Skip to content

El Chuqueño

The dog barks, and the caravan moves on.

  • Home
El Chuqueño

Category: TIRZs

Just When You Thought It Was Safe to Go Back in the Water

2023-11-13 Rich Wright City Council, City Management, Economic Development, Elizabeth Triggs, Slider, TIRZs 2 comments

From the dead tree edition of the El Paso Inc.: Two years after it was rezoned from farm/ranch land to

Continue reading

Community First Coalition’s TIRZ Panel Discussion

2023-10-12 elrichiboy Economic Development, Slider, TIRZs One comment

Tax Increment Reinvestment Zones are a dubiously effective economic development tool. In El Paso, TIRZs are used to deprive the

Continue reading

Retrovision: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About TIRZs*

2023-07-26 elrichiboy City Council, City Management, Slider, TIRZs, Welfare for the Rich One comment

*That the City doesn’t want you to know. This post originally appeared on 23 May 2018. What is a Tax

Continue reading

You Are Still Paying for the Great Wolf Lodge Fiasco

2023-06-24 Rick Bonart City Council, Economic Development, Elizabeth Gibson, Slider, Taxes, TIRZ 10, TIRZ 13 2 comments

by Rick Bonart While Council investigates trivial gas card infractions, millions of public dollars are being wasted. Left unchecked, these

Continue reading

What do you get the man who has everything?

2023-05-22 Rich Wright El Paso Water, Slider, TIRZ 13, Welfare for the Rich 10 comments

by Rich Wright How about a man made river? According to this story from the daily rag, El Paso Water

Continue reading

CONSTRUCTION BEGINS IN TIRZ 13, THE LARGEST CORPORATE HANDOUT IN EL PASO HISTORY

2023-05-19 Max Grossman City Council, Great Wolf Resorts, Karla Nieman, Slider, TIRZs, Tommy Gonzalez, Welfare for the Rich 3 comments

by Max Grossman Vic Kolenc of the El Paso Times and the Staff of the El Paso Inc have both

Continue reading

The Problem With TIRZs

2023-02-10 Rich Wright City Council, City Management, Slider, Taxes, TIRZs, Tommy Gonzalez 2 comments

Part of the reason that property taxes are so high in the City of El Paso is because not everyone

Continue reading

Vote No on Prop 2

2021-10-21 elrichiboy City Council, City Management, Slider, Taxes, TIRZs, TxDOT 6 comments

Did you know that blight was a condition to creating a Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone in Texas? From the Texas

Continue reading

How Governments Cheat You On Property Taxes

2021-04-04 Rich Wright City Council, City Management, Downtown, Slider, Taxes, TIRZs, Welfare for the Rich 4 comments

Here’s an interesting story from the Gray Lady: Homeowners have long complained about inequitable assessments, and past studies have documented

Continue reading

Segundo Barrio

2020-06-18 elrichiboy Commissioners Court, Downtown, Economic Development, History, Slider, TIRZs 2 comments

Have you seen this map of the Segundo Barrio Historic District the El Paso Commissioners Court approved last Monday? It’s

Continue reading

El Paso Post-Pandemic

2020-05-26 elrichiboy Chamber of Commerce, City Council, City Management, Dee "Hold the Line on Taxes" Margo, Economic Development, TIRZs, Tommy Gonzalez 5 comments

The future will look different. But let’s hope we’ve learned from the mistakes of the past. For the past couple

Continue reading

Is a Gated Community a Public Good?

2020-03-02 elrichiboy City Council, Dee "Hold the Line on Taxes" Margo, Slider, TIRZs, Tommy Gonzalez, Welfare for the Rich 8 comments

Will it benefit you? Tomorrow, City Council will consider amending the parameters of Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone 13, that TIRZ

Continue reading

Is the City’s Strategic Plan Working for You?

2020-02-21 elrichiboy Certificates of Obligation, City Council, City Management, Cost of Living, Dee "Hold the Line on Taxes" Margo, Downtown, Economic Development, Jessica Herrera, Slider, TIRZs, Tommy Gonzalez 5 comments

In 2012, the City of El Paso began implementing a strategic plan to foster economic development in the area. According

Continue reading

The Trouble With TIRZs

2019-05-15 elrichiboy ballpark, City Council, City Management, Corruption, Great Wolf Resorts, Public Private Partnerships, Quality of Life Projects, Slider, Taxes, The Arena, TIRZs, Tommy Gonzalez, Trolley, Welfare for the Rich 7 comments

You might no be so pissed off when you wrote that property tax check if your money was going for

Continue reading

Retrovision: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About TIRZs*

2019-04-29 elrichiboy Lost Dog, Slider, Taxes, TIRZs Leave a comment

*That the City doesn’t want you to know. This article originally appeared on 23 May 2018. What is a Tax

Continue reading

Stockholm Syndrome

2018-10-30 Rich Wright City Council, City Management, Economic Development, Great Wolf Resorts, Public Private Partnerships, Slider, TIRZs 5 comments

Today, City Council decided to give the farm to Great Wolf Resorts, in the form of swathes of land, obscene

Continue reading

The Great Wolf Swindle

2018-10-28 Rich Wright City Council, City Management, Public Private Partnerships, Slider, Taxes, TIRZs, Welfare for the Rich 4 comments

The City must have stayed up late figuring out how to swindle the taxpayers with that new Great Wolf Lodge.

Continue reading

Downtown Development Won’t Lower Your Property Taxes

2018-10-10 elrichiboy Slider, Taxes, TIRZs One comment

Downtown is covered by Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone #5. You remember those TIRZs. Here’s what the Texas Comptroller says about

Continue reading

Those Gratuitous TIRZs

2018-10-03 Rich Wright City Council, City Management, If it didn't probably happen, then I wouldn't have to talk about it, Slider, TIRZs 2 comments

The City of El Paso is going out of its way to develop some land on the fringe of the

Continue reading

Maybe They’re Sick

2018-09-14 Rich Wright ballpark, City Council, City Management, Quality of Life Projects, The Arena, TIRZs, Trolley, Welfare for the Rich 2 comments

When you make decisions behind closed doors, without public input, you better be right. So far, our city hasn’t been

Continue reading

Posts navigation

1 2 Next Posts»

A Buck a Month

Come on. If everyone who read El Chuqueño donated just a dollar a month, I'd have a few more dollars. Make a difference. Invest in the alternative narrative.

The People Speak!

  • F.A. Sommerfeld on Elephant March
  • erqgwerf on The New Soccer Stadium
  • AF on About the Deck Park
  • JerryK on About the Deck Park
  • JerryK on A Border Story You Might Have Missed
  • Marc Salazar on About the Deck Park
  • jesus beltran on About the Deck Park
  • Rod on About the Deck Park
  • Terence O’Rourke on City of Dust: Cuchillo, New Mexico
  • JerryK on Retrovision: I Could Tolerate the Deck Park, Maybe
Receive new posts right in your InBox!
Loading

El Chuqueño Lately

  • “Yes, Your Arrogancy”
  • Lady Liberty
  • “The Wayward Bus”
  • “The Organic Gold Hunters of the Himlayas”
  • “The Thief”

Stuff we talk about