elpasospeak

Do you remember that ball park that we won’t have to pay for?

This slide is part of the April 11, 2016 presentation made to the Downtown Development Corporation (city council in sheep’s clothing):

Its only $782 thousand or $484 thousand or whatever it really turns out to be.

The numbers don’t include our other costs like public safety and the fact that we pay half of the water bill at for the ball park.  Nor are the costs of moving city hall even considered.

Does it bother you that our former city chief financial officer is now on the board of our county hospital or that our former city manager is in charge of the organization that helps our unemployed?

We deserve better

Brutus

Why did it take a full month for our former city manager to come up with her statement that the delay in the sale of the ball park bonds that cost us $27 million was her decision?

Not responsive

And why is it that when she finally did respond to the city’s request that she did not answer the questions that were asked?

From her letter:

“I understand that City Council has asked that I explain and elaborate on the events leading to the delay in the issuance of the ballpark bonds and identify the council members involved in the decision.  Mayor Leeser has specifically asked me to name the several council members who raised concerns about the timing of this activity [the bond sale] in relation to the upcoming election, specifically because of the ongoing controversy regarding the project.”

She then goes on to write about several aspects of the project but never names the council members.

This person is still a public employee at an agency where our mayor and county judge sit as board members.  The fact that she is still employed tells us a lot about the truth.

We deserve better

Brutus

Our county commissioners court is scheduled to consider an economic development plan today, Monday, March 21, 2016.

Among the ideas being considered is the redevelopment of our county coliseum.

Based on events from our recent past we might see something like this being approved:

Cultural, children’s, satellite, ball park, arena, sportsplex

The plan will be to build this vitally necessary facility quickly.  Because our elected officials feel that they are better qualified than us “crazies” the project will be handled with absolutely no public input and all records and correspondence related to the project will instantly eviscerated.

We will probably be told that:

• They need to do this immediately because a regional roller derby team franchise is available and some other city like Van Horn will snap it away from us if we hesitate.
• It can’t be built on the existing coliseum site.  Instead the only practical solution is to drain Ascarate lake and use that land for the new facility.  Ascarate lake can easily be moved to where the old coliseum was.
•  The facility will not cost local taxpayers anything.  Roller derby fans from around the world will voluntarily pay high ticket prices to fund the project.
• The facility will have no operating costs since with a seating capacity of 12 seats several charitable foundations will do the work.
• The new facility will actually save taxpayers $17 million each and every year because of reduced trips to the emergency room.
• Roller skaters deserve a cultural facility.
• We need to do this for the children because there is no place for them to go for entertainment.
• The county’s inability to finish the sportsplex is not indicative of what will happen here.  This project will be handled differently.
• Traffic control, security, and sanitation responsibilities will be foisted on the city.  They have plenty of money.

Help us help you

There will be a small technicality in that the voters will have to approve the project in a special election.  Plenty of false flyers will be distributed to help alleviate our concerns.

Citizens should not be worried about the original plan because it will be changed once the election has been won.

We deserve better

Brutus