Interim reports

September 19, 2015

How’s the city doing financially?

I have no idea.  The city has not been posting their interim financial statements on their web page.

The latest one is for the period ending April 30, 2015.  The report was finished May 28.

The March 2015 statement was finished April 27.

Using the old schedule we should have seen the June statements toward the end of July, the July statement toward the end of August, and the August statements in a week or so.

Who’s watching the store?  Certainly not the citizens.

The city has some published goals.  Number 5 is  “Promote Transparent and Consistent Communication Amongst All Members of the Community”.  Number 7 is ” Set the Standard for Sound Governance and Fiscal Management”.

Evidently neither is being taken seriously by city staff.

We deserve better

Brutus

5 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

No pretentions

September 18, 2015

The folks over at Ysleta are at least honest about what they might do if the voters give them the bond money they want:

All dollar amounts are preliminary estimates and such estimates and the projects themselves are subject to change. Inclusion of a specific project in the Facilities Master Plan is the Board’s current intention to implement such project but actual use of any voter-approved bond funds will be determined by subsequent action of the Board of Trustees.

That statement comes directly from their web site.

Any questions?

We deserve better

Brutus

3 Comments | Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

MPO deception

September 17, 2015

Our El Paso Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) is conducting a survey “about how you travel about the city”.  I got one in my mailbox the other day.

They evidently did not feel that anyone in El Paso could handle the job so they hired the Texas A&M Transportation Institute.  A&M in turn hired the ETC Institute out of Olathe, Kansas.  So much for buying local.

The accompanying letter says “We need your ideas.  We need your opinions”.  The survey is multiple choice and nowhere is there so much as a blank spot where you can share an idea or opinion.  It seems that they have made up their minds about what we need and the questions are probably designed to prove their point.

The letter goes on to say “Your participation is voluntary and your responses will remain anonymous”.  More on that later.

The second question asks:  “What are the names of the two cross streets closest to your home?”.  Being an anonymous survey this should give the researchers an indication of where you live and you the impression that they really don’t know who you are.  They ask questions about your commuting habits, bicycling, and walking.  Questions about important things like the condition of our streets did not make the cut.  This survey was designed to support an agenda that they already have.

They also ask about your health, physical condition, and exercise habits.

Then they get personal.  The want to know your gender, age, weight, height, ethnicity, relationship status, social media usage, and number of vehicles you have.  Let’s not forget that they also ask about your personal income.

They even ask “How happy, satisfied, or pleased have you been with your personal life?”.

Some of us might feel that it would be safe to answer those questions since our responses are anonymous.

Horse feathers!

At the bottom of the survey they have printed both your residence address and a serial number.

Anonymous my foot!

Are these people idiots or do they think that we are?

We deserve better

Brutus

5 Comments | City government, County Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Nearing the end

September 16, 2015

The Times is at it again, doing what they can to try to influence public opinion to support their chosen ones.

Their recent reporting on the county hospital/children’s hospital has been highlighting deficiencies in the arguments the children’s hospital is trying to make.

Make no mistake, the children’s hospital has gotten into a mess.  Their outrageously expensive interim management team is making the mess worse.  Unless a white knight swoops in at the last minute it looks like the hospital will fail.

What the Times is not highlighting is how this mess came about.  Feel free to add to this list:

  1. The hospital should never have been built.  Numerous studies pointed out that there was little need and the hospital would have little chance of being economically viable.
  2. Our county leaders decided that they knew better and sold us a bill of goods and a bond issue.
  3. While the studies predicted failure with a moderately sized facility our county leaders decided to build an even bigger one.
  4. Near opening day our county leaders played dirty pool and stalled the presentation of contracts between the two hospitals.  The leadership of the children’s hospital made a fatal mistake and accepted the contracts so that they could open the doors when they should have insisted on fair contracts.  Instead they believed the county pitch “trust me, I’m with the government”.
  5. Our county officials are charging the children’s hospital close to $10 million per year for rent even though the taxpayers are paying for the building separately through a bond issue.
  6. Rather than fix the mess when the children’s hospital fell behind on its payments, our county officials waited until the debt was insurmountable thus guaranteeing that the county would gain control.

The county got us into this mess and now we are going to have to pay for it.  More on that later.

We deserve better

Brutus

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

Thanks for all of your work–suckers

September 15, 2015

The pool situation is even worse than it looks.

The city went out to bid to have the pool built using the construction manager at risk method.  They received seven bids, all from local contractors.  Supposedly each of the firms is ready to get started tomorrow.

In a monumental abuse of the  contractors the city has now decided to use competitive sealed proposals.  Now that these seven firms have invested untold money hoping to get a fair break from the city and the city has seen all of their numbers, the city is going to use a different method of contracting.

Seven bids are already in.  The could start right now.  Instead, the city’s timeline now indicates that they should be through with the new bid process by May of 2016.  They say they will start construction after that with occupancy scheduled for fall of 2017.

Maybe they will award the bid to the same group that got San Jacinto Plaza.

We deserve better

Brutus

6 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

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