Airport wrong, not Wright

August 27, 2013

Brownfield sent this post:

I have to question the money being spent at the El Paso Airport.
The following is a press release after city council approved the spending request.

$139M in Projects Includes Rental Garage, Runway Work

City Council approved the Department of Aviation’s five-year capital improvement plan this week which includes $139 million worth of projects planned for the El Paso International Airport. The projects listed in the plan should begin between fiscal years 2014 and 2018.
The largest single project will be the $45 million expansion of the rental car lot into a parking structure. The three level garage will be used by rental car companies for pick up and return of automobiles used by travelers. The Consolidated Rental Car Facility will be located immediately to the west of El Paso International Airport’s main terminal, steps away from the baggage claim area.
Concept design of the rental parking structure in the Southern Industrial Park Master Plan.
Included in the structure will be Ready and Return areas, customer kiosks, fueling and car wash areas, a light maintenance facility, and vehicle storage for use by the rental companies. It will include 650-700 parking stalls and be designed using Smart Growth and Congress for New Urbanism principles, including a focus on pedestrian accessibility.
Runway and taxiway work will use approximately $55 million over the next five years. Smaller projects include improvements to Airway Boulevard ($1 million), replacement of baggage claim units ($2.8 million), airfield perimeter roads ($3.35 million), and an upgrade to the central plant ($5.6 million).
Federal Aviation Administration grants will provide $55.97 million in funding with another $20.2 million coming from the Airport Enterprise Fund. Another $45 million will come from Customer Facility Charge fees and $18.3 million from Passenger Facility Charge fees.
END OF PRESS RELEASE

Comment

I can see the runway and taxiway improvements. The airfield perimeter roads are a disgrace and need urgent updating. I have no idea what the “central plant” is and therefore cannot comment intelligently about it. As for a parking garage are they kidding?  What for?  Damaging hail?  Increasing demand?  No and no. See the below article on El Paso airport passenger counts.

From another press release

Down 5.5 percent year over year for the first 7 months.
Passenger traffic at El Paso International Airport increased slightly in July from June, but decreased almost 9 percent from a year ago, new data show.
Passenger traffic for the first seven months of the year was down 5.5 percent from the same time in 2012, the airport reported.
The airport was used by 254,150 passengers in July – up 2,475 passengers from June, but down 24,198 passengers from July 2012. For the year through July, the airport was used by 1.59 million passengers – 92,364 fewer passengers than for the same seven months in 2012.
Freight traffic declined 3.1 percent in July compared to July 2012. For the first seven months of the year, freight traffic declined 6.8 percent compared to the same time last year to 51,431 tons.
END OF PRESS RELEASE

What about the Wright amendment dying in October of 2014? For those of you who do not know….the wright amendment affects El Paso and Albuquerque by making mainline commercial flights into and out of Dallas Love Field flights stop in places like ABQ, ELP, AMA, LBB, MAF before going to PHX LAX SAN LAS SFO etc and vice versa. Once this agreement dies in 2014 SWA will be able to overfly ABQ ELP etc and go non stop from Dallas Love to LAX SAN SFO PHX LAS. No question this will reduce the number of flights offered by SWA in and out of ELP.

Brownfield

3 Comments | Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Wishful thinking

August 27, 2013

The city manager’s budget introduction includes a 4.38% increase in sales tax revenue for the city next year.

Growth slow down

According to our local Federal Reserve Bank El Paso’s growth last year was 2.1%.

Also according to our local Federal Reserve Bank “Economic activity in the El Paso metropolitan area has slowed in recent months.”  “So far this year the El Paso index has averaged 0.9 percent annualized growth”.

 Who to believe

Given a choice between the city’s number and the Fed. I would listen to the Fed.  The numbers coming out of city hall recently have been notoriously wrong.

If the city is wrong then we should see lower than predicted Hotel Occupancy Tax collections (raising our cost to finance the ballpark) as well as sales tax revenue shortfalls.  That will probably lead to a double whammy and operating budget cuts during the year.

Last year the city had to institute spending restrictions mid-year because city staff planned to get 3 million dollars in extra property tax revenue from the refinery.

This is such a shame when prudent management could avoid the shortfall by reducing spending.

We deserve better

Brutus

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

Coincidence?

August 26, 2013

City staff is going to ask city council for permission to issue 65 million dollars worth of certificates of obligation at the August 27, 2013 city council meeting.

It appears that the purpose is to pay for the projects that the prior council authorized last year.

A little over 1.1 million dollars of the money is for the “Bataan Railway Reconstruction Project”.

Is this a ballpark cost?  Not according to the city.  The railway just happens to be physically adjacent to the new ballpark.  In fact from what I can see much of the seating on the first base line will be either over the railway or right next to it.

We have to wonder what the effects of noise, vibration, and fumes will be when a train passes during a ball game.  I hope that tickets for those seats cost less.

Remember that in Robbing Peter is robbery I pointed out how certain projects that should be part of the ballpark are being run separately thus keeping the public from knowing the true cost of the ballpark.

When will all of the construction bids be in so that we will know what they are willing to claim the cost is?

We deserve better

Brutus

Leave a Comment » | Ball park, City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Tax Increases

August 25, 2013

The city just raised it’s property tax rate.  The owner of a home of average value ($124,000) will be charged $28.37 more this year.

The city also raised the environmental fee on your garbage bill $2 a month.  That adds $24 per year to our bills, putting the real increase at $52.37.

Did the city’s environmental costs double in one year?  According to the El Paso Times  the extra money will be used to support street sweeping, median maintenance, and the animal shelter.

This is a tax increase too.

Next

The hospital district is said to be considering a tax increase that will add another $28 to the tax bill on that $125 thousand dollar home.

Then we have the county that added $62 per year to the average home’s tax bill last year.  The county is said to be considering yet another increase this year to help with their “needs”.

And then

The Ysleta district just passed a $26 annual increase on their average sized home ($107,000).

It looks like the El Paso Independent School District will add $5 per month to the onslaught.

The El Paso Community College district is the last major taxer and is considering an 8% increase that would add $18 to our bills.

Not done yet

For the average home in the Ysleta district we are at about $125 per year in increases before the county piles on.

We deserve better

Brutus

1 Comment | City government, County Government, El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Bicyclists, Do You Obey the Law?

August 24, 2013

This was sent to me today.  The author asked that I post it.

Tragically, a 9 year-old boy lost his life this week when he collided with a vehicle. A car hit and killed another bicyclist last week. Such accidents sadden all El Pasoans and when a child is involved it is even more tragic.

The investigation of both accidents is on-going. In the meantime, the El Paso Bicycle Club member quoted in the El Paso Times today seems to be blaming motorists and the law. “We have seen an increase of accidents because cycling is growing and people are not aware of the laws in place to protect cyclists and the laws aren’t strong enough.”

http://elpasotimes.tx.newsmemory.com/?token=a23HXgzJsfxavxesb9KiFCYtx0XjaMzl

Well, according to the BikeTexas website

http://www.biketexas.org/es/infrastructure/texas-bicycle-laws

Bicyclists have the rights and duties of other vehicle operators: (551.101) Yes, this means you have to stop at stop signs and red lights, but cars are required to yield right-of-way to a bicycle when appropriate, just as to any other vehicle.

According to my personal observations and those of friends, it seems very rare for a bicyclist in El Paso to obey the motor vehicle laws. (It’s even more rare for the police to issue a ticket to a bicyclist, but that’s another issue). Only once have I seen a bicyclist stop at a stoplight and wait until it turned green to proceed. That particular stoplight happened to be at a busy intersection and the bicyclist would have been crazy not to wait for a green light. Most of the time, bicyclists will run a red light after merely slowing down and glancing both ways.

I’m a careful driver. I always give bicyclists the required 3 feet or change lanes if I can. I yield even when the bicyclist is disobeying the law. But recently I almost hit a bicyclist in broad daylight when he turned left in front of me illegally. Luckily, we both stopped before colliding. Otherwise, there might have been another headline about a bicyclist’s death and a member of the El Paso Bicycle Club saying motorists need to know the law.

The law states that bicyclists must obey the motor vehicle laws. If not now, when?

Balmorhea

3 Comments | Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

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