Haste makes waste

May 19, 2013

I’ve been wondering about the salvage process down at the city hall rubble site.  Could we have done better?

Mentions were made in the newspaper that doors and other things were being saved.

I drove by the site the other day and saw that some of the air conditioning equipment had been removed before the implosion.  That is good if we somehow saved some money considering the cost of the chiller — $677,000 (see Why rig a bid when you can fool city council?).

It was a shame that we could not do something with the five year old radio system that city staff was going to be imploded with the building (see City Hall Relocation).  Donating or selling it to another city would have been nice.  We ended up spending $20 million for a new system.  Moving the old one while keeping police and fire running was evidently too hard.

I suspect that we lost significant value because of the haste in getting out of the building and preparing the way for construction of the new ball park.  Think of what one extra month would have allowed us to salvage.

The contract for demolition of the building was a private one between the ball park construction company and the demolition company, so we may never know who if anyone profited from any salvage taken out of city hall.

I don’t bring this up with the claim of any wrong-doing.  I do think it would have been better if the ball park steam roller had gotten into action one month earlier.  We could have saved money.  We now know that it was under consideration for years before it became public.  Thinking about it now we could even have saved city hall by putting the ball park somewhere else downtown.

Haste makes waste.

We deserve better

Brutus

3 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Testing, testing 1,2,3

May 18, 2013

The Texas senate has passed a bill that would reduce the number of tests that a student would have to take to graduate high school from 15 to 5.

Good!

I don’t know how this would  affect the lower grades but I do know that we are spending too much time preparing for and taking tests.  Teachers that I know are virtual slaves to the testing regimen to the extent that they teach to the test, not to the subject.

In my time we took standardized tests, both the Iowa and California ones.  The results reflected on us as students.  The results reflected on our parents.  Poor results brought the parents to the schools to find out what was wrong.  Was the child incapable?  Was the child not diligent?  Was the teacher not doing the proper job?

The families got involved and did not leave it up to our state government to see that the student progressed.

Now unfortunately we seem to have a nanny state where our government is acting to replace parenting.

Let the free market handle this.  A poorly educated student yields a low paid employee.  Parents used to recognize this.  Students were told this over and over.

Give the students a helping hand, not a push.

Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty

Cato

3 Comments | El Paso Independent School District, Federal Government, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Cato

A little help from the Times

May 17, 2013

We are hearing a lot of discussion around town about the Times’ using their editorial policy to slant what they publish.

Maybe suggesting news stories that they could publish would help.

My first suggestion would be a story about how city council is considering ordinances next Tuesday, May 21, 2013 to rezone over 1,100 acres of essentially residential property that was developed decades ago.  It seems that they want to change these areas to SCZ zoning (smart code zone).

You may agree that this would be a good idea or then again you might not.  Either way rezoning thousands of residences without public debate is shameful.  It is typical of this city council.

The article could point out that the items have been postponed twice, probably to consider them only after the election.  One current city council member who could not run again instead chose to run for the EPISD school board.  I can’t help but wonder what the residents of her school board district would have done had they known that she was advocating changing the rules on their property.

Muckraker

4 Comments | City government, El Paso Independent School District, El Paso Times | Permalink
Posted by Muckraker

Appraisal uprisal

May 17, 2013

Commercial property owners in town have just received their new valuations from the Central Appraisal District.

Many have seen increases of 200 to 240% from last year to this.  If all property in the area went up by the same percentage our individual taxes would remain essentially flat.

Unfortunately that will not be the case.  The district seems to have a policy of raising values indiscriminately and waiting for the property owner to protest.  We know that they do not actually do an appraisal.  They simply place a value on the property with the hope that it will hold.  If you keep quiet you lose.

I have heard many horror stories from property owners who went to the district to protest valuations themselves.  If you have never been through this be prepared for an incredibly unfair journey.  Staff will set you up for failure at your hearing.  When you are at the hearing and learn what you should have done to prepare you will be told that you have already had your chance.  Better luck next time.

You should protest.  You should be prepared.  Talk with someone who has been through the process successfully.

Another approach is to hire a firm that will handle the protest for you and charge you a percentage of the amount that they save you.  While I do not condemn those people who provide the service, think of the situation.  We have a government agency that is so hard to deal with that you have to hire representation.  I am not talking about complex legal or tax matters.  Every property owner knows that his property is worth and can prove it.

The district is run by a board that is made up of elected officials.  Shame on them.

Our alternative to higher taxes is to go to the district and protest.  If politeness does not work you should demand your rights as a citizen.  Remember the the review board that you will be presenting to is paid by the district.  What is worse is that the district gets to choose who stays on the board and who is let go.

Most of us don’t have a problem paying our fair share.  These people are thugs.

They need to hear from us in person.

We deserve better

Brutus

2 Comments | City government, County Government, El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

The Black Kettle

May 16, 2013

The El Paso Times, this morning, showed their mettle when they flately stated that all the advertising dollars will not buy their suppport. Seems like they were bothered when Mayor Leeser cut his new car advertising in the paper after they tried to do a hatchet job on him. Needless to say, the complaint against Leeser had no validity. The Paper did their best to carefully craft attacks on the front runners Leeser, Haddad and Cormel. The accusatory headlines, followed by first page implicaations and finally on pages 4-6, nothing but inuendos and no meat. Now lets talk about Stevie Boy who with the Progressive council, gave the Paper 10 millions dollars for a white elephant that was draining the newspaper and had no takers to buy. If they abandoned the building, it would be another empty downtown structure nobody wanted and cost them millions in upkeep. So “thank you, Stevie”, you get our star billing.
His countenance and ideas take up the front page of the paper and the other candidates, mentioned on, where else, pages 4 and 6. Then there is Cormel’s delinquent property tax that wasn’t delinquent, Leeser’s and Haddad’s rap sheet that wasn’t a rap sheet. Any question about about Ortega? He voted to knock down the City Hall which was on land that the Railroad owned. That would be funny but they (we) paided dearly for the “oops” with the Railroad, paying top dollar for the land and having to close strategic RR crossings they requested, resulting in pure chaos for the citizens, the students and the Water district. To Quiet the Crazies, These dead end streets were labeled as “Quiet zones” and told they should have attended the City meetings and voiced their complaints.

How’s our credo go? “Don’t let those who caused the problem, solve the Problem”.

7 Comments | Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by M.T. Cicero

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