7.5.2005

This week, Ric Shecter goes off the deep end, Lisa Turner once again turns up the heat, and Lasagna briefly jumps on the pander wagon.

Short meetings make for short notes, and good government…well, it ain’t as ripe for righteous indignation as government under the Crony Crew. One small sacrifice for readers of Sid, one giant leap for El Paso!

When Good Guys Go Bad

This week’s public comment was interesting.

CALL TO THE PUBLIC - PUBLIC COMMENT

Calling himself Ric “Harangue” Schecter, he first spoke about the new rules and criticized Council for having long meetings. “I’m gonna harangue on you guys this morning because you deserve it.” He said that the rules for public speaking were set to be passed at this meeting and suggested that Council “rethink” the ordinance that limits public input to three minutes. He reminded them that at their first meeting they wrapped things up at 10:30; the next week at 1:30; and last week at 2:00. He complained that while the public was limited to three minutes (per item, not collectively), and the agendas were “non controversial,” Council didn’t make the meetings any shorter.

In a reference to the discussion on the Palo Verde rewards, he said that the Comptroller spent 45 minutes last week “speaking on a subject that had been visited over and over again by Council.” True, but Schecter didn’t mention that it was a different Council and a different Mayor. He called that briefing “a giant waste of time.”

He also complained about Jim Martinez’s presentation, which was also 45 minutes, calling it “unrelated to the budget transfer that was on the agenda.” Not true. If you recall, folks, Martinez had to explain to Council and the community why the City’s legal department needed over half a million dollars transferred to its budget. I would call that highly relevant to the budget transfer and I would also call that information pretty important. Ric Schecter may think how we spend hundreds of thousands of our tax dollars unimportant, but I don’t.

He further complained that while Martinez was talking, Council members “couldn’t have been paying less attention if you were in the drive-through line at Wendy’s. You all didn’t care, and in that sense, you should’ve told Mr. Martinez to pack it up and go away.”

I don’t recall whether Council members were paying attention or not, but if they weren’t, I agree, that’s not acceptable. That’s an awful lot of money. But I’ll tell you, I sure was paying attention to that presentation. And even though it was full of holes and typical Martinez posturing and snide swipes and didn’t contain everything I wanted to know, I’m glad Interim City Attorney Charlie McNabb had Martinez prepare it for the public. We need to know.

Schecter said that the public is not causing the long meetings and then said, defiantly, “I for one am not gonna abide by the three-minute rule unless you put a lasso around your staff people.”

An American Anklebiter in Chambers

Huh? Who the hell does this guy think he is? At that moment, as Schecter fairly snarled at City Council, I thought I could see his hair get darker and longer, his body become taller and painfully thin, his attire becoming weirdly inappropriate, and then I swore he seemed to be sporting outrageous jewelry. Oh my God! Was Schecter morphing into Theresa Caballero? Rick, one hound from hell is more than enough. Quick, someone get him the antidote, whatever it is!

Schecter then further demanded that staff be held to a five-minute rule and said Council should “lasso, hogtie, put constraints on your staff people,” and “throw out” the staff if they exceeded the five-minute rule. He said staff can inform Council before coming into the meetings or during the pre-Council meetings. With that, he ended the discussion on the long City Council meetings.

Apparently, Schecter doesn’t truly believe in the public’s right to know. It seems that in Schecter’s world, the only people who deserve to be briefed on important issues are Council members. And in Schecter’s world, only he should speak, not the staff members involved.

Schecter’s next discussion topic was “misappropriation of City resources,” and he said he was extremely disturbed by the fact that the Arroyo Committee, whose charter had expired, has been using City resources—meeting spaces and City employees—without authorization. He further complained that the committee may be saying it just needs to “wind up,” but, he added, “this committee is not five minutes late, seven days late, it’s not 12 days late; it is over 60 days late. How is that possible?” He then made other complaints about the arroyo committee’s tardiness, and he called a department head and assistant City attorney’s opinion that the ad-hoc committee can continue to meet “pure bull,” and demanded that Joyce Wilson reprimand the department head and the assistant City attorney because of that.

Once he was done with that item, Municipal Clerk Richarda Momsen announced that Schecter had a third public item to be discussed. Oh, joy. But thankfully, before that could happen, Interim City Attorney Charlie McNabb spoke. He said that the ordinance that was to be voted on at this meeting pertained to posting items on the agenda, not about the rules of order (Schecter was clearly confusing the two). McNabb also reminded Council that the rules of order allow a person to sign up to discuss one item at a meeting, not three, and allowing Schecter to discuss three items was not in accordance with their rules.

Folks, first of all, it was so nice to have someone there to enforce rules equitably. Neither Lisa E. nor Wardy ever did that. Secondly, that’s one rule that probably should be amended. If citizens sign up to speak at Council during the public portion, and they’re given five minutes, they should be able to use that five minutes to discuss more than one issue.

Lasagna said, “Thank you, Mr. Shester,” and Momsen apologized for not catching Shester’s multitudinous items.

Mayor John Cook suggested that Schecter discuss the other item next week, but Schecter didn’t move from the podium.

Meanwhile, Steve Ortega asked McNabb if the speaker could speak on multiple items within that three minutes, and McNabb read from the rules and said that a person may sign up to speak on only one topic during the public portion.

War of the Worlds

Schecter stood firm at the podium as Momsen introduced the next speaker, Lisa Turner. When Schecter still refused to leave the podium, Lozano had to tell him, “Mr. Schecter, your time is up.” Schecter replied, “Is there a motion to hear the third subject that I signed up for?”

I closed my eyes and imagined everyone in Chambers saying at the same time, “NO!”

Mayor Cook replied, “I haven’t heard one, Mr. Schecter. I think Council wants to follow the rules that we’ve established.”

Schecter paused, and before he finally left the podium, using his deepest, darkest, scariest voice, he leaned into the microphone and slowly and ominously threatened, “We’re gonna have a war.”

Everyone looked a bit incredulous, Lozano laughed, Presi Ortega said under his breath, “It’s already a war,” and I kept waiting for the echo (“war…war…war…war!”) and lightning.

If nothing else, Schecter’s performance proved that the Jim Martinez’s of the world don’t have a monopoly on arrogance. Even people whose heart seems to be in the right place, given the opportunity to pontificate in front of a camera, can let the attention go to their heads. Note to Ric Schecter: This is not the Rick Schecter show. This is City Council, where community business is done. This is where folks like you and I can get informed on what’s going on with our municipal government, and where we are granted the opportunity to speak—succinctly—on issues that we believe are pertinent.

And, okay, if anything should have inspired a citizen-activist to say, “We’re gonna have a war,” it should’ve been the shenanigans of the last two years. You know, the bid rigging, the bullying, the death-grip control special interests had over the previous mayor and Council. Yes, that, I can see going to war over. But not getting enough TV time…sorry…not a good reason to go to war. (Next, Schecter will be claiming that City Council is hiding WMD’s.)

Pardon my presumption, Ric, but a bit of advice. While your contributions to public dialogue in the past have been (generally) constructive, your appearances before Council are quickly degenerating into self-aggrandizing, mean-spirited, irrelevant rants. It’s time to throw away the Theresa Caballero playbook before you become nothing but an irritating non-entity whom everyone will simply ignore—or worse, laugh at.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: There need to be rules and there needs to be decorum. Just like I have been appalled by certain other individuals’ outrageous and unacceptable behavior before Council in the past, I am appalled by Schecter’s demands and his egomaniacal behavior at this meeting. If he can’t abide by the rules (which I’m sure will be suspended for very controversial or significant policy discussions), then he has no place being there.

Furthermore, for him to demand that we, the public, tolerate his speechifying but limit staff’s informational briefings is absurd. I’ve lost quite a bit of respect for this community activist. He needs to “hogtie” his ego.

A Real Activist

Lisa Turner was next to speak, and she’s a class act, my friends. She knows how to be firm, how to be insistent, and how to do it with all the respect in the world. She’s no egomaniac, and although she stated publicly at the first meeting that she disagreed with the rules of order placing parameters on public discourse, she is still able to get her point across and follow those rules that everyone else must follow.

She politely but firmly asked that Council postpone the item considering the franchise for the Electric Company and asked that the City hire an outside rate analyst for a second opinion. She suggested they postpone for 8 weeks or whatever it would take. She said that if the City chooses to enter into a franchise agreement with the Electric Company, the City should place a “poison pill” in the agreement, calling for cancellation of the franchise if El Paso Electric is sold to a third party. I don’t know if the City needs to hire that analyst, but I agree with her completely on her other recommendation.

Ray Gilbert was up next and said that last week, no one was allowed to speak on the rate freeze ordinance introduction and complained that no one could speak on introductions to ordinances in general until the public hearing for those ordinances are held.

He said that action “really puts a muzzle on the public,” and complained that the public could not give their opinions on the ordinances to Council until the public hearing date and time.

“If the public doesn’t have secretaries and the staff and everything else that y’all have and is able to do the research,” complained Gilbert, “but not able to communicate with all of you because, well, we might meet with you and we might not, and we might be in our office or we might not, through this period of time, how can the public communicate with you on these important ordinance [sic] without being allowed to appear at the time that they’re brought up on the agenda?”

Uh, how about a phone call, an email, a letter or an appointment with one or more City Representatives, Mr. Gilbert? There is absolutely nothing that prohibits that.

Gilbert said that he thought the public should be allowed to discuss ordinances when they are introduced in addition to the time of the public hearing. I disagree with that as well. In my view, it’s a fairness issue. Why should most of us abide by the rules of a public hearing (i.e. wait for the date and time of the public hearing), while others get to speak on it twice (during the introductions and during the public hearing)? How is that fair? If, for some reason, a member of the public cannot attend the public hearing, then that individual should send his or her comments in writing to the Municipal Clerk and ask her to read a brief statement into the record. If the item merits more discussion, set up an appointment with your City Rep. What Gilbert and Schecter want is simply an unlimited license to yak. Sorry, guys, but the succinct answer is: No.

Cook responded and said that the rules say that the public “typically” doesn’t speak on ordinances, but that doesn’t mean that Council won’t allow it; furthermore, the public has the public comment period when they can speak on any item they want.

It doesn’t matter, Mayor Cook, some folks in this crowd will never be happy unless they get unlimited time to speak on anything and everything they want. It may be painful and shocking for them to hear this, but the democratic process will continue just fine without giving them unlimited time to hear themselves talk.

The final speaker was Matt Carroll, who spoke about the delay in reopening the main library; he asked Beto O’Rourke to look into it and O’Rourke said he would. At the end of his discussion, Carroll politely asked if he could speak about a different issue, but he was informed that Council had to abide by the rules of order; Carroll thanked Council nicely and stepped away from the podium. What a sharp contrast to Ric “I’m A Big Blowhard” Schecter (sung to the tune of “I’m A Girl Watcher.’)

Consenting Minutes

For those of you who just don’t get enough reading via my notes, here you go:

1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: [Municipal Clerk, Richarda Duffy Momsen, (915) 541-4127] Approval of Minutes for the Regular City Council Meeting of June 28, 2005 and Minutes for the Special City Council Meeting of June 27, 2005 (Agenda Review).

(Attachment) Regular City Council Meeting of June 28, 2005

(Attachment) Special City Council Meeting of June 27, 2005 (Agenda Review)

Electricity Interruption

The following items were postponed for one week:

11. CITY ATTORNEY: (Attachment) [City Attorney's Office, Jorge Villegas, (915) 541-4550] Discussion and action on a Resolution that the City Manager be authorized to sign a Rate Agreement by and between the City of El Paso and the El Paso Electric Company to freeze the electric rates for electric utility service for a period of five (5) years.

13. PUBLIC HEARING - CITY ATTORNEY: (Attachment) [City Attorney's Office, Jorge Villegas, (915) 541-4550] An Ordinance granting a franchise to El Paso Electric Company and waiving application procedures.

My friends, I have been informed that the El Paso Electric Company board of directors (http://www.epelectric.com/internetsite/about.nsf/by+subject/Executives+and+Board+of+Directors) have recently purchased massive amounts of stock in the company (http://finance.yahoo.com/q/it?s=EE).

I have not had time to research this more thoroughly or email any board members about this yet. Maybe this enormous stock purchase is part of a normal pattern, maybe it’s not. I am, however, suspicious, as are many folks, and I think our local daily needs to look into this. (Of course, it won’t.) Nevertheless, I’m with Lisa Turner, who wants the City to ensure that if the company gets sold, the franchise agreement would need to be renegotiated with the new owners.

A Ton of Debating

Deleted for a special city Council meeting, set for Wednesday July 27, 2005 at 9:00 a.m.:

9A. Discussion and action to direct the El Paso Zoo to relocate elephants Juno and Savannah to the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee or similar quality elephant sanctuary facility as soon as feasible, with arrangements to be made by September 1, 2005. POSTPONED FROM 06-07-05

My vote is to keep those elephants here. Like it or not, the community voted to expand and invest in the zoo, not to export our animals. If we’re gonna export anything, let’s export Lasagna! Do you think those elephant sanctuary folks might take him? Call it free range lasagna!

Imminent Pain on Eminent Domain

The following item was placed on the “Pander” portion of the agenda by the two guys who share Jaime O. Perez:

9B. Discussion and Action to develop and adopt a Resolution that the City of El Paso will not use eminent domain to acquire private property to make room for private development without a public purpose. [Representative Jose Alexandro Lozano, (915) 541-4515 and Representative Eddie Holguin, (915)

I must confess, dear readers, that when Alexandro Lozano posts agenda items, particularly on contentious public policy issues, your faithful (and, it must be admitted, slightly malevolent) Council chronicler becomes almost giddy with anticipation. I found myself rubbing my hands as Council came to Item 9B. (I’m a sucker for pain.)

Lasaga began the discussion by announcing, “I was appalled when I heard that the Supreme Court, uh, is doing this to our citizens, and you know, I’m thoroughly convinced that this is inappropriate,” and wanted the staff to write a resolution to “oppose the Supreme Court.”

True to form, Lasagna completely missed the boat on what the issue was and what the Supreme Court did. But I love that a couple of City Council representatives (who are controlled by a failed mayoral candidate) want to “oppose the Supreme Court”! Ain’t that grand?

The Supreme Court, as Cook informed him, did not uphold the acquisition of public property without a public purpose. Cook explained, in so many words, that the case answered the question whether “public purpose” included economic development by private parties. The Court’s answer was yes. Reasonable minds can disagree about whether this conclusion was correct under the constitution. And reasonable minds can disagree about whether using eminent domain in this way is good policy. As any lawyer will tell you, these are different questions.

The City’s top lawyer, Charlie McNabb, said Cook was correct, explained the Supreme Court ruling in more detail, and said that it is possible for states to restrict the taking of private land and transferring it to a private developer, even for a public purpose. McNabb recommended sending the issue to LRC, which Joyce Wilson said Council is just now getting set up.

Apart from the fact that he completely misunderstood the issue, Lozano didn’t say much else on the topic and neither did his partner on this issue—the man who shares Jaime O. Perez with him in that weird municipal ménage à trois—Eddie Holguin. Quel dommage.

Four members signed up to speak and Cook asked that they keep their time to 2 minutes.

When Richarda Momsen told Lisa Turner, the first speaker, that she had two minutes, Turner replied, “Hm…I thought we had three.” Turner then said, “The Supreme Court clarified eminent domain for you. In other words, you now have a tool that you can use to hold over the downtown property owners to either get in gear, develop their decaying buildings, or the City can take it based solely on increased tax revenue.”

That was another one of those unrequited high-five moments. In typical Turner fashion, Lisa T. was absolutely right on the money. You readers at home know how resentful Sid is about those downtown families who sit on their buildings and hold our downtown hostage, not wanting to make any improvements for fear that their property taxes will increase. Meanwhile, our beautiful, historic and unique downtown decays year by year. With these families holding on to their properties with a death grip (and organizations like the Downtown Management District giving them cover) we are doomed to remain a second-rate city with a downtown that looks like a deteriorating swap meet (to use Steve Ortega’s very apt description).

Turner continued and said Council has a window between now and November to make something happen. “Get on the ball and do something now, because you’re not gonna have this tool two years from now.”

Right again, Lisa T.!

Ray Gilbert said the term “public purpose” was subjective, thanked them for this item, and welcomed Charlie McNabb back.

Ric Schecter said that a tool should not be given away “indiscriminately before you know you’re gonna need it,” and said these should be taken on a case by case basis. He, too, is absolutely correct. His perspective, I’m sure, is the arroyo/eminent domain perspective.

Matt Carroll said that eminent domain has traditionally been used as a “last resort,” but which have caused tremendous anguish.

No action was taken.

Transportation Central

The following regular agenda item was approved with no discussion:

10. BUILDING AND PLANNING SERVICES: (Attachment) [Building and Planning Services, Patricia D. Adauto, (915) 541-4853] Discussion and action on a Resolution appointing the Mayor, John F. Cook, and Council Representatives Presi Ortega, Jr., Beto O'Rourke, and Eddie Holguin, Jr. as members of the Transportation Policy Board from the City of El Paso, Texas, for the Metropolitan Planning Organization. (Districts - All)

The Metropolitan Planning Organization is an important board that makes decisions on our infrastructure. As we all know, roads can create sprawl and the way these decisions are made can sometimes be made with personal interest and private gain in mind. Let’s hope these board members get to know the issues, the power of this board, and work wisely.

The item passed unanimously.

The After-the-Fact Transfer

There was little, but important discussion on the next item.

12B. BT2005-1241 POLICE/OMB Transfer necessitated to bring debt service balance to necessary amount required for scheduled FY05 payments. (Attachment)

Decrease $1,201,167 from 21010050/01101/501012 UniformSalary

Increase $1,201,167 to 21010050/01101/507000 Intrfd Trf

Increase $1,201,167 to 99200101/20100/407000 Intrfd Trf

Increase $1,201,167 to 99200101/20100/507002 Trf to F/B

Wilson explained the salary savings in the police department are “substantial because of the number of vacancies,” and explained the need for it by saying, “We had advised the mayor and City Council twice during the year that the current debt service account was not adequately funded this year and that we would necessitate a transfer to replace the reserve that was depleted and to make it whole for the year, and this is what we’re doing.” She said they waited until the last quarter of the fiscal year in order to know how much was needed and where it should come from, and the money was needed to pay the City’s debt for the year.

Yep. Friends, this is a product of the previous Council’s extreme short-sightedness and its inability to take responsibility for their own budget. Instead of adequately funding the debt service, they voted to reduce the tax rate, patted themselves on the back and then campaigned on the fact that they hadn’t raised taxes. So now, this Council and this administration need to find ways to make up for the previous Council’s damaging venture into political expediency.

And that doesn’t even include the shortfall that is coming up in 2006.

Thankfully, we have a good City Manager who has been able to pick up the pieces left behind by the previous bozos.

Lozano made a motion to approve.

Presi Ortega asked if the money being used was keeping the City from using it for overtime, and Wilson said the City was not and that the money was coming from salaries that were not funded.

Agenda Rules

The following item was approved with little discussion, and was the item inaccurately referred to by Ric “Gimme my fifteen minutes of fame (or at least 15 minutes of discussion per item)” Schecter:

15. PUBLIC HEARING - CITY CLERK: (Attachment) [Municipal Clerk, Richarda Duffy Momsen, (915) 541-4127] An Ordinance establishing deadlines and procedures for placing matters on the Agenda for City Council Meetings and repealing Ordinance No. 15791.

This item sets in stone the rules for placing items on the agenda, including deadlines. Once the item had been introduced, Mayor Cook (in a reference to one of the rules in the ordinance that lists the exception to the deadline) asked staff to define what an “urgent public necessity is” and Municipal Clerk Richarda Momsen said that a water main break or other emergency infrastructure needs constituted an “urgent public necessity.”

Charlie McNabb said that the definition included anything that affects the health and safety of the citizens and could even be the settlement of an important lawsuit.

Only one person signed up to speak on this item but, because he left in a huff, he wasn’t present to speak on the item: Ric Schecter.

The item passed unanimously.

Another Abstention

This item was taken off the consent again so that Representative Beto O’Rourke could abstain:

3G. That the City Manager be authorized to sign the Sixth Amendment to the Facility Management and Tourism Agreement between the City of El Paso and SMG. (Attachment) [Quality of Life Services, Deborah Hamlyn, (915) 541-4686]

We were never told why the abstention was necessary.

When Lasagna asked what this item was about (doesn’t this guy ever read his agendas?) Joyce Wilson explained that this is an amendment to the current contract with SMG, which provides oversight for our convention centers; they will be taking over the management and oversight of the Plaza Theatre and McKelligan Canyon Amphitheater.

Mayor Cook reminded Council that millions of dollars have been put into refurbishing the amphitheatre, and this will allow it to be utilized more for events like weddings, quinceñeras, etc. As Cook explained this further, I was so grateful (again) to the voters. Cook’s demeanor at Council stands in direct opposition to Wardy’s egotistical, arrogant and abrasive nature, and the meetings are much more pleasant as a result.

Wilson called the amphitheater a “huge asset and a huge opportunity.”

I agree.

There was some chuckling back and forth about O’Rourke’s pending wedding (Susie Byrd called out, “Put it on the agenda!”) and whether or not he’d use the facilities and then the motion passed unanimously.

Gas Intervention*

*Thankfully, with the ousting of gas-man Robert Cushing, this columnist no longer needs to worry about whose gas it is.

The following item had been placed on the additions to the agenda:

1. CITY ATTORNEY: [City Attorney's Office, Jorge Villegas, (915) 541-4550] Discussion and Action regarding authorizing the City Attorney to file an intervention in the rate case filed by El Paso Natural Gas Company with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Jorge Villegas from the City Attorney’s office said El Paso Natural Gas has filed a rate case with the federal energy regulatory commission, which could significantly increase gas rates. He also said that Texas Gas had asked that the City intervene in this rate case. He said that Richard Fleager was ready to address Council, and Charlie McNabb said that staff just needed approval from Council in order to intervene and Council agreed to do so.

Ray Gilbert said he understands the reason for the intervention, but asked how much it would cost. “You know, when we recommended intervention on the El Paso Electric Company deal the other day one of the things that was brought up was how expensive this is,” he said.

McNabb informed Gilbert that staff hadn’t had a chance to assess the situation; they just needed the go-ahead to file their intention to intervene before the City “lost our legal opportunity to do so.” He promised that they’d bring that information and the item back before Council.

Gilbert said he, too, has filed an intention to intervene before, so he’s familiar with the process, and McNabb replied, “Perhaps you can assist my staff on this,” and everyone including Gilbert had a quick chuckle.

The other person signed up to speak, Ric Schecter, did not appear (because he had left in a huffy-huff-huff).

The item passed unanimously.

For more on this, see David Crowder’s article "Local news - Natural gas prices going up; utility bills may be affected"
http://www.elpasotimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2005507060326

Untimely Passing

Before going into executive session, John Cook wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the untimely passing of Charles Wilson, a very nice guy who worked for the El Paso Times and who was killed last weekend in a multiple car accident. My condolences to his family. He really was a class act.

More Wardy Fallout

Council went into executive session, and over half an hour later, came out and voted on the following item:

19C. Rita Rodriguez v. The City of El Paso, Cause No. 2004-4957 in the 34th District Court. (551.071) [City Attorney's Office, James A. Martinez, (915) 541-4550]

Jim Martinez, the quickly dimming El Superstar, stood at the podium, and suggested the following motion: “That the City waive any existing or potential conflict of interests that may apply to the City Attorney’s office in this case and to authorize the City Attorney’s office to represent the City of El Paso in this case in conjunction with outside counsel.”

The item passed unanimously. This is another one of those issues, my friends, that will cost you and me a pretty penny. I believe the experienced Rita Rodriguez, the former City Attorney who was unjustly ousted and replaced by a younger, far less experienced and far less talented lawyer with a checkered past, has every right to sue the City. But it will cost us. And we can thank Joe Wardy for that. (If only we could make the untalented Mr. Wardy pay for any settlement or judgment out of his own pocket or at least his campaign funds. How ‘bout we get those wealthy west side guys who financed his political career to ante up? I guess there’s only so much justice in the world.)

Then the meeting adjourned at 11:09 a.m.

Meeting Overload

Folks, for those of you who, like me, just can’t get enough of municipal government meetings, budget hearings are underway (for dates and times of special city Council meetings, see http://www.elpasotexas.gov/city_clerk/meetings.asp; to watch them, you can do so via streaming video at http://www.elpasotexas.gov/realplayer.asp).

As we all expected there will be a problem with paying for the debt service. Again, last year’s desire not to face the music means that this year the City will have to pay for some of that ballooning debt service with the franchise fees from the Electric Company. That means this Council will have to do some quick and smart negotiating to ensure they get everything they can from El Paso Electric, which could be readying itself for a profitable sale.

I am delighted, however, that the City employees will finally receive a cost of living increase, small as it may be, and I’m confident that Wilson (with the help of an experienced City Attorney) will continue to do what’s in the best interest of this community and the City organization through this and future budget processes.

For more on the budget, see the El Paso Times article

http://www.elpasotimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2005507090355, and be sure to read the brief updates given by my favorite activist, Lisa Turner, on the Strelz Forum (http://strelzbacktalk.proboards19.com/index.cgi?board=EP).

Power Struggle

Here’s a little info for those of you, who, like me, enjoy a little gossip every now and then. Word on the 10^th floor is that there is a genuine storm brewing, and it’s all centered around failed mayoral candidate Jaime O. Perez, who is a staff member of Eddie Holguin’s.

Holguin, who is the District 6 representative, hired Perez after Perez helped him with his successful campaign against Paul Escobar. This is not Perez’s first stint as a staffer at City Hall; he was also hired by Alexandro Lozano in 2003 (and Lozano also paid him to write the distorted literature he mailed out during his campaign against Larry Medina). Anyhow, many folks have told me that the real City representative and decision-maker for District 6 is Jaime Perez, not Eddie Holguin.

Now, folks, I’m not against good people being hired; I’m also not against elected officials getting input from trusted allies and community people. I think they should do that; they certainly don’t have all the answers all the time. However, when our elected officials can’t make decisions or compose letters or policy on their own, then Houston, we have a problem.

There is also a problem when someone like Perez decides he’s above the law that governs City staff. Apparently, the City Manager’s office informed all 10^th floor staff (including Perez) that they are to swipe in when they arrive at work (on the computerized time clock) and swipe out when they leave. They are also required to work regular business hours (8-5). There are only three exempt employees: the mayor’s staff, all of who have to work the regular business hours, but possibly more and at differing times. Seems reasonable (and to be expected) to me.

Not to Perez or Holguin. They were apparently furious over the fact that Perez would have to abide by these rules and they followed up with angry emails.

I have put in an open records request for the email exchanges and once I get them, I’ll be sure to share them with you.

How Do You Spell Relief?

And speaking of overpaid government retreads, remember the appalling specter of Jimbo with the Jumbo Salary being hired as the Executive Director at the Housing Authority of the City of El Paso (HACEP)? Well, to answer the title to this section, the way I spell relief is…N-O J-I-M-B-O A-T H-A-C-E-P! The stars were in alignment this week (or there was some smooth political work done), and the Housing Authority Board (in a non-unanimous vote…Gerry Mangrum, the hate-filled hack who used to write for Theresa Caballero and Martin Paredes’ hate-filled website, was one of the “no” votes) decided to let the new Board of Commissioners (whoever they will be) choose the new Executive Director at the Housing Authority. That means that they didn’t vote to select Jimbo and give him another jumbo salary.

I had tossed and turned all night, not knowing the outcome of the vote, dreaming about Jimbo at the helm of that important organization, commanding the residents to address him as Mr. El Superstar, and was delighted when I awoke the next morning and read the news of his failed attempt to hijack yet another public entity http://www.elpasotimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2005507060330.

Don’t Cry for Me, El Paso, Texas!

Speaking of Jimbo, I’ve been informed that he has agreed to resign once he is able to transition his cases to other staff. Whooppee!!!

I know, I know, you’re probably thinking, “Okay, Sid, the guy is on his way out, enough already!”

And yes, I’ll let it go. But as a friend told me, Jimbo may be crying, but he’s crying all the way to the bank.

Rally Against ASARCO

The following important text was sent to me:

Call to Action: Be at the July 11th ASARCO Hearing

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality ordered hearing to determine whether or not ASARCO's permit will be renewed is scheduled to begin on July 11th at 9:00 am at the El Paso County Courthouse, 500 E. San Antonio in the Ceremonial Courtroom, 12th floor. El Pasoans must get involved and send a clear message to ASARCO that we do not want the more than 7,300 tons of pollutants emitted into the air that we breathe. These pollutants not only affect our health, but also the health of the local economy as we cannot attract new, high wage jobs with an operating lead smelter right in the middle of our city.

It’s an important message and one I hope you will share with everyone you know. This will be the test of community will versus corporate power.

And folks, in the next couple of weeks there will be some important issues, so I’m going to hang on for a bit more. Thanks for your continued reading.

Until next week. (Yes, folks, the farewell tour isn’t quite over . . . almost, but not yet.)

Comments or questions: shmaven@yahoo.com

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