The city’s Emergency Measures ordinance has some unfairness built into it.
Why for example do bookstores have to close yet Walmart and Target are allowed to sell books?
How are title companies essential?
Sporting goods stores are closed but you can buy those items at Walmart and Target.
Why can you buy clothes at Walmart and Target but department stores and local shops are closed?
Should the city prohibit the sale of certain items instead of letting the big box stores do whatever they want?
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
It’s coming.
Walmart is roping off sections of clothing in some cities now.
Clothing, shirts, pants, socks.
LikeLike
this is just silly. if ross would start selling the variety of essential items that walmart and target do they would be allowed to open.
LikeLike
the city should micro-target wal-mart for also selling ancillary, non essential items. for example, barnes & noble doesn’t sell dairy products or food staples but should be compared to wal-mart because they have a small book section.
if you get your way and they close target and wal-mart, where then will you shop? albertson’s and food king do not sell nearly the variety wal-mart and target do.
duh. waaa waaa waaa.
LikeLike
Brutus, you are off on this one. Bookstores really have become just a place where folks congregate to socialize or study in groups. Big box stores selling essentials are critical for folks to get the supplies they need. And while the folks in EP are just waking up to the fact that we have community spread now thanks to their inability to socially distance (hey, since the restaurants are closed, let’s take the family shopping and then have a big backyard party), workers in most areas who have to work are reluctant to work because of the risk. So, shutting down stores that aren’t essential protects workers. The stimulus package has upgraded unemployment benefits so there is a safety net. If you want to criticize, criticize the idiots in this city who can’t understand the concept of social distancing.
LikeLike
I am more concerned about all the planes in the air. My hope is we emerge from this crisis with a new reality and better leadership. It is a new World.
LikeLike
Silly yes, on the State level, Texas residents cannot play the horses on the Internet. Other States are allowed to bet on Texas tracks but Texas residents are not allowed to bet or have accounts anywhere. I tried to find out why a few years ago but ran into a head of the Texas Horsemans Association that said it was done to cut down on bookie activities. In the meantime Texas horse people are losing out on the funds that would be generated by allowing horse betting in Texas.
With so little to do during our “confinement” I wish the Governor would let us play the ponies.
LikeLike
In case, you haven’t noticed Dan, most tracks are shutdown and the subset of Texas horse people who race only make money of their horse is winning in a race. Please note, there are a lot of Texas horse people, myself included, who don’t race our horses for a living. If you think betting on horse races is a good way to spend time during this economic upheaval, you are sadly out of touch with the realities of most Americans. And as someone who had a husband with a gambling addiction, I’m glad Texas limits online gambling. For some people it’s a fun thrill, but for the families of the guys who have an addiction, it is a source of pain and worry. My late husband quit gambling before it went online and simply staying out of casinos solved his problem. I pity the families who have to live with the fact that gambling can now be done easily from home.
LikeLike
Ticked off taxpayer, gee, how do you feel about alcohol? And just because you had a bad gambler for a husband, why would that make you in favor of denying me the ability to do what I want to do. There are still many tracks running every day. You might be regulated to Will Rogers Downs and Fonner Park on Mondays but they are still fun. If you think horse racing is bad what do you think about bacon and T-Bone steaks? You remind me of Baptists that do not have sex standing up because if they were seen somebody would think they were dancing! I have owned and trained racehorses and it is an honest profession.
LikeLike
Yeah, John, horse racing is a real honest profession. The cartels aren’t involved, Coggins tests aren’t being falsified when inconvenient positives show up, horses are always treated humanely (jockeys aren’t using battery powered concealed in the hand shock systems and trainers don’t drug them to keep them running with injuries that should be rested) and once their racing careers are over they always go to great homes (none of that sending them to Mexico to be butchered for horse meat going on if they fail to win). And gambling addictions aren’t destroying lives. It’s all good clean fun. Got it. Thank you to all the Texas politicians who believe otherwise and help keep this in check in Texas.
LikeLike
And actually, my last post should have said Dan, not John. Sorry, John. Not enough coffee yet.
LikeLike
How do I post a photo here ?
LikeLike
Why is the El Paso Country Club allowed to stay open? All other golf courses were told to close.
LikeLike
I would agree and the City needs to reconsider.
The purpose of measures is about enforcing physical distancing not what someone wants to purchase and where they want to shop.
Walmart has announced that starting tomorrow they are limiting the number of people allowed in the store to 20% of the store’s capacity.
They are also controlling flow direction to 1 way in the store as well as controlled entrance and exits.
Apparently Target as well as some local grocery stores have implemented something similar.
Other stores have put in barriers to force physical distancing.
The businesses that have been deemed not essential should at least be given the opportunity to propose a mitigation plan and allowed to reopen if it shows they can enforce physical distancing in their stores.
Now that the 5 minute Covid-19 test is approved and being shipped hopefully the City and healthcare care community will have enough to expand testing to the asymptomatic and have a better read on the local prevalence.
Having a bigger data set will hopefully drive the City to reconsider their emergency measures and make better informed decisions.
LikeLike