Still paying

May 14, 2016

Do you remember that ball park that we won’t have to pay for?

This slide is part of the April 11, 2016 presentation made to the Downtown Development Corporation (city council in sheep’s clothing):

ballparkapril112016financing

Its only $782 thousand or $484 thousand or whatever it really turns out to be.

The numbers don’t include our other costs like public safety and the fact that we pay half of the water bill at for the ball park.  Nor are the costs of moving city hall even considered.

Does it bother you that our former city chief financial officer is now on the board of our county hospital or that our former city manager is in charge of the organization that helps our unemployed?

We deserve better

Brutus

 

 

8 Comments | Ball park, City government, County Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Needless delays

May 13, 2016

Our local traffic has become severely congested for reasons that could be avoided.

Many of us see that several construction projects have been launched simultaneously and have impeded traffic flows.

In addition we are seeing examples of traffic lanes on significant arteries being blocked off with absolutely no construction activity occurring.

How long will this go on without someone, somewhere stepping in and managing the situation to our benefit?

We deserve better

Brutus

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

My guess at this point

May 12, 2016

It appears as though the government is going to handle the prosecution of the recently indicted former EPISD officials as a conspiracy case.

There are two counts (lying to a grand jury and lying to the FBI) that look as though they apply to only one of the defendants.  The other defendants don’t seem to be involved.

There is one count of mail fraud (even though Federal Express was the carrier) that alleges an improper shipment on April 26, 2011.  The indictment implies that there is a five year statute of limitations on this type of mail fraud.  The indictment was filed with the court April 20, 2016.  If I read everything correctly that means that they waited 4 years and 51 weeks to bring the indictment.  It would seem to me that if what these people did was so horrible the government would want to put them in jail right away.

There are three counts of alleged conspiracy.  It looks like this is where the government is going to focus.  If they cannot get any of the defendants to give up before trial they will probably produce a “he said, she said” case.  I have heard on the street that some of the defendants did not/do not even know each other.

If they can get one or some of the defendants to fold, then their plea agreement will probably say their sentence will  depend upon “how well they cooperate at trial”.

Brutus

 

5 Comments | El Paso Independent School District, Federal Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Awkward Times

May 11, 2016

Our congratulations to Jim Tolbert, the newly elected city representative.

The Times again showed how their views differ from those of the public.

Landslide

In a race with 8 candidates Mr. Tolbert took 59 percent of the votes.

The candidate that the Times endorsed received 15 percent.

Relevance

Some are asking if the Times is relevant in our community.  They seem to be–the voters look at who the Times endorses and go the other way.

The Times, I ween, is on the wrong side of many issues.

We deserve better

Brutus

 

6 Comments | City government, El Paso Times | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

$10 million that the city says they don’t need

May 10, 2016

When we voted it was called a “Heritage Cultural Center” then it was the “Hispanic Cultural Center” and now it is the “Mexican American Cultural Center”.

We wrote about much of the confusion in Bait and switch, incompetence, or fraud?

What is not confusing however are the financial shenanigans related to the center.

We voted to spend $5.7 million as part of the sometime in the future quality of life bonds.  A group got together and decided that more money is needed.

Last week the city announced that they would allocate another $10 million to the project (relax, that is less than twice what we were told it would cost).

The Times recently wrote that our city manager said “No city services will be affected”.

Baloney!

We evidently have so much mismanaged debt that city staff can find $10 million for a project just by refinancing debt.  The Times article did not tell us whether the refinancing is going to save money because of lower interest rates or because of extended payment terms.

The simple fact is that the $10 million could be used for many other things.  We could pay down debt.  We could pave a few roads.  We could … (reader suggestions are welcome).

We deserve better

Brutus

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

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