Former mayor underperforms

November 8, 2014

Our former mayor just ran against one of the Bush family members for the office of State Land Commissioner.

The results?

Winning a statewide race is a challenge for democrats in Texas.

Their candidates for governor and lieutenant governor got 39% of the votes.  Most of their other candidates received about 38%.

Our former mayor posted a 35% result in his race for land commissioner.

I don’t recall reading about that in the Times.  One would think that the story would be of local interest.

There is a reason for what you don’t get to read in the Times.

On a positive note we can be relieved that he didn’t win.  He might have torn down the Alamo to make way for a ball park.

We deserve better

Brutus

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

Running total

November 7, 2014

Some readers have asked recently if anyone knows what the total cost of the ball park is at this point.

These numbers are ones that I attribute to the cost.  I hope that the readers of this blog will help us to build a more accurate accounting.

Double your pleasure showed us that the $61 million in bonds will cost us $137,286,965.10 by the time we pay them off.  That is unless the folks down at the city refinance the deal again.

Opening day was about a “guaranteed maximum price agreement” with the ball park contractor.  The document excluded certain things from the price, like:

  • railroad platforms and bridge
  • railroad platform foundations
  • Missouri and Durango street improvements
  • offsite improvements/work (this probably includes the water and sewer work the city is not talking about as well as the pedestrian and road work around the park)
  • special construction provisions required at railroad
  • porcelain/art signage
  • 4 TOPP or 2 TOPP tables and loose chairs
  • aluminum and fabric sun shades

Train wreck was about the deals the city had to cut with a railroad in order to get a sliver of the land that the ball park now sits on.  In addition to the $238,810 the city had to pay for 8,684 square feet of land, paying $27.50 per square foot, the city had to sell two acres of land adjacent to the $27.50 land for $11.10 per square foot.  Citizens suffered the economic consequences of the city agreeing to close eight railroad crossings throughout the city as part of the land deals.

Shameless told us about a deal where the city gave the state $5 million to enhance bridges between Portfirio Diaz street and Missouri avenue.  The state will spend $2.7 million for two pedestrian overpasses going over the depressed train way leading into the ball park.  The state will also spend $800,000 dollars for pedestrian wayfinding in downtown.

Baseball art showed that the city was going to spend  $850,000 with three artists for work to be done at the ball park.

In El Paso quality of life update the fact that the city was spending $500,000 from quality of life bonds to build a pedestrian pathway into the ball park.

Shoes dropping addressed the fact that “El Paso Water Utilities will handle the work and pay to redo the water and sewer lines in the area…”

Various studies have been paid for relative to traffic, congestion, noise and vibration.

In addition, the sports group has agreed to pay up to $10 million outside of taxpayer money.

Moving city hall has now cost us over $70 million.

That gives us:

  • $137 million to pay off the bonds
  • $239 thousand to buy land from the railroad
  • $5 million to the state
  • $850 thousand for art
  • $500 thousand from the quality of life bonds
  • unknown amount for the water utility to do their work
  • $70 million to move city hall

I come up with about $220 million in capital costs.  Operating costs are another matter.

Not bad for a $35 million stadium that Inside job told us about.

We deserve better

Brutus

 

 

 

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

EPISD transition

November 2, 2014

The Texas education commissioner has announced that the term of the El Paso Independent School District board of managers will end after the May election cycle is finished  as state law requires.

Once the May elections have determined who the new board members are they will join the ones who were elected in 2013 but were never allowed to take their rightful seats.

This chapter in the unfortunate saga will finally be over.

We need to watch to see what changes they make as their terms expire.  They were not elected by us and are not accountable through the ballot box.  Having nothing to lose politically (other than their reputations) they might use their final months to force changes that the public does not want.

Vigilance

We will eventually  have elected officials that are accountable to the public running the school district again.

When this happens we need to have a heightened sense of vigilance.  We need to watch this board and hold them accountable on a meeting by meeting basis.

If we do this and the board strays, we need to tell them how we feel.   Even our local elected officials behave differently when they know the public is watching.

We deserve better

Brutus

 

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

We need some real jobs

October 24, 2014

I found this chart on city-data.com:

CITYDATAOCCUPATIONS

Take a look at the bars on the left.  The data for females also showed higher percentages of people involved in public administration here in El Paso than in the rest of the state.

We deserve better

Brutus

 

3 Comments | City government, County Government, El Paso Independent School District, Federal Government, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Harsh?

October 22, 2014

A  22 year old man was convicted a few weeks ago of setting a fire in the Coronado Tower building.  He was sentenced to five years in a federal prison followed by three years of supervised release.

He evidently confessed so  he is now guilty and should be punished.

What caught my eye first is that he was prosecuted in the federal system instead of ours here in Texas.

Why?

Interstate commerce

The fed’s position was that the Coronado Tower is involved in interstate or international commerce.  By that rationale almost every building in El Paso would qualify.

Why did the feds prosecute the crime instead of the state?  Could it be that they are interested in keeping their volume up to justify their size?  Is Texas incapable of administering justice in a toilet paper fire case?  Don’t the feds have enough to do without handling cases that can be handled by the state?

Five years

Another thing that caught my attention is the severity of the punishment.  I can’t help but wonder what kind of a citizen he will be at 27 years old having spent five years in prison.

Have we lost our bearings here?

We deserve better

Brutus

6 Comments | Federal Government, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

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