One of the most non-controversial members of council will be leaving to run for the seat being vacated by San Antonio resident, Cesar Blanco. Councilwoman Ordaz is looking to be called Representative Ordaz... Which is great, I guess. Here's my... Brad Kanus

Early voting seems to be rather sparse.

1,048 votes were cast on Monday, October 21.

1,043 were cast on Tuesday, October 22.

Please ask everyone you know to vote.

We deserve better

Brutus

 

Donald Trump publicly capitulated to Russia yesterday on live television. Yesterday, Trump declared that the cease fire in […]

Great win for those people who hate private property rights! The rest of you are kind of screwed. I mean, if you yourself is more than 50 years old, He Who Shall Not Be Named Because He Has An Army... Brad Kanus

If you live in the Ysleta school district you get to vote on this:

The issuance of bonds in the amount of $425,000,000 for the designing, constructing, renovating, improving, acquiring, and
equipping school facilities, and the purchase of the necessary sites for school facilities, and the purchase of new buses to transport
students and the levying of the tax in payment thereof.

The district tells us that the cost will be $9.85 per month for a $100,000 home owned by someone under 65 years of age.

We deserve better

Brutus

While almost all U.S. voters are either oblivious to the nation’s politics or are focused on the impeachment […]

By next week, it will have been a month since Tomatillo announced. A month in which Ordaz has done nothing but “strategically wait”. "Claudia has time!" Yes, and no. Since Ordaz's strategic patience plan, her colleague, Sam Morgan gets arrested for slapping his wife. Now you have elected women in... Max Powers

The state has some questions on the ballot.  They are all proposed constitutional amendments.

1. The constitutional amendment permitting a person to hold more than one office as a municipal judge at the same time.
2. The constitutional amendment providing for the issuance of additional general obligation bonds by the Texas Water Development
   Board in an amount not to exceed $200 million to provide financial assistance for the development of certain projects in economically
   distressed areas.
3. The constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to provide for a temporary exemption from ad valorem taxation of a portion
   of the appraised value of certain property damaged by a disaster.
4. The constitutional amendment prohibiting the imposition of an individual income tax, including a tax on an individual’s share of
   partnership and unincorporated association income.
5. The constitutional amendment dedicating the revenue received from the existing state sales and use taxes that are imposed on
   sporting goods to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the Texas Historical Commission to protect Texas’ natural areas,
   water quality, and history by acquiring, managing, and improving state and local parks and historic sites while not increasing the
   rate of the state sales and use taxes.
6. The constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to increase by $3 billion the maximum bond amount authorized for
   the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas.
7. The constitutional amendment allowing increased distributions to the available school fund.
8. The constitutional amendment providing for the creation of the flood infrastructure fund to assist in the financing of drainage,
   flood mitigation, and flood control projects.
9. The constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to exempt from ad valorem taxation precious metal held in a precious metal
   depository located in this state.
10. The constitutional amendment to allow the transfer of a law enforcement animal to a qualified caretaker in certain circumstances

Number 3 strikes me as unnecessary. If property is damaged (whether by a disaster or any other way) its appraised value should decrease because it is worth less.

It would have been nice if our local news media had done a better job informing us of what the issues are behind each of the proposals.

The Times evidently did run an article but they only deliver my newspaper about 60% of the time.

We deserve better

Brutus

The issue with nationalistic populist politics about ending global interdependence is that the world’s supply chain is too […]

Today is the first day of early voting.

In the city of El Paso the only issue (unless you vote in district 3 where there is a special city council election)  is whether we will authorize the issuance of $413,122,650 in bonds for public safety purposes.

According to the city it will cost $12 per year in year one for a $100,000 home.

In year two the cost will be $24 for that same home.

Year three will be $36, year four will be $48, five will be $60 and year six the bill will be $72.

Presumably it will stay at $72 for the life of the bonds.  The city reserves the right make the increases on a different schedule.

They also reserve the right to move the money around because after all they don’t really know what their suggested projects will cost.

Personally I can see the need for some new facilities.  I would prefer however that they actually figure out what they want and how much it will cost instead of asking for a blank check.

This is an arrogant money grab.  They evidently think that the voters will just give them a bunch of money and that they can decide what to do with it later.

We deserve better

Brutus

 

Since the moment Donald Trump decided to label Mexicans, like myself, as rapists I have been on a […]

The blog readers got into some disagreements Saturday.

We are appreciative that on the whole there was very little offensive name calling and most of the discussion did not seem to be personal.

Yes there were a few exceptions but on the whole people were civil.

We thank you.

We deserve better

Brutus

I hope you enjoy RumpRoons No: 155!

What’s on your mind today?

We deserve better

Brutus

As of today, House District 76's next representative will be Elisa Tomatillo. Now matter how many times Jaime Abeytia or David K blog how wrong that is, that is what will happen. UNLESS, City Representative Claudia Ordaz runs. You can shit on movidas all you want, but they can only... Max Powers

I told you that the "ethics complaint" against the mayor was an egregious abuse of the ethic committee's time and duties. Disguising your hate for an individual in a frivolous complaint is just low. Especially since we pretty much know... Brad Kanus

Our readers pointed out to us the other day that the purchasing award the city recently got involved the city paying a fee of either $400 or $600 depending upon whether the city is a member of the organization.

Following up on that thought the city also receives a “Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting”.

Maybe the certificate is designed to make us feel better about what the city is telling us.

As it turns out the Government Finance Officers Association is the group awarding the certificate of achievement.

The city uses our tax money to pay for their submission:

Would the city tell us if they failed to get the certificate that they bought?

We deserve better

Brutus

If the United States gets attacked again by radical-Muslim terrorists, the resulting bloodshed can be traced right back […]

When the Texas House Speaker referred to some Democrats as "vile" and "pieces of shit", my immediate thought was, "Is he wrong tho?" And that is not even best, or even funniest, part. The funniest part is that nobody really likes Scott Braddock. In light of all of this, consider... Max Powers

The city hired an out of town firm to conduct a study of our downtown parking situation.

You can read it here.

The print is very light and difficult to read.

We did find this gem:

The consultants wrote:

We found numerous instances of overly worded and bureaucratic language  throughout all sections of the El Paso Code of Ordinances.  The use of double negatives and confusing language makes reading and understanding the code very difficult for the average citizen.

According to plan

This is part of how the functionaries down at the city maintain their power.

Will this out of town firm ever be hired again?

We deserve better

Brutus