5.24.2005
This week, Cobos has a
tender Jackson Five moment, attack dogs get to work, Joe Wardy trades “happy
talk” for dirty talk, and we give out the Letter of the Year Award!
These are long, long notes,
and I go into excruciating detail about exchanges that occurred during the
discussions, but I do it so my readers can fully understand what’s going on at
City Hall. Prepare yourself for
record-breaking length in this week’s notes.
So get comfortable, grab
yourself a drink and read on!
Never Can Say Goodbye . . . . No, No, No, No I . . . I Never Can Say Goodbye
In the minutes before the
meeting began, as everyone was milling around, Wardy came into Council chambers
and sat in his chair. Then, complaining
to John Cook that his seat had been readjusted, he observed, “Man, these are
high!”
I think I can guess what
happened.
I’ll bet Anthony Cobos snuck
in to Council Chambers to say goodbye to the big chair. Knowing he’d never sit in the mayor’s seat
again (and never be mayor pro tem again), I can imagine he sat there, his legs
dangling, holding his own make-believe Council meeting where he was acting
mayor for the very last time. (Of
course, he’d have to have sat on a phone book or raised the seat so that little
head could come up above the desk.)
It must have been a
bitter-sweet (actually, mostly bitter) moment…no more opportunities for graft,
no more opportunities to bully the City Manager with his friend Cushy, and no
more big, fat campaign contributions. I
wonder if he played sappy “goodbye” songs on his boom box while he said his
tender goodbye to the big chair.
Poor Tony…NOT!
Big Brother
This week, Esther Perez, a
thoughtful northeast community activist, placed the following item on the
public portion of the agenda:
2. The environment and neighborhood
parks. [Esther Perez]
The most interesting part of
her presentation came at the end of the discussion. Before she closed the discussion on her item, Esther Perez said,
“Something else has come up that bothers me.
Being questioned bothers me.
Once before, when I was supposed to come before the City Council, I got
a call from the legal department wanting to know what I was going to talk
about…I don’t want the legal staff to screen what I’m going to say. That borders on intimidation for me. Last night, again I got a call from
legal. They wanted to know what I was
going to say before Council, and of course I refused to tell them.”
Elizondo said the calls were
“not unusual for the public items,” and they do it so they can be prepared for
the discussion.
“I have been coming before
Council since Mayor Ramirez was in office, and this had never happened
before. I always approach Council with
respect, and I would never say anything that wouldn’t be the right thing to say. I know what my rights are, I am nothing but
a little old lady, and nobody has to fear what I have to say.”
What a dignified,
intelligent woman she is. People like
her and Lisa Turner and others make me proud to be an El Pasoan.
While it may be admirable
that Lisa Elizondo wants to be prepared for the public’s inquiries, I have to
believe pre-Council calls wouldn’t be necessary if we had an experienced City
Attorney on staff who knew municipal law.
Unfortunately, what we have instead is a lawyer with an obscenely
bloated salary who frequently cannot answer basic questions relating to
municipal law. In fact, Elizondo’s a
perfect metaphor for the Wardy administration:
When you look beneath the surface of the shiny exterior and smiling
face, there is absolute incompetence and self-interest. And it’s very sad that one of our most vital
offices is run by an individual who couldn’t make it in the private sector, but
who is rewarded with our tax dollars in the public sector.
Council took no action on
Ms. Perez’s issue about the phone calls.
Have You Ever Been Mellow?
The following item was back,
this time, with a different lawyer (not the District Attorney) standing at the
podium:
3. Discussion and action: Confiscated video game
machines, cash, employee time cards, computer hard drives, merchandise,
receipts and other documents. (Attachment)
[Thurman Reynolds]
Once the item was read into
the record, Wardy warned that Council had already discussed this issue in depth
before, and although he would allow for public comment, he would not allow
Council to rehash everything.
None other than Theresa
Caballero appeared at the podium, on behalf of the game room owners.
And yes, she rehashed
everything.
This week, she was almost
demure as she made her demands. “I want
you to tell them [the El Paso Police Department] to cease and desist and I
would like this item sent to a legislative committee that has the authority to
review this,” she demanded, adding, “Set up a set of rules that they [the
police] will follow.”
Wardy asked Elizondo to
respond. Elizondo asked Caballero for a
copy of the rules Caballero said she had and said a Legislative Review
Committee (LRC) meeting would not be appropriate because the LRC is for purely
legislative functions.
Chief Pander Boy Wardy said
he didn’t think it would hurt to have the LRC review the matter, and Elizondo
reminded him again it would not be appropriate. So Wardy also asked Caballero for the rules, and Caballero said
she wanted the elected officials, not the City Attorney, to review the rules,
to “take control of the situation.”
I must say, I almost didn’t
recognize Caballero. Her clothing was
less flamboyant, gone was the absurdly large jewelry, and she was much calmer;
in fact, she was almost downright serene.
It was fascinating…it was like she was another person or had a second
personality.
Despite the City Attorney’s
very clear legal opinion that the LRC would not be the appropriate vehicle,
Cobos made a motion to send the issue of video game machines to . . . the
LRC. Lozano quickly seconded the
motion. (Why on earth do we need
lawyers, with these guys around? They
routinely go against the legal advice given.)
Paul Escobar, a lawyer and
former assistant District Attorney, said Council was treading “dangerous
waters,” as gaming machines are legislated by the state. He suggested she and her clients go to the
state for relief. Caballero called that
“absurd,” and said it is the police department that’s the problem.
Chucky Cheese for Grownups
Then Lasagna had to put in
his two cents. “Mayor, you know, I hear
Mr. Escobar saying ‘gaming.’ These are
toys, this is just the machines, they’re playing, they’re not gambling. It’s like Chucky Cheese, and, and, and Peter
Pider [sic]. They’re just little toys
that people, these are for grown ups, not for children. And, you know, uh, this is so absurd that,
you know, we’re, we’re debating on, on, on equipment. And, you know, last week, you know, Escobar, uh, uh, uh, District
Attorney Esparza, right, said that some were legal. And I’m asking Esparza, return those legal ones to the
owners. If they’re legal, why are they
confiscated? I mean the illegal ones, I
don’t what they’re legals or illegals.
But he himself said here last week that some were legal, so why are they
taking it, and I want the City Attorneys, Ms. Elizondo, you were here, he said
that some were legal machines, so why are we confiscating legal machines?”
Lozano’s garbled summary of
Esparza’s statements was not only painful to listen to, it was completely
inaccurate. Surprisingly, Lisa Elizondo
worked up the energy to correct the record, saying that she remembered Esparza’s
comments differently. She correctly observed
that Esparza wouldn’t comment on the confiscated machines because, he said, it
was up to a judge to decide if they were confiscated inappropriately.
“Okay, thank you, that’s why
I have a second on Mr. Cobos,” replied Lozano in a complete non sequitur.
Cushing, who frequently
coordinates Council appearances with Theresa Caballero in order to do her
bidding said, “Yes, I believe when this was brought up…I’d asked Ms. Elizondo
to look into, there was one other city that I’d mentioned that had passed a
municipal ordinance basically for the purpose of codifying fact or fiction, and
have we done any research on that?” He
then explained to Caballero that he had asked legal to look at an ordinance in
that other city that clarified the gaming issue and then asked her if that was
what she was asking for.
“That’s exactly what’s in
order,” said Caballero.
One of the assistant City
Attorneys (he didn’t state his name for the record) said that he reviewed the
City of Kingsville ordinance, didn’t see any problem with it, but reminded
Council that the City cannot preempt state law.
Cushing asked if he would
get together with Caballero and her clients, so that “we’re not living in a
grey area,” and the assistant city attorney again said, “so long as we do not
make any attempt to further define gambling devices because those are already
codified by state law and any attempt by the City to circumvent the state’s
definition would be an illegal preemption of the law.”
Caballero called the
proposal “exactly what the doctor ordered.”
What a surprise.
She then said she hoped she
hadn’t worn out her welcome (that happened a long time ago, Ms. Caballero), and
said she wanted a vote and said that she could put the “kaybash” on the
criminal case.
Richard Wiles said that the
PD never gave Caballero’s clients legal advice only to then go in and close
them down. Caballero strenuously
disagreed.
Wiles said that there is a
difference between games of chance (eight liners) versus games of skill. Games of skill are what Chucky Cheese and
Peter Piper (not “Pider,” Mr. Lasagna) feature. For example, you can spend hours of fun throwing a ball through a
hoop.
Once the discussion on what
Wardy said he would not allow to be rehashed was in fact rehashed—30 minutes
worth—Wardy proudly announced, “We’re makin’ progress this morning, ladies and
gentlemen!”
Good Lord. If this is progress, we’re in for a slow
road to the 21st century with Wardy at the helm.
The motion to send the
entire issue to a City Attorney’s Office Legislative Review Committee meeting
and to look into an ordinance similar to that in the City of Kingsville’s
passed unanimously.
Reconsideration of Minutes?
I haven’t had a chance to
inquire about why the minutes for April 5 and 26 had to be “reconsidered”:
4. APPROVAL
OF MINUTES: [Municipal Clerk, Richarda Duffy Momsen, (915) 541-4127] Approval
of Minutes for Regular City Council Meeting of May 17, 2005; and Special City
Council Meeting of May 15, 2005 (Resolutions canvassing the 2005 General
Election votes and calling runoff election).
(Attachment)
Minutes for Regular City Council Meeting of May 17, 2005
(Attachment)
Special City Council Meeting of May 15, 2005
Reconsideration of Approval of Minutes for Regular
City Council Meetings of April 5, 2005 and April 26, 2005.
(Attachment)
Minutes for Regular City Council Meetings of April 5, 2005
(Attachment)
Minutes for Regular City Council Meetings of April 26, 2005
Once I do, I’ll you know.
Special Interest Loyalty…to the end!
Robert Cushing placed the
following item on the agenda in an effort to get our taxpayer dollars out of
the City coffers and into the pockets of one his contributors:
14A. Discussion and action to instruct the City
Manager to either: 1) make full and complete payment of outstanding invoices
for services performed for the City of El Paso by a legitimate vendor, or, in
the alternative, 2) provide complete and unambiguous written response to the
vendor setting out the alleged reason/s for the non-payment of the invoices.
Absent immediate and proper remedial action/s in this area on the part of the
City Manager, the City could be subjected to undue and unnecessary public
criticism. (Attachment)
[Representative Robert A. Cushing, Jr., (915) 541-4996]
Cushing said he had been
contacted by the vendor, Viva Environmental, which is owned by Peter Felix, a
Cushing and Wardy & Co. campaign contributor, regarding their “outstanding
invoices,” which Cushing stated had been sent to the City Manager’s Office and
which he claimed had never been responded to.
He said it was critical to pay vendors who send invoices to the City.
City Manager Joyce Wilson
Wilson responded,
“First
and foremost there were no invoices sent by this vendor to the City Manager’s
office, so I want to correct the record in that respect. Secondly, I did meet with several staff
including two agencies who are involved in disputed billing. All legitimate billing that is not in
dispute has been paid to this firm.
There are two situations where there are invoices outstanding, but they
are in dispute. One dates back to
services provided that goes back to the year 2000. The last formal communication on that based on our records was
from the City Attorney’s office in 2003 where we notified them to contact that
office if the negotiated settlement had not been resolved. To my knowledge, there’s been no formal
communication on that invoice as of that date.
The second one that is under dispute currently is with the Solid Waste
Department for services provided under an open purchase order. The most recent billing, and there’s been
conversations on this, I understand, going back as far as January through
April, the most recent billing exceeded the purchase order and the director of
the department has asked for specifics relative to the reason for the overage
and details about the services, and to my knowledge and to our knowledge at
this point, that has not been provided and so while there may be invoices owed,
they’re invoices that we are in dispute with, so we would not arbitrarily not
pay something that was a legitimate expense.”
She added that this dispute
has not gone through a claim process.
Cushing, who refused to look at Wilson during her response to his
inquiry, instructed her to put what she just said in writing (hey, Ms. Wilson,
just cut and paste from my notes) and submit it to the vendor.
Council supported Cushing’s
motion.
Jorge Artelejo, a local
ankle biter, said he thought it was “terrible” that the City hadn’t paid a
vendor who had invoiced the City. Since
Mr. Artelejo rarely has enough background knowledge of issues to know what he’s
talking about, he was just talking out of his arse as usual. Cushing, however, had very definite ulterior
motives. The upshot of both their
arguments, though, was the same: The
City should irresponsibly pay a vendor when legitimate disputes exist regarding
the appropriateness of those payments.
And Bob Cushing had the gall to campaign as the “fiscally responsible”
City Council candidate. Yet another bad
joke from the Cushmeister.
Another Opportunity to Bully the City Manager
Because Bob “The Bully Boy”
Cushing is just so good at bullying professional staff, particularly female
staff, he simply couldn’t resist an opportunity to bully the most professional
member of the City Staff, the City Manager, by means of the following item:
14B. Discussion and action to direct the proper
distribution of monies commonly referred to as "Palo Verde Rewards",
in an amount of $5.8 million dollars, and to evaluate the utilization of the
Housing Authority of the City of El Paso (HACEP) as a source for distribution
of a part of said funds, not to exceed 50%, since the HACEP serves as the most
prominent and distinct institution, with the necessary existing resources and
infrastructure, to execute part of these funds, not to exceed 50% to the
intended benefit of ". . . low income customers of El Paso Electric
Company . . .", absent the current existence of the intended recipient for
such funds or any existing successor entity.
To additionally direct the proper distribution any
remaining monies, to assist small business and commercial customers for demand
side management programs, consistent with the intent of the agreement for said
monetary distribution, and to prohibit the utilization of any such remaining
monies for any public or quasi-public projects.
Any distributions as set forth would be subject to
the direction and approval of the Mayor and City Council. [Representative Robert A. Cushing, Jr.,
(915) 541-4996]
Because the issue in Cushy’s
item was the same as the following issue, the two items were taken together:
15.
COMPTROLLER: [Comptroller,
Carmen Arrieta-Candelaria, (915) 541-4435] (Attachment)
Discussion and action on a resolution to authorize the City Manager to accept approximately $5.8 million in Palo
Verde Rewards from the El Paso Electric Company, determine how the Palo Verde Rewards
will be used, and establish any requisite criteria for directing the use and
accounting of the Palo Verde Rewards. POSTPONED FROM 05/17/05
AND 05/10/05
Before I get into the
details of the lengthy, offensive, and absurdly long discussion of this item,
let me give a brief synopsis of the issue for my readers.
In 1998 El Paso Electric
(EPE) Company had a fuel reconciliation case and announced it would reduce its
rates in Texas to match those in New Mexico.
Part of the money has already been allocated to some local groups. However, the City has complete discretion
over how part of the money will be used.
This issue, which has been ongoing since 1999, went through three
different administrations (Ramirez, Caballero and Wardy), and City and El Paso Electric
staff who worked on it in the administrations before Wardy’s determined that
40% of the money would go to assist moderate income residents with
weatherization (i.e. to put in furnaces, air conditioners, new windows, etc. in
the homes of these residents who cannot afford it). The remaining 60% of the money could go to assist commercial rate
payers (and the City of El Paso is a commercial rate payer) including
commercial or small businesses, with upgrades to their weatherization systems.
Although this is an issue
with quite a bit of history, City staff cannot provide a detailed historical
perspective on the issue. For this, we
can give thanks to Joe “the Axe Man” Wardy for forcing out every Assistant City
Attorney with any significant tenure, as well as the former City Attorney (who is suing him for discrimination)
and the former Chief Financial Officer.
As a result, there are no attorneys in the City Attorney’s Office who
were around in 1999 when the negotiations between El Paso Electric and all the
stakeholders took place and therefore no institutional memory of the genesis of
this issue. The one key employee who
had worked through the three administrations and with all parties involved on a
final recommendation was former Chief Financial Officer Bill Chapman, whom
Cushing and Wardy & Co. ran out of town on a rail because Theresa Caballero
instructed them to do so. Current City
staff (including City Manager Joyce Wilson) have had to try to reconstruct the
issue based on existing documents and a final email from the long-gone
Chapman.
Now, the other figures who
bear significant blame for this state of affairs are our illustrious City
Attorney Lisa “My Assistants Have Forgotten More Municipal Law Than I Ever
Knew” Elizondo and the majority of City Council. Together with the support of everyone on this Council except for
John Cook, Wardy and Elizondo fired or drove out experienced staff members who
had decades of municipal institutional knowledge. And so you can imagine, my dear reader, as I was documenting the
complaints (which you will soon read about) coming from this Council about not
having enough information, I had to restrain myself from running to the podium
and yelling into the microphone, “That’s because you drove everyone away!”
Anyhow, after having
researched the history and recommendations that were already in place, the
current staff was ready to issue the past and present recommendation to City
Council. The 40% that is going to
moderate-income residents could be distributed by Project Bravo, a local
non-profit that does this work already.
The remaining 60%, which can go to commercial rate payers, can be best
utilized by giving it to the City to upgrade the weatherization of City
facilities used by our citizens.
Now, what typically happens
with issues like these is that staff makes a presentation on the issue, makes a
recommendation, and Council approves, modifies or rejects the
recommendation. Not this time. What Cushing and Cobos did was orchestrate a
major offensive against the City Manager, an extremely professional individual
who is doing a great job for this community.
This offensive was part of their overarching strategy to assist Wardy in
denying her as much control over City operations as possible. Seeing these guys in action on this issue
drove home yet again how pernicious, corrupt, and destructive Wardy & Co.
are.
Background explanation
complete, it’s time to move back to the meeting.
The Cross-Examination
Representative Cook wanted
to know why this “lame duck” Council should be making decisions regarding
accepting and distributing this very significant amount of money. Cushing, who has no respect for others,
simply ignored Cook’s query and, before one of the Assistant City Attorney’s
could respond, he launched into the discussion of the items.
The Assistant City Attorney,
who was standing at the podium, ready to address City Representative John
Cook’s question, never had the opportunity to answer the question. Wardy, who vacillates between being useless and
manipulative in his role as parliamentarian, never stepped in to stop Cushing’s
hijacking of the issue. He also didn’t
step in to allow staff to make their presentation.
So Cushing had the floor and
said that when this issue first came up two weeks ago, he said the backup was
“unclear.” (As a reminder, Cushing
postponed this item twice before.)
Reading from a document he said, “The City will use 60% of the rewards
that fall within the definition of demand side management, and the remaining
40% will be set aside for El Paso Community Action Project Bravo.” On May 11th, he said he asked
about “where this all came from,” and complained that Council was not given all
the backup it needed.
Dismissing three years of
negotiations between El Paso Electric, the City and local organizations,
Cushing claimed that “there is no definite direction to put this money toward
Project Bravo,” and claimed that “a lot” of money would go to Project Bravo’s
administrative costs. He also claimed
that approval of item 15 (above) would mean the City Manager would be allowed
to make the policy decision about how the money would be spent, and then the
King of the Inappropriate said, “and I think that’s totally inappropriate.”
He said that although he
didn’t know if the Housing Authority of the City of El Paso (HACEP) is the
entity that should ultimately get the money, he took the liberty of contacting
them to offer them a shot at that money.
It is no coincidence, my friends, that the head of the HACEP board is
none other than David Escobar, one of Luther Jones’ sandbox playmates and the
individual whom Joe Wardy appointed and to whom Wardy gives regular obeisance.
Cushing asked Carmen
Arrieta, the City Comptroller, to answer some questions. When she was done, he smiled the yuckiest,
grossest smile I’ve ever seen on a dog disembowler and said, “I’ve always found
you to be very charming and candid with me”—it was all I could do to avoid
retching at this point—and asked her if she was directed by someone to “run
this [item] before Council.”
Arrieta said that she had a
presentation for Council that would answer all of Cushing’s questions, and she
had a representative of El Paso Electric there with her as well.
Send in the Clown
“Before we do that,”
interrupted Cobos, “Representative Cushing asked you an extremely important
question. One that I was just
thinking.” Uh-huh. Whatever, Tony.
I’ve often wondered, as I’ve
observed these two crooked pols these many Council meetings, whether these guys
really believe they’re fooling anyone.
They hatch their little plots together and then they act as if their
coordinated efforts are completely coincidental. The only other explanation is that corrupt and evil minds do
think alike. Either way, it is a
blessing of incalculable magnitude that these two slimeballs will soon be out
of power. Anyway, Cobos continued his
cross-examination of Arrieta by disingenuously asking, “Who directed you to put
this on? Because as I look at item 15,
the sponsor of this agenda item is not on there.”
What? As I flipped back to the agenda item, the
sponsor of the agenda item was clearly listed.
It can be seen at the very beginning of the item, and the author listed
was Carmen Arrieta.
“I authored that,” said
Arrieta.
“And who directed you to do
that?” asked Cobos.
“Mr. Studer [Deputy City
Manager for Financial Services],” she said.
Then Cobos called up William
Studer and said, “This is very, very critical because when I see an item with
no author, with no one sponsoring it, um, it just draws a red flag on me. [Really, Tony? For me, it draws big fat letters spelling “LYING CORRUPT
SLIMEBALL” on you.] Mr. Studer, who
directed you to draft the language and place this item on the agenda? Was it the City Manager?” asked Cobos
“No, nobody directed me to
put it on the agenda,” replied Studer.
“This is an item that was left by my predecessor. I asked Ms. Arrieta to put it on the agenda,
and I think the earlier versions had her name by it if I’m not mistaken, on a
previous agenda.” Yes, they did. So did this version.
Cobos continued his
cross-examination of the City staff, but he didn’t allow them to make their
presentation. They answered his
questions, and Cobos all but admitted that his only concern was trying to nail
the City Manager when he said, “I’m just trying to find out who ultimately
drafted this language, where the buck stops, and who put this on and why it was
drafted in the way that it was.” Anyone
with at least half a brain (sorry, that leaves you out, Lasagna) could see what
Cobos and Cushing were driving at.
Joyce Wilson knew what they
were driving at and she decided to cut to the chase and end the Cushing/Cobos
game. “If I could interject, please,”
said Joyce Wilson adding, “I ultimately authorized that this be put on the
agenda for the Mayor and City Council.
This is an item that was outstanding before I was appointed City
Manager. It was part of a rate
settlement, a utility case, which there were decisions made that the community
would benefit from the performance of the Palo Verde Nuclear Waste Plant if it
performed above a certain level. The
amounts that were brought forward were based as a part of a negotiation in
which there were interveners, of which the City was a part of the intervener. And our attorney, Mr. Gordon, who was on
board before I got here was a part of those discussions. We’re bringing forward to you a staff
recommendation based on something that has a long-standing history that
supercedes many of us in this room. So
it’s not that we were trying to do anything to circumvent Council’s authority
to make the final decision on this. In
fact, before we brought this forward to the Mayor and City Council, we sent you
a staff report letting you know that this process had concluded, that we did
have a recommendation, and we were bringing that forward to you, that was a
consensus recommendation of a number of stake holders and official parties to
this process beyond the City. Now
certainly, if the Mayor and City Council aren’t satisfied with the
recommendation in terms of how we’re proposing it, you can direct us to do
something different.”
Fighting to Keep Control
Wardy said that Council was
concerned because based on the language, it appeared that she had the
discretion on how to spend the funds.
It’s no secret inside City Hall, my friends, that Wardy has done his
best to sabotage Wilson’s efforts to manage the administration. He is not pleased that Ms. Wilson is the
person the City employees answer to.
Arrieta explained that
because some of the money would go to the City and to City Capital Improvement
Projects, the final decision and approval would be Council’s. She explained that the other part of the
money would go back into the community, and El Paso Electric and the parties
who worked on the agreement had identified an agency that the other part of the
money should go to. She said that
ultimately, it was up to Council, and the staff would work on whatever proposal
they decided on.
Cobos asked Diana Nuñez, who
was sitting in for the Municipal Clerk Richarda Momsen, to re-read the item
into the record. Before she did, Nuñez
pointed out to Cobos where the author of item 15 was listed (as I stated, it
was at the beginning of the item).
Cobos responded, “Oh, okay.” So
the red flag on you disappeared and was replaced by the skull and cross-bones
maybe? Or maybe it was a big letter L
for loser!
Cobos said that he was
concerned that the item didn’t identify how the money would be spent. Joyce Wilson responded, “Because we haven’t
appropriated it yet.”
For a second time, Cobos was
asked to allow the presentation to go forward.
Only this time it was the City Manager who was asking him, saying it
would “be very useful” for the public and Council to hear about the history from
Arrieta and how the City got to this point.
Cobos was not nearly ready
to hear the presentation; he hadn’t finished his attack. So, ignoring her request completely, he said
that if Council were to approve the item right then, it would be writing a
“blank check” to Wilson.
“That is not correct,
Representative Cobos,” replied Wilson, who seemed to be doing her best to
maintain her composure and keep her understandable anger and disgust with these
putzes in check.
Cobos complained that she
would have ultimate authority on how that money would be spent, and she said,
again, “I don’t believe that’s correct.”
Cushing complained that the
backup stated that some of the money would go to City projects and the rest
would go to Project Bravo, without City Council oversight. He said what was “most troubling” to him was
that there was language in the agreement that stated some of the money would
also go to small business and commercial customers, which was not what was
being proposed at that time.
Representative John Cook
said he wanted to look at the presentation, and he remembered the “detailed,
open process” that included collaboration between the several entities in
1999. Cook also asked if budget
transfers (which would be required in order to allocate the money to any
projects) would have to come before Council and Wilson said they would.
In an effort to show that
Wilson wanted secret control over the money, Cobos countered by asking Studer
if the money had been included in the last budget, and Studer said it was
not. Then Cobos asked Elizondo if the
budget transfers on this money (which was not included in the budget) would
come to Council, and Elizondo, in typical fashion, stumbled around for an
answer but eventually said, “No.” She
did say that Council could modify the language in the resolution to make sure
that the budget transfers would come before them. But she added, “I’m not sure if Ms. Wilson was aware of
that.”
Now, I don’t know if her “no” was an accurate response, and because we have an
incompetent City Attorney who doesn’t know very much about anything having to
do with anything (particularly the law), I don’t know if she even understood
the issue at hand.
What Wilson and Arrieta
tried to explain (as I understood them) was that 60% of the El Paso Electric
money was being recommended to be used on future
Capital Improvement Projects that had to do with electrical/weatherization
issues. Once the Capital Improvement
Projects are approved (and that process involves neighborhood groups, Council
and City staff), then the money would be appropriated and the City Manager (in
her capacity as the manager) would ensure the money would get transferred to
approved projects.
The Buck Stops . . . Well, Anywhere But Here
Cushing then asked why the
legal department “overlooked” the fact that the budget transfers would not have
to go to Council.
Elizondo—chief legal officer
for the City—said she didn’t know why, and let herself off the hook by saying
that she didn’t prepare the legal document Cushing referred to.
This woman is unbelievable,
my friends. Her sheer incompetence and
her refusal to take responsibility for her conduct and that of her
department—all of this is an affront to this columnist. The answer that I believe she should have
given Cushing, based on my own limited understanding of all this, is that the
budget transfers would not happen in this budget cycle. The Capital Improvement Projects would first
have to be identified and that wouldn’t be finalized until 2006. Then, once Council decided what projects to
fund, the money would be appropriated by the City Manager. Instead of explaining all this, Elizondo
simply passed the buck.
Cushing, legal eagle in his
own mind, complained, “It seems to me that a first-year law student would’ve
caught that type of glaring error.” You
may be right; but instead of a first-year law student, we’ve got Lisa E. And, need I point out that she’s your
minion, Bob?
Elizondo said it was not “an
error,” as she takes her direction from staff and Council. Elizondo should have just hidden under the
desk or said she had to go to her manicure appointment. It would’ve looked just as bad.
Carmen Arrieta again tried
to give her presentation and explained that the money would be used for
approved Capital Improvement Projects.
She went to a slide on her as yet unseen presentation and said that it
showed that the funds would be administered through the Building and Planning
Services department—the department that handles Capital Improvement Plan (CIP)
projects.
Wardy asked Arrieta if she
already had the CIP projects designated; she said no—again. She explained that the money would be set
aside as funds for the CIP projects going forward (which would come back to
Council) and the funds wouldn’t be allocated until the projects are determined;
she also said that the resolution could be amended to specifically state that.
When Annoying Small Attack Cronies Attack
Cobos then said, “I’m just
concerned that it was represented this morning that we do have oversight…when
in fact the language does not support that…and Ms. Wilson, I hate to say it,
but you didn’t have a clear understanding of the language…and I’m just
concerned that it was posted the way it was, incorrectly.”
“I take exception to that,
Mr. Cobos,” responded Wilson. “This is
a utility settlement that has been going on as part of multi-year issues that
superceded me and people on this Council.
We inherited this, we moved forward in good faith with the process, and
any inference that we are trying to delude Council or do something covert with
monies without Council approval is not correct…clearly we do not have projects
identified for this, we don’t have a capital improvement program ready for FY
2006. Council approves the program and
then we allocate the money. This is
nothing more than a new source of funds, part of a resolution and we’re
bringing the recommendation of how to distribute those funds to the Mayor and
Council now. Unfortunately, we’ve not
been given the benefit of making a presentation on how we got to this part to
Mayor and Council. This item was
continued twice, we offered to meet with Representative Cushing on several
occasions including other parties besides City staff, we provided backup per
his request. We’ve not been given any
opportunity to do any kind of overview of how we got to this point. In fairness with those who’ve been involved
with that we need to do that. Then you
can decide if it was a good recommendation.”
Good for her! What I particularly like about this City
Manager, my friends, is that she doesn’t let these guys push her around. This is one woman whom Cushing and Cobos
can’t bully into submission. I’m sure
that just sticks in their ugly craws.
Austin said she wanted to
know how an agreement that set aside 50% allocations to the two sides became a
40/60 allocation, and she also wanted to know how the City ended up with some
of the money, too. I wanted to rush the
podium and say, “Well, Ms. Austin, if you’d just allow staff to make their
presentation, maybe your questions would be answered!” Instead of asking the Mayor to allow staff
to do this, she simply joined the Bully Bash.
She cannot be gone soon enough, as far as I’m concerned. Go Ann Lilly!
Cushing agreed and said what
was “troubling” was that “when it was posted, we were given what we’re gonna do
and that was a policy decision…we were given a thing that said there’s $5.8
million…and this is a huge amount of money, and…I am aware that you wanted to
speak to me, but what I wanted was a paper trail on this,” and shot her a look
that was as hate filled as it gets.
My friends, this crew is
made up of either bumbling fools or scheming jerks (or both). They loved claiming that they helped create
a City Manager form of government, but when it comes to allowing the City
Manager to manage projects, i.e., to do her job, the one we hired her to do,
they become paranoid and destructive.
Their insinuation that Wilson wanted to take over this money and
determine for herself where it would be spent was as absurd as it was
offensive.
Finally…the presentation
Having totally relinquished
control over the meeting to his fellow cronies/attack dogs, Wardy finally
allowed Carmen Arrieta to give her presentation and gave a timeline of
events. She said that in June 1999, the
Texas Public Utility Commission (PUC) issued a final order to reconcile fuel
related revenues and expenses, including performance awards. The PUC ordered, in the settlement of the
Palo Verde case, that 50% of the Palo Verde awards would be given to customers
in two initiatives: one half would go to
Project Care and the other half would go to programs on demand-side management
weatherization for small business and commercial customers.
Arrieta explained that the
agreement was modified in 2001, when El Paso Electric entered into a Low Income
Services Agreement with two consumer “interveners,” (one of which was called
Texas ROSE…Ratepayers Organization to Save Energy) which were represented by
the Texas Legal Service Center (TLSC); El Paso Electric agreed to work with the
City and the parties involved in establishing programs that would benefit
moderate income households. At that
point, the number went from 50/50 to 40/60, with Project Bravo identified as
the group that would receive the 40%.
According to Arrieta, in
January 2005 collaborative efforts with EPE, Texas ROSE, TLSC and Project Bravo
began. Bill Chapman, the City’s former
CFO, had left information about all of this with Studer, who instructed her to
work on the issue and present it to Council.
She said she has worked since February coordinating the proposal from
Project Bravo and prepared resolution for acceptance of funds.
Arrieta said that she worked
with staff regarding the recommendations, they concluded that demand side
management activities as defined by the PUC included “those activities that
affect that magnitude of the timing of customer electrical usage,” and she
said, “This could be energy efficiency retrofits, HVAC Chiller, lighting
controls, traffic signals, convergence, those types…so the definition was very
broad and there was no precedent set by the PUC…it was basically open-ended,”
and she said that after conferring with staff, they were in agreement that the
funds could be used for the Capital Improvement Program under those parameters.
Wardy asked how the agreement
went from being used for small business to being used on City projects. Arrieta said that this happened in 1999 when
Mayor Ramirez acted as an “intervener,” and she had a letter from El Paso
Electric stating that the agreement was ultimately “open ended,” so the City
could indeed use the funds in the way staff had recommended.
Cushing and Wardy wanted to
know how the City of El Paso became a small business or commercial
customer; I guess they weren’t paying
attention to her presentation. She
repeated herself and said that it’s ultimately because “the funds were given to
the City to direct.”
At one point Wardy said,
“We’re not trying to barbecue you, Carmen.”
No, Joe, you’re right. That was
a rare, true statement. The person you
and your attack dogs were trying to “barbecue” is the person whose
professionalism and ethics you are most threatened by: Our City Manager.
Norman Gordon, the City’s
outside bond counsel, came to the podium and said that in 1998 EPE had a fuel
reconciliation case and announced it would reduce rates to match NM. He said that the City has the ability and
authority to determine how that money will get spent. He also explained that since 1995 new City installations have
been on one of the commercial rates (there’s a City-County rate that was
frozen). He also said that the language
in the 2001 agreement has always been interpreted by El Paso Electric to allow
City Council to determine how the money will be spent.
Gordon had to repeat himself
a few times because the simple-minded Wardy just couldn’t grasp what he was
saying.
Gordon explained that one
way to look at it is to say that the City is on the commercial rates, but that
this is ultimately a policy decision for Council to make, adding “I believe
Council has that discretion.”
Wardy said he wanted Lisa
Elizondo (who looked like a deer caught in headlights) to research past
Council’s decisions on this issue.
Wardy wanted some history on
the legal work, and, naturally, no one was around to answer that question.
“I don’t know, I got a call
this morning,” said Gordon, referring to the fact that he hadn’t been notified
about this issue until that morning.
(Gordon also later said he hadn’t seen some documents before that
morning, either.)
“I Did Not Have Intimate Relations with that City”
Wardy said he wanted to know
where the direction on this whole thing had originally come from (and again,
because there is no more institutional knowledge left on the legal staff, no
one knew the answer).
“Then I think, before we go
any further, Council, it’s very premature for us to take any action because
we’re playing hide the salami, here,” stated our very dignified mayor, Joe
Wardy. I gasped. Yes, folks, he really said that. I wondered to myself, why would this
cliché-lovin’, limited vocabulary wielding, empty “happy talk” spewing guy use
this particular metaphor? And, I
wondered, does “hide the salami” still mean today what it meant when your old
friend Sid was in 7th grade?
To verify that the
expression did, indeed, have the same meaning, I visited Joe Wardy’s favorite
website, ClichéSite.com, and entered (no pun intended) “hide the salami.” And I got my answer:
|
Cliché: |
Hide the salami |
|
Explanation: |
1. Sexual intercourse. |
|
Country: |
United States |
http://www.clichesite.com/content.asp?which=tip+567
Maybe Joe Wardy was sending
secret messages. His claim that “it’s
very premature for us to take any
action” (my emphasis)…well, what could that mean?
“And,” continued Wardy,
seemingly unaware of the metaphor he had just used, “the citizens of El Paso
would like to know.”
A Slow UNcomfortable Screw
The citizens would like to
know what, Joe? Who’s playing hide the
salami? Or why on earth you used an
expression used by 7th grade boys to describe “intimate
relations”? A-ha! I’ve got it! He’s either making a very embarrassing admission about his
private life or he’s saying it’s too early for him to quit screwing the
City! Yes! That’s it! I feel like
I’ve just broken the DaVinci code!
However, and this is a big however, the question remains: Would hiding the salami be classified under
the Texas penal code as a game of chance or a game of skill. With Wardy, I’m absolutely certain it’s the
former.
Lisa Elizondo was running
scared and determinedly trying to protect herself and stay out of the line of
fire (instead of explaining the process and history). Oh, well, self-preservation always comes first, I guess. Elizondo said that it had to have come from Bill
Studer, Carmen Arrieta or Joyce Wilson (anyone but her!). Actually, folks, maybe I’m giving her too
much credit; maybe she just doesn’t know what the hell is going on.
Wilson said to Council (for
the umpteenth time), “Again, this was a long standing program that we
inherited, and during the entire process that preceded us there were
discussions and decisions made that some of these funds would be retained for
city purposes to assist with energy enhancement for City facilities based on
the history associated with this. And
it was determined at that point that that was a legitimate use…And again, if
the Mayor and Council don’t want to retain any of these funds for City
facilities, keeping in mind that taxpayer pay for energy we use to manage our
facilities that have a public purpose and a public use, then you can direct us
back and say you want all these monies to be directed very narrowly for
community uses and we can go back with the interveners and the other parties
who have come forward and come back with another recommendation.”
Wardy said that there are
many small businesses that need the help, “It’s trying to be King Solomon
here,” and asked that someone postpone the item. So is it King Solomon who’s playing hide the salami? I’m confused again…and I thought I’d broken
that code!
Gordon told Council that the
City was not a party to the agreement between El Paso Electric and Texas ROSE
and the other agency (the low-income interveners).
Then Austin began to weigh
in. “You’re taking the 40% as the deal
we need to bless, but the same sentence that has those things talks about the
60%...you’re not taking that as gelled for small commercial customers, you’re
letting that be, but we’re being asked to adopt the other part of hat sentence. I have concerns about whether this should go
to Project Bravo or not,” said Austin.
And then, perfectly
describing the progression of this mayor and Council’s term in office, Wardy
said, “We’re getting more confused and not less.” He asked again that the item be postponed a minimum of four
weeks.
Because Wardy & Co. were
struggling to understand the issue, Joyce Wilson asked that the item be
postponed and brought back as a special City Council meeting with the new mayor
and Council.
Bob Cushing, A Very Troubled Guy
“I think it’s a rather cut
and dried issue,” said Cushing. “What’s
troubling to me is that this was put to us to approve something when we didn’t
even know what we were approving, and that’s what sticks in my throat right
now. And, you know, Ms. Elizondo, with
all due respect, if you look at paragraph 4 in the resolution [then he quoted
the first line], anyway, ‘as approved by the City Manager.’ This is a policy decision where we basically
by this resolution would have acquiesced our legislative authority and to have
this resolution put before us without the necessary backup to me is
unconscionable, and obviously, it came from someone…and my suggestion on this
is…I would like to then come back in a week and have some answers to these
questions because…we are taking the literal language of the 2001 agreement and
saying Project Bravo is the gospel…the other thing I look at is under the 2001
agreement there is specific reference made to other state entities…and Ms.
Arrieta, I want to thank you for providing this information that we should have
been given originally in this.”
Then it was time for the
public to speak.
Ric Schecter, who deserved a
round of applause said, “I have to congratulate you. I think you’ve taken something that was fairly clear and made it
so muddled and confused that nobody in their right mind will ever be able to
figure it out. I don’t know why you’ve
chosen to take this particular item and turn it into two items, item 14B and
15, and then taken it to where, and treated it differently than any other item
that comes before you. You have money,
you have a staff recommendation, and you have a legislative authority to either
act on the staff recommendation or make your own recommendation on how to use
the funds. What’s so hard about that? You’ve been doing that for the last two
years, and any of you that come back on Council in the next 60 days will be
doing that for either two or four more years.
So I don’t understand what this whole problem is about.”
It’s about undermining an
individual we said should have control over day-to-day activities: The City Manager.
Schecter explained that his
concern is that he believed that most of the money intended for moderate income
families should be used for just that and not the administrative costs
associated with running the program. He
recommended putting a cap on the administrative costs at 10%.
Lisa Turner said it was the
ratepayer that paid those fees and the money belongs to the citizens of El Paso
and doesn’t belong to anyone else. She
said the money should be refunded to the ratepayer.
Throwing Agreements out the Window
Vince Dodds, interim
Executive Director of HACEP, said that Cushing made him aware that there are
potential funds available for them. He
said he was also very confused and Wardy said, “Welcome to the party.” Dodds said that the feds give them some
money for improvements that relate to energy efficient initiatives, but the
funding is “inadequate,” and said HACEP has the staff and infrastructure in
place to manage the money, and the administrative costs to administer the money
would be 10% or less.
Cobos and Cushing both asked
him similar questions that basically would prove that the administrative costs
by HACEP would be limited.
Cook asked Dodds if the
current HACEP administrative costs (in total) are less than 10% and Dodds said
no. Cook asked what the administrative
costs are currently for operating HACEP and Dodds said, “Uh…as a percent of our
total outlay, uh….” And never answered, but agreed that HACEP has many of the
similar costs that Project Bravo has.
Charles King, a recipient of
Project Bravo’s weatherization assistance, spoke and said Project Bravo helped
him get an air conditioner and he’s been very ill and they helped him out.
Several customers of Project
Bravo asked Sofia Moreno, the Executive Director of Project Bravo, to speak on
their behalf. She explained that
Project Bravo helps people who are not in public housing. She reminded Council of the “binding
agreement” between EPE and Project Bravo (and Texas ROSE). She again stressed that they would be able
to help the working poor with weatherization.
She said Texas Legal Services and Texas ROSE should be at the meeting,
and asked that they postpone the item for four weeks. She also said she didn’t know how Council came to the conclusion
that the administrative cost would be 25%; it was only 10% (which is standard,
she said). She described the work they
currently do and the lives they touch.
Cushing wanted to know
Project Bravo needed new equipment and staff for what he called “a new
bureaucracy.”
She explained that the
current staff and equipment that runs the current program are paid for with
state funds and the state equipment and staff cannot be used to work on this
program.
Wardy implied that he could
change their mind.
Cobos said that Moreno had
referred to a legal document and said he didn’t see the City of El Paso as a
party to that agreement. He asked the
attorney at the podium if the City were bound by the agreement between the Electric
Company and the parties involved by asking, “We’re not binded?”
“We’re not binded,”
responded Jorge Villegas, the Assistant City Attorney. Binded?
“Bound,” corrected
Wardy. When someone as inarticulate as
Wardy has to correct Council and an attorney, you know it’s gotten bad.
Moreno explained that
Project Bravo has helped HACEP before, but they need to make sure that the
money gets distributed city-wide.
Richard Turner with El Paso
Electric said that he had some of the history.
He explained that in the reconciliation case, it was determined that a
piece of the money would benefit small business and commercial, but the
language was broad enough to consider other beneficiaries. The point, he said, of the new agreement was
to help moderate income families who cannot get help through low-income
weatherization programs. “We’re willing
to work with whoever we need to work with to make sure you’re comfortable with
how the money gets apportioned,” he said.
Wardy asked that the item be
deleted and presented to the new Council; Cook agreed and asked that the item
be deleted in order to give staff adequate time to get all the parties together
for a special Council meeting.
Representative Paul Escobar
said that if a special Council meeting does happen, “I don’t wanna go in there
and start blaming about paper trails, and ‘she didn’t do this,’ or ‘he didn’t
do that,’ I just want to get to the facts so that we don’t make it an
unnecessarily long Council meeting and murky up the waters even more…I mean, this
was an unnecessarily long discussion.”
A little late, eh, Mr. Escobar?
But he’s right. Council took two hours to discuss this item.
I Caught You Lying
Before the roll call on
Cook’s motion to delete could be taken, Cushing sat up in his chair and,
furiously chomping on his gum, said, “I had a motion to postpone and a second.”
No…he didn’t. He had at one point mentioned he was
planning on asking Council to postpone the item, but he never made the motion
and there was never as second for it. I
wanted to start belting out Frampton’s “Lying” song.
Wardy asked Momsen if a
motion was in fact made to postpone with a second, and before she could
respond, Cobos said “Second!”
Wardy said, “You did?” Cobos responded, “Yes.”
These guys lie the way most
of use breathe.
“Okay,” said Wardy, “It was
so long ago we forgot.”
Actually, folks, Cobos
couldn’t have seconded Cushing’s phantom motion to postpone. That would’ve been impossible. When someone makes a motion to postpone the
item, there can be no more discussion.
So if Cushing had indeed made his motion to postpone the item earlier in
the discussion, and Cobos had really seconded it (neither of which happened),
then the discussion would have ceased.
But Wardy, the perpetually pin-headed parliamentarian who has a tenuous
grasp at best of the most basic parliamentary rules, didn’t catch it or didn’t
want to catch it.
And because Bob “the Bully
Boy” Cushing is so desperate to keep any kind of managerial control away from
the person the voters said they wanted to have that control—the City Manager—he
wanted to be sure that he had final say over it before he is sent off into the
wild blue yonder. When Momsen asked him
how long he wanted to postpone the item, he asked for one week.
Wardy asked Elizondo if one
week would give her enough time to prepare a brief on the item, and she
responded, “I’m not sure how I inherited this one.” Huh?!? I think I have an
idea, Lisa…let me take a shot in the dark, if you will. YOU’RE THE CITY
ATTORNEY and you are paid $155,000 a year for your god-awful work…that’s
how. She added, “Um, we’re happy to
work with the administration on preparing the brief. I don’t think it’ll be very long for us to get our timeline in
place.” This from someone who doesn’t
have a basic grasp on the issue in the first place.
Paul Escobar asked Joyce
Wilson if one week would be enough time to get everyone up to speed, and
although I thought this Council could never
be brought up to speed (because they don’t really want to understand), she said she would need a minimum of two weeks
in order to pull in all the parties needed to explain the history to Council,
but her preference was that it be deleted and brought back later (maybe when a
smarter, more thoughtful, less corrupt Council would be in place?).
Cushing agreed to postpone
it for two weeks and complained about having to wait another two weeks. Remember, this is the same guy who postponed
this item twice in the first
place. He said that, “It’s a far
stretch for me to believe that we then need additional time, and Ms. Wilson, I
believe, you know the dots connected to bringing you to the one that brought
this forward.”
Wilson, who is the
consummate professional, sat there through all the absurd accusations and all
the buffoonery with a tremendous amount of dignity.
The motion to postpone the
item for two weeks passed with a vote of 5-2 (Cook and Escobar were the only
“no” votes).
And then the unbearably
painful discussion on this was finally over.
No Parking
The next item was brought
forward from property owners who are tired of Montwood High School students
parking in their neighborhood:
16. PUBLIC
HEARING - MAYOR AND COUNCIL: (Attachment)
[Representative Paul J. Escobar, (915) 541-4182] An Ordinance amending Title 12
(Vehicles and Traffic), Chapter 12.88 (Schedules), Section 12.88.040 (Schedule
IV, Parking Prohibited During Certain Hours on Certain Streets), Paragraph J
(No Parking 7:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M.), of the El Paso Municipal Code, to amend
Subsection 4 to read Frank Cordova
Circle (North Entrance), from Firehouse Drive to a point 750 feet East thereof,
both sides, all of Mike Andrade Place, all of Luis Gomez Place, and at the
following properties in the Frank Cordova cul-de-sac; 12121, 12125, 12127, and 12129. The Penalty as provided in Section 12.84.010
of the El Paso Municipal Code.
(District 6)
Rick Connor, the City
Engineer, explained that the neighborhood has asked that “no parking” signs be
placed in their cul de sac because Montwood high school students park in their
area. The Street Department has
committed to getting the signs up within the next 3-5 days.
Escobar thanked everyone
involved in progress on this item. He
explained that while Montwood has enough parking, students don’t want to park
in the high school parking lot because they have to have insurance and a
driver’s license. Escobar said that
they can only place signs in the areas that have petitioned the City.
Cushing asked how much it
would cost, and Connor said that the information was in the backup, but that it
would cost $1,073.
Escobar moved to approve,
but irritated and angry members of the public spoke and basically talked about
all the “out of control” students and the problems associated with them.
Although there were many
more neighbors who wanted the “no parking” signs, they would have to wait
because they hadn’t finalized the process.
The item passed unanimously.
Arroyo Preservation Details
The following item had been
postponed twice before and was back for a brief discussion this week:
19B. An ordinance incorporating the El Paso Water
Utilities Public Service Board Westside Master Plan as a specific study area
plan into the city's comprehensive plan, The Plan for El Paso, and which plan
shall amend the Plan For El Paso and the Year 2025 General Land Use Map
incorporated therein. (District 1) (Attachment)
[Planning Research and Development, Frank Delgado, (915) 541- 4730] POSTPONED
FROM 05/03/05 AND 04/05/05
George Sarmiento, Director
of the Planning Department, explained that this item, the PSB’s west side
master plan, has been postponed twice so that the Planning Department could
deal with issues related to open space.
Sarmiento said that the changes reflect more open space, school sites
have been moved to accommodate that open space, a park pond was created.
Cushing, the exiting council
member who cares less about open space and more about helping his developer
buddies, complained that the 24 acres of green space created turned out to be a
loss of revenue for the City, and Sarmiento had to remind him, “But we’re
gaining in other areas.”
Rick Bonart, a local
activist who fought long and hard for open spaces, thanked Council.
After some amendments,
Council approved the item unanimously.
The Pandering Continues
The next item was one of two
placed on the additions to the agenda by Vivian Rojas:
1. MAYOR AND
COUNCIL: Discussion and action on the use of District #7 Discretionary funds to
pay for an airline ticket for one resident of the Cedar Oak area to attend the
TDHCA public hearing in Austin next Thursday, May 26, 2005. [Representative
Vivian Rojas, (915) 541-4108]
After a quick statement
about the residents wanting to attend the TDHCA meeting, Rojas made a motion to
approve the item.
Lisa Elizondo said she had
circulated a memo explaining that this was not an appropriate municipal purpose
for expending City funds. Immediately
after Elizondo explained that the item was not legal, Cobos, naturally,
seconded the motion. Note to future
Councilors: I know she’s an idiot, but
occasionally Elizondo does give correct legal advice—please don’t continue the
Cobos/Cushing tradition of ignoring basic legal advice. Thank you.
Before they took the vote on
the illegal item, Wardy allowed the public to speak.
Ric Schecter was first and
said, “Lisa Turner is on her way to Austin and she will see you down there.”
(It turns out Turner was unable to attend due to an emergency at home.) Schecter also said there are many people in
the City who would like to go to public meetings and make their views known,
and this use of City funds is inappropriate.
Schecter then placed a
document on the projector, saying it was a public item he had placed on Council
agenda on August 10, 2004. It was a
request on his part that “we amend the notification ordinance and expand it
because in our neighborhood with the Wildwood Arroyo hearing and stuff came
into the same situation that your district people have found themselves in,
where there’s a meeting nobody knows about…and you find out about it later
after it was too late to do anything and voice your opinion.”
He said that item was given
“short shrift,” and he said that Rojas volunteered to take it to a Legislative
Review Committee and she never did.
Okay…so now how many times has
Rojas dropped the ball on this and other issues? She ranks right up there with Elizondo when it comes to the
contest of the “Most Incompetent Person at City Hall.”
Schecter further said that
if we can’t take care of similar notification problems in our own city, why
would Rojas have any luck correcting it in Austin, “we don’t choose to handle
it here in El Paso,” and said she was expending City funds for a losing cause.
She didn’t respond right
away, so Schecter said, “You look confused.”
Mr. Schecter, she frequently looks confused. Were you really surprised?
Rojas sternly responded that she wasn’t confused, but she wanted the
neighbors to “take part in the board hearing.”
Schecter rephrased his
concern and said “I agree that we have spent over the last 3 weeks or 4 weeks
tremendous amounts of City Council’s trying to address and figure out a plan
for this particular issue. My point is,
almost a year ago when I pointed out this problem here in El Paso…nobody on
this Council wanted to pay attention to it.
You didn’t want to address this issue as the body that can make changes
here in El Paso and nullify the problem.”
Before the vote could be
taken, Wardy asked her to withdraw the motion because “it is an illegal action
of Council.”
Her voice dripping with
sarcasm and not a little bitterness, Rojas said, “I don’t want to commit any
‘illegal acts,’ so I’ll withdraw my motion.”
Cushing asked about showing
support for those non-elected officals who are going and as he listened to
Elizondo, acting like a half-lizard half-man freak of nature, Cushing visibly
and gently whipped his tongue around as his mouth was half open. I had to look away in disgust.
Wardy then said that any
citizen who wants to attend the TDHCA meeting can because it will be an open
meeting, and as if to say that previous meetings have not been, he added, “This
one is, anyway.”
No action was taken on item
one. And no action was taken on the
next one either:
2. DISCRETIONARY FUNDS: Discussion and action on a
request to allocate funds from District
#7 Discretionary Funds to pay for the airline ticket for one resident of the
Cedar Oak area to attend the TDHCA public hearing in Austin next Thursday, May
26, 2005. [Dept. Id #01153010, Fund
16507, Acct. # 504420] [Representative Vivian Rojas, (915) 541-4108]
And that was that.
How Do I Milk Thee…Let Me Count the Ways
I can’t wait for the
transcript of the 5/26/05 TDHCA meeting, my friends. I’ve already put in an email request for it. It turns out our local politicos have no
problems wasting precious resources in order to pander to the public. Not only did Vivian Rojas attend the
meeting, but so did Joe Wardy, Presi Ortega, County Commissioner Barbara Perez
and a representative of State Rep. Chente Quintanilla’s office did as well.
Let’s recap this whole
thing, shall we? First, Vivian Rojas,
Joe Wardy, Barbara Perez and others have no problems with the way the property
is zoned. No, sir! So if it’s zoned for apartments, that’s
a-okay. What they have a problem with
is the fact that the owner, Ike Monte, has received tax credits for the
property and as a result, will offer low-to-moderate income El Pasoans a place
to live. Rojas has told the residents
that this will create crime and traffic.
When the TDHCA tax credits
were denied – at a July meeting Vivian Rojas attended – and then placed on a
waiting list, Rojas inaccurately informed the residents in the surrounding area
that the project was dead. When the
project (which was on a waiting list) was later funded, she lied to her
constituents about the facts surrounding that funding.
So…Viv and her pandering
delegation go to Austin and tell the folks up there that we don’t want their
federal funds to help us create more affordable housing! That’s right…keep that federal assistance
out of here, and let’s make sure people continue to get into homes they can’t
afford, let the foreclosure rate continue to climb, and help keep people in the
cycle of poverty that plagues our community.
But as far as the lying and
pandering…it’s not over, folks! On next
week’s agenda (5/31/05), here’s the item Rojas has placed on the additions:
1. MAYOR AND COUNCIL: Discussion and Action regarding hiring outside legal counsel to further research and report back to the El Paso City Council with findings based on the most recent developments from theTexas Department of Housing and Community Affairs board meeting held on 5/26/05. [Representative Vivian Rojas, (915) 541-4108] [attachment]
It ain’t enough that our tax
dollars have been spent on flying these bozos back and forth from home to
Austin at least twice, and these discussions that take up hours at Council
meetings lead to the same place (we have no legal standing in this issue). No, no.
Now we’ve gotta hire another attorney to follow the hapless Viv’s
orders.
If Council approves this
expenditure, they should all be tarred, feathered and run out of town.
A Profile in Courage
And, my friends, for an
example of an elected official who has the courage to call a spade a spade, you
must read Sen. Shapleigh’s letter to the TDHCA discussing the real activities
on Rojas’ opposition to Cedar Oaks: http://www.shapleigh.org/files/news335.pdf
And once you’ve finished
that one, take a look at Shapleigh’s timeline on Suncrest, which was the
identical issue, but this one was on the west side: http://www.shapleigh.org/files/news337.pdf
Both of the issues are all
about the Bowling family, El Paso’s albatross.
In case you haven’t noticed, they’ve been very open in their efforts to
ensure that their man, Joe Wardy, gets re-elected. The Builders Political Action Committee sent out a mailer warning
us that the Pentagon and the White House would be very disappointed and concerned
if Joe doesn’t get elected. Then Bobby
Bowling III (Bobby IV’s daddy) confronted Cook at a forum, telling him he felt
stabbed in the back by Cook.
It says something very bad
about El Paso that these embarrassing individuals are allowed to be the representatives
for the building community and the El Paso Association of
Bowlings…er…Builders.
Okay, enough of those guys.
And the Letter of the Year Award Goes To…
David Nakabayashi of Central
El Paso! Applause! Applause!
Standing Ovation! This El Pasoan
deserves a medal of honor for his succinct and right on the money letter to the
Times this week:
Wardy
ineffective
Joe Wardy has made no taxpayer money spent without voter approval the main
issue of his campaign.
In his 2004 CIP bond election, I got to vote for fixing potholes, repairing
flood pumps, etc., items that I consider normal expenses hardly worth going to
the polls for. Of course, fix the potholes.
Truthfully, the certificate of obligation vs. bond election issue is a
diversion from Mr. Wardy's lack of positive accomplishments.
He takes credit for projects started long before he arrived in 2003 hoping
we'll forget about his "Lifestyle Mall Debacle."
He touts library and museum construction, results of the 2000 quality of life
bonds. His economic development plan is nonexistent. Now he's falling all over
himself to take credit for bringing troops to Fort Bliss. Spare me.
His only legacy will be having turned City Hall into a rubber stamp for land
developers, into a cash cow for his campaign contributors and into an
environment completely hostile to initiative, creativity and, yes, visionary
thinking.
The runoff election is your last chance to tell Wardy that City Hall belongs to
you, not his rich and powerful puppet masters.
David Nakabayashi
Central El Paso
http://www.elpasotimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2005505270309
Joe “the Special Interest Boy” Wardy Goes Negative
And in case you haven’t
noticed, Joe Wardy and his handlers are busy working up an extremely negative
and ugly campaign against their biggest threat: John Cook.
Not only has Wardy outspent
Cook exponentially, but he’s also brought in the big guns to help. First it was Silver, giving Joe credit for
bringing troops to Fort Bliss (once it was made public that Silver’s only
concern was getting his kids jobs, the Wardy campaign pulled those ads!).
Now it’s State
Representative Joe Pickett, who has an awful, negative recording going out to
folks in East El Paso. In that recorded
message, Pickett urges everyone to get out and vote for Wardy and then proceeds
to say as many bad things about Cook as he can. Here’s my suggestion to you.
If you are offended by Pickett’s manipulations and negative campaigning
on behalf of the Croneymeister, I’d suggest you leave him a voice mail message
this weekend. His office number is
590-4349.
And For a Good Laugh…
And this Sunday, the El Paso Times did a profile on both
mayoral candidates. The Wardy profile
is sure to give you a good laugh.
First, Wardy claims that he
ran for mayor because he wanted to, and “not some group of movers and shakers
looking for someone to keep the status quo in place.”
Wow, Joe. I couldn’t have said it better myself. It was indeed a group of movers and shakers
(a/k/a “the old guard”) looking for someone to keep the status quo in
place! Good job, buddy!
Then he says the “business
community” was “hungry” for his leadership once Ray Caballero was elected. I’ll bet!
They were so “hungry” to get control over City Hall once again that once
Wardy got in, there was a feeding frenzy by special interest groups who hadn’t
had access in two years!
Wardy claims that these
business guys are not the bad folks, adding, "I'm not talking about the
old guard that used to run things here but about the people I grew up with and
who I worked with in the chamber of commerce."
Sorry, Joe, but that old
guard that you grew up with and who are the local Chamber types are only “old
guard” we have.
But the greatest part of the
article, the part that will make you laugh and make you cry, came near the end:
"I don't care who gets
the credit for the successes, I just want to see success."
http://www.elpasotimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2005505290352
This coming from the guy who
is doing his best to be at every press conference, in every photograph and
ribbon cutting, and who is putting his name to every initiative that ever
existed before him and which had nothing to do with him.
Want examples? I think I’ll just do what John Cook does at
forums and take Wardy’s top ten list and perform a “truth analysis” and the
ultimate Hypocrisy Alert!™
Truth:
It was John Cook’s work and
research that reduced the tax rate. Not
only did Wardy not vote on the tax rate reduction, but he also threatened
Council that he would veto it! This,
after it took an article in the Times to explain to him that his own budget
would significantly raise taxes.
Truth: That was
Luther Jones’s doing, and it was a stupid strategy. Yes, let’s spend thousands of dollars holding an election to
decide to fix a hole in the roof.
Truth: Oscar Gonzalez,
Wardy’s neighborhood liaison, crafted the ordinance. Once Wardy discovered the neighborhood associations had too much
power, he tried to undo the process.
The associations didn’t let him.
Truth: The El Paso Inc. documented (the link to the
article is now unavailable link) that the initiative was begun by local
business guys and Mayor Wardy didn’t even attend an initial, critical
meeting. Furthermore, Wardy claims this
initiative didn’t cost taxpayers anything.
That’s a lie. We’re getting
charged extra fees through our gas bills.
Truth:
Not only did Wardy have
nothing to do with this (the recommendation is based on Fort Bliss’ size and
capacity), but this great news is no longer looking so great. In this week’s newspapertree, a political
insider they quote says the following: "In the big picture I don't know if El
Paso won ... we received a lot of bodies but the (research and development)
went to Fort Sill. (We got) more brawn than brains, but who knows? We are so
desperate for a win that we may have just received a bunch of GED, high school
diplomas that are going to use resources and not contribute much else back into
the community once the initial construction boom has worn off." http://www.newspapertree.com/view_article.sstg?c=7a188387425e48ac&mc=809d3b8d3548a29b
Truth:
Although Wardy believes he
can claim credit for more snowfall in Colorado, nature probably deserves those
accolades. Furthermore, although Wardy
wants to take credit for the desalination plant, the initiative was created
under the Carlos Ramirez administration and furthered under the Caballero
administration.
Truth: It was Dan Power
who worked on the ordinance, long before Wardy was mayor. Furthermore, Wardy has been in an ugly,
unprofessional tug-of-war with Joyce Wilson, our City Manager, over control at
City Hall.
Truth: Wardy had ZERO to
do with the new federal Courthouse – that was Kay Bailey Hutchison’s
doing. The Sun Metro busses – that was
already in the works under the Caballero administration (it was appropriated
after Caballero lost).
Truth: This was Susan
Austin’s initiative.
Truth: The Capital
Improvement Projects—we get to vote on filling potholes; the other issues—in
the works before his time.
Whew! I’m finally done! Hopefully, Wardy will be done, too.
Down to the Wire
This is the last
week, folks…the last day for early voting is Tuesday 5.31.05 and election day
is Saturday 6.4.05. We simply must
succeed. All you City employees out
there…there are thousands of you…you can do it single handedly! If each one of you gets 10 people to vote
and to vote for the right folks, we can wrap this up and have a joyful Sunday
next week.
Let’s do it, my
friends…the final drumroll continues.
Comments or questions: shmaven@yahoo.com
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