Open Space Board and Democracy under Attack

Harold:

Well, either you're closing your eyes 

To a situation you do not wish to acknowledge

Or you are not aware of the caliber of disaster indicated

By the presence of sprawlers and their lackeys in our community.

Ya got trouble, my friend, right here, 

I say, trouble right here in Rio Grande City. 

You aging boomers will remember (like me) the 1957 hit Broadway show and 1962 movie with Robert Preston and  Shirley Jones - The Music Man. You will recall the song "Trouble Right Here in River City". The music man warns: "Trouble with a capital 'T'/And that rhymes with 'P' and that stands for pool!" 

Well, we have trouble here in the Rio Grande city and "T" doesn't rhyme with "L" which stands for "Legal" but legal is the threat to your Open Space Advisory Board and, indeed, our Democracy in El Paso. Here's what's up:

Just like the assault on your Plan El Paso, saving water and having natural outdoors places for your kids to play, the City of El Paso now under the control of sprawlers* works to undermine a healthy environment by replacing democracy with technocracy. The assault on your Open Space Advisory Board is case in point.

Beginning at their regular October meeting and continuing with their special meeting this past Monday to go over the Open Space Master plan, City Assistant Attorney Karla Nieman has argued that OSAB can only consider matters brought to them by staff. She went further this last Monday and said that members should consult with their City Council representatives to see what their wishes are. Of course, we know those wishes for the most part. They are the wishes of those who are bought and paid for by the sprawlers who don't care for a healthy environment and natural open space for you and your children, but only for the immediate self-gratification of their bank accounts built on 400% profits.

OSAB is charged with advising about staff-recommended legislation. But OSAB is also charged with advising City Council. That is a privilege given them by ordinance. Advising Council does not mean that Council will take the recommendation. "Council doesn't advise OSAB; OSAB advises Council," former Chairman and El Paso Elder Statesman, Charlie Wakeem, told me. "But Council doesn't have to take OSAB's advice," he added.

During the special OSAB meeting this past Monday Wakeem pointed out that the average number of acres of natural open space per thousand people nationally is between 12 and 15 acres. Austin, Texas has 26 acres/thousand persons and Albuquerque 4. El Paso ranks at the bottom with 3. Yet, just as soon as Wakeem stated these stats, Nieman argued that El Paso had 4. Okay, 4. Three acres, four acres - no big difference. 3 or 4 acres versus 15 or 26 - big difference.

Obviously Nieman's strings are pulled by those who want to replace democracy with technocracy - i.e., OSAB only being able to deliberate on City Staff matters. Recall that City Staff much like the soldiers under the spell of the Wicked Witch in the Wizard of Oz are working demoralized under the current reign of the sprawlers and their reactionaries at the top of city government. Nieman is but one more flying monkey of Oz - interesting to look at but without any real intelligence of her own.

Frankly while I was on the Open Space Board I never thought that Nieman had the legal acumen even to intrepret an ordinance. She does not have the smarts of former City Attorney and advisor to OSAB, Lupe Cuellar, who is now with the EPWU and who just crafted a policy to protect wildlife along drains and canals under the purview of the utility.

The new Chairwoman of OSAB, Katrina Martich, seems (like the rest of the Board and Planning Staff) to be resigned to the reality of the new city power structure that hates anything but sprawl and the dictated "choice" of travel by automobile only along jammed multi-lanes of concrete. The attitude seems to be to survive but try to be effective - to bide time and to hope for public pressure.

I suggest public pressure. I suggest that we all let Karla Nieman 
(915-541-4706 or NiemanKM@elpasotexas.gov) know that she is wrong and that we want members of the Open Space Board to advise the people we elected for good or ill to City Council. We don't want citizens taking orders from and only advising technocrats currently under the spell of the Wicked Witch of Sprawl.

*I have an apology. In my posts I usually refer to the development community in general as the bad guys in general. Truth is there are many good developers in El Paso: the Wintons, EPT Land Communities and even the Hunts. Henceforth, I'll refer to the really bad guy developers as the "sprawlers" - a much more descriptive and fitting term. We have many, many good local contractors in El Paso who deserve more of the City's and our business. A sustainable economy depends on our working most often with our locals. Unfortunately, we have some at the top of City Hall who only know a few from one zip code. But that's another blog post.