Remember when all our good civil servants, elected officials, and captains of industry were pitching those Quality of Life bond initiatives? Collectively they were called the Paso del Norte Group.
They had a plan. They were going to lure industry to our community with all the new shiny baubles. They were going to stop the “brain drain.” And they were going to pay for it all with the money they had left over after the City retired some of the old bonds.
There was no stopping that juggernaut. No objection could not be overcome. It was all blue skies and sunny futures and rainbow unicorns.
Our English language daily was on board with it, too. Their editorial staff went so far as to openly calling the people who opposed the bonds “Crazies.” You might expect the pages of the English language daily to be a place for rational discussion instead of the kind of demonization usually reserved for grade school playgrounds. If you had expected that, you would have been disappointed.
Well, now the roosters are coming home to roost. Not for all those good samaritans who sold those bonds to a gullible electorate. They’ve all gone on to stellar careers. No, the roosters are coming home to roost for all those taxpaying voters who supported the bond initiatives at the polls.
Unfortunately, the bond initiatives are also coming home to roost for all the relatively sober realists who voted against those 2012 bond initiatives.
Taxes are going up. And industry is not moving in.
And all those captains of industry, and their publicly elected minions, are skating merrily along, fat and sassy, in their insular personal bubbles, with no regrets. At least no publicly expressed regrets.
Maybe they’ll feel bad after the next election.
Probably not.
The only good thing about that came from this financial nightmare is the popularity decline for the El Paso Slimes. l think there latest special is, is that you can get a 35 year subscription for only seven bucks. And back in the day, we had a CFO who literally couldn’t do 2nd grade math. Yes, this truly is El Paso. But hey, look on the bright side: once Pro Golf is in business, they’ll be offering on Thursdays all the nachos you can keep down for only twelve bucks. Now that’s what l call progress! Speaking as someone who is lower middle class at best, the 1% is not as scary as the 99% because those dipshits can be duped into believing anything if you tell them that it’s going to be “free.”