Refuse the Juice

The debate thread

If you guys want to chat about the debate - use this post.  I did not watch it live.  I think it's a bum deal that Beto is getting flack for speaking Spanish.  The man is trying to be inclusive by putting his mouth where is money is - he's actually walking the talk.  

Tulsi Gabbard is a liability as it is known that she is involved with a cult-like figure or "guru".  It's very weird and it will come out.  

Everyone else just wants to promise free everything and it leaves voters asking "who is going to pay for it?"  If you have to ask who is going to pay for something - the answer is likely YOU.  Free college will devalue a college degree. Free medical care will crash medical care quality.  Think about the quality of "free" goods and services you've received in your life time and ask yourself if you want that to be the standard of education and medical care. 

~Kinky 2020

What is the motive?

Max can say whatever he wants about how historical designations are totally meaningless for property owners, but that won't make it true.  You don't seek and receive the designation without giving up something.  Otherwise, they'd just hand them out to anyone who asked for one.  

Real quick detour...   The reason so many people in Austin have the historical tag on their home or business is that you get a 50 percent reduction in property tax for life!  A friend of mine is saving $14,000 a year in property taxes because his house has the historical designation.  He does admit that it's annoying that there are a lot of things he can't do to the house because of the designation, but the tax break is worth it.  He has given up some property rights in exchange for being able to afford a house very close to downtown.  

If the historical designation is meaningless, then why are Max and friends so hell bent and slapping it on 900 properties?  Nobody can make a good case that even 50 of those properties are truly of any historical significance.  Sorry, old doesn't mean the place is historical.   So what's the motivation here?

Bottom line - all this time and money isn't being spent for a grand total of nothing.  There is something going on here and since nobody is being honest about it, I will assume it's bad for property owners.  

And don't buy Max's claims about anything to do with the Texas Historical Association.  It's an association run by private citizens in conjunction with some University of Texas efforts.  The association doesn't make laws or have any such authority.  The Texas Historical Commission, on the other hand, does have authority.  I think Max confuses people by trying to sell the association as the commission.  So far a few judges have bought it and it's kind of silly.  

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"Streetcar" update... A friend reached out to tell me they were in El Paso last week and road the trolley.  She mentioned something about a baseball derailing a care recently, but was otherwise happy with her ride.  She had to take an Uber back to her hotel, though.  The whole thing struck me as funny. 

The real motive behind historical moves

Anyone who has stalked me knows that I used to work at the National Association of Realtors (NAR).  I was in DC working and ran into an old colleague from my NAR days.  As we were chatting I asked him about a guy we used to work with who was a private property rights expert - but not a Libertarian. He got me in touch with the guy and now you have this blog post. 

I sent the expert all the info on what the county voted on and what Max Grossman and friends had been doing with Duranguito.  Without reading my blog his first thought was: "Mr. Grossman has successfully argued for the historical value of buildings that don't have plaques with Duranguito, so it makes complete sense that he could more easily control the other 900 properties when he tricks them into getting plaques."

Note: The "plaque" he refers to is exactly what you think it is - one of those bronze plaques that denotes the historical significance of a structure or area.  The state chapters of the National Registry of Historical Places Program hand them out basically to any place that meets their criteria - being around for at least 50 years.  As of right now - a house built in 1969 can easily be declared "historical" in this program.  My expert uses the word "plaque" when referring to a property that has been accepted - because, you know, they get a plaque.  

My expert questions why the city or county or state or any tax spending entity would be paying for this "survey."  He also questions why they would want such a big place with so many potential sites (900+) done all at one time.  And of course he suggests there's an ulterior motive here and it has nothing to do with history and everything about controlling other people's private property.

The first thing he said to me on the phone (after email became too confusing) was that anybody or any literature from the National Registry of Historical Places that claims you can do whatever you want with your building or house after you get your plaque is lying to you. He points out that there'd be no reason to get them involved if they had no authority over your property - it wouldn't benefit them one bit.  And just because their website or local representative tells you the plaque means nothing in the way of what you can do to your property - there's one case after another proving that they can screw you over big time.  He told me that judges tend to forget the law and side with historians when they file injunctions to keep property owners from altering their "historic" homes or businesses.  His best example - Duranguito.  There's no legal precedent to have stopped that from going forward, but because the hint of history is given - judges worry about being the guy who let them demolish a sacred building.   He had a longer point about confederate monuments and how at one time judges refused to hear cases about removal and now they have switched to refusing to hear cases about keeping them... 

Anywho... 

His main point is that if getting one of these plaques has no meaning for what you can and can't do with the property, then they wouldn't exist.  The fact is that the plaque means a lot.  Max Grossman and friends wouldn't be pushing for such an unprecedented survey if they didn't have a very specific goal or plan in mind.  My expert suggests Grossman is working on behalf of some slumlord who doesn't want to improve his properties and thinks getting them declared historic will keep the government from telling him to fix them up or taking them by eminent domain.   That could be true... or Max and friends are just trying to pick a fight with local politicos they don't like.  

My expert says the biggest problem here is that once the survey is complete (and he can't get over why taxpayers are paying for something that is traditionally paid for by private interests) Grossman and his friends will prey on clueless homeowners to get them to sign over the rights to their property.  The owner of the building or home has to agree to submit for the plaque.  A smooth talker like Grossman simply knocks on the door and tells them they are living in a piece of history and if they'd just sign right here on the dotted line their house will be more valuable and you get this plaque saying your house is legitimately old and valuable.  Who wouldn't want that? I mean all you go to do is sign that sheet and you get a plaque and some bragging rights.  

But... we all know that's not what is going to happen.  Grossman has no interest in helping people get a plaque for their falling down house.  There's another motive there and I don't have to tell you what it is.  A homeowner signing the dotted line is trading his property rights for a $10 bronze plaque.  It's nothing more than a scam. 

My expert points out that any property owner could do this on their own.  He says that Grossman and friends could put on some sneakers on and go walk to each house now and ask if they'd like to apply.  No survey necessary.  It's odd they aren't doing it this way.  Unless, Grossman doesn't think the property owners would do it on their own.  He wants to present the survey to them as some kind of "official designation" fooling property owners into thinking a higher authority has already made the decision.  Instead of Grossman knocking on the door and trying to convince the people they should apply, he simply states that an "official document" he's holding in his hand says their home is historical and he only needs their signature for them to receive their complimentary plaque.  My expert says the survey is at best toilet paper when finished.  They basically just find anything older than 50 and call it "historic".   They don't do any kind of research about whether or not somebody famous or otherwise known had a connection to the property.  It's all bullshit.  All bullshit YOU are paying for. 

My expert did point out that you can't find a whole lot of negative press on this because the organization is very good at tamping down bad news.  After all, the whole thing is led by history academics and everyone trusts them.  A professor of history would never step on someone's property rights in the name of their hobby/profession.  Professors are like priests and the police - completely unable to breach any ethical boundary.  And let's not forget the many scholarly words written in support of historical designations you find littering the first 100 pages of a google search.  It's as if they want to make sure nobody can find a negative word about the program before they sign the dotted line.  It's all so convenient.   It's funny how public opinion always sways toward preservation when it's not their own economic loss.

So that's the real deal - the whole survey is a cover to trick people out of their property rights so a large swath of El Paso can stay poor and Grossman can get his revenge on the mayor.  It's brilliant and I must admit Grossman picked the perfect place to run his scam - El Paso is the only place I know where policy positions take a backseat to personal vendettas.  

Trolley Follies

I'm a little late on this, but it was announced that the Trolley that starts at nowhere and goes nowhere you want to be will be free this summer.  Well, free for YOU.  The local Chamber of Commerce and others are sponsoring the free rides in order to get people interested in the area.  Good for them.  

However... When will people realize that the lack of popularity of the trolleys... err "streetcars" isn't because people haven't taken the time to discover them?   El Pasoans know they are there.  They just don't see any reason to use them.  Almost 99 percent of the city would have to drive over to the route, park and then get on the "streetcar" to go to a place they could have just driven to in the first place.  They serve no function for almost the entire population.  

The problem you have now is what to do with the investment you've already made.  Do you keep sinking money into expansion hoping that at some point you'll get the right routes people will actually use?  Or do you just pull the plug now, rip up the tracks and put the cars on display in various parts of town as a history lesson?

And please don't just bitch about the council members who voted for the project.  They are all doing just fine having either won reelection or floated off to bigger and better things.  You had your chance to punish them and you let it go.  

 

To answers your questions on historical hysterics...

Believe me, there has been a ton of chatter both in my email box and in the comments section about yesterday's post.  I will try to address everything here. 

Commenter - Rich Wright

Clever thought, but I think I'm the only person who is raising a red flag on a blanket historical designation for all of southern El Paso.  You and your buddies are drinking some stiff stuff and are drunk on anger - too drunk to realize that if Max gets his way poor families will be fined for painting their front door the wrong color (more on this in a minute).  Preservation is a rich man's game and only works when you push all the poor people out.  If you really cared about south El Paso and the people who live there, you'd be against this entire effort.  

Commenter - Joel

Hey, great on you for investing money and time into a neighborhood and turning a profit.  El Paso needs more people like you.  However, you didn't do it under the constraints I will detail below.  "Fixing up" an old house is a lot different than dealing with the architectural constraints of a historical designation. 

And I know Austin has preserved quite a few buildings, houses and whole neighborhoods with historical designations... but it's not because they like history.  It's because they hate poor people - namely poor people of color.  It was twenty years ago when the rich people in the convenient neighborhoods to downtown noticed developers trying to squeeze in affordable housing near their homes.  Scared that Blacks and Latinos may move in next door to them, the rich people organized and protected themselves with historical designations.  On the east side of Austin they used the historical designations to hasten the gentrification of those neighborhoods.  Austin is the poster child for "Not In My Back Yard" "NIMBY" activism to erect barriers to racial, ethnic and cultural intrusions.  It's an ugly mark on an otherwise great city. 

Also - I happen to have several friends who live in homes with historical designations.  These people are filthy stinking rich and that's the only way they can afford to abide by the standards set forth by the designation.  You don't just call Pella when you want to replace your windows.  You call an architect who has to put together a submittal to the people who govern the architectural standards for your historic home in order to get permission to start looking for a company that might - MIGHT! - make a window that is acceptable.  Obviously those windows are going to be three or four times more expensive than regular windows because they are custom made by some guy in New Hampshire who only works with pre-industrial hand tools and a coal fired kiln.   And then when you actually do get the windows you have to find a contractor who specializes in taking out the old historic windows and putting in the new ones without running afoul of historic design standards.  And the guy who does that may not be available because he's installing lead sinks in some billionaire's historic boutique hotel in the French Quarter for the next year.  Shall I go on?  I don't think you grasp the gravity of what all this means. 

 Commenter - Question

Not sure what you mean, but I have repeatedly said the arena is a money pit if they can't prove it will be used frequently for concerts and other events.  Put it on the moon for all I care, but you have to first prove it's needed. I'm not sure building it will hurt growth necessarily - it will just be wasted tax dollars. 

Commenter - El Paso Loses

Samaniego is completely lost at this point and I'm worried he will pushed out of office before his term is up.  He is surely not going to be reelected even if he continues his spineless pandering to the likes of Grossman.  The city is going to embarrass him on this one and the county attorney has apparently warned him of that.  

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The rest of this is from, and for, those who emailed me. 

Let's be clear what the historical designations will mean.

1.  You can't do anything to your house or building without the approval of the historians - NOTHING! You can't paint your house on the outside and you can't paint the inside.  You can't fix siding that is broken without getting their approval to do so.  And you can't just write them a letter telling them what you are going to do.  You have to have an architect submit to them a specific plan - even for paint.  And you're subject to the hysterical historical do-gooders like Max who can weigh-in and either kill your plans completely or make you do it his way.  You lose complete control over your property.  Sounds cool when you think about some rich guy you already hate getting screwed over.  It's not so cool when it's some poor guy who is just trying to repair the roof of his house without getting fined by the historical commission.  Oh, I forgot to mention - if you do something they don't like they will fine you.  If you don't pay the fine they will take your property.    Tell me Rich Wright - is that a fair thing to do to property owners in Segundo?

2.  Any grants, tax rebates - any money offered for restoration comes after you've completed the project.  They don't give you money up front.  You have to fund the entire project out of your own pocket (no bank will loan you money based on the idea that government may give you grant later if they accept what you've done).  Even if you do everything they asked you to do, they can still come back and say "we are only going to give you $1,000, but thanks for your effort."  I know a person in Austin who told me that he spent more time and effort trying to get his tax breaks and grant money from the powers that be than he did completely restoring the facade of his house.  Years later he got some money back.  He can't sell his house because nobody will put up with the bullshit that comes along with living in a "historic house."

How many people in those neighborhoods in south El Paso can pony up $100,000 cash to start restoring their home or building?  Not many.  And as I stated in the first concern - they have no other option at that point.  You can't renovate on the cheap once you've got the historical designation.  You have to do it their way. 

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I think a lot of you are going along with this because you think it's neat.  What you don't understand is how insane the regulations are with historical designations.  Many of the coolest homes and buildings in Texas are wasting away because it's just too damn expensive to keep them up. How do I know this?  My wife worked for the now defunct Texas Historical Association.  A place she dearly loved - both the folks she worked with at the association and the members.  Even the association felt the pinch of the price of being "historical" and they folded due to financial issues.  She can tell you about buildings all over Texas where people were begging for money to try and either restore them or simply keep them from falling down.  Texas has around 55 billionaires and they don't even have enough money to play the game. What makes you think the good hard working people of south El Paso have that kind of dough laying around?

Max Grossman doesn't give a shit about you or your property.  He's in a fight with politicians and your private property rights are his method of fighting them.  Max cares about winning.  Max has no money to lose - YOU DO.   But, Max is a far better campaigner than I will ever be.  He has convinced you guys to work against yourself - to cost yourself more money and he's done it time and time again.  It's amazing to watch him work you over like a bunch of mice following the piper to their death.   

When anger turns to job losses and higher taxes

Our friend Max Grossman and some of his friends went down to the County Commissioner Court today to cheer on a move to declare all of El Paso a historic district only to be used for wild west reenactments.  

JUST KIDDING!

They'd like to make most all of the property downtown and adjacent to downtown untouchable by declaring all of it "historic."  Apparently certain members of the commissioners court are cool with this.  Why?  Because they think this will be a big "f*ck you" to people they see as political adversaries.  It's not because they care at all about history.  History serves only as the bat being applied to their enemy's knee caps.  

Granted, the fight isn't over with this one vote, but El Paso will be closer to making yet another awful decision that will raise your taxes and kill growth.  Putting a freeze on all those properties - literally hundreds of rundown buildings and older homes in severe disrepair - will kill their area that is already almost dead economically and their tax burden will be shifted to those who own homes outside of the world's largest historical district that is clearly not historic.   We're talking about not only removing these properties from the tax rolls, but keeping higher value properties from being developed in their place that could have relieved the burden on YOU.  

But, hey... Max and his friends have a political score to settle and YOU are just going to have to pay for it whether you like it or not.  

Don't get me wrong - I like history.  I think there are some neat things that should be saved so we can physically stand near them and reflect on their meaning.  However, the bar for that level of "historic" in my opinion is pretty high.  John Wesley Hardin lived in El Paso for like five minutes before he met his maker... Pancho Villa murdered Chinese people for sport...  El Paso can do better than that. And clearly 99 percent of the buildings downtown are not historically significant - they're just old.  Old does not equal important.  Just watch that show Pawn Stars where they have to educate people on that concept every episode.  

I know exactly what Grossman and friends are going to say "but, but, but, but there will be tax incentives!  grants! free money!" Which is technically true - if you were to restore an old building.  The people with the kind of money to buy these buildings aren't the type of people who want to spend twice the amount the building is worth to restore it so they can get a one-time $5,000 tax break.  Believe me, I've talked to the people who do these things and they tell me it's a "labor of love" and pure money loser.  

What is likely to happen is what happened to that 57' Chevy your uncle swore he was going to fix up.  After 20 years it's still sitting there in the garage rotting away.  He never had the money nor the time to fix it up.  You can see all the properties downtown today that have rotted during the decades when there were no restrictions on what you could do with them.  More stringent architectural requirements etc.. et al is only going to ensure downtown stays rundown. 

And for God's sake don't believe any of them when they claim they know someone who will buy those properties and take care of them.  The entire stock of historical sites, buildings and houses in Texas are in crisis.  They can't even get someone to keep the Alamo in good shape, what makes you think there's money to fix up a nondescript house in Segundo built in 1925?  The Texas Historical Association went broke because nobody cared to pay for all the great things they did.    

It's one thing to go through and have a few building saved.  It's another to throw a blanket over an entire area and basically shut down any development or needed repairs on existing buildings.  Oh, and don't forget that utility upgrades will be twice as expensive in the area because you can't just dig up the street and fix water and sewer pipes.  You have to jump through a whole bunch of hoops before you can do any of that.  Poor people of Segundo can't get anything nice -not even new water pipes!

Again, Max wins another battle against his political foes... and he'll be bitching about his taxes in a week not realizing he's the reason they are going up. 

Smart people taking some dumb positions

I really like Rich Wright because he's a really good guy and usually doesn't take, or create, bullshit. However, this time he's way off.  Read his post HERE.

He's talking about the new code of conduct the council had to put in place because these adults don't know how to act.  You can read the whole document below:

Download 32589806122019122744593

Only a liar or an idiot would construe anything in the document as limiting anyone's free speech.  The entire document pertains to how to comport yourself as a city council member.  Most importantly it reminds members of the council that they should be clear about when they are speaking for themselves and when they are speaking on behalf of the city or the city council.  

Do you know why this was necessary?  Because a city council member recently "leaked" extremely sensitive documents not only to the media but to another party with which the city was in negotiations with.  The leak cost taxpayers literally millions of dollars (and some wonder if this was a criminal act).  The "leaker" took it upon themself to enter into negotiations with the third party even though the entire council had not granted them that duty.  The El Paso tax payer (read:YOU) got f*cked because one council member decided to go out and represent the city's officials position and help a buddy out (again - does someone go to jail over this?).  

The El Paso Times completely botched the report and Wright went with them by quoting their misinformation.  Nowhere in the document does it discourage city council members from giving their own opinion on an issue.  What it suggests that they DO NOT DO - is give their personal opinion on an issue when they are representing the city or city council as a whole.  For example, let's say council took a vote and the city's official position on child murder is that child murder is bad.   If a city council member is asked "what is the city's official  position on child murder?" they must respond with the city's official position - that child murder is bad.  They are welcome to say "MY PERSONAL OPINIONS IS...."  However, they can not purposely give their personal opinion as the city's official position.  Do you get that?  If not, you're stupid and don't understand anything about having a job or being an adult in today's society.

The same thing goes for when a city council member is representing the city at a meeting with another entity like the PSB or the federal government.  Rep. Svarzbein is not allowed to go to the PSB as a delegate (or representative of the city's position) and just start giving his own personal position in place of the city's official position.   Again - the city's official position is what is key here.  If there is no position taken by the city then the council member can give their opinion as long as it's clear they are speaking for themselves and not the entire council.   Again if you don't get this - you are obviously not cut out for even low level corporate America.  I mean you have to be a complete moron if you don't understand why this makes total sense:

"In the section “Elected officials conduct with other public agencies,” the code reads, “If the official is representing the City, the official must support and advocate the official City position on an issue, not a personal viewpoint.”

Do you want some idiot council member telling a representative form the Federal government that the city is willing to fork over all the money from the bridges just because the Fed representative has nice legs and good coffee?  F*ck no!  This is common damn sense - if you're sent to represent the city's position you must represent the city's position, not on your own opinions.

And their final idiotic argument is about this piece from the document:

• The Mayor is the designated representative of the Council to present and speak on the official City position. If an individual Council member is contacted by the media, the Council member should be clear about whether their comments represent the official City position or a personal viewpoint.

When has the Mayor not spoken for council on official city positions?  This is how it has always been for ever and ever and in every city in the country.  If the mayor is gone - it's the Pro Tempura who gets the camera time.  If another council member is selected they must give the official city position if asked for the official city position.   After that they can say whatever the hell they want as long as they say it's their own opinion.  

Nowhere in the document does anyone's free speech rights even get approached, much less "abridged."  Every council member can sign that document, walk to the first camera they see and say "in my opinion that document sucks."  And they can do that without recourse all day every day. 

Stop listening to the whiners who didn't read the document, or didn't understand it or just plain wanted to lie about it.  

I will gladly debate anybody who thinks anything Wright or the newspaper wrote was correct - because you're too stupid to even make a run at it.  

STOP EMBARRASSING YOURSELVES!!!

The worst reporting I've ever seen - or the new norm

Our friend Max Grossman sent around an email with a link to a Texas Tribune article that somehow ties together Beto and the fictional historical neighborhood known as "Duranguito."  You can read it HERE.

Where do I even start?  The Texas Tribune was born in a time when print media was no longer rumored to be dead - it was a rotting a corpse smelling up media space.  The Tribune offered itself as an online nonpartisan news outlet supported by the generosity of donors who love nonpartisan news.  Yeah!  But that's not really how it worked out.  It's a pretty left leaning publication that exists basically to shit on anything Republicans do in the state.  Occasionally they'll find a Democrat to pick on...   In their defense, Democrats at the state level are pretty much powerless and not much fun to write about.  Republicans are the only subject worth talking about. 

Why they decided to take a shot at Beto here is beyond my brain's function.  Beto is the single most important Democrat in the history of Texas... at least right now history.  Not since Ann Richards has the state seen a person with a D behind their name being competitive statewide or in the mix for a presidential bid.  Hate him or love him, Beto has rescued the Democratic party in the state of Texas.  And that's why I'm perplexed by this article.  

Of course, this is a "nonprofit" publication that relies heavily on donors to operate.  And while they state that Dee Margo and UTEP both gave money to the Tribune, they leave out whether or not the billionaire involved is a donor.  I'm not saying that the out of town billionaire used his clout to get this journalistic garbage written, but it's the only thing that would make sense.  

The author, Jay Root has written one negative article after another about Beto.  Obviously he's not a fan.  

Anywho... 

My major problems with the article are as follow:

1.  The Beto factor

Beto had nothing to do with where the arena is being built.  Beto never suggested, voted or otherwise approved the location of the arena.  Beto didn't have the power back then to decide the location and he surely doesn't have the power now.  He has left the city life for the federal life by the time the arena location was picked.  He's now a just a dude running for office who gets one vote on election day just like you and I.  Insinuating that Beto has anything to do with location of the arena past or present is just dumb... just dumb enough that half of El Paso will believe it. 

The author, not being from El Paso nor present for the downtown plan debacle of the middle aughts, tries to tie the arena location to a fictional narrative about bulldozing Segundo.   You may remember the public outcry that in the end was complete and total bullshit ginned up by a few white guys with slum properties downtown... the type of white men who became very rich keeping "migrants" very poor.  The type of men who let your abuelita rot in an apartment with broken air conditioners during 100 degree summers.  The type of men who let the fictional neighborhood of "Duranguito" rot as well.  

The bottom line is that Beto was the only city council member willing to meet with resident to allay their fears about being bulldozed at night while asleep in their beds (yes, they were told that would happen).   The truth to the bottom line is that Beto told them that the rumors were false.  The result of the truth of the bottom line stands today - Segundo lives unscathed.  Nobody bulldozed anything.  Nobody kicked anyone out of their house.  It was all a lie to protect a few slum lords.  

NOTE: At that time Segundo was being heralded as the birthplace of El Paso... which was proceeded by the old missions.  It seems nobody can agree where El Paso was "born."  Reminds me of our "First Thanksgiving" argument we lost so badly.

So, to tie Beto to anything here is stupid.  The original accusations were false and built on lies.  The arena had nothing to do with him.  This is not a Beto story.  

2. "Duranguito" and it's "remaining residents" are both fictional

For decades the area known as the Union Plaza district went pretty much unnoticed.  Nobody gave a shit about the people or buildings down there.  Do you know how I know that?  I drove by all the time and by all appearances it was clear that nobody cared.  Well, that's not true.  Beto cared.  He put his office in the neighborhood.  He brought jobs and people to an otherwise rundown side of town where landlords let their tenants live in squalor.  Yeah Beto!

The first claim of historical significance in my mind was the Chinese laundry building that served as different restaurants and bars frequented by rich westsiders like me who liked the gritty vibe.  I call it "poverty tourism" and it's something my generation does - you know, our affinity for dive bars, vintage leather goods, Johnny Cash, moonshine and such.  Even though we liked the place, nobody was claiming El Paso was born there.  NOBODY.  The historical significance was invented after the city started moving forward with plans to demolish the area so they could build an arena they don't need.  

The city was met with open arms, as saviors, as heroes by all but one of the residents when they came in and moved them to nicer digs at the city's expense.  There are no "residents" left. There is a single "resident" who is very old and doesn't want to move.  Everybody else was happy to get out of the hellish living conditions.  It is disingenuous to claim there are "residents" asking for Beto's help when there is clearly only one.   And..... that one woman is being used by local ankle-biters in their personal war against the mayor.  She's a pawn - nobody in the "Duranguito" crowd gives a flying a shit about her or her future.  She serves only as a strategy for publicity.  She should ask the people of Sierra Blanca how it feels to be used as a political pawn... 

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I wonder what the folks over at the Tribune would think if they knew of Grossman's conservative Libertarian leanings?  And I can't really decide if the story was written because the author has a history of bashing Beto or because someone else made a big donation to get the ink.  Maybe it's both... but I'm bored with it now.  

Let's talk about the new classrooms rules tomorrow!

 

Bob needs dough and I need material - please help

Bob Moore's site "El Paso Matters"  (GET IT!?!?!? So clever!) is lacking funding to help him realize his dream of being Susie Byrd's human-sized parrot.  Word is he has only raised $10,000 so far.   That's not going to buy a very nice website...  You can help by making your donation to [email protected] . Please help him get this off the ground so I can make fun of it daily.  I really need the content.  

Also, I'm sure if he raises a certain amount of money there's a matching sum that has been agreed upon.  For example - if he raises $20,000 someone else has pledged $20,000 to match.  Not for sure on this, but that's how I've seen these done in the past. 

All ten of you need to show them the power of this blog!

Lost Dog Land Thieves Now Pounding Sand

A call to flood the upcoming Open Space Advisory Board meeting to support creating an environmental easement out of the 1,000 acres Rick Bonart does not actually own has gone out via email.  The Frontera Land Alliance is going to do a presentation following by a bunch of irrational environazi's screaming at board members who are...  (drum roll) members of an ADVISORY board.  They can only advise.  They can not execute any kind of policy. They are as powerful as a hummingbird fart in a tornado.  

In fact... all "advisory" boards are actually "shut up and stop bothering people with real jobs" boards.  They are meant to make ankle-biters feel important and hopefully channel some of their ignorance of state and local law and policy toward each other at a time of day they can't waste city staff's time.  They are the local political equivalent of being told go pound sand in a publicly provided sand box.  

I dare them to try and get council to vote on this.  I would love to see the city finally play its hand here.  Bonart and friends are going to find the two years they got was a very nice gift and they should be happy with it.  Once the real plan is unveiled it's going to be nothing but tears for the creosote huggers.  Their petition strategy wasn't the actual solution and wrong to pursue for their desired outcome. 

All this happens at a time when my friend Max has been very upset about his tax burden.  He has some very well written emails that make some very good points about city tax liabilities.  What I don't understand is why he voted against lowering his own tax liability by expanding the tax base... A wise man once said "If you don't eat yer meat, you can't have any pudding. How can you have any pudding if you don't eat yer meat?"

There's a big difference between having a policy position and hating a politician.  Only a fool makes policy based on his hatred of a politician. 

Shapleigh Campers Mouthpiece Gets New Defamation Megaphone

The El Paso Inc. must have begrudgingly wrote the story about the El Paso Community Foundation teaming up with Bob Moore for an "online project" aimed at local news reporting. They've got a small piece of the small market that will never grow already.

Anywho... 

You may remember that Bob Moore left or was asked to leave or martyred himself from The El Paso Times shortly after they repeatedly made a certain candidate's Jewish faith a story in the light of "SHE'S A JEW! GET HER! SURELY DON'T ELECT HER! BECAUSE SHE'S A JEW!"  And you may remember that was done on behalf of your current congressperson (and it didn't have to be because the race was over years before the election took place).  As one of my liberal buddies said after reading the articles "Conservatives are always racist.  Liberals are only racist when it comes to a primary battle." I disagree - conservatives are not racist and liberal policies at the federal level are highly questionable as either inadvertently racist at best or purposely so at worst. .  But that's another story.  

I'd say pretty much any attempt at creating an online news site for El Paso at this time is pointless and destined to fail, but that's not the case here.  The El Paso Community Foundation has no fiduciary responsibility to their donors or the trusts or wherever the money is coming from.  They will pump money into Moore's personal blog no matter how small the audience turns out being (and it will be small - very very very small).  The donors won't care... which is obvious because they don't seem to have a problem dumping money into an online propaganda blog (like the one you are reading right now).  Nor will they care that this has been tried before and failed.  There's simply not enough going on to drive new content even daily.  You have get completely away from news or anything disguised as news and post straight opinion pieces - like I do.  And even that the audience is still tiny.

For Bob this whole content thing  won't be a problem because he's got it all figured out.  The website will simply be a daily reminder of how awesome Susie and Vero are and how shitty anyone who opposes them is.  The political regime dream team thinks they need that kind of help, but they don't.  Nobody is really going to indulge in a daily glass of the Shapleigh Camper flavored juice.  Nobody cares that much.  Elections in El Paso are not close enough that any kind of third party effort is going to make a difference.  You have candidates who are chosen and those who are not.  When you pay for a certain "political consultant" you win the race because they control votes.  

But... Vero and Susie needed a media bat to smack their opponents with and the El Paso Times has stopped being that bat... so now you have Bob wasting charity dollars as their fan club president with a nice looking blog.  

I can't wait.  I need some parody material.  As I have stated before in this post - there's simply not enough going on to drive daily content.  You think I want to whine for days about graffiti being taken down at Duranguito?  I mean ART... sorry, it was art... definitely top rate art.  Don't tell Max I said that, please.  

So let's all raise our glasses for this is the last thing Moore will be celebrating with his online news project.