elpasospeak

We had another example this week of people in our local government not knowing their proper place.

According to an article in the Times, our county commissioners voted to allow a company to perform land surveys on some county property.  The company evidently is considering building some sort of pipeline.

This post is not about the whether we should have the pipeline or not.  We have almost no information about their plans.

What this post is about is how the commissioners used their power to deny someone what they have the legal right to do, just because the commissioners thought they could.

The current county judge was quoted this way in the article:

“If we had continued to deny them that right, then they could have taken us to court, we would have spent money fighting it and we were guaranteed to lose because they have that right,” County Judge Veronica Escobar said.

She said that the Commissioners Court’s decision earlier this month to deny the company entry to survey county land was an attempt to try to buy some time to convince the company to host a town hall type of meeting.

Abuse of power

She acknowledged that the company has the legal right to perform the surveys.  She acknowledged that the commissioners denied the company that right earlier this month.  She acknowledged that they denied the company the right to perform the surveys because they wanted the company to do something.

They (commissioners) had no right to deny the request.  They gave in when confronted with a legal battle that the current county judge confessed the county would lose.  That battle would have been paid for by the taxpayers.

Have we reached the point where people in office have forgotten that they are public servants?  That means they must serve the public, not occasionally but every time they act officially.

What we are seeing is elected officials using their power to get what they want, even if their actions are illegal.

Different rules for the elected?

This quote highlighted the double standard that we are seeing:

“The right thing in our view was for them to be good corporate citizens and participate in a true public meeting, a public meeting where every member of the community is able to listen to the same information and to listen to all the questions and responses to their questions,” Escobar said.

None of us have time to recount the numerous instances where she and her colleagues have not given us the benefit of the process she tried to demand from the company.

Both the city and the county are increasingly bullying whoever they want.

We deserve better

Brutus

Our El Paso Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) is conducting a survey “about how you travel about the city”.  I got one in my mailbox the other day.

They evidently did not feel that anyone in El Paso could handle the job so they hired the Texas A&M Transportation Institute.  A&M in turn hired the ETC Institute out of Olathe, Kansas.  So much for buying local.

The accompanying letter says “We need your ideas.  We need your opinions”.  The survey is multiple choice and nowhere is there so much as a blank spot where you can share an idea or opinion.  It seems that they have made up their minds about what we need and the questions are probably designed to prove their point.

The letter goes on to say “Your participation is voluntary and your responses will remain anonymous”.  More on that later.

The second question asks:  “What are the names of the two cross streets closest to your home?”.  Being an anonymous survey this should give the researchers an indication of where you live and you the impression that they really don’t know who you are.  They ask questions about your commuting habits, bicycling, and walking.  Questions about important things like the condition of our streets did not make the cut.  This survey was designed to support an agenda that they already have.

They also ask about your health, physical condition, and exercise habits.

Then they get personal.  The want to know your gender, age, weight, height, ethnicity, relationship status, social media usage, and number of vehicles you have.  Let’s not forget that they also ask about your personal income.

They even ask “How happy, satisfied, or pleased have you been with your personal life?”.

Some of us might feel that it would be safe to answer those questions since our responses are anonymous.

Horse feathers!

At the bottom of the survey they have printed both your residence address and a serial number.

Anonymous my foot!

Are these people idiots or do they think that we are?

We deserve better

Brutus