Not competitive

September 29, 2015

The city’s new bike share program doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.

Let’s say that someone worked in the main city hall building and they wanted to deliver one of their totally objective press releases to the Times so that the Times could publish it as though it was the product of investigative reporting.

The city worker could walk out of city hall and use the bike share depot that is located adjacent to city hall.  He/she would provide the machine with a credit card and would be charged $6 for 30 minutes of rental time.

Our worker could then pedal over to the Times building but would probably want to deposit the bike in another depot so that it would be locked up while visiting the Times.  The nearest depot which appears to be at the Union Plaza, only a couple of blocks away.  Locking up the bike is a good idea since the charge for not returning one is $1,350.

Alternative

Then again the worker could call Uber and get there for the same $6, without the walk or the risk of having to pay for a stolen bicycle.

We deserve better

Brutus

10 Comments | City government, El Paso Times | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Nearing the end

September 16, 2015

The Times is at it again, doing what they can to try to influence public opinion to support their chosen ones.

Their recent reporting on the county hospital/children’s hospital has been highlighting deficiencies in the arguments the children’s hospital is trying to make.

Make no mistake, the children’s hospital has gotten into a mess.  Their outrageously expensive interim management team is making the mess worse.  Unless a white knight swoops in at the last minute it looks like the hospital will fail.

What the Times is not highlighting is how this mess came about.  Feel free to add to this list:

  1. The hospital should never have been built.  Numerous studies pointed out that there was little need and the hospital would have little chance of being economically viable.
  2. Our county leaders decided that they knew better and sold us a bill of goods and a bond issue.
  3. While the studies predicted failure with a moderately sized facility our county leaders decided to build an even bigger one.
  4. Near opening day our county leaders played dirty pool and stalled the presentation of contracts between the two hospitals.  The leadership of the children’s hospital made a fatal mistake and accepted the contracts so that they could open the doors when they should have insisted on fair contracts.  Instead they believed the county pitch “trust me, I’m with the government”.
  5. Our county officials are charging the children’s hospital close to $10 million per year for rent even though the taxpayers are paying for the building separately through a bond issue.
  6. Rather than fix the mess when the children’s hospital fell behind on its payments, our county officials waited until the debt was insurmountable thus guaranteeing that the county would gain control.

The county got us into this mess and now we are going to have to pay for it.  More on that later.

We deserve better

Brutus

15 Comments | County Government, El Paso Times | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Letter in the Times

September 7, 2015

This from Helen Marshall:

I think he has a point…

City engineering problems may go back to ballpark

The ongoing critique and blame games concerning the problems within the City Engineering Department are troubling.

So far, most of the comments have been shallow and fail to recognize what may be the real problem. Much of the current situation may have originated when the ballpark project was begun.

At that time, the city engineer was tasked to head the ballpark efforts, a Herculean task which left him little time to fulfill his responsibilities of managing the department.

After completion of the ballpark, the engineer was offered a new job which did not allow him to repair any problems that may have developed while his attention was focused on the ballpark.

The other projects in the Engineering Department may have suffered from a lack of leadership at the top.

The people who generated this situation like former Mayor John Cook, former City Manager Joyce Wilson and former city Rep. Steve Ortega should have some responsibility for these failures.

The current city manager seems to understand this and seems to be doing a good job of minimizing the damage.

Alan Jones East Side

5 Comments | City government, El Paso Times | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Facts vs. fancy

September 6, 2015

Our alert Helen Marshall sent us this letter to the editor of the Times and her comments about the letter:

El Paso Times

Posted:   09/01/2015 12:00:00 AM MDT
Sun Metro provides great, inexpensive service

Sun Metro is the best! The buses are always on time with very helpful bus drivers.

I love to look out the windows and see everything that I never get to see if I am driving.

The new Brio buses are the icing on the cake. I can ride from East El Paso to West El Paso for $3 round trip, which will be 60 cents when I am 65.

The Brio takes me to my doctor appointments, great restaurants, the museums, the ballpark, the Mission Trail, the casino, the Magoffin Home and many more places.

There are two free buses that take you everywhere in the Downtown area.

Sun Metro is El Paso’s best kept secret.

Kaye Hudson

East Side

The New York Times at one time had a rule for letters to the effect that “you are entitled to your own opinion but not your own facts.”  Apparently not in operation at the El Paso Times.   If she is riding the Brio from the East Side to the West Side or into the Mission Trail or to the casino, what planet is she on?  And these buses are “always on time?”  Not even “almost always”???

7 Comments | City government, El Paso Times | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Wrong twice?

September 5, 2015

Wind Talker posted a comment the other day in response to Is this an awakening?

The comment was polite, well written, and it looks like she/he knows what they are talking about.

The comment corrected us on two points.  We were evidently wrong about a proposed tax rate and about the nature of the services that the districts provide.

We thank Wind Talker for correcting us.

Our information came from an El Paso Times article:

Also on Monday, Commissioners Court will discuss the proposed tax rates by Emergency Services Districts No. 1 and 2. Both taxing jurisdictions are proposing a property tax increase of 10 cents per $100 taxable value. The county administration is recommending that Commissioners Court deny both requests.

Emergency Services Districts No. 1 and 2 provide fire and ambulance services to Horizon and the county’s unincorporated areas. Their budgets are approved by Commissioners Court.

We deserve better

Brutus

 

1 Comment | County Government, El Paso Times | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

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