Since 2012, the City of El Paso has only grown by 7,472 people, according to estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau. That’s only 1.1 percent. In four years.
The real value of homes in the El Paso Independent School District fell by three percent last year. That’s a sign of a failing economy.
We’re always going to have Fort Bliss. We’re always going to have border security. It’s our civilian population that’s disappearing.
I tell you, it’s a crisis.
So what does City Council think the answer is?
Baby changing stations.
I think baby changing stations are great. I have a baby. I sometimes change his diapers. But the city has bigger problems. Like hemorrhaging municipal debt, and the ongoing abuse and denigration of dissident citizens. i.e., the so-called Crazies. The City’s solution to our crisis is baby changing stations, and the battle over a downtown arena.
Lemme tell you, a downtown arena and baby changing stations aren’t going to solve our bigger problems. Lots of cities have downtown arenas. A downtown arena is not going to make El Paso cooler than other cities with downtown arenas and baby changing stations.
Who among us thinks that the lack of a downtown arena is El Paso’s biggest problem? Then why is the City devoting so much time and money to cramming a downtown arena down our throats? Do you suppose that private interests are influencing City Council’s decisions?
I do. Either that, or there’s a collective brain virus spread by an interplanetary mold in the old El Paso Times building. You know. Body snatchers.
Don’t we have bigger problems than the lack of a downtown arena? Wouldn’t it be nice if our elected officials came up with a plan to address those bigger problems?
Something besides baby changing stations?
Edited 29 August 2017. Bad math.
It’s crony capitalism. El Paso city government is following a well-worn trail toward stimulating gentrification. Driving out the people in our established neighborhoods to make the downtown area more attractive to speculative real estate developers. They don’t represent any of us.
Isn’t it funny how we got along for millions of years without baby changing stations, just like we have gotten along fine without worrying about who uses what bathroom? This City is being run by the rich minority for their sole benefit, and the rest of us can either like it or leave. This old man wishes to hell he could leave.
I’m still pretty stoked about the digital wall. If we put the baby stations at the digital wall that will create synergy and have a multiplier effect. Cortney Niland told me that.
Definite need for “baby changing stations” at City Hall.
I get that it’s a blogger’s job to point out the absurdity of certain things that the city does, but you mentioned baby changing stations here 6 times like that’s in the master plan to save El Paso. If you’re going to be snarky, at least back it up with more than 2 items (baby changing stations and the multipurpose performing arts center).
The city did pass a new budget that raised taxes, which leaves many understandably upset, but within it are other things that contribute to a bigger-picture plan to improve El Paso. Baby changing stations are an improvement to our overall quality of life, but you make it sound like Council went to the drawing board to solve the problem that is El Paso and that’s all they came up with. By the flow of your piece, you make it seem like baby changing stations were the solution to low population growth.
I’m not going to defend City Council or the mayor, but I will call out the El Paso population for low voter turn out, not putting better people in office. We aren’t proactive with politics, we’re reactive. What does reactive sound like? “City Council thinks baby changing stations will solve the city’s problems.” You weren’t even proactive in breaking down the budget. You just chose an item that would be clever to repeat like a refrain until your readers were all are hypnotized.
I dare you to pick apart the budget. Really sit down with it and do an item-by-item breakdown of how City Council’s doing nothing to benefit the city in the long run. If you come up with “My conclusion is nothing at all is being done,” then stand by your snark and snark some more. I’d love to hear it. Snark is fun.
Half of the current council are freshmen. Cissy from District 8 is barely a month-old in office! She practically walked into budget season already in progress. Give them some time to make a difference before you bash the 8 of them as a whole.
And for those who didn’t place a vote for or against the person currently in your district’s seat, can you really talk? Can you really be taken seriously in this comments section?
My point isn’t that the City thought baby changing stations would fix “the problem that is El Paso.” My point is that the City isn’t even trying to fix El Paso. They don’t even acknowledge that there’s a problem. As far as they’re concerned, everything is hunky dory. So what do we get? Baby changing stations.
Incremental improvements, like baby changing stations, are band-aids when we’re hemorrhaging. We need some dynamic leadership from City Hall and all we get is the same old thing.
Yeah, we could use better candidates and a better informed electorate. But right now we’re stuck with what we’ve got for at least the next two years. How much time should we give the new representatives before they start making good decisions? We don’t have time to waste and we’re paying for the bad decisions that they’re making now. And yeah, five of our City Council members are new, but three of them are old hands. Dr. Noe, in fact, was on Council since before the Quality of Life bond elections. And Representative Ordaz Perez, the baby changing station advocate, isn’t new, either.
I’ll wager that you haven’t wandered around El Chuqueño much. Baby changing stations are just the latest feel-good atrocity perpetrated by City Council. If our newest City Council members read more El Chuqueño, they wouldn’t have to rely so much on what their handlers at the City tell them, and they could make better-informed decisions.
I reckon everyone has an angle. Except me. I just want good government. And more page hits.
Thank you for your well-thought-out comment, and please keep reading and commenting.
Gee whiz Nancy! Do you need a hug? Sometimes bloggers will say something absurd to make a larger rhetorical point. In this case Mr. Wright used one of my favorite devices to illustrate his point. Ergo. “The house is on fire. We must bake cookies for the firemen”. Clearly this indicates a lack of critical thinking and the ability to prioritize. The City had consistently employed this flawed logic. Jesus Christ. Don’t make me explain the jokes.