Wolves in sheep’s clothing

January 23, 2015

We have an important set of elections coming up in May.  The school districts combined with the city account for 75% of our local taxes.

Now is the time to encourage people to get involved.  Run for office.  Find someone to run for office.  Support someone running for office.  We don’t deserve better if we don’t get involved.

I ran across this quote from Thomas Jefferson the other day:

“If once the people become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, Judges and Governors, shall all become wolves. It seems to be the law of our general nature, in spite of individual exceptions.”

Thank you

A number of our readers publish links to this blog on a daily basis.  We thank you.

Our purpose is to stimulate involvement without regard to position.  We encourage those of you who would like to contribute to the blog to let us know.  We try to stay away from being personal or vulgar.

We deserve better, but we have to work for it.

Brutus

 

7 Comments | City government, El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Maybe we should not own our schools

January 22, 2015

The El Paso Independent School District is conducting a public relations campaign concerning the condition of our schools.

They have studies that indicate that it will take over $800 million  to repair our schools.  Since they will probably have to use bond money to pay for the projects we will end up paying the $800 million and the financing costs probably bringing our ultimate cost to over a billion dollars.  Then the schools won’t be maintained and the cycle will start over.

Our school board is supposed to operate with a budget that is in balance.  Past boards as well as this current board of managers have failed to pay for repairs as they are needed.  The situation is not unusual.  While state law requires balanced budgets, our local governmental agencies frequently neglect paying for building upkeep until it takes so much money to make the repairs that bond money is required.

Our county hospital is an example.  Of the $152 million the county authorized to build new outpatient facilities $27 million was really needed to remodel some floors at the hospital.  The hospital simply has failed to maintain it’s facilities through the annual budget process.

Is there a different way?

I don’t know if this idea is practical and would like input from our readers.  Would a public/private partnership make sense in light of the fact that our local governments like to ignore their basic operating costs?  Would it be practical for a private entity to build the new schools that are being promoted by the district and then lease the facilities to us with maintenance included?  Would this kind of approach bring us back to a “pay as you go” situation?

I do know that these governments have not been honest with us.

We deserve better

Brutus

8 Comments | County Government, El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

San Jacinto update

January 21, 2015

The city has a web camera that lets us look at San Jacinto Plaza today as well as what it looked like going back to May of 2014.

The original contract was let in January of 2014 with a one year completion planned.  The contractor that won the bid offered to do the work for $4.5 million while the losing contractors were each asking for more than $7 million.  Various news outlets and the city itself are now telling us that it is a six million dollar project.

Looking at the city’s web site the other day this was their claim:

The project will be largely completed by the end of January 2015; under the contract authorized by City Council in January 2014, contractors would then have the month of February to complete any minor items and put finishing touches in place.

How are they doing?

The camera archive provided this picture of what the site looked like on May 30, 2014.

sanjacinto05302014

On January 12, 2015 with two and a half weeks left before scheduled completion this is what it looked like:

sanjacinto01122015

It looks like they have been able to kill a few trees.

Will anyone be held accountable for this mess?

We deserve better

Brutus

14 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Stand Up For Our Children’s Education

January 20, 2015

This from Xavier Miranda:

Once again, the suspension of democracy is evident in the El Paso Independent School District.

The Steering Committee presentation on the proposed closure of 22 schools has been removed from the agenda at the upcoming January 21 Board of Managers meeting.  The Steering Committee will now meet at 2:30PM on the same date, along with the Jacobs Engineering firm, at the EPISD offices.  Here is the link:  SPECIAL MEETING.  To my knowledge, this will be an open meeting, but without Public Comment.

If rumors abound, it is because there is a lack of transparency.  The Steering Committee, district administrators, and the Board of Managers should heed the voice and petitions of our children and parents, by postponing any further actions until a duly-elected Board of Trustees is in place.

Regardless, community members and elected officials are asked to attend this Wednesday, January 21, 2015 at 5 PM to speak in opposition of the proposed closures.

Of particular interest on this week’s EPISD agenda is the district’s intent to secede from the Texas Retirement System (TRS) health care program, which would subsequently open the door for private insurance companies such as HUB International to secure lucrative contracts with our district.

Questions of conflict of interest arise when Board of Managers President Dee Margo’s son, Dee Margo III has already been awarded a contract with the district, evident by the employment of the benefit specialists in this link.  The approval process included the elder Margo, of whom should have recused himself.

The bottom line is that our children will be displaced from their neighborhood schools, bussed to higher populated settings and enrolled in Kindergarten through 8th grade systems.

Our engagement is of essence — our children deserve an education that nurtures democracy, not one that views them as commodities.

Regards,

Xavier Miranda

El Paso Grassroots

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

Naturally secret

January 19, 2015

The situation at San Jacinto Plaza is getting worse.

The local blog elpasonaturally has published some posts telling us that the city’s Christmas tree has been damaged by the contractor during the re-re-re-modeling of the park.

According to the blog the city and the contractor have both violated the city’s rules that specify how trees are to be handled during construction.

Now it appears that the city may not try to save the tree and will remove (kill) it.

Another problem

Also troubling is what the city manager wrote in an email to city council:

“Staff has proposed alternatives to me, and apparently somehow the information has made it out to the public.”

The very thought of a public servant serving the public is evidently an abnormal event and it sounds like he plans to investigate the leak.  Maybe they should kill the tree in executive session.

Not complex

Holding someone accountable should not be difficult here.  The city has a project manager assigned to the job.  Where has he been while the contractor has been killing the tree?

The contractor should also be held accountable.

That is unless the plan has been to get rid of the tree all along.

We deserve better

Brutus

 

15 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

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