The Times subscription page contains this graphic:
The program requires a donation of two dollars per month.
They claim to provide access to “thousands of students in our community”.
Can anyone confirm this for us?
Brutus
Giveaway
April 9, 2016
We ran this article originally back in June of 2013. To some of us it goes a long way toward explaining the relationship between the Times and the bunch that used to be at the city:
This article in El Diario de El Paso reveals another secret deal that the city has entered into as a part of the city hall destruction.
The city bought part of the Times building for $9.4 million this year.
Then why did the city sign a lease for $4,750 per month in an adjacent part of the Times building for the next eight years last February? The lease has a sweetheart 3% increase every year, so by the time the lease is over the city will have paid more than half a million dollars.
Does the city need the space? If so, why wasn’t it part of the purchase?
Devious
I don’t know if the city needs the space or not. What I do know is that the lease was not about space. It was about paying the Times back for parking space at the Union Plaza parking terminal.
The Times needed parking space as part of their move to another building. The city had a parking garage. The Times evidently did not want to pay for the 150 some-odd spaces they needed.
The city charged the Times for the parking spaces. In a separate lease the city agreed to pay the same amount back to the Times for the half million dollar lease space. The deals wash.
Give away
The net effect is that the Times is getting free parking for 8 years.
City council feigned lack of knowledge. How can that be? Many of the items that come before council ask to give the city manager authority to negotiate and sign whatever documents are necessary without bringing the deals back to city council.
The Times raised the integrity issue in the current mayoral race when it complained that one of the candidates pulled some of his advertising because he thought his campaign was not being treated fairly.
Hypocrites
Now we learn that the city is giving the Times free parking for 8 years. I wonder if that has an effect on their coverage.
We deserve better
Brutus
3 Comments | 
Ball park, City government, El Paso Times | 
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Posted by Brutus
Trying harder
April 8, 2016
We got a follow up from someone after he spoke with the folks at Sun Metro about the new west side bus routes that we wrote about in Feeding Brio.
Evidently Sun Metro is receiving grants to pay for their attempt to reduce the number of vehicles that travel on I-10.
It looks like they may have screwed their heads on right this time.
The buses will be smaller ones, not the big cruisers that we see on main streets.
Instead of fixed bus stops the will offer “flag service”–go to the nearest intersection and hail the bus when it approaches.
Service is expected to begin mid May.
Brutus
7 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
Still no Times
April 7, 2016The situation with my Times subscription is getting even harder to believe.
We published Required by the Times back on March 29, 2016 and wrote about how my attempt to subscribe to the Times electronically failed and then my attempt to get help through their chat service failed. Ultimately snail mail was used to send in a subscription form.
As of today the paper has not been delivered so I decided to start over.
Their web page subscription form took my information and then just hung.
I called the 800 number and listened to my options. The machine indicated that the call would be transferred. Instead it hung up on me.
We deserve better.
Brutus
9 Comments | Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
Repurposing a school
April 6, 2016A recent letter from Dori Fenenbock (president of EPISD board) contained the following:
The central office must relocate and it is more cost effective to own our own facility so that we don’t find ourselves in this situation again. We are considering various options, including the repurposing of an existing school. This will be funded, as it is currently, from operational funds not from a potential bond.
It seems that our elected board of trustees is working harder to find solutions than the former appointed board of managers.
Brutus
9 Comments | El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
elpasospeak 
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