El Paso Inc. published an article the other day that told us that our airport has had a 20% decline in traffic since 2006.
At the same time we are spending $45 million to build a new expanded rental car facility. In New and de-proved we pointed out that our previous chief financial officer told city council that they should expect a 1% increase in vehicle rentals each year and that the increase would help pay for the new garage.
In Airport wrong, not Wright Brownfield gave us the story.
To add insult to injury the airport took half of our short term parking away to facilitate the construction.
The truth has come out now and we can see again the damage done by the previous regime.
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
Maybe the Airport passengernumbers are down because many projects in El Paso are NOT fixed !
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Brutus, disagree with you. We deserve worse because of the voters. We already know the reasons, no need to restate them.
Don’t forget bus ridership is down so the solution. Buy even bigger buses. The buses that carry an average of 1 or 2 passenagers. They travel the same route that the old buses do and schedule. Bus stops are located in such a manner that to get to one might as well walk to your destination.
The other joke is the Chavez toll. One conviently is no longer talked about. The revelation that tolls were being used as revenue for other than payment on Toll road construction. A toll road that requires payment to drive in the left lane. Otherwise free.
Let’s not forget the computerized trash cans. One big guess as to whom made some money. The system is supposed to save money by telling the driver if the can is full. No savings because the truck has to travel the same route to get an alert.
Now after giving the cm a major raise and voting with FULL discussion and knownledge of all the facts. They want to revisit the subject and revote. It’s a PR ploy to cover their primary brain, their rear.
I suppose the public will continue to travel throughout the city to locate the appropriate city office for their business. All to build a stadium that has to give away free tickets. Make the stadium appear full and as being a money maker.
Then we have a Mexican theme “cultural” center which is really a museum to remind a city with a majority of Mexican descent population of their heritage. Yet trying to justify the demolition of Segundo Barrio which is rich in Mexican culture.
Perhaps, instead of political debates, the screening could be a test with questions like “who is buried in Grant’s Tomb” and “do bears defecate in the woods”. I am very curious as to the results, how many would pass. I wonder if the public would still vote for the same people as always even they fail the test.
Btw, what is so special about a German made cable vs an American made cable?
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So we were told to spend tens of millions of dollars because we could expect an increase in rentals. No mention of an increase in rent from the rental car companies to pay for the project.
That’s the difference between people in our local government and most people who hold jobs in the private sector. Just because I should expect a 3% raise, doesn’t mean I will get a 3% raise. Hell, I might not get any raise at all. My employer might even cut my benefits or my bonus, and I might have less money to spend.
So, I avoid spending what I don’t have, unless it’s an absolute necessity. But the city continues to commit US to spend increasing amounts of money without any strong evidence that we will have the revenue to support that spending. It’s not their money. They don’t get the bill.
The real culprits from the previous administration have been given other jobs in government and the private sector. They are still held up as brilliant managers and paragons of leadership.
None of the news coverage of current city fiascos ever takes a look at the previous administration’s responsibility for any of the current problems. Just the opposite, Joe Muench feels a need to say that there were never such problems on Wilson’s watch.
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Don’t forget the taco in the sky? Peso is plunging. This is happening right at back-to-school time, which is normally a big season for retailers. Is the city revenue budget also about to be squeezed by lower than expected sales tax revenue?
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Wow! I have no idea how you remembered I posted that, considering I didn’t remember doing it until I went to the link.
I work at IAH now and it is awesome! Beginning in December we will have non stop flight to all six inhabited continents on Earth once the New Zealand flight begins. I think we will become the 5th airport in the world and the only airport in North America to offer non stops to all six continents. Pretty cool!
I have not broken the habit of reading El Paso news and blogs, although it’s certainly less than when I was living there. Funny how “the crazies” were down on MS. Joyce Wilson and now it seems the majority feels that MR. Tommy Gonzales is cleaning up her mess and doing a great job. I guess Ms. Joyce Wilson wasn’t that great now that the results of some of the policies and impacts to the budget are now known.
It took some time to get to like Houston, after living here just a year I know this is where I will live out my time on earth. I simply love it here and really like the area of town we are in….Kingwood “the Livable Forest.” It’s so green and the trees help keep it cool during the hot summers here by offering tons of shade.
I wish you all the best and I will likely to continue to follow the blogs in El Paso to see how things have worked out. El Paso has lots of very nice people and they deserve better as Brutus likes to say.
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Sins of the past are now known, but denied by those who were the beneficiaries or big supporters of previous management.
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Curiously, they don’t even deny the problems now…Niland quoted in the Times story today about the Engineering Dept (a week after the El Paso Inc story, btw) that once Gonzalez got here and started checking things out “a lot of problems were discovered.” As SuperWoman Joyce was in charge for ten years, it’s fairly obvious who is responsible…but no one says the name out loud.
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