When you make decisions behind closed doors, without public input, you better be right.
So far, our city hasn’t been right.
Duranguito. Lost Dog. The ballpark.
The looming failures of the new Cohen Stadium TIRZ. The trolley. And now the library/Mexican American Cultural Center fiasco.
All of those were sprung on the voters of El Paso without public discussion, and presented to the public as done deals.
City government acts like they know better than us, when all available evidence demonstrates that they don’t.
Our property tax rates are among the highest in the nation. Our electric rates are among the highest in the state. And El Paso is the American city that Americans are fleeing the most.
And the City pretends that everything is fine, fine, fine. They’re pushing the Kool-Aid, wearing rose colored glasses, and fiddling while El Paso burns.
Here’s some advice from an unlikely source:
Rarely do people caught in addictive behaviors admit to being addicted. To deny the seriousness of our condition and to avoid detection and the consequences of our choices, we tried to minimize or hide our behaviors. We did not realize that by deceiving others and ourselves, we slipped deeper into our addictions.
The City is like an addict that can’t admit he has a problem. And if you can’t admit you have a problem, you’ll never fix it.
Great post. Thank you for being present yesterday.
La lucha sigue.
As a Mexican American, the whole concept of a co-opting by a Mexican-American special interest group co-opting the center is both shameful and embarrassing. When what was voted for and approved on the ballot was an El Paso Cultural Center, and though ideas were in the minds that it would be for “Latinos” exclusively the word was strategically removed much like “sports” or “arena” in order to deceive voters. Many of the same people pushing for a MACC do not recognize their own hypocrisy and dissonance.
The Jews, a much much smaller minority in this city have funded their Holocaust Museum from very humble beginnings. The Greek Orthodox open up their St. George to all in celebration of their culture. The Tiguas do not take my taxpayer dollars to fund their cultural center.
“Oh but us Mexican-Americans, though we are dominant culture by far locally, we can’t celebrate our culture without subsidy, b/c “white-man’s capitalism'” or something.
Bullshit. In Juarez, Mexico a much poorer community than ours, there is a private business called “Viva Mexico” where culture is displayed on blast, and all who go love the experience. The dances, the food, the music, the costumes, the horses, the history – all their in glorious display. In El Paso, we have places like Cafe Mayapan or even your favorite neighborhood Mexican restaurant. El Paso is organically and Mexican-American cultural center, and there’d be more if not only city government would quit seeking to plunder your wealth to fund their sports arenas, but also special interests groups who covet other’s plunder for their own unethical ends. No cultural set can bring honor upon themselves by plundering others, and as a Mexican American myself, that is what brings me shame.
Rant over.