Max Powers

Shapleigh for Mayor?

I do not know about you, but I have found the recent stories in the El Paso Times about former State Senator Eliot Shapleigh kinda odd.

If the El Paso Times is going to start congratulating former elected officials for past achievement, then there are probably some others that deserve the Shapleigh treatment as well.  But that ain't happening.

So why the Shapleigh love-fest?

I have a hypothesis.

Shapleigh is bored.  Being out of the elected office and playing husband has to be killing Shapleigh inside. 

That and he sees his buddy in Austin who is mayor over there and is feeling a little envious.

Is Shapleigh feeling the mayoral bug? 

Why not?

There is the fact Team Shapleigh does not have anybody with name recognition that can run for mayor.  And like hell Team Shapleigh wants to push City Representative Ordaz for mayor.

Then there is the fact that between KVIA and the El Paso Times a narrative - built upon bullshit - about how evil the city manager is.

Now we have Bob Moore journalistically going down on Shapleigh on how he saved EPISD.

"But Max, Shapleigh take on Leeser?"

Yes.

The El Paso Times has created enough bad headlines about City Hall that Shapleigh can pin this all on Leeser. 

Congressman Beto O'Rourke, County Judge Veronica Escobar, State Senator Jose Rodriguez, State Representative-elect Lina Ortega, County Commissioner David Stout, EPISD Trustee, and so on, would all join their headmaster on Rim Road to announce his candidacy for mayor.

Then Bob Moore works his magic to make it front page news, and the rest takes care of itself. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

El Paso Deck Park

So the idea of a deck park that would bridge downtown El Paso with the rest of the city is being talked about.

That's great!

Part of the inspiration comes from Dallas' own deck park.

How did Dallas do it?

About $20 million came from city bonds, another $20 million came from the state, and another $16 million from federal stimulus.

That's about $56 million in government money. 

But that was not enough for a $110 million project.

The rest?  It came from private donations, which is not too hard to come by in Dallas, which has more than its fair share of billionaries (by the way Dallas also has more than its fair share of people in poverty).

In other words, El Paso needs Paul Foster to make the project happen. 

As an aside, there is a funny El Paso-connection with the park in Dallas

The park in Dallas in named after Klyde Warren, a son of a billionaire.  His father is Kelcy Warren - the guy who cut a multi-million dollar check to help build the park.  Kelcy is the CEO of Energy Transfer Partners.  Why do I bring this up? Because your County Judge, Veronica Escobar, does not really care for Energy Transfer Partners.

But I digress.

Here's what funnier still. 

El Paso may not have needed Paul Foster's money to build this deck park.

Imagine if then-Transportation Commissioner Ted Houghton had some vision.  Instead of getting $97 million from the state to build a streetcar starter kit, he could have used that to build a deck park.

Oh, well.

The only question is whether or not Paul Foster is willingly to put up the cash to help make a deck project happen in El Paso.  The last time Foster wanted to use his own money on a park in El Paso, El Paso more or less told him, "Go phuck yourself!"

 

 

When Westsiders Hate Nice Things

If there is one thing that is hard for a developer to do, it is to get a high-rise to pencil and financed where cheap land is abundant.

But a developer has done just THAT.

You would think, "WOW! That's great! A quality project!"

But no.

You have one fuddy-duddy complaining about potential traffic, and you have another person wanting to tell the developer how he should run his business - "No, don't put that over here, you should put it over there instead, you will make more money over there even though I have no experience in development to really base that on."

On top of that you have someone from City Hall tell you, "That's a great project, and we want to approve it, but you need to change it.  Yes, we know changing this project will not only cause all sorts of headaches and delays for you, but it also means we get to NOT maximize value of land, which does not reduce the tax burden for homeowners."

As far as traffic goes, I am sorry El Paso, but you do not know what traffic is.  Just spend a Friday afternoon during rush hour in Austin, that's traffic.  And you want to know what's funny about that? Despite the traffic, people still are moving to Austin, and funnier still there is a developer in Austin that will break ground on a high-rise that has no parking. 

And yes, in an ideal world this project would be great for downtown El Paso, but the reality is the West Side is much more desirable.  You do not have to worry about walking past abandoning buildings that may or may not have a corpse laying around. 

This sort of project - a first of its kind in El Paso - is the kind of project that can make or break the stage for other similar projects in the near future.

Most other cities would say, "Build it!"

El Paso...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Larry Romero and the Money

Since Larry Romero resigned, the City has paid him $3, 941. 

Just to remind you all, that barely covers a weekday pass at the Masters.  A weekend pass? Forget it.

So what should Larry do?

Keep it.

If you were Larry, would you really want to give the money back? 

Looking at how the City has blown through money, why not blow it yourself? 

The City has blown money on overpaid city representative staffers and shitty Christmas lights. 

So no, Larry should keep it so that when next year when property taxes are due  for the first time in his life he will not feel like he got ripped-off by City.

Larry should not get to0 worked up by KVIA's Maria Garcia.  God only knows the all sorts of questionable personal decisions she has made throughout her life.   And Darren Hunt? He is just pissed that he could not afford to go to the Masters. 

 

 

 

 

:(

 

City Representative Eddie Ordaz, Jr.

Can someone explain how City Representative Claudia Ordaz is not like her predecessor, Eddie Holguin, Jr.?

Holguin had nothing but contempt for the City Manager. 

Ordaz has nothing but contempt for the City Manger.

Holguin never put forth a proposal that would actually benefit El Paso.

Ordaz so far has not done anything that would benefit El Paso.

Say what I have said about City Representative Peter Svarzbein, yeah, his effort to get PayPal to move El Paso will be fruitless, but at least he is doing something positive. 

Instead with Ordaz, you get someone worked up about a former City Representative that went to the Masters.  I hate to break to you all, but you need a lot more than a few weeks of paychecks from serving on Council to afford a day pass at the Masters.   You have Ordaz worked up over pennies, but appears to be indifferent to the City blowing millions on a bond sale and thousands on construction of a downtown park. 

I guess if there is a difference between Ordaz and Holguin it is that Holguin was not entirely wrong about the then-City Manager. 

 

 

 

Where's Max?

Where am I?

Things have been little busier than usually with my day job. 

So that is why I have not been posting. 

That and it is fucking beautiful outside.  I look for an excuse to stay outside.

I might actually head y'alls way this weekend with my girlfriend, Wilhelmina, to hang out with Jaime Abeytia and go hiking.