This came in as an email from a regular reader:
This is disgusting … Fox in the hen house … Nothing like getting paid to say give us your money. How is this not a conflict of interest? City mgr also has prior relationship with them.
We deserve better
Brutus
4 Comments | 
City government | 
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Posted by Brutus
I’ve been hearing about the tuition costs at UTEP and decided to take a look back to see what they were in the past.
The Tuition column shows the cost for 12 semester hours for a single semester without any of the other fees. The cost is for those who qualified for resident tuition rates.
The 2015 Dollars column shows the inflation adjusted value of the Tuition column bringing it forward to 2015.
Year Tuition 2015 Dollars
1960 $ 50 $ 402
1970 $ 50 $ 307
1980 $ 152 $ 439
1990 $ 393 $ 716
2000 $ 720 $ 996
2010 $ 1,922 $ 2,100
2015 $ 2,926
UTEP is not unusual in this regard but the old days of working your way through college seem to be gone.
I invite the readers to contribute their thoughts.
Brutus
6 Comments | Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
The Tuesday, October 13, 2015 agenda of the Mass Transit Department Board (aka Sun Metro) includes this item:
9A. Sun Metro Fixed Route Indicators for FY15 4TH QTR for period ending August 31, 2015
We saw a 15% drop in ridership for the first three quarters of 2015 ending May 31 compared to the same period last year. That is even after the super expensive Brio system came online.
Will the fourth quarter numbers be even worse?
The Times recently ran an article where they published the fourth quarter numbers.
It is difficult to believe what we read in the Times. In Total eclipse of the Sun we wrote about how the Times printed in their article that “Sun Metro averages 1,800-2,000 riders each day”.
Looking on the Times website now the article has been changed to read “Sun Metro averages 42,000-43,000 riders each day”.
They changed the article without noting their earlier mistake. That is just plain dishonest behavior for a newspaper.
We deserve better
Brutus
4 Comments | El Paso Times | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
It would be really hard to make something like this up. You really would have to think of the impossible.
A new website www.vivavalenti.com has appeared on the Internet. The site extols the need to have our county hospital administrator stay on after his current contract expires next year. Here is what part of the home page looks like:
The URL was issued October 9, 2015.
It probably will not come as a surprise to some of us that the site is registered to an out of town firm, Wilson Binkley Advertising & Marketing. They are based out of Las Cruces, New Mexico.
One of the quirks of our form of government is that the residents of Las Cruces benefit from our county and children’s hospital without bearing the tax burden.
The site offers an online petition where you can register your support for the idea of issuing a new contract to our county hospital administrator.
In the nine days the site has been registered (as of October 18, 2015) they indicate that 19 petitions have been signed.
Personally, I would be embarrassed.
We deserve better
Brutus
4 Comments | County Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
This came in from Xavier Miranda:
9 Comments | City government, County Government, Federal Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
elpasospeak 
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