Brand Management Chuco-Style

Five years from now, when people hear the name “Margo,” are they going to think of Tom Lea and FEMAP, or will they think of higher taxes, campaign lies, and bureaucratic intransigence?

If Amazon considers El Paso as a location for HQ2 (Ha!), will their investigation unearth a government in tune with its citizens, nurturing their personal growth, or a city government reeking of backroom deals with private interests?

I’m pretty sure Amazon don’t roll that way. It would be bad for their brand.

Ostensibly, the City’s values are Integrity, Respect, Excellence, Accountability, and People. Integrity, Respect, Excellence? I’m not seeing any of that. Accountability? To whom? For what? Valuing People is maybe the only value that the City is true to, but it’s not all the people. Only the rich ones. The City should understand that values are more than words in their Employee Handbook. Values are the defining principles for an organization’s brand.

Principles seem to be in short supply around City Hall. The default seems set to private gains at the expense of public benefit.

Being steadfast and true can be good qualities in a politician. (Steadfast is another word for stubborn.) If you’re steadfast and true for the right reasons. Principles, for instance. Or defense of the disenfranchised. Being steadfast and true on behalf of private interests at the expense of the average citizens is no virtue. Selling out the taxpayer to be steadfast and true to your patrons is not something to be proud of.

You can build a hundred bridges and no one will call you a bridge builder, but you rope one goat and you’re a goat roper for the rest of your life.

5 comments

  1. “rope” a goat, huh? That’s not the way I remember it, somehow. But, I appreciate the sentiment, and agree wholeheartedly with the entire post. Thanks, again, Rich.

    1. It’s not exactly the way I remember it either. But it’s family-friendly.

  2. Interesting how the writer from the very beginning of his article immediately dismisses the very idea of Amazon making a head quarters here. Sad part is, I do agree with him. Not because of city council, but because of the populous. Where were all of these protesters (probably all who do not or have not even lived in durangito) years ago when it was in disrepair? The truth of the matter is, wealthy people with businesses create businesses and opportunities for the rest to partake in. Downtown is a broken-down, Chicano area in need of revitalization. This requires old, decrepid buildings to be torn down. Until this occurs, downtown will never be more than an area of 2nd rate stores for Juarenios to shop at.

    1. Juan, mijo, Amazon put out a list of minimum requirements for the new second corporate headquarters. They are, from the RFQ (via Wikipedia):

      Amazon’s request for proposals outlined several core requirements, as well as optional preferences.

      Metropolitan areas with a population of over 1 million
      A stable and business-friendly environment
      Within 30 miles (48 km) of a population center
      Within 45 minutes to an international airport
      Proximity to major highways and arterial roads
      Access to mass transit routes
      Up to 8 million square feet (740,000 m2) of office space for future expansion
      Optional preferences include airports with direct flights to Seattle, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., urban locations, and proximity to major universities.

      Yeah, you could shoehorn El Paso into those requirements. But why would Amazon feel the need to shoehorn any community into the decision process?

      That optimistic denial, that lack of self-awareness, is only holding El Paso back.

      Also, have you ever looked at a map of the United States? El Paso is conveniently located a long way from everywhere else. For a company with so much invested in logistics, I’m thinking Amazon will choose a place closer to everywhere else.

  3. l guess l shouldn’t be surprised living in one of the stupidest towns in America that there are still some delusional, nut jobs out there that think the only problem with the 915 is that we need even MORE crony-capitalism. lt’s quite pathetic that Juan (possibly a blogger who calls himself Zorro, which is kind of weird considering that he is behaving in the exact OPPOSITE way that the fictional character Zorro would behave) isn’t a big fan of reality so let me give him a reality check: During the last few years this town has pissed away tons of money on this mentally deranged notion of “if you build it, they will come,” news flash, this ain’t Vegas or Disney World. So what has happened in this screwball attempt to prop the downtown at the expense of the rest of the city? Higher taxes, higher fees, a much higher debt, no population growth, and lower wages for most people, less revenue for the city and businesses leaving – Kmart, Macy’s, ATT call center. But according to Juan, if we could just squish in a few nice stores in the downtown, our lives will be a zillion times better. The really sad thing about all of this is, is that the retarded monkey that is Juan usually end up breeding more retarded monkeys. Which is worse, me delivering some stiff shots at this crackpot named Juan/Zorro(?) or citizens damaging this town because they’re too greedy and ignorant to know what the hell they’re voting for?

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