Did you have a voice in the political process when City Council announced on a Thursday that they were going
Category: Quality of Life Projects
We Could Have Had City-Wide High-Speed Internet Instead
You know I’ve been saying that the real cost of all those vanity projects for the leisure class is what
The Fiscal Ship is Sinking
Here’s a news flash from the El Paso Inc.: El Paso leads major Texas cities in debt not approved by
“Throw a Billion Dollars from the Helicopter”
Here’s a scathing article from Reason.com about cities building stadiums. Throw a Billion Dollars from the Helicopter is a new
Economic Development?
Y’all remember when they pitched those 2102 Quality of Life bonds, they said it was “an economic development issue”. Here’s
“Card Tricks: How El Paso’s 2012 ‘Quality of Life’ Bond Election Got Riddled With Flimflam”
Here’s a piece on Medium.com written by veteran reporter Debbie Nathan, chronicling the run-up to the election. . . .
The Lies They Tell Us
Tomorrow the El Paso City Council will vote on a measure to indefinitely postpone the proposed arena in Duranguito. Let’s
The Alternate Realities of Living in El Paso
The people running El Paso are delusional. They’re drunk. Drunk on power and ego. They latched onto this idea that
El Paso’s PDNG Hangover
Y’all remember the Paso del Norte Group. Back in the aughts, they were going to launch El Paso’s renaissance. They
Brain Drain, Jobs, and Quality of Life
Which improves your quality of life more? A good paying job, or ballparks, water parks, and and arenas? Fiscal profligacy
Retrovision: They’re Bullies
This article originally appeared on 14 August 2018. Did you see this story on KVIA? Texas oilman J.P. Bryan, one
Opportunity Costs
The City of El Paso is spending hundreds of millions of dollars on stuff we don’t need. City Council [will
Retrovision: The City’s Plan Sucks.
This article originally appeared on 03 May 2018. The City of El Paso is implementing a plan that some rich
The Future Revealed!
I can’t imagine the City of El Paso keeping next year’s budget under an amount that won’t require at least
The Arena Saga That Wouldn’t Die
I lifted this from David Crowder’s article about the Downtown arena that appeared in the El Paso Inc. this weekend.
Our Political Class
Somehow, El Paso developed professional politicians. Okay, the development of professional politicians was intentional. Corrupt power brokers recruited electable candidates
Change is Hard
About ten years ago, the people who really run things in El Paso decided that the city needed public amenities
The 3.5% Solution
You’ve probably heard that the Texas Legislature reduced the rollback rate to 3.5%. Here’s the skinny from the Texas Tribune.
The Business of Government
I lifted some slides from City Manager Tommy Gonzalez’ presentation on the water parks to City Council. Like this one:
Revelation
They said it was about Economic Development. They said that once we built those Quality of Life projects, companies would