Learned something

January 16, 2014

The article the other day about how El Paso ranks as the safest major city in the United States ended with a comment about quality of life in our city.

Safety, housing, pet friendliness, and our ranking as the best city in Texas to raise a family were discussed.

What we did not talk about however was education.  How does public school education in El Paso compare to the other major Texas cities?

I went to www.schooldigger.com.  The site provides rankings of cities and school districts nationwide.  They base their rankings on scores that students receive on standardized tests.

Surprised

What I found surprised me.  The site lists results for 853 cities in Texas.  Their results for the eight largest cities in Texas are:

CITY                     RANKING            SCORE

AUSTIN                       343                   .595
EL PASO                      442                   .523
ARLINGTON                 516                   .476
HOUSTON                    579                   .418
SAN ANTONIO              613                   .394
DALLAS                        652                   .361
FORT WORTH               676                   .338
CORPUS CHRISTI         682                   .333

The best ranking would be one and the best score would be .999.

While many of us feel that our children are not receiving as good an education as we did in the old days, El Paso ranks second only to Austin when looking at the major Texas cities.

Yet our local paper continues to flog the school districts.

We deserve better

Brutus

10 Comments | El Paso Independent School District, El Paso Times | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

We’re number one

January 15, 2014

The fact that El Paso was once again ranked the safest large city in the nation was significant enough that the El Paso Times wrote about it on page one of section B.  I suppose the front page needs to be reserved for whatever issues the Times decides to promote.

We were also ranked as the best city in Texas in which to raise a family.

As for per animal lovers we were ranked number two.

In the “best cities for home buyers” we were ranked number four.

So if we are the safest major city in the nation and the best place in Texas to raise a family, what is our quality of life problem?

Is the quality of life drum being beaten to promote spending?

We deserve better

Brutus

5 Comments | Ball park, City government, County Government, El Paso Independent School District, El Paso Times, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Physician do no harm

January 8, 2014

Our county hospital finds itself in a hot spot over procedures they evidently performed while working for the feds.

El Chuqueno provided this link to an out of town article about the mess.

The hospital is trying to calm the waters.  Our El Paso Times wrote about a press release from the hospital board and CEO.  You can read the article here.

Medical care?

The hospital’s statement tries to make this look like the woman needed medical care.  What they evidently did to her was not medical care.  It was part of an investigation — one that was evidently against her will.  They said:

“Our team of providers has just one focus – to take care of the sick and injured. When people come to or are brought to our Emergency Department, we mobilize whatever resources are necessary to stabilize their condition.”

Yes, I would agree that the hospital does an admirable job with the sick and injured.

What happened here had nothing to do with being sick or injured.  Some people that work for our governments have forgotten that their responsibility is to the citizens — they think that they can do anything in the name of official business.

Who pays

According to the stories the lady was presented a bill for the “services”.

That doesn’t wash either.  When you are in police custody the medical bills are the responsibility of the agency detaining you.  The hospital certainly knows this.

The issue with the bill is another example of how some government employees forget who they are.

Rock and a hard spot

The hospital finds itself in an awkward position.

They need to denounce what has happened or face the loss of public confidence.  Are we safe in that hospital?

On the other hand if they back off now are they agreeing that the lawsuit has merit?

The hospital board needs to act decisively here.  So do the county judge and commissioners since the hospital is their responsibility.

We deserve better

Brutus

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

Some Times

December 31, 2013

The Times complained the other day in an editorial about how our local council of judges “unilaterally” (even though it is their job) raised the rate that court appointed attorneys get paid by the county.  The new rate gives the attorneys $90 per hour while they are in court — less than some plumbers and IT firms charge.

I thought I would look into how the Times has been doing at the public trough.

Various laws require the city to publish notices in local newspapers.  The contract currently being used was bid in 2010.  The one previous to that was bid in 2007.

According to the two documents below the Times circulation dropped between 2007 and 2010.

2007newspaper

2010newspaper

The 2007 city council agenda item gave the city staff permission to spend an estimated $100,000 dollars annually with either of two newspapers, the El Paso Times or El Paso, Inc.

Let’s leave it to your imagination to figure out how city staff decided which newspaper to use.

Incredible

The 2010 contract raised the annual amount to $225,000.  That’s a lot more noticing activity.  I wonder why but doubt that the cause was a doubling of material that had to be published.

Could it be that the extra money bought editorial space?

Why was the editorial written?

Was the editorial another effort to pay someone back?

We deserve better

Brutus

3 Comments | City government, El Paso Inc., El Paso Times | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Constitutional attack

December 30, 2013

This editorial in the El Paso Times should be of concern to all of us.

The Times is upset that our local council of judges had the audacity to demand that fees paid to court assigned attorneys be raised by $15 dollars an hour.  That means that a court appointed attorney would receive $90 per hour while in court defending someone.  Try to find a $90 per hour attorney.

The real issue

The times wrote “…is a classic example of the dysfunctional system set up by the Texas Constitution”.  Yes, like every other law and ordinance in the state is set up by our constitution.  Actually the council of judges was created for every Texas county by our supreme court.  You can read their rule here.

Over the years since our country was established there has been a lot of discussion about the proper role of the constitutions, both national and state.  Some say that the proper way to change them is through the methods written into the documents (Article 17 in the case of Texas and Article V at the national level).

Later some of those who wanted change but did not want to cross the high bar required enjoyed watching our supreme courts overrule the legislatures.  John Marshall did that to us in Marbury v. Madison.  The fact that the case was about Marshall’s failure to perform his duties and that he was somehow both secretary of state and chief justice at the time evidently did not cause him to recuse himself.

Now one of the new techniques being used is to simply ignore the constitutions.  The theory is that someone will have to spend a lot of money in court to stop you so do what you want and count on the legal system to protect you.

Hard to believe

In this editorial the Times complains that the council of judges acted without input from others.  Actually the council requested a smaller increase last year at county budget time and our commissioners court rejected them.

Some of the lines in the editorial piece:

The judges can order the additional expenditure and essentially mandate that county Commissioners Court foot the bill — taxpayers be damned.

That sort of rule by fiat is an abuse of taxpayers.

But unilateral action is not an answer.

Where were they?

Where was the Times when city council voted unilaterally to tear down city hall and build a ball park?   Where were they when commissioners court imposed $150 million in bond expenses for the county hospital — by fiat?

Taxpayers be dammed indeed.

Eternal vigilance is the cost of liberty.

Cato

6 Comments | City government, County Government, El Paso Times, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Cato

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