Wrong solution

December 2, 2018

The death of another person on Mesa street near Cincinnati the other day was unnecessary.  We grieve for her family and friends.

It seems that the area is a popular nighttime hangout.

The lady was struck at about 1:45 in the morning.

The El Paso Times published an article the other day and wrote:

TxDOT has a long-term proposal for a Mesa Street tunnel running from Glory Road to Robinson Avenue. Vehicle traffic would bypass the entertainment district and the current Mesa-Cincinnati roadway would be a pedestrian area above the tunnel.

The long-term project would cost about $500 million and on the most optimistic time line would not be ready for another five years, Wright said.

Mesa street is unfortunately the main alternate route that can be taken when I-10 is closed.

Creating the tunnel would result in the closure of Mesa for months if not years.

There are other solutions like not crossing Mesa, or the party people taking their business to other locations.

Closing Mesa is not one of them.

We deserve better

Brutus

 

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

Right to work

December 1, 2018

This poster was on the wall of a local fast food franchise when I stopped in the other day:

The part that got my attention was “In most cases, employers cannot require you to be a U.S. citizen or a lawful permanent resident”.

After researching the point I realized that evidently people can get work visas without becoming a lawful permanent resident.

The poster seems misleading to me.

We deserve better

Brutus

 

14 Comments | Federal Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

A stand alone indoor waterpark

November 30, 2018

The water park portion of the Great Wolf deal is planned to occupy 86,138 square feet.

If someone wanted to build an indoor water park of that size and not build a hotel how much would it cost?

Let’s use one thousand dollars per square foot.  Industry reports actually put the number at $600 but let’s use the thousand dollar number so we can remove whether or not we have allocated enough money to the project.

This park would cost $86,138,000.

If the city and county were to contribute half of this amount the total cost to the public would be $43 million with the developer paying the rest.

We would then have a property that paid $2,763,495 to our local taxing authorities each year (roughly half of that would go to the schools).

Then the hundreds of thousands of tourists that the city claims will be attracted would stay in our existing hotels and we would get the hotel occupancy taxes as well as the sales taxes that the city and county have given away.

Even this $43 million dollar deal would be stupid but it sure would beat the $100 million deal we have been stuck with.

We deserve better

Brutus

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

Think about it

November 29, 2018

In the district one city representative runoff you have a choice between an incumbent whose behavior we know a lot about and a challenger that very little is known about.

Which would you rather have?

You need to decide.

In another local race a candidate lost a spot in the runoff by 15 votes so you need to vote.

We deserve better

Brutus

14 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Sun Metro vs city streets

November 28, 2018

If you wonder about the state of our city streets, take a look at this:

They spend almost as much on the bus service as they do on city streets.

We deserve better

Brutus

 

23 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

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