Cityhallmobile

February 18, 2013

Quality of life

Libraries are an important part of this.

The city of Tucson does not operate libraries.  That is done by Pima county.  The 2012/2013 budget for Pima county allocates $34 million to operate the library system.  Given that Tucson includes about half the population of the county, you could calculate that about $17 million is the share for the city of Tucson.  That comes to about $32.32 being spent per person.

El Paso spends $8.9 million or $13.43 per person to operate our libraries.

Disgraceful!

Nationally in 2009 total library expenditures per capita were $36.84, a 10-year increase of 12.6 percent.  The American Library Association report is here.

We talk about needing to increase the education level in our community.  How does this process of tearing down city hall and remodeling multiple new building help that?

We are spending our tax money for the convenience of the cabal running the city instead of on our citizens.

We deserve better

Brutus

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Park yourself in my feathered nest

February 17, 2013

Quality of life

I think that parks and recreation would fall in that category for most people.

The 2013 El Paso city budget allocates $12.2 million dollars for this.  With our population being just at 666,000 that works out to  about $18.32 being spent for each person or almost 3.6% of the city general fund expenditures.

Tucson allocates $54.1 million dollars.  That includes about $3 million for the zoo.  In El Paso the Zoo is a separate budget item so we need to subtract that out.  With a population of about 526,000 they end up spending $97.15 per person or 11.4% of their general fund.

Is it because El Paso is poorer?  According to the census bureau  Tucson’s per capita income is about 8% higher than El Paso’s.  Property taxes?  State income tax?  Those may be different, but it comes down to this:

No matter how you measure it Tucson spends a much larger percentage of their general fund on parks and recreation than El Paso does.

Why?  Think of what must be more than $70 million at this point that they are spending to move city hall.  Our city officials are spending the money on themselves.

Heck, they have even kicked people out of a recreation facility to make room for some of their offices while the construction orgy is proceeding.

We deserve better

Brutus

2 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

True cost of the moves

February 16, 2013

I have written before about getting at the true cost of the moves from the soon to be demolished city hall into the multiple buildings that city council has chosen.

My last number came to $63.9 million.  The city told us it would be $33 million on this page on the city’s web site.

I have been trying to keep that number updated, but it appears that we will not know about major parts of it until they are done.  As Call Me Crazy commented on  More on the roll-out (roll over) plan a city representative was quoted in the Times as saying  “The city has already spent around $300 million publicly funding Downtown revitalization.”  What is that all about?

The deception continues.  The city has been issuing contracts for job order contracts for construction work.  They are using these contracts for work related to the move out of city hall.  Unfortunately state law does not require them to present these projects to city council unless the cost for an individual project exceeds $500,000.

In Minimal due to condition of building we saw that the city has been issuing work orders under the $500,000 threshold for work on these buildings.  Since they do not have to publish the work orders, we will have to wait to get them through what are commonly called open records requests.

The city is under no obligation to produce a document that does not exist.  We must wait to find out the true story.

We will though.

In the mean time I will turn to what the city is not spending money on and how we compare to other cities.

We deserve better

Brutus

1 Comment | City government, Open Government, Purchasing, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Change is in the wind

February 15, 2013

I don’t know what was behind city council deciding to do the right thing and take the petition to stop the destruction of  to the next election.  They have one or two more voting opportunities where they could change their mind.

I do know that I don’t trust them and fear that they have this figured out.  It is an easy prediction that city hall will be torn down before the election.  Then again maybe the judge will let the people decide.

We have unfortunately already spent a bunch of money moving out of city hall and remodeling old buildings.  Some people will take that into account and feel that we have gone past the point of no return.  We will have to honor the contracts that have been issued.

Others will think that we need to send a message to city council and the city staff, even if it means that we end up losing what we have spent.  They have been ignoring us and wasting our tax money.

Think about what will happen if the move proceeds.  City departments will be scattered all over town.  Citizen access will be impaired.  Organizationally it will be harder to manage the city staff.  Staff will become quite effective at running us all around town to get us to give up.  It is a mess and will only get worse.

An election is coming up in May.  Do your job.  Exercise your power as a voter.  You are in charge.

Ask the candidates how they will respond to and treat the voters if they are elected.  If you believe them and like their approach give them your vote.  Then hold them accountable.

We deserve better

Brutus

1 Comment | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Disenfranchised

February 14, 2013

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) wants to strip the El Paso Independent School District Board of Trustees of  its power.

When the TEA placed the district on probationary status they evidently laid a land mine that allows the commissioner of the TEA to appoint a board to run the district.  However other provisions of the Texas Education Code make the board the ultimate power.

I guess it will be up to the courts to decide who will be in control.

For my part this board should be replaced.  The question is how.

We, the citizens of El Paso, elected this board.  Good or bad they are what we wanted at the time.  Our school district is supposed to be “independent”.  We are  to choose it’s leaders — not some appointed bureaucrat at the TEA.

The TEA should have the right to demand certain types of performance.  They should have the right to sanction  districts that do not perform up to state standards.  They should have the right to remove accreditation from the district.  After all they are the ones that grant it.  Removing accreditation from the district would put the voters into a frenzy.  The voters  would solve the problem themselves.

I would like to see the board resign if somehow it can be reconstituted with new members before the next election.

Certainly we should vote for different people next time.

An unspoken problem is who we can vote for.  Ask virtually any person of integrity and proven skills  (of running a large organization) to stand for election and they will say no — often colorfully.  The grief that they would expose themselves to is overwhelming.

The TEA is trying to install a board of managers to control the district.  The chosen composition of the board is a disgrace.  See Foxes in the Henhouse.  If this must happen, can’t we have better choices?  The commissioner chose poorly when he constituted his group.

What do we do if after the election the commissioner still feels that his board is better than our choice?  He is under no obligation to dissolve his posse.

Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty

Cato

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Posted by Cato

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