When resolving is dissolving

August 6, 2015

City council voted the other day to put several questions to the public relating to our city charter.  The election will be held November 3, 2015.

Evidently someone thinks that it is getting too troublesome to be transparent about council’s land dealings. One of the city charter ballot initiatives to be considered reads:

Should sections 3.9 C and 3.18 of the City Charter, relating to the use of ordinances, be amended to allow the City Council the option of using a resolution for acts that do not specifically require the use of an ordinance pursuant to other applicable law, including the conveyance, lease or grant of a franchise of city property, the adoption of an administrative code, and the establishment, abolishment or alteration of any City departments?

Proposed ordinances have to go through a multi-week process with the public first being notified and then ultimately a vote being taken.

Resolutions simply require a majority vote of the council members present.  Resolutions can be added to an agenda after the agenda is published.  Emergencies do come up, after all.

These people are asking for the right to have city council make deals on property without the public having a chance to react.

We deserve better

Brutus

 

4 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

They bid us adieu

August 5, 2015

Since we’ve been talking about the Times these last weeks, a short comment about their Monday, July 27, 2015 issue might be appropriate.

What a waste!

They had some articles about some motor vehicle accidents where unfortunately some people died.  They gave us a list of someone’s most wanted criminals.  They wrote about some local students studying earthquake aftershocks in a foreign county.

We didn’t see any investigative reporting focused on our local problems, although the day before they wrote of our “staggering” problem of people opting to leave town and the need for improved governance.

They even wrote about our county government taking a purchase out to bid.

On second thought that could be news if the county conducted the bid fairly.

We deserve better

Brutus

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

Winged wonder

August 4, 2015

Well.

It seems that our county hospital administrator and 60 local physicians have a difference of opinion over what the truth is.

Sixty or so local pediatricians released a letter that you can read here.

The letter was strongly worded and included this statement:

The claim that EPCH (El Paso Children’s Hospital) doctors personally support Mr. Valenti is at best a strategic deception and is more likely plain perjury given that Mr. Valenti was under oath while making this statement.

Perjury

Wow!  You have to wonder how the federal bankruptcy judge will react to the situation.  Whether our hospital administrator is charged with perjury or not, it is clear that this group of doctors wants nothing to do with him.  The other local hospitals have got to be elated over this.  If the county hospital does end up running the children’s hospital it does not look like this group of pediatricians will be using the children’s hospital unless they absolutely have to.

The El Paso Times published a balanced article about the controversy.  Included in the article was a link to a portion of a sworn deposition that our county hospital administrator gave.  Read it here.

The excerpt included a lot of whining and posturing but this jewel is unbelievable:

What we’re trying to do is allow the Children’s to be under the shelter of the district’s wing — envision a bird’s wing — under the safety and security of the district.

I’m trying to imagine what kind of bird our hospital administrator had in mind.  I also can’t imagine that our readers think of the administrator as a benevolent force in this situation.

Our county commissioners must take action here.

We should not let them allow this to continue.

We deserve better

Brutus

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

Privileged few

August 3, 2015

Item 15.1 on the July 28, 2015 city council agenda was another item concerning downtown.

After council finished their consent agenda the representative from district 8 asked that the mayor bring the item forward for consideration before the lower numbered items.  The people involved are after all important, evidently more important than the rest of us.

The city gave a little more than a third of an acre of land adjacent to the Mills building  to the owners of the Mills building for $10.00.  The building owners have promised to spend more than $400,000 dollars to improve the land.

The individuals were never mentioned by name.  That way many members of the public did not know who the involved parties were.  Council evidently does not want to be too transparent.

The improvements sound like a good deal for the community but I wonder how successful one of us would be getting land for free if we wanted to build something on property  that the city owns.

We deserve better

Brutus

 

6 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Evidently they can get something done when they want to

August 2, 2015
This note came in anonymously:
FYI…
I was heading Downtown on Yandell when the road was closed off at Yandell and Ochoa.
Lots of city owned trucks and equipment along with city workers on the other side of the roadblock..
Then I saw the street is being repaired and they’re putting in new curbs and shrubbery (LOTS of shrubbery).
Pretty obvious that the city is beautifying the street right in front of St Clements Youth Activity Center.
You have to hurry and go by to see the enormity of this project to appreciate how expensive this is probably costing us.
Puts the work being done at San Jacinto to shame………

8 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

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