The first story about City Manager form of government was quite boring as it was written. Had the reporter asked around, she would have found that Ness and Mejia lied right through their teeth about wanting to keep city manager form of government.
Bother Mejia and Ness are bought and paid for by certain developers and builders who hate Joyce Wilson and hate city manager form of government. They have demanded that Mejia and Ness pledge to put city manager form of government on the next charter amendment ballot election. If the measure is put to the voters on a charter amendment vote, it will pass and we will go back to having our mayor and his biggest donors directly running the day to day operations at the city to include handing city contracts out directly to his friends and donors.
Mejia and Ness have both told as many people as they can that they will fire Joyce Wilson and everyone else in management at city hall. Mejia wants to fire Wilson because I'm sure she was behind the many instances where Mejia had to have her hand slapped for being a worthless employee.
Nessjust doesn't like people she can't boss around. Ness knows Wilson is smarter, faster and more cunning than she is.
So there's the real truth about those two. They won't say they're going to fire the city manager because they know that the long-time city employees will work to make sure they aren't elected. Those city employees remember what it was like to see pink slips go flying every two years when a new mayor came in. They may not love Joyce Wilson, but they do love job security. Believe me - if you elected me mayor and we didn't have city manager form of government, I'd fire 75 percent of the workforce (minus police fire and ambulance) on day one. On day two I'd have the remaining 25 percent sell every single thing that could be sold of city property. On day three I would fire the remaining 25 percent and hire private sector vendors to run the city. Day four I'd sell city hall. Day five I'd rest. We could go through a lot of days here, but you get what I mean. I'd be an awesome mayor.
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The Redd Road issue isn't that big. There aren't but about two dozen people involved with "Save the Valley" and in all the years they've been around they've yet to elect a candidate, recall a candidate or even turn in a petition with anywhere near the required amount of signatures. They're loud, but they aren't strong.
Ness only supports them because they hate Lilly. It's not like Ness gave a damn about Redd road before she jumped into the race. The Save the Valley folks tend to support anyone but Lilly. Their support is not special, nor is it effective in generating votes. However, it's something and God knows Ness doesn't have a lot of support out there.
The bottom line fact is that if the road isn't cut through, and a whole 12 people displaced, developers will pack in roughly one thousand starter homes in the space.
And let's talk about that real quickly - the whole "12 people will lose their homes" BS claim. Ness says that. Save the Valley says that, but nobody can show me exactly how they come up with that number.
I also think it's hilarious that nobody seems to give a damn about kicking thousands of Lower Valley and Central residents out of their homes whenever it's convenient for the rich folks to do so. But if you offer to pay one Upper Valley resident ten times the value of their property for the use of a sliver of it, you're a Nazi murderer from hell! Is there a double standard around here? I think Representative Holguin would agree with me when I say "YES."
Even if Ness is elected, she can't get the extension taken off of the plan. It's done by a vote, not by direction. It seems that the Save the Valley people don't realize that there is a democratic process in use at City Hall and they need to replace seven other council members to get their way.
Don't get me wrong- I truly think Cindy "Brady" Ramirez did an excellent job with the article. She went back to get quotes from Lilly from the last discussion they had on the issue and also stated she had trouble talking to Ness about the issue as well. She did a great job getting quotes from people in the area and they were genuine... well, other than Becky Schneider who has been described by her neighbors as a "f!$&ing nightmare" to live near.
Any thoughts about what they "might" do about Country Club Road are null and void. They are designing Country Club right now and will construct it early next year. After the road is shut down for an entire year you will not hear more than maybe two people complaining about the Redd Road extension. In fact, there will be cries for it to be fast tracked. Believe me, my firm constructed the new traffic circle and we know what it's like to shut down Country Club - it won't be pretty.
The facts that Keisling and others need to get through their thick heads is that they will be dead by the time the road is built. Their kids will take the land they leave behind and sell it to developers for top dollar and then go on about their lives. It is in the best interest of the people who will be using the land in the future to have access routes that are well thought out and planned. You can't stop this from happening.
You can vote for Ness or Lilly, it doesn't make a difference - Redd Road will be built one way or another. The article played well to Lilly because most readers believe in anything that means less traffic! How you could take a stance on an issue that would increase commute times right before a runoff is beyond me... Who is advising this lady?
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I will tell you that the comments section on the EP Times website has started to really turn against Ness. She was running roughly 10 to 1 favorable comments before the election and now it's closer to even for both of them. Not that the commentors reveal the will of the voters, but it does say something about how Ness is wearing on people.
If El Paso was stupid enough to do away with the current city manager form of goverment it would move backwards.
Posted by: Old Fart | May 26, 2011 at 11:00 AM
At least Mejia isn't run by the Socorro Kennedy's (a.k.a. the Gandaras).
Dr. No's campaign manager is Dora Oaxaca, Willie Jr.'s secretary, and the Gandara family is running Noe.
Posted by: it's true | May 26, 2011 at 02:21 PM