Shadow government

February 8, 2013

The El Paso Times (giving credit where credit is due) pointed to something fascinating in their February 6, 2013 edition.  I would post the link here but am incapable of finding the article in their web edition.  To me their site is hard to figure out and unbelievably sluggish.  Things flash around, voice recordings accost,  and searching for articles is hard.

They wrote “After executive session, the council directed the city attorney to draft an ordinance on how the city should handle public information requests”.

I can’t wait.  What mischief are they up to now?  Have they found some clever way to subvert our right to examine the goings on at the city?

They already use many tricks to avoid what Texas state law requires them to do.

“… what evil lurks in the hearts of men?”  Stay tuned!  This has real potential.

Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.

Cato

Leave a Comment » | City government, El Paso Times, Open Government, State Government | Permalink
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Helping the team

February 7, 2013

In an article Saturday (February 2, 2013) the El Paso Times wrote “A Socorro City Council member was secretly recorded offering Licon Dairy a $40,000 advertising campaign in exchange for its support of the city’s controversial annexation plan that includes part of San Elizario.”  You can read the article here.

In Texas either party to a telephone conversation can record it without notifying the other party.  I doubt the council member recorded it.  That only leaves the dairy guy unless the call was recorded illegally.  That leads me to conclude that it was in effect a setup.  The dairy guy probably led the council member on in order to get the recording and to use it to fight the annexation plan..

The Times makes no mention of any law being broken.  Nothing is said about any law enforcement agency getting involved.  Why would the Times take the bait and write about the recording, thus helping one side and hurting the other?

Is it possible that the real issue here is that the City of Socorro is trying to annex some land that the cabal that is controlling things downtown  doesn’t want them to have?

I’m confused.  How should I categorize the $9.4 million that the City of El Paso paid the owners of the Times recently?  The city got a building and two parking lots for the money.  Did the city get anything else?  How long does a subscription to the “I won’t criticize your government” service cost?  Does the subscription include the Times carrying your water for some period of time?

The Times published a front page article about something that I would rather not have had happen.  So far no one has said the conversation was illegal.

I have high hopes for the Times as an institution that helps us to improve our governments.  I quote Julianne Schultz:  “The assertion by journalists and editors of independence from proprietors and sources is essential if authority for the Fourth Estate is to remain relevant …”.

What about all of the stuff that is happening to us over at the city?  Why won’t the Times write about that?

We deserve better

Brutus

1 Comment | City government, County Government, El Paso Times | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

More on the roll-out (roll over) plan

February 6, 2013

Yesterday I wrote about the city’s proposed bond roll-out plan.

Looking at it more closely I see that staff has chosen to categorize  project status as MP (for Master Planning), B (Bid Activity), L (Land Acquisition), D (Design), or C (Construction).

I see many projects that are designated C meaning the phase the city puts them in is construction.

I don’t see a single B for bidding.  Have they already done the bidding?  Doesn’t hiring a contractor come before starting construction?

The city’s fiscal year starts September 1.  We are now five months through fiscal year 2013.  According to the document the city plans to go through the whole process (planning, land acquisition, design, bidding, construction) for some of the projects in the remaining seven months of this year.  I guess maybe they plan to cut corners.  Doing the right thing seems to take too much time.

One project that caught my attention is listed as “Convention Center North Pedestrian Pathway”.  The city plans to spend $500 thousand on  this item.  What is this?  The convention center is bounded on the north by the Bataan Memorial Trainway which puts the trains below street level.  Is the city planning to build a path over this?

North from the convention center, the adjacent facility will be our new ball park.  Is this project really part of the ball park and have we been fooled into financing it through the bond issue?

We were told that the ball park would be primarily financed through the hotel occupancy tax.  Is this a way of burying part of the true costs of the ball park?

We deserve better

Brutus

3 Comments | City government, Purchasing | Permalink
Posted by Cato

What committee? We didn’t promise to listen!

February 5, 2013

Tuesday’s (February 5, 2013) city council agenda has item 11 on it.  The text is “Presentation, discussion and action on the proposed three-year implementation plan for projects authorized under the 2012 Quality of Life General Obligation Bond for the purposes of constructing new and improved amenities for parks and recreation facilities, open space improvements, libraries, museums, the Zoo, neighborhood improvements and cultural and performing arts facilities.”  You can read the attachment here.

The presentation is from the interim city engineer.  The are setting the schedule of what gets done and when.

What happened to the Bond Overview Advisory Committee?  Remember them?  The committee was formed to assure the citizens (crazies and amateurs to some down at the city) that the bond money would be spent properly.  I previously wrote about how council wanted to stack the board after the bonds passed.  The post was named Council Deceit.  Now in addition to stacking the board they appear to be ignoring it.

Why is this presentation coming from the interim city engineer?  Why is council proposing to take “action”?  Where is the input from the committee?

For that matter why isn’t the committee listed on the city web site where the other boards and committees are?  Have they even held a meeting?  Are they going to?  What about public participation?

City staff may be able to rush the committee into the council meeting.  Make no mistake though, the presentation is from city staff without the oversight committee.  Page 3 of the presentation is titled “Plan Approach”.  The Bond Overview Advisory Committee (BOAC) is not even mentioned.

The duties of the BOAC are “The BOAC shall meet at least quarterly to review information from applicable City Departments regarding the voter approved 2012 Bond Issue Projects (2012 Bond Projects) for the purpose of reporting periodically, in conjunction with City staff, but not less than twice a year, to the Mayor and Council on the status of progress of the 2012 Bond Projects.”

So now city staff comes forward and wants council to approve their three year implementation plan, evidently without the BOAC being involved.

Unbelievable!

We deserve better

Brutus

1 Comment | City government | Permalink
Posted by Cato

No voters wanted

February 4, 2013

Today (February 4, 2013) is the day that hearings start in Travis County relative to the City of El Paso wanting a declaratory judgment that what it has done to finance the ball park and move city hall is legal.

Declaratory judgment  explains the issue.

City council could have had the hearings in El Paso. The law gave them a choice. Local judges would probably have run from the case, but a visiting judge from out of town could easily have been appointed.

If the hearings were in El Paso we would have had an opportunity to voice our thoughts. The city chose to have the hearings in Travis County so that we would not attend.

This single act shows most clearly that we have a run-away city council that does not want input from the voters.

Shame!

The voting results that show who is doing this to us can be seen here on pages 17 and 18.

Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.

Cato

Leave a Comment » | City government, Open Government, State Government | Permalink
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