Meet me in the stacks

December 12, 2012

It would appear that City Council intends to conduct its meetings in our main library for the foreseeable future once city hall is torn down.

I guess that means city management staff has to leave it’s offices on Tuesdays, drive (or walk, that might take longer) over to the library, and spend much of the day away from their offices.  The way it works right now many of them can have someone watch the progress of the agenda and go down to attend the meeting close to when they will be needed.  They are in the same building after all.

We have been told that the library has all of the equipment necessary to conduct and broadcast the meetings.  Let’s keep an eye on what they have to buy to make this work.

Will they arrange the agenda to be convenient to staff (department “A” will be on the agenda after lunch, department “B” will be first on the agenda) so that they will not have to attend all day?  What effect will that have on the public?

Speaking of the public, where will they park?  How much will it cost?

I predict that this is step one of their old two step.  At some point in time we will hear about plans to build new council chambers.  After all they will need to spend the money to increase efficiency.

In the interest of efficiency, why don’t they meet in the county commissioners court chambers, or where the El Paso Independent School District board meets?  They have already greased their skids.

We deserve better

Leave a Comment » | City government, County Government, El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by jcurrey

So much for quality of life

December 11, 2012

The El Paso Times reported recently that 75 city employees will be moving into the Pat O’Rourke Recreation Center (formerly the YMCA on Montana avenue) next month. The city will be occupying the space for nine to twelve months.

They will occupy a computer lab, a game room, an activity room, and a multipurpose space.  The kids and citizens that use these facilities will be “inconvenienced” according to the article.

The city is thinking about leasing parking space for the employees it moves from a Baptist Church across the street, “leaving nearby street parking available for the public”.

We will have to wait to see how much the required remodeling, parking (which was free at the old city hall)  electronic equipment, and moving expenses will add to the $63.9 million (out of $33 million — go figure) already committed to facilitate the move out of the city hall that will be torn down.  About a year from now we ought to be able to see how much it costs to move these people again.

Some of us think that recreation centers contribute to a community’s quality of life.  Evidently some people don’t care about that.

We deserve better.

Our children deserve better!

Leave a Comment » | City government, El Paso Times | Permalink
Posted by jcurrey

Watsagoinon in ELP

December 10, 2012

Let me tell you, Brutus has been a busy man. Earlier this week he was spotted at Home Depot and Lowe’s pricing of all thing, ceiling tiles. Later, he was spotted driving up and down Durango and Santa Fe avenues. He does his homework, you betcha.

Rep Ortega joined the City mangler in referring to the voters (nebobs of negativism, I guess) in addition to crazies, as amateurs. He tossed his bagel into the voters rings hoping to be our next Mayor. Never practised law (or baked), so he needs a job. Speaking of Bagels, we have real Bagelman, Robert Cormell entering the race. A real working man who has successfully managed 3 shops without using East River water for the Bagels (New Yorker say.. aw fowgetaboutit). I guess the Dementia getting the best of me.

Speaking of Dementia, our Westside Rep in an EPT Editorial, did her thing about the Chucoleaks and the Emails that were uncovered. Can you imagine any pol not knowing that these thing are public property? Even the Chicago Pols figured that out. Well, in either case she praised the City Mangler for calling her Demented. I think that what she said. Stephanie, you better stop with the Emails.

Now getting back to what I originally wanted to say before I freely associated. “Anonymous” comments about the Canutillo School Board on 12/08/12 are very revealing. He puts a lot of loose ends together in his explanation of their actions. Not much to add. That’s investigative reporting. Crowder, someones stealing your thunder.

This is an Open Forum and we want your comments. Don’t let Brutus steal the tiles, or the street signs. Put your 3 cents in. Just leave me alone. I’m very sensitive.

Arcus Senilis

2 Comments | City government, El Paso Inc., El Paso Times | Permalink
Posted by M.T. Cicero

It almost fits if you take the roads beside it

December 10, 2012

There has been quite a bit of talk about the ball park not fitting on the city hall site.  There has also been talk about the roads downtown not being able to handle the crowds that might be brought to the ball park after the new team miraculously becomes a winner instead of a loser.

Here comes the two step.

Step one:

  • Tomorrow’s (December 11, 2012) City Council agenda introduces an ordinance  to change the classification of streets around the ball park.
  • Durango is the street that runs in front of city hall (the west side) and around it (the north side).  It is currently classified as a “minor arterial”.  That is evidently inconvenient for their yet to be revealed plans.  They want to remove the classification.
  • Santa Fe is the street that runs behind city hall (the east side — most of us think of that as the main entrance).  It is currently classified as a “major arterial”.  They want to classify that street as a “minor arterial”.

Will this be step two?

  • Build the ball park on top of Durango 
  • Build the ball park onto half of the width of Santa Fe

If there is going to be a traffic problem, removing those streets can only make it worse.

You can see the details here (there are some nice maps a few pages into the document).

Also on the agenda you can see the city considering a purchase of “wireless phone service, mobile broadband services, and related products” funded through the “Capital Equipment Lease Agreement” whatever that is.  Services are not considered “capital” items on any legitimate financial document that I am familiar with.  It is item 10 on the regular agenda.  Note that once again they are using a buy board instead of bidding.  I would think that for $845,048 we would have gotten some competitive rates.

Also on the agenda you can see the city proposing to spend $122,527 with an out of town vendor instead of $61,107 with an El Paso vendor.  The city did actually bid this item, then they used their rating system to justify spending twice as much.  You can see this here.

We deserve better.

1 Comment | Ball park, City government | Permalink
Posted by jcurrey

Foxes in the Henhouse

December 7, 2012

Let me start by saying that I am glad that the Texas Education Agency (TEA) has done something about the El Paso Independent School District Board.

Also let me skip over my feelings that the El Paso Times is right in pointing out that much of what has gone wrong there should have been addressed by the TEA a long time ago.

So now we come down to my concern.  Who did the TEA go to for suggestions about the members of the newly announced board of managers?  Why have they appointed members from other governments?  Why did they not get executives from the business community to serve?  What back room did this happen in?

Have they ever heard of conflict of interest?

Let’s look at who the TEA has put on the new board of managers:

  • The paid TEA designated school district monitor.  She should not be both the district monitor and a member of the board of managers.  Those are two different jobs.  Anyone that has run a decent sized organization can see that this just will not work.  She might be qualified for one position or the other, but not both at the same time.
  • A City of El Paso employee that controls water in the city.  My personal opinion is that he has done a great job managing our water resources.  He is also known in the community as being heavy-handed and one who sees to it that he gets his way regardless of the effect on others.  The fact that he has publicly stated that he saw no problem with a member of his controlling board selling expensive equipment to his government owned utility without a competitive bid shows us how he will be thinking.  Don’t expect openness and transparency from this guy.
  • A politician who just lost his re-election campaign as a state representative.  Rumor has it that he is thinking about running for Mayor of El Paso.  Would this position help him?  I can think of a former state senator who is temperamentally more of a fit here, if we have to have politicians involved.
  • Another City of El Paso employee that is the city’s Chief Financial Officer.  She also is the Chief Administrator for the El Paso County Judge.  Now she will be on the non-elected board of managers of this school district.  Will the City Manager and the County Judge now have a vote at the school district?  How does she vote when an issue  between the school district and the city comes up?  How about between the school district and the county?  Talk about a conflict!  She is in charge of purchasing at the City of El Paso.  That alone should say enough about the quality of her work.  She told us that moving city hall would cost us $33 million dollars.  We are at $63.9 million and climbing.  She apparently does not have time to do her city job right, much less work with the county, and now the school district.
  • There is one last position to fill.  Evidently the TEA is asking another politician, our state senator, for a list of recommendations.  How about someone that has run a large organization?  How about someone that can represent the voters instead of other governments?

The influence of the City of El Paso on this board is troubling on many levels.  Think about it.  I suspect that the El Paso Times  will now have a whole new set of travesties to write about.

A temporary managing board for the school district makes sense to me if the members are qualified and free from conflicts of interest.

I thought our school district is supposed to be INDEPENDENT.

We deserve better!

Our children deserve better!

6 Comments | City government, County Government, El Paso Independent School District, El Paso Times, State Government | Permalink
Posted by jcurrey

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