John Hogan made this comment that we believe deserves it’s own post:
One article I read said that the Great Wolf Lodge could bring 500,000 people to El Paso per year. That’s a really rosey outlook because with 350 rooms, that would require every room to have 4 people in it 365 days a year.
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It is good to see citizens taking a critical look at the baloney that these people are spewing.
Unfortunately no one on city council brought this up.
Brutus
elpasospeak 
In case you did not know, Brutus, John Hogan is not just a citizen. He is a candidate for City Council who deserves y’alls’ consideration for a vote!
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Yes. District 5. If he and District 8 candidate Rich Wright both got elected, you’d probably see pushback on overspending and a meaningful voting bloc for fiscal responsibility instead of the rubber stamp council we had now.
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You would hope so. Unfortunately, once they get in there with their pay raise, perks, and VIP status with developers, all that fiscal sense seems to go out the window.
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…not when your sole purpose for even running is to try to eliminate that very thing. I have lived in El Paso for over 48 years and I have never seen the good old boy Network as in your face as it is today. I don’t want to be a part of that. It needs to go away. I think Rich Wright believes that too. I lost my election bid, but Rich Wright is still in the game. Wake up westsiders. Get rid of incumbents… both of them.
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With the constant inflated, fabricated Property “Value” increases, ALWAYS followed by another, more tax INCREASES, don’t know why anybody in El Taxo would vote for any of these people to be re-elected. Everything THEY do is to go along, get along with the idle rich, big business, Developers, because those are the people who stuff their bank accounts, “back pockets” with Campaign “Donations”. Margo and the other crooks REPRESENT only themselves and whatever THEY can take from US and give away to their big business PARTNERS. Tax, waste, spend , tax some more. Not one of these people should be re-elected. WE need to kick THEM all out as soon as WE can.
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Well that is how the Mayor, City Council, Commissioners, Public Officials work in El Taxo, when THEY don’t want US to know what THEY are doing to US. Lie, deny, DECEIVE, hide the TRUTH.
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Is it possible it’s not only about the room occupancy’s? Maybe referring to what comes with the resort such as banquets, conventions, meetings, Christmas events, banquets etc. Just a thought.
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Do you travel to other cities a lot for banquets and Christmas events? Those are unlikely to deliver the 500,000 “people brought into the city” number either.
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Occupancy rate includes only overnight stays in rooms with beds. That’s industry standard. But you’ve definitely given them a way to explain away their inflated projections. If you need a job, apply with the former city manager or former CFO who now works at EPISD.
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I pointed this out to District One rep Svarzbein, but given that he had announced in his newsletter before the presentation on Tuesday that he was looking forward to supporting Great Wolf, not surprising that he did not raise any questions. What is hard to understand is how they got District Two rep Annello to vote for this…she’s generally been the only sensible one. Maybe she’s just tired.
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IMHO, Svarzbein had made up his mind ahead of time because he was representing the interests of the local developer who owns West Towne Market Place.
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…as well as representing the interests of Paul Foster who just donated another $2,500 to his reelection campaign.
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… she is and I don’t blame her. I have spoken to her several times and you can hear the frustration in her voice very often.
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well it “could”
just like EPISD penny swap “could”
* “could” ‘be used ‘to hire additional campus patrol personnel and install cameras’.
* “could” ‘be used to continue the expansion of dual-language at all grade levels of elementary’
* “could” ‘be used to further support the 1:1 distribution of devices in our middle and high schools’
could is a selling word.
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I think bringing back the Juarez bull fights and the zona de tolerencia would bring in more tourisitas off I-10 than a water park. Hemingway would agree with me if he were still around. Of course, he’d be 120 years old and unlikely to be a customer for either one but just sayin’.
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