elpasospeak

I don’t know much about our interim city manager so I went to the city’s web site to see what I could learn.

The page below was what the site showed May 21, 2014 in the afternoon.

He must not have been a favorite of our former city manager if she did not move his office before she blew up city hall.

Even more remarkable is that city hall was imploded April 15, 2013.  City documents on April 30, 2013 still show him as the director of a city department, not as a deputy city manager.  In other words it would appear that the web page above was created after city hall had been blown up.

Now I guess the worm has turned and he will get her office.

Does anyone pay attention over there?

We deserve better

Brutus

Southwest Airlines has announced that they will be cutting 6 flights a day out of their El Paso routes.  They have 26 flights currently each day.

That means fewer people will be flying into and out of our airport.  Some will argue that the remaining flights will be more full.  That is probably true but will not make up for the decreased capacity and convenience.

Passenger traffic is already down 4.4%  from last year.  Southwest represents about 50% of the daily flights at the airport.  Six flights out of 26 is about a 23% decline.

Meanwhile our city’s chief financial officer tells us that it’s all good.  New and de-proved told us about a presentation she made to city council supporting the spending of $45 million to build a new airport parking garage for the rental car companies.  Her projection was that we would see a 1% annual increase in car rentals.

This will also affect the hotel occupancy taxes that are supposed to pay for the new ball park.

We deserve better

Brutus

We are in more trouble than I thought.

In their last meeting city council approved the closing of Maple street for the railroad.

The only questions came from a city representative that was concerned about types of crossing equipment that have nothing to do with the Maple street closing.

Not a peep

Otherwise nothing was said or asked.  The silence and tension were thick.  Evidently there was fear that someone would object.

Part of the deal

Train wreck explained how the city needed a sliver of land that the old city hall sat on in order to build the ball park.

Our city administrators made many concessions in order to get the land.  Agreeing to close rail crossings throughout town was part of the deal.  Paying $27.50 per square foot to the railroad for the land they needed while at the same time getting paid $11.10 for adjacent land was another part of the deal.

Posturing

Last year when the deals were being finalized some members of city council put up quite a fuss about the closings.  The railroad and city staff had to back off and the result was that not all of the crossings that the railroad wanted to close were closed.

Last week city staff brought one more closing to the table.  This time council quietly agreed.

Deeper problems

Evidently the railroad has more control over council than I thought.

We deserve better

Brutus

If things continue the way they are headed now we will soon have a new city manager.

Clean house

We have witnessed many problems with city staff over the past few years.  The tearing down of city hall and building of the ball park have been supported by wildly misleading financial projections, backroom discussions that we cannot get the city to divulge through open records requests, and parliamentary tricks from our city attorney.

The facts will come out eventually.

A smart new city manager will distance himself from these acts.  Replacing the administrators that have helped perpetrate the problems will make the new city manager look like part of our solution.

Replacing the city attorney is not one of the city manager’s prerogatives.  Making life miserable for the city attorney is however.

Sweeps clean

A new broom sweeps clean.  I predict that we will see many of the senior staff at the city leaving soon.

We deserve better

Brutus

They’re back.

Item 15.1 on the regular agenda of the May 13, 2014 city council meeting proposes the closing of yet another rail crossing in the five points area.  This time they are after Maple street.

The April 23, 2013 city council meeting had a long and contentious discussion about the closing of several other crossings.  The closures were made necessary in order for the ball park to be built.  Our city administrators failed to tell us that we did not own all of the land under our old city hall.  The railroad extracted the street closures as part of the deal to sell the city the sliver of land.

Train wreck explained parts of the issue.

Public outreach

At the 2013 meeting several people including the then superintendent of schools for the Ysleta district complained that they had not been informed about the closings.  The public asked for more time.

Some city council members as well as members of city staff maintained the position that the city had done a remarkable job of reaching out to the public.  Another city council member pointed out the truth.  The city had conducted meetings about “quiet zones” for the railroad.  Quiet zones can be created without closing rail crossings.  The city failed to tell the members of the public that the kind of quiet zone they were talking about would close streets.

Once the die was cast some city council members repeatedly asked city staff for assurances that there would be plenty of public notice if further closings were going to be contemplated.  City staff made the appropriate promises and assurances.

Surprise, surprise!

Just one year later the city and the railroad are back at the table.  They want to close Maple street.  Have the public safety agencies, the schools, the citizens, the property owners been warned?  I have not heard a word.

A change in management at the city may be the only way that we can change their secretive method of operation.  City staff frequently lies to the citizens and city council.  People need to go.  We do not need a continuation of the current administration.

We deserve better

Brutus