Winged wonder

August 4, 2015

Well.

It seems that our county hospital administrator and 60 local physicians have a difference of opinion over what the truth is.

Sixty or so local pediatricians released a letter that you can read here.

The letter was strongly worded and included this statement:

The claim that EPCH (El Paso Children’s Hospital) doctors personally support Mr. Valenti is at best a strategic deception and is more likely plain perjury given that Mr. Valenti was under oath while making this statement.

Perjury

Wow!  You have to wonder how the federal bankruptcy judge will react to the situation.  Whether our hospital administrator is charged with perjury or not, it is clear that this group of doctors wants nothing to do with him.  The other local hospitals have got to be elated over this.  If the county hospital does end up running the children’s hospital it does not look like this group of pediatricians will be using the children’s hospital unless they absolutely have to.

The El Paso Times published a balanced article about the controversy.  Included in the article was a link to a portion of a sworn deposition that our county hospital administrator gave.  Read it here.

The excerpt included a lot of whining and posturing but this jewel is unbelievable:

What we’re trying to do is allow the Children’s to be under the shelter of the district’s wing — envision a bird’s wing — under the safety and security of the district.

I’m trying to imagine what kind of bird our hospital administrator had in mind.  I also can’t imagine that our readers think of the administrator as a benevolent force in this situation.

Our county commissioners must take action here.

We should not let them allow this to continue.

We deserve better

Brutus

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

Waiting game

July 25, 2015

The list of things that El Paso ranks number one on continues to grow.

Recently we learned that the wait times for certain types of patients at our VA facilities are the longest in the VA system–that’s nationwide.

In typical fashion our elected representatives and paid managers put some of the blame on us not having a permanent director.  We know the story–“we can’t solve the problem now because …”.

Evidently it is okay for the interim director to not get the problem solved.  We need to wait for a permanent director.

Does an interim manager have no power?  If so, why have one?

We deserve better

Brutus

11 Comments | Federal Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Performance cancelled

July 21, 2015

It appears that the city has decided that it is not competent to handle the administrative process relating to the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO).

Their solution is to hire two firms from out of town to help the city get it’s act together.

This must really be complex if it requires two out of town firms to make recommendations.

The real issue is that the city does not want anyone local to get to see the mess that city engineering is in.

The MPO is supposed to follow published rules.  The city needs to comply.

Any mid-level manager worth his/her salt could handle this.

We have a chief performance officer.  Isn’t this a matter of performance?

We deserve better

Brutus

7 Comments | City government, Federal Government, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Thoughts about our future independence

July 4, 2015

What those brave people did in 1776 changed the world and all of us should be grateful.

Thinking of our situation today, two quotes come to mind:

“Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both”.  Ben Franklin

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”.  Edmund Burke

Be careful today.

We deserve better

Brutus

3 Comments | City government, Federal Government, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

City secrecy part one

May 29, 2015

A dear friend sent me a copy of the book Democracy in the Dark/The Seduction of Government Secrecy.  Reading the book got me to thinking about the secrecy that the city engages in.

Our city council appears to finally be paying attention to the situation at San Jacinto Plaza.

The other day council went into executive session for an extended period and when they came out they told us that they had been advised by the city attorney not to say anything.

They did say that they wanted weekly updates on the situation.  Is this so that the public will be informed?  The answer is no.  The first weekly update was this week and was also in executive session.  When council reconvened they did not say a word about the Plaza.

Why the secrecy?

Could it be that the city fears a lawsuit from the contractor?

If that’s the case then the city might be culpable for the delay.  If the contractor is right don’t we have the right to know?  Shouldn’t we know so that we can demand that changes occur in the departments at fault?

What right does the city have to hide the truth from us?

If the city has done nothing wrong why are they hiding the facts from us?   Are they afraid of a groundless lawsuit?  That would be strange.  The city legal department has used lawsuits to beat people out of what they deserve before.

Secrecy here serves no purpose other than to protect the city.  They should make the facts public.

We deserve better

Brutus

6 Comments | City government, Federal Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

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