elpasospeak

This post was sent to me recently:

A few weeks ago on a Sunday I witnessed something that reminded me that city ordinances have an effect on the least among us. I was stopped at a red light at the intersection of Sunland Park and Mesa Hills, it was a Sunday afternoon with the usual blistering conditions and not a hint of shade. An old woman was apparently panhandling on the island and two El Paso policemen had stopped their vehicle and were standing over her while she packed her belongings. The officers just stood over her with their arms folded not offering a hint of compassion as the woman finished packing and left the island to go someplace else. I thought of Courtney Niland and her unease at seeing drifters at a gas station near downtown. This lead to the policy of no panhandling except for city employees doing a fill the boot campaign. I got to see city policy in action and it made me feel bad. I pay my taxes without compliant and I do not make my living in the local government procurement trough, unlike the greed is good blog commentators at another site. I don’t know what we as a community can do for those less fortunate, but I can’t help but feel badly for not standing up to the powers that be. Before I moved here I lived in another community that has a far larger homeless population and the city built them a shelter and it seemed to lessen the amount of people in the streets.

I am left to wonder what would I do, if I was all alone in the world with no parental or spousal support network, and had lost my job? Would I take to the streets? I can’t honestly answer because I have never been in that situation. Maybe it would be a good thing if our elected officials spent more time with the sick, ugly, poor, and uneducated rather than the rich and beautiful? Could it be that would evoke some empathy within them?

Anonymous

Thinking about going to see city hall?

Why?

Most citizen contact with city officials will be in buildings other than city hall.

• Police and fire have long been in buildings other than city hall even though they are the largest part of our budget and thus bear closer scrutiny
• The parks and recreation department has recently displaced citizens in a recreation center
• Permits and licensing are not to be had at city hall
• Food handlers need to go to a different building
• Museums, cultural affairs and pension issues are going to be handled somewhere else

With the exception of the mayor and city representatives most of the functions at the new city hall are internal in nature.  Departments will include:

• Internal audit
• Employee wellness center
• Human resources
• Purchasing
• Financial services
• City attorneys
• Municipal clerk

The new city council chambers that they have not told us about will be in the new city hall.  We will have to wait to find out how much they are spending for it, but I feel certain it will be expensive.

So if you think you might bump into an elected official while you are doing your business with the city, think again.

It looks like they have deliberately banished you to the hinterlands so that they do not have to brush shoulders with the unwashed masses.

I’ll bet they even have a private entrance to council chambers.

We deserve better

Brutus

This was posted anonymously.

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On the way to work today, I drove a couple of miles down Mesa next to a bright, shiny City of El Paso Code Enforcement pick-up truck.

The guy was slouched against the window, talking on his phone the entire way.  Clearly not a business call and total disregard for the no-talking-while-driving (without a hands-free device) ordinance.

But here’s the punch line…that’s the second time I’ve seen him just driving around talking on his phone.

Great work if you can get it.

Every time I see those trucks I think they are police trucks because of the way they are painted and the light racks on top. That’s why I pay attention to them.

I pulled up right beside him, rolled down my window, and actually honked at him three times, trying to get his attention. He was totally oblivious. I was going to tell him to obey the law and get off his [deleted] phone even if it cost me a ticket. Then I was going to actually go to court and to the media and explain how I got the ticket.

This was posted anonymously.  I thought that it deserved a separate category so I have moved it here.

Feel free to tell us about your experiences, both good and bad.  Post your comments

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I had the opportunity to deal with El Paso’s City Development department this week. The experience was not totally pleasant, and a friend suggested I visit elpasospeak.com and tell you about it. So….

My water heater died a couple of weeks ago. Just one of those things that a homeowner has to deal with. I called a plumber in to replace it; on finishing the job, he informed me that we now needed to schedule a visit by a city inspector to approve the installation. Okay, I thought, there has to be accountability somewhere, and a city inspector sounds like the kind of person I’d want to make sure the plumber did the right thing.

He offered to schedule the inspector’s visit for me. But, he said, the down side is that they (the city) would not give us a time, and that if I was not home when the inspector came, the city would bill me $65.00 and I’d have to reschedule.

Huh. Ok, I’m sure the inspectors are very busy people. And I understand that service related technicians can only offer a window of time; because of the nature of what they do, it’s hard to be specific.

So, the plumber arranges it and tells me that I can call the city on that day and maybe get a narrower time frame as to when the inspector would be out. The day arrives, and at 8:00 a.m., I begin calling the city development department. No answer. I call again at 10 minute intervals, until, finally, at 9:10, someone answers the phone. (Ok, maybe the city doesn’t honor normal business hours.) I’m given the inspector’s name and phone number, and I call him directly. He tells me he’ll be at my house sometime after 10:30 a.m., but before lunchtime (which, I surmised, would be noon). At this point, I’m thinking that maybe I’ll only miss a half day of work. Hah!

Noon came and passed, and of course, no inspector. I finally reached him at 4:30 to determine why he had not yet come to my home. Turns out he had other homes in my neighborhood, and he thought he had hit them all, but apparently had overlooked mine. To his credit, he apologized and said he’d be right out to do the inspection. Ten minutes later, I showed him the new water heater; he looked, noted the insulation around the pipes, noted that it was a gas water heater, noted that they had also installed a drip pan. He then pulled out a card, wrote his name, my address, handed it to me and said ‘This is for your records. Sorry again for the delay’.

He was done in about two minutes.

Huh? That’s it? I don’t need to sign anything?

Nope, he said. You’re good to go!

Amazing. So, this little episode raised some concerns in my mind:

I wonder if the inspector considered the value of my time? Because it wasn’t just my time. It was my boss’s time. And my customer’s time. Considering he was 4 1/2 hours late, I’m thinking I should invoice the city for a sum of money equal to the amount of money my company lost….

And where is the accountability? Where are the checks and balances? How does the supervisor in the city development department even know that the inspector was at my house? Or any other house? What documentation does the city keep to ensure that inspections don’t get skipped?

And, by the way, what kind of an inspection was that? I could have taken a photograph and sent it in as proof that it was installed up to code.

I believe that in any organization, leadership sets the tone. They are the role models, and they set the example for the rest of the organization to follow. I’m wondering now, just what kind of leaders my inspector has? And if it really does come from the top, boy, are we in trouble.