Does it bother anyone else that the Times published their article about the city ethics complaints being dismissed on their Borderland page on the same day that half of the front page was dedicated to the funeral of a local dentist?
Wouldn’t we expect that the positions would be reversed?
The Times appears to be dying. Could they help their situation by representing the citizens of the community instead of local politicians?
We deserve better
Brutus
2 Comments | 
City government, El Paso Times | 
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Posted by Brutus
This came in from Helen Marshall:
So we need to find another $45 million for critically bad streets. Does anyone think that this is a complete list? Rep Tolbert queried the omission of Copia. Just about any street that you drive on is in bad shape…can someone point out a really good one?
Cincinnati Avenue, which leads to the official residence of the UTEP president, resembles the surface of the moon. Rim Road from Kerbey to Scenic Drive was scraped some nine or ten years ago, and a fine two-car wide parking strip was created, but the road surface itself was never restored. Comments from city officials indicated that this was deliberate, to slow the traffic! In case you wonder – it doesn’t work.
A suggestion – quality of life in El Paso would be considerably improved by using the $180 million programmed for the “arena” to repair and maintain in good shape ALL the streets!!
5 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
Our local economy is showing more signs of distress. This article in 247wallst.com shows us one area where we are suffering:
Lower rental rates will lead to lower property values. The owners will see to it that their appraised values are lowered and the result will be lower property tax revenue to the city, county, hospital district, community college, and the school districts unless they raise their rates.
A drop of 7.1% in a single year is huge.
We don’t believe that “It’s all good”.
We deserve better
Brutus
10 Comments | City government, County Government, El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
Most people involved in the construction industry will tell you that construction costs in El Paso are going to increase because of the significant projects being planned by the feds, state, city, and school districts.
In fact the new management team at the city is pointing that out to city council:
The city’s quality of life projects were budgeted before this presentation.
We have to wonder if the school districts have planned for the cost increases.
We deserve better
Brutus
5 Comments | City government, El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
Of the four city representatives being looked into by the Texas Rangers and our local district attorney for potential violations of the Texas Open Meetings act, two of them will have to face the voters in May.
Representatives Limon and Tolbert will need to be reelected in order to stay on council.
Representatives Niland and Svarzbein each have two more years before their terms expire.
Our city charter does not allow a recall election for a city representative that has less than one year remaining in their term. Representatives Limon and Tolbert fall into this category. If one or both of them resign the state constitution requires that an election to fill the vacancy occur within 120 days.
If either Niland or Svarzbein resign at this point the constitutional [correction, city charter] provision will require an election within 120 days. If a recall effort gets certified and one or both of them [correction, then] resign, our city charter states that “no recall election shall be held”.
We deserve better
Brutus
3 Comments | City government, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
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