excuse my repetitiveness, but we deserve what most El Pasoans continue to support. The reason why this sticks in my craw is because about a dozen years ago (+ or – ) there was all of this screaming and gnashing of teeth over whether we should pay the M and CC a decent wage. Hell, l still remember the blue-haired, old bitties calling local radio shows and saying, ‘We can’t pay them more money, that would just be terrible.’ lf there was a chance (even just the slightest of chances) that if we paid our local politicos a decent wage, that maybe/possibly we would have had a higher quality of candidates coming out of the woodwork. So what did the typical 915er shortly do after rejecting a pay raise? Yep, they decided to spend a lot MORE $ and create another level of bureaucracy by hiring a CM. Aargh!
BTW, isn’t it interesting how some people think that replacing high-tech, sophisticated automobiles with bicycles and 5.7 mile moving choo choo trains is called “progress?”
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But we did give council and the mayor raises. They make more than many people with degrees in El Paso. And look what it got us — the three drama sisters. Mama mia!
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The time period that l’m referring to is pre CM, 10-15 years ago. lf I remember correctly, the CC was making 17.5 -18.5 and the M 32-35. l did give it a small to medium – sized effort to look up the exact amounts, but to no avail. Like l’ve mentioned before, l’m not saying that my idea would be a gauranteed success, because when it comes to this town l’m not gauranteeing anything. lF we do have to have a CM, then wouldn’t be better if we the peeps voted for the best candidate, let’s say every 4 to 5 years? Did the person who’s been screaming about how we seem to have too many elections in this town (although not recently) really just type that previous sentence? Now if you’ll excuse me, l have to drink another 37 gallons of caffeinated tea while listening to the UFO Radio Network before falling “asleep.”
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Right. We should pay them more like what the County Commissioners get. Then we’d get real candidates who wouldn’t screw up. Oh, right. Never mind.
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Ok boy, since you’re poo pooing my proposal of possibly getting better candidates and still SAVING taxpayer coinage by doing away with a CM, (because that’s what l’ve originally suggested) what’s your solution?
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If the current CM does what he says he’s going to do — cut waste, combine jobs, increase efficiency — he’ll earn his salary. If (notice the “if”) he can do this he’ll accomplish what few mayors could.
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A dozen years ago, we were (fairly) economically prudent. However, since l’ve recently mentioned that the next crop of politicos will probably be just as incompetent and wreckless as this current bunch, maybe having a pitbull for a CM would be good. How sad is it that we now have to depend on a CM instead of our elected officials to do the right thing? l’ve responded enough on this topic.
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A city council member was touched inappropriately? I thought we were the safest city in America.
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The problem here is with the Mayor who has lost control of his council. If he had told Niland to stay where she belonged then there wouldn’t be a problem. Niland needs to get off her back side and sit in her assigned seat. Niland needs to be informed she is not the queen bee and is just one of 8.
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How dare you! You must not know who funded my campaign or you wouldn’t say such things?
Leave Oscar alone. He’s such a good boy.
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Reality, we have been the safest city in America. We are the safest large city. Other cities received recognition as safest city in their category.
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For God’s sake truth teller, it was a joke. We have one city council member claiming that she is being physically abused by another in broad daylight, in a room full of people; a council rep needing to be protected from another. Now, do you get it?
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Personally I like the unintended consequence of having a voice vote. Now the ankle biters can see (hear) who actually votes for what.
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