Further to the issue of the city’s out of town lawyer telling us and city council that:
For decades, Texas Courts have consistently held that the power of the people to legislate through initiative petition or
referendum does not extend to zoning.
They could have
Notwithstanding any charter provision to the contrary, a governing body of a municipality may adopt a zoning ordinance and condition its taking effect upon the ordinance receiving the approval of the electors at an election held for that purpose.
That language is part of Texas Local Government Code section 211.015. It clearly states that city council could have given us a vote on the zoning issue downtown. That would be different from the process of initiative or referendum, but would require council to care about what the public thinks.
We don’t know how the citizens would vote if the issue were put on the ballot, but it would certainly clarify things.
Then again they simply don’t want us to have a say in the issue.
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
I don’t know what they have to be worried about. After all, most El Pasoans cannot be bothered to go to the polls these days, which is pretty obvious when you consider the make up of our local representation at just about every level.
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Did you ever stop to think that it’s more of a function of the choices of those who cast their vote rather than the non-voters? Do we really think that people who choose not to vote would vote wisely?
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All that ever changes in El Taxo is the names of the people, POLITICIANS that LIE to US. THEY can’t handle the TRUTH. It’s just much easier for THEM to lie, deny, deceive, cover up and continue to LIE. So how do we appeal their dictatorial RULING on this petition?? Who ELECTED this Lawyer mouth-piece for THEM, who apparently does not KNOW the LAWS???
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