As many of you likely know I am against the Donald Trump wall. As you may also know, Peter Svarzbien has an agenda item (20.1) on today’s city council meeting asking for discussion and action prohibiting the City from awarding any contracts to any company that does work on the Trump Wall. On the surface,… Read More Peter Svarzbein’s Wall Moment
There was a recent controversy on an El Paso historical Facebook page and an El Paso website over the misappropriation of a picture of Chicos Tacos. The picture, apparently taken from the website and posted on the Facebook page resulted in the temporary banning of an individual. Looking at the back-and-forth comments it soon became… Read More Peter Svarzbein Misusing City Resources for Personal Gain
I recently filed several open records requests in order to conduct a test on how public officials are using technology and how it affects open records requests. The comments made by El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen, about the Black Lives Matter group gave me an opportunity to experiment. I will share with you more… Read More A Chill Between Veronica Escobar and Claudia Ordaz?
Well, it’s that time of the year again, you know the time of the year that the politicos look for ways to spend your money. As you know, spending other people’s money is the easiest thing to do. As has become the practice for city council each year, they pontificate about the needs of the… Read More Budget Season is Upon Us and Politicos Are Spending Your Money
Peter Svarzbein recently organized a “discussion round table” around the movie Sicario in the mistaken belief that a city is defined by a Hollywood movie. Most of us understand that Svarzbein’s movie pontification was nothing more than political grandstanding. It was an attempt to massage a message that Svarzbein is desperately trying to manufacture as… Read More Where Was Peter Svarzbein
Growing up in Mexico I grew to detest the honorifics that people, with low self-esteem, tended to apply to themselves in order to give themselves a self-perceived notion of being of a special class of people. Those of you that understand the culture of Mexico have seen the “lic” and “ing” titles and know what… Read More Peter Svarzbein and Pot Holes, Oh Yea and Hollywood on the Border
**Spoiler Alert** If you are planning on seeing the movie then stop reading now, I cannot comment about the movie without revealing some of the plot. Before you go, just know that obviously Peter Svarzbein nor the Cd. Juárez mayor had seen the movie before using it for political points. **Do not continue to read… Read More My Observations About the Sicario Movie
It just can’t get any better! While some El Pasoans are lamenting how El Paso and the borderland is depicted in the movie Sicario, the City of El Paso will be discussing refunding some tax money to a former politician and currently incarcerated drug trafficker on Tuesday. (Agenda items: 5.2, 5.3, 5.4 & 5.5) Yes,… Read More Sicario and El Paso Refunds Money to Drug Trafficker
City council is scheduled to discuss agenda item number: 19.1 that was postponed last week. The item, “Clarification of ethics rules/ordinances, including clarification on Council’s ability to interact with employees without violating ethics rules” was posted by Michiel Noe. It was originally scheduled for last week’s meeting, immediately after Claudia Ordaz’ emails were made public… Read More City Council Has An Opportunity to Clear Up Issues Today
This is going to be one of those long posts that some of you hate. I can’t help it because there is so much to discuss about Tommy Gonzalez’ pay raise fiasco. Despair not, I’m breaking it up into two sections, I will devote the next seven short paragraphs to the fact that El Paso… Read More El Paso Proves Again How Ass Backwards It Really Is
I have to hand it to Claudia Ordaz. She made a very politically savvy move that politically and personally benefits her. As you know, tomorrow, city council is set to revisit Tommy Gonzalez’s pay raise because Claudia Ordaz put it on the agenda. By putting the item on the agenda, Claudia Ordaz scores some significant… Read More Claudia Ordaz’ Revenge
As you likely know, Tommy Gonzalez, the city’s City Manager, was awarded a $61,040 pay raise by city council on Tuesday. To write that the community is indignant is an understatement. Universally the distaste in the pay raise is based on how the city council handled the measure, as if that’s a surprise to anyone,… Read More The City Manager Pay Increase
I have been following with amusement the raging online debate about the historical grant issue on social media and other online sites. I also read the El Paso Inc.’s write up by David Crowder, published on Sunday, about the dysfunction at city hall. Add to those two items the ongoing public debate about the San… Read More It is a Lack of Trust
As you likely already know, Peter Svarzbein voted yesterday to deny having the city keep the historical survey grant that city officials want to return because they could not get a buy in from downtown property owners. As expected, the El Paso County Historical Commission is irate that Svarzbein did not support them. In this… Read More Peter Svarzbein Votes For His Largest Campaign Contributors
As I have been pointing out for some time now, Jaime Abeytia has become the go to person for politicians looking to control the public perception of issues. Ever since Michiel Noe was chastised by members of the community for his attempt to appoint Abeytia to the Hispanic Cultural Center sub-committee, some of the politicians… Read More The Claudia Ordaz and Jaime Abeytia Connection
In the grand scheme of things in El Paso, it seems that it is better to be a criminal than to live an honest life. From the beginning, I felt this but it is a difficult thing to prove because the corruption is so endemic that it covers up after itself. The corruption is so… Read More Dime con quién andas y te diré quien eres: Jaime Abeytia
Last night, Peter Svarzbein was sworn in as the new District 1 representative. Today will be his first day at city council. About the only controversial item on the city’s agenda, that Svarzbein’s vote may affect is the election of a new mayor pro-tempore. As you know, the previous attempt to elect a new mayor… Read More Peter Svarzbein’s First Day
This post was updated on June 25, 2015 at 08:46am ET. There are some of you who still wonder about what political faction Peter Svarzbein belongs to. As soon as it became evident that District 1 would be represented by either Al Weisenberger or Peter Svarzbein, I knew that the tax spenders were still firmly… Read More Veronica Escobar’s Newest Team Member: Peter Svarzbein
As many of you know, the nexus to my blog is connecting the dots between the many issues facing the community today with individuals with questionable characters that were involved in criminal activities previously. Bob Jones is a good example of someone, with a questionable past, that was held up to a high-esteem by members… Read More Oh No – Not More Connecting the Dots
