We need reporting, not repeating

January 9, 2013

Today’s (1/9/2013) El Paso Times says in an article that the El Paso Independent School District hired two people last night — their first in-house attorney and a director of guidance services.

The writer  evidently asked the interim superintendent what the salaries to be paid were.  The printed response was that they had not been determined.

For crying out loud!  Who would take a job without knowing at least the low point of the salary range to be paid?

For that matter what reporter would not ask how a job can be offered but salary not determined (at least in a range)?

What kind of an answer was that from an administrator who is supposed to be rebuilding public confidence?  It seems that things have not changed much over there.

It seems that some of the writers at the El Paso Times think that their job is to simply repeat whatever some government administrator tells them.  No questioning allowed.  That is unless part of the article was edited out.

If I wanted to read government press releases I would.

Instead I buy the El Paso Times because I would like to read critical reporting. 

The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.

1 Comment | El Paso Independent School District, El Paso Times | Permalink
Posted by Cato

More money, less learning

January 8, 2013

Another anonymous correspondent sent me this and has given me permission to publish it:

——————————–

This article was posted on the El Paso Times web site today.

The idea of the local school districts asking for more money and a lowering of standards is both humorous and sad.

How do they ask for those things with a straight face? Is this so they will have more money to waste on fraudulent deals and/or so that they will not have to cheat on tests by “disappearing” students now that they know they can no longer get away with that?

Bottom line: more money would be spent to hopefully achieve lower standards.

Whatever happened to the concept of people working to achieve higher standards rather than lowering the standards?

As wise man once told me, “once you abandon your principles, everything else is easy”.

1 Comment | El Paso Independent School District, El Paso Times, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

If you must regulate, regulate the business not the consumer

January 8, 2013

The editorial in the El Paso Times on January 4, 2013 was about potential city action relative to payday/car-title loans.

I agree with the Times and applaud the fact that they are taking a position on this issue.  Sometimes these loan businesses are vultures.  Many times the firms do not end up helping the borrower, they make the problem worse.

I have not read the proposed ordinances that the city is considering, so I do not know how they are structured.

I have however read the editorial and take issue with what the Times proposes.

They wrote “the city may need to act on the following:

  • Limit the amount a customer can borrow
  • Limit the number of times a customer can renew a loan
  • Require lenders to provide financial counseling for borrowers”

Any rules that the city adopts should control the actions of the loan businesses, not the consumer.  The city evidently has the right to control the business licenses of these lenders and thus some of their actions.  I suspect that the fees charged and interest rates applied are the real problem here —  the Times does not address these issues.  If however they feel that their suggestions are the right business way to handle the issue, I would prefer that the Times write:

  • Limit the amount the loan business can loan to an individual
  • Limit the number of times the loan business can renew a loan
  • Require lenders to provide financial counseling for borrowers

I do not know what penalties the Times would propose.  If any activity needs to be made illegal or subject to fines it should be the actions of the businesses, not the individuals.

I have enjoyed seeing the Times  do better under the new editor and publisher and hope that they take my comments constructively.

Maybe the Times intended what I have suggested.  If so, they should have said it.

We deserve better

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

You wouldn’t do this with your own money

January 7, 2013

Brutus’ post Foul Ballpark has me wondering why we put up with this stuff at the city.

Would you:

  • Decide to build a new home
  • Sign a contract to have the house built for $150,000
  • Have the plans drawn up later
  • Give the builder 30% of what is left if the house ends up costing less than $150,000
  • Let your real estate agent decide how the home will be built?

Of course not!  You would:

  • Have detailed plans before you signed the contract
  • Keep control over the design, not let someone else decide for you
  • Make sure that the contractor built what was promised, not delete a bathroom or leave the roof off …
  • Walk away from any contractor that proposed such nonsense

It appears that this is what the city wants to do to us at their Tuesday meeting.  The El Paso Times article this weekend did not point this out.  I hope they write an editorial about this.

Why do we allow the people at the city to do this to us?

The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.

10 Comments | Ball park, City government, El Paso Times, Purchasing | Permalink
Posted by Cato

1 plus 1 not equal to 2

January 4, 2013

The El Paso Times printed an article January 3, 2013 titled “Wilson:  Times building remodel on schedule”.

The article indicated “the City Council approved issuing a purchase order of nearly $650,000 for the remodeling of the Times building…”.  According to the report the city manager “said the authorization was a formality because individual purchase orders of more than $500,000 issued under a previously approved job-order contract must be approved separately by council.”

I like to use the Oxford Dictionaries to help me understand the meaning of words.  They define formality as “(a formality) something done or happening as a matter of course and without question”.

Once again it seems as though the city manager does not understand her place.  The Texas legislature required that the approval be brought to city council.  The legislature did not do this to waste our city representatives’ time, it did it to require the council to pay attention.  If council had to vote on the issue it was not a “formality”.  They had the right to disapprove.  Evidently the city manager thinks of council as her personal rubber stamp.

Also troubling is the discrepancy between the costs reported by the El Paso Times in it’s November 7, 2012 article “El Paso City Council OKs buying 2 buildings for move” and this new January 3 article.

On November 7 they reported that the city would spend $9.4 million to buy the Times building and $2.1 million to remodel it.  The January 3 article reports the purchase price as $9.75 million and the remodeling at about $3 million.

Oops!  There goes $1,250,000 of our money.

The November 7 article reported the costs associated with the Texas Street properties as $2.3 million for the purchase and $9.5 million for renovations.  The January 3 article reported the costs as $2.4 million and $8.5 million respectively.

The reporting on the Luther building had the same kind of differences.

So the question at hand is why did the same newspaper print different reports?

Possible answers (without being unkind) are:

  • One or both of the reporters was wrong
  • The city provided different numbers for each report

If the city provided different numbers why were they not reported as being different in the second article?

Do the reporters read their own newspapers, or do they not care about accuracy?

I support the El Paso Times, otherwise I would cancel my subscription.  Let’s encourage them to do better.

The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.

Leave a Comment » | City government, El Paso Times, Purchasing, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Cato

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