elpasospeak

Special thanks to The El Paso Times.  They chose to partially cover the contentious discussion at city council yesterday about the closing of seven rail road crossings on page 2B today (you can read the article here).  The closings are part of the deal that the city had to make to get the land to build the ball park.  See Train wreck by Brutus.

I have not seen the video yet but the article once again tells us a lot by what it does not say.

Three representatives from the Ysleta Independent School District were concerned about the unintended consequences of the closures and the fact that the school district was not notified.  Two city representatives “stood up” to them and pointed out that they had been holding community meetings for years.  Evidently the representatives feel that the city government can operate without regard for other governments and their agencies in El Paso.  The attitude seems to be “we hold meetings, you need to come bow before us, we have no obligation to reach out to you”.

The closing vote passed by six to two.  Most interesting to me is that the article did not mention the city representative who is running for mayor.  Did he sit back and let other council members carry the ball in this issue where parts of El Paso got sold down the river for the sake of the city hall destruction/ball park deal?  Or did he speak up for the progress that he and his cabal are inflicting on us?

Either way the Times should have told us.  The man is running for the office of mayor.  We have the right to know about his actions on council.  Maybe the reporter got tied up in traffic going to the candidate’s campaign office.

Muckraker

I wrote this back in December 2012 and forgot to publish it.  I still think it is relevant.

I read the guest column written by one of our city representatives and printed in the El Paso Times Sunday (Dec. 9, 2012).

I agree with much of what she wrote but was taken back by her closing paragraph. She wrote “These negative, personal attacks and unfounded allegations must stop.”

Firstly I wonder who she thinks she is. She works for us. We should tell her what to do, not vice/versa. Evidently she thinks that she is in charge and that of course is a large part of our problem with the current, temporary, city government.

Beyond that, I would like to suggest that the people in city government stop calling us citizens “crazies” and “amateurs” as has recently happened. Our government is founded on citizens who are “amateurs” in government affairs electing our representatives. Most of us think that our elected representatives should be “amateurs” and not professional politicians.

Lastly, it would be more appropriate for the city representative to caution the city staff and the other representatives to be more respectful of the citizens and each other. They have unfortunately been saying disparaging things about each other and the citizens. They are way out of line.

She should clean up her own house and then bite her tongue when wanting to criticize the citizenry.

We deserve better

Brutus

The El Paso Times is not pulling its punches.

Yesterday’s front page said it all.

Mr. Progressive Ortega’s continence dominated the front page, just below the Headlines, Mayoral Election.  Four other minor candidates are sitting in the background listening to his every word. Again just below the photo, Mr. Ortega is mentioned 6 times including his recent support of the Baseball stadium before any of the other candidates are named. Seven candidates were mentioned in 50 words or less before being relegated to page 9A. “Very convenient, my dear Watson“.

Seems the “Ortega for Mayor” and the El Paso Times offices are both at 500 W. Overland, all be it different suites, 250 and 150.  With all the vacancies Downtown, you would think a progressive….Stop with the Sherlock!!

Coincidence?

I’ve said enough. What do you think, Brutus?

M. T. Cicero