Valley of hope

November 26, 2013

It looks like one of our city representatives might be about to run for county judge.

I don’t know if he considers himself part of the 74 percent but he seems to be a proponent of smaller government — government that does those things that it is mandated to do and not much more.

Maybe one of our readers can help clarify this point.  I believe that if he does announce his candidacy he will have to resign from city council.  Actually state law removes him from office immediately if I am correct.

What will happen to his empty seat?  Once again I may be wrong but I think that city council gets to vote to fill his seat.  That would be an interesting process.

I think that they have to pick a citizen who has lived in his district for at least six months.  I suspect that it will be hard to find someone who will support the downtown crowd openly.  The voters in the district seem upset about the disproportionate efforts in downtown.

Maybe we would get a fiscal conservative.

We (the public) need to stay active in this process.

Eternal vigilance is the cost of liberty.

Cato

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

Another not so hidden cost

November 25, 2013

Following up on FedUp’s comment the other day it looks like they are at it again.

The Camino Real Regional Mobility Authority (CRRMA) is an organization that facilitates transportation projects according to the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) web site.

Stalled or parked?

Now it seems that the ball park or city hall destruction projects have created an opportunity or need to build a new parking garage in downtown.

The CRRMA has announced plans to spend $60,000 dollars on a study to see about building one.

Why?

Why can’t the CRRMA spend our  money on transportation projects.? Roads might be a good idea.

Who for?

Actually the city and the Downtown Management District will each kick in $20,000.  So is this a project that is needed because of the move of city hall and the building of the ball park?  It sure looks like the city is trying to find another entity to build something that the city needs.

Why study?

The study has not even been started but the city development department director was quoted in the Times as saying:  “There are not that many physical pieces of land with that kind of land mass to put a garage on Downtown”.  That was in response to the thought of building the garage on the land that the city bought when they bought the Times building.

It seems that the decision has already been made.  They want to (need to?) build another parking lot.  It looks like it will be next to the new city hall even though we were told that there is plenty of parking for city hall.  Heck they were even willing to share the existing flat parking lot  with a developer if he remodeled the old Downtowner Motor Inn.

Financing again

To make matters worse it looks like the CRRMA is considering revenue bonds to finance the garage.  Why can’t they tighten their belts a little and pay cash for things like this?  Financing often more than doubles the cost of projects.

We deserve better

Brutus

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

Supervising pronouns

November 24, 2013

Our new EPISD school superintendent was on a local television news program the other day.

When asked one particular question he replied “… me and my leadership team are going through all of those questions… ”

Let me point out that I am not a grammarian before any of my intrepid readers do.

However I think that our educators have an additional responsibility to speak correctly because they are a model that the students observe.  I think that our teachers should use proper language when they speak in front of students.

I think that our superintendent should do the same.

We deserve better

Brutus

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

Honest mistake?

November 23, 2013

If you eliminate the different policy points of view concerning the downtown management district assessment issue, you do come to one failure that should not be repeated.

To be clear, the executive director of the district has publicly taken responsibility for the mistake.

The district improperly reported that a member petition to raise their assessment had been approved by the proper percentage of property owners.

The result was that the amount assessed against the properties was improperly raised.

El Paso Inc. published this article Sunday, November 10, 2013.  The article might help you understand the policy issues.

Taking responsibility

I believe that the executive director should be applauded for taking responsibility for the mistake.  I also believe that she should see to it that this does not happen again.

We deserve better

Brutus

Leave a Comment » | City government, El Paso Inc. | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

El Paso county elections

November 22, 2013

Believe it or not, we have the primary election for members of commissioners court and the county judge coming up March 4, 2014.

Then El Paso will elect three out of the five members of the court  in November.

Three out of five gives us an opportunity to elect a panel that might govern the way we want them to.

Remember that our current court voted to spend over $150 million dollars for new medical clinics and remodeling part of the county hospital when the very future of health care and health care financing is uncertain.  Doctors in private practice are upset over this.  Voters wonder why we would spend this kind of money for county funded public health when the new national laws move us toward a situation where every person has health insurance.

Then there is talk of tearing down our county jail that was built in the 1980’s.

This week the county judge spoke of using money to fund a new county office building.  It seems that she thinks that having county offices dispersed in multiple buildings is inefficient.  We know that the city went in exactly the opposite direction last year.  It tore down it’s centralized city hall and is in the process of remodeling buildings to house city functions.

More spending

It seems to me that the thing the two approaches have in common is the opportunity for local government to spend more money.

We see school districts, the city, and now maybe the county failing to maintain buildings and ultimately electing to tear them down.

What will the citizens do?

74% of those that showed up to vote in the city elections sent a message to reign in this nonsense.

Top of the list told us how El Paso has the fourth highest tax rate of the 50 biggest cities in the nation.

Can we afford more?

We have an opportunity to get people elected to get the county back on track.  We need to get involved in the primary process and let the candidates know what we want them to do.

Eternal vigilance is the cost of liberty

Cato

4 Comments | City government, County Government, El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by Cato

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