Neighborhood disruption

May 26, 2018

Our thanks to Helen Marshall for this:

Have you driven around Kern Place lately ??  The City’s Robinson Avenue works have now consumed one year and nine months and there is no sign they won’t get to start year three…about three-quarters of the trees planted along this stretch appear to be dead…They forgot to put an entry ramp on the bike and pedestrian path coming from the roundabout at Piedmont…Phase Two, Piedmont to Ochoa, will get underway later this year!
Meantime, Robinson, Madeline, Cincinnati and Baltimore are all undergoing works by EP Water, and have been closed to thru traffic from Piedmont for weeks!!!
And EP Water is undertaking major work on the water tank above Canyon Terrace, projected to last until summer 2019, with occasional drops in water pressure or loss of supply entirely to homes at that end of Robinson.
Do folks in these agencies ever talk to each other when they plan their schedules???
We deserve better
Brutus

5 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

What’s happening to our treatment of the truth?

May 25, 2018

Sometimes comments get lost and only read by a few whereas posts are easier to find.

This was originally posted as a comment and we feel that it should be promoted to a post:

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Relevant excerpts from Rex Tillerson’s commencement speech at Virginia Military Institute:

“As I reflect upon the state of American democracy, I observe a growing crisis of ethics and integrity.”

“When we as people, a free people, go wobbly on the truth, even on what may seem the most trivial of matters, we go wobbly on America. If we do not as Americans confront the crisis of ethics and integrity in our society, and among our leaders in both the public and private sector, and regrettably at times even the nonprofit sector, then American democracy as we know it is entering its twilight years.”

“If our leaders seek to conceal the truth or we as people become accepting of alternative realities that are no longer grounded in facts, then we as American citizens are on a pathway to relinquishing our freedom.”

“This is the life of nondemocratic societies, comprised of people who are not free to seek the truth. … A responsibility of every American citizen to each other is to preserve and protect our freedom by recognizing what the truth is and is not, what a fact is and is not, and begin by holding ourselves accountable to truthfulness, and demand our pursuit of America’s future be fact-based, not based on wishful thinking; not hopeful outcomes made in shallow promises; but with a clear-eyed view of the facts as they are and guided by the truth that will set us free to seek solutions to our most daunting challenges.”

He quoted John 8:32 twice: “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

3 Comments | Uncategorized | Permalink
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Setting us up for failure

May 24, 2018

According to news reports our Mayor has signed a separation agreement with our soon to be departed city attorney.

We don’t know what the final version of the agreement looks like.

KTSM has evidently requested a copy under the Texas Public Information Act.  The city has yet to produce it even though the act reads:

Sec. 552.221. APPLICATION FOR PUBLIC INFORMATION; PRODUCTION OF PUBLIC INFORMATION. (a) An officer for public information of a governmental body shall promptly produce public information for inspection, duplication, or both on application by any person to the officer. In this subsection, “promptly” means as soon as possible under the circumstances, that is, within a reasonable time, without delay.

As soon as possible does not mean waiting the maximum amount of time that they can.  What it means is that if they have the document they should copy it as soon a a copy machine is available and turn it over to the requester.   Unfortunately the Act does not make this kind of stalling illegal.  We have learned that many of our public officials are willing to do things that are wrong if they know that they are not illegal.

The version that KTSM has received might not be the final one, however the one they got has this in it:

The person signing this Agreement on behalf of the City certifies that the person has full authority and approval to bind the City to this Agreement.

The mayor cannot agree to contracts without prior city council approval.

We deserve better

Brutus

8 Comments | City government, Open Government, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Developers have special needs

May 23, 2018

The city is proposing the creation of some new Tax Increment Reinvestment Zones (TIRZ).

Basically when the city creates a TIRZ they allow a special fund to be setup that takes the increase in property taxes that occurs over time and dedicates the increased money to projects within the boundaries of the TIRZ.

Out on the westside of El Paso there is a 3,900 acre area of land that is undeveloped.  I believe that the city currently owns the land and as a result it generates no tax revenue.

If the city creates the TIRZ and then sells the land any increase in property tax revenue could be set aside to be spent on improving the land, the money would not go into the city general fund to help pay for city services.

From the Texas Tax Code chapter 31:

Sec. 311.005. CRITERIA FOR REINVESTMENT ZONE.

(a) To be designated as a reinvestment zone, an area must:

(1) substantially arrest or impair the sound growth of the municipality or county designating the zone, retard the provision of housing accommodations, or constitute an economic or social liability and be a menace to the public health, safety, morals, or welfare in its present condition and use because of the presence of:

(A) a substantial number of substandard, slum, deteriorated, or deteriorating structures;

(B) the predominance of defective or inadequate sidewalk or street layout;

(C) faulty lot layout in relation to size, adequacy, accessibility, or usefulness;

(D) unsanitary or unsafe conditions;

(E) the deterioration of site or other improvements;

(F) tax or special assessment delinquency exceeding the fair value of the land;

(G) defective or unusual conditions of title;

(H) conditions that endanger life or property by fire or other cause; or

(I) structures, other than single-family residential structures, less than 10 percent of the square footage of which has been used for commercial, industrial, or residential purposes during the preceding 12 years, if the municipality has a population of 100,000 or more;

(2) be predominantly open or undeveloped and, because of obsolete platting, deterioration of structures or site improvements, or other factors, substantially impair or arrest the sound growth of the municipality or county;

(3) be in a federally assisted new community located in the municipality or county or in an area immediately adjacent to a federally assisted new community; or

(4) be an area described in a petition requesting that the area be designated as a reinvestment zone, if the petition is submitted to the governing body of the municipality or county by the owners of property constituting at least 50 percent of the appraised value of the property in the area according to the most recent certified appraisal roll for the county in which the area is located.

The undeveloped land is not blighted.

This is simply a giveaway to the people who buy and develop the properties.

We deserve better

Brutus

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

Make your choice

May 22, 2018

Since there is no republican candidate in the county judge race we will pick our next county judge in today’s election.

Our choices are:

  • A former mayor
  • A political newcomer who has not learned how to run our lives yet

Please vote.

20 Comments | County Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

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