Makes You Wonder

Alamo Drafthouse Parking Lot. Erosion is coming from the Arroyo side.

Yesterday I mentioned TxDOT Regional Engineer Robert Bielek's concern about the development at the Top Golf site. It seems that the developer has underestimated how much run-off the development will cause and, thus, in Bielek's words, "compromise the stability of the embankment upon which I-10 sits." Although alerted to the problem, the City continues to "permit" EPT to develop the land. Bielek has told the City that TxDOT "will consider the City equally responsible for any damage to to the I-10 embankment or our [TxDOT's] drainage structure because of this oversight." 

Surely our city leaders care more about the safety of people and the integrity of our freeways and less about whether they could win a legal battle with TxDOT. Surely our city leaders want to do the right thing by satisfying TxDOT with an acceptable plan. I sent a link to yesterday's blog post to Mayor Margo, City Manager Tommy Gonzalez and Khalil Zaied. I asked for responses. As expected, there have been no responses. (One possible good note: Mr. Bielek just now told me that "[the TxDOT] staff has been meeting with the developer but no final resolution as yet." Sounds as if yesterday's post has had impact.)

I am aware that EPT also did the Alamo Drafthouse project. Many of us watched in horror as an arroyo was destroyed and an entire hillside dug out. The destruction of this open space was justified by the fact that is would be a "new urban" project. 

I went by the Alamo Drafthouse today and noticed an inordinate amount of sand/dirt in the parking lot. I asked the manager about it and was told that they get the erosion every time that it rains. I'm not an engineer, nor do I play one on televsion and I don't really know about the drainage solutions that I saw. However, what I saw does concern me. Over time, judging from the dirt in the lot, there will be a considerable amount of erosion. 

This picture and the one below are from the retaining wall between the entrance to the theater parking lot and the hillside topped by the apartments. Note the stain and rocks from erosion.

Apparently EPT's solution to the instability of the hill next to the theater, was to put some kind of fabric on top of the slope and drill horizontal pipes into the hillside. As the pictures show, the erosion doesn't come down the slope, it feeds through the pipes.

I do wonder whether similar drainage solutions are being used by EPT at the Top Golf site and, if so, I better understand what Bob Bielek is saying.

I certainly would not live in the apartments above Alamo Drafthouse. 

Will the City of El Paso Destroy Cement Lake?

Cement Lake

The City of El Paso's apparent failure to address a critical drainage issue at the Top Golf construction site might very well destroy one of El Paso's rare gems, Cement Lake. Moreover, according to TxDOT Regional Engineer, Bob Bielek, the failure of the City to address the matter with the developer of Top Golf, EPT Land Communities, might also "overload the structure and compromise the stability of the embankment upon which I-10 sits.  This could have additional effects on the lake such as excess siltation."

Bielek also says that "it does appear that the developer is underestimating the contribution of the development to the overall runoff, and there appears to be insufficient retention on the developer’s site to adequately meter the flows in a way that will protect the embankment and the drainage structure."

The City of El Paso has apparently provided the developer with a permit to construct Top Golf but has failed to consult with TxDOT regarding drainage requirements including not just the embankment of the freeway but Cement Lake. The developer has furnished no credible plan to TxDOT.

Bielek told City Council about this problem last March. Elpasonaturally has asked him three times since then whether they have recived a credible plan. Mr. Bielek's last reply came nine days ago on July 24th in an email: "Still waiting on an acceptable design."

Bielek did contact the City Manager, Tommy Gonzalez, months ago and yet there is still no "acceptable plan". It would seem that the City has permitted the developer to undermine the integrity of I-10 and destroy Cement Lake. Bielek says, "that we [TxDOT] will consider the City equally responsible for any damage to the I-10 embankment or our drainage structure because of this oversight."

El Paso Water, city environmental and open space activists have sought for many years to preserve El Paso's natural Cement Lake.

Information and Discussion Only Please

Want to know what is going on with the Open Space Advisory Board (OSAB) these days? Nothing. For nearly a year now the agenda has been hijacked by the Planning Department bureaucracy. Read: Larry Nichols, Director of Planning. Read: Tommy Gonzalez, part-time City Manager. Although OSAB is charged with advising City Council regarding the Open Space Master Plan and acquisitions of open space, members of OSAB are no longer in the position (at least through their meetings) to advise. Why? Most every item on the OSAB agenda is for "Information and Discussion" only. No ACTION. 

In advance of the most recent meeting the Chair, Lois Balin, sent Planning a final agenda with every item marked "Discussion and Action". It got changed—changed from the top—changed by Larry Nichols. A major OSAB concern has long been the revised Natural Open Space zoning ordinance. Last November in a meeting with Chair Lois Balin and myself as Vice-Chair, Larry Nichols promised to move the NOS item forward. At this point his words must be considered to have been misleading.

The Board should be setting its own agenda and Planning should be assisting. Instead it is the tail wagging the dog. 

So where is Open Space money going (that 10% of the stormwater fee that you pay) plus all that Quality of Life bond money? Try park ponds and, I suspect, other non-Open Space budgetary matters.

RIP New Urbanism in El Paso

There are several reasons. First, in 2013 voters, upset by the city's financing of the ballpark and other issues, elected a regressive City Council. In many respects it is the best Council ever bought and paid for by developers of land mainly in east El Paso. Following that election, the new Council hired Tommy Gonzalez to be the City Manager. Pushed by powerful players such as Ted Houghton, more miles of freeways and freeway loops have been built and will continue to be built and expanded over the next few years as westsiders know all too well. Freeways create sprawl. Rather than boulevards, we built freeways. Why? So we could move construction equipment and materials more easily around the city in order to build more developments and eventually more freeways not to mention ticky-tacky strip malls. The trend has been away from smart growth, Plan El Paso, building codes which could have encouraged sustainable, energy-efficient housing and soon-to-be changes to the landscape ordinance.

Note how Plan El Paso appears on the city web site. Scroll through the first few pages and you will see unreadable gibberish. 

Along with clamping down against New Urbanism, the new "regime" has now opened the doors to a new El Paso brain drain. Many of the city's best and brightest city planners are beginning to look at work outside of El Paso. 

The new regime has also stymied work by the Open Space Advisory Board. Recommendations are held up. The new Director of Planning has covertly taken over what will and won't be on agendas. Agenda items today are largely for "information" rather than discussion and action.

What can be done? It goes without saying that we need more innovative, progressive policy makers on Council. It also means that we all need to become aware of city codes and work to change those that lead to unsustainablility and the destruction of our environment. Especially it means that as consumers we begin to choose other options for housing, neighborhoods, connectivity, walkability and transportaion. If they build it, they will come? No, if the sprawlers want to sprawl, let's have nothing to do with it except to do everything that we can to limit it and regulate it. Then let's build better and smarter.

City Manager Raise Was Premature

It seems as if every El Paso blogger has had something to say about the City Manager's pay raise. I wanted to think through that issue before weighing in. Here goes:

I agree with David Karlsruher that the city manager's performance review and compensation does not belong in the public arena. Mr. Tommy Gonzalez is an employee and has a right to have such matters discussed in private by our elected Representatives. I further agree with David that, if we don't like Council members' decision, we can recall them or just not re-elect them. (Recalling a city council representative is just about numerically impossible unless, of course, you have a mega-church with an entranced audience.)

There's a "but" here as you might suspect. BUT what should be a matter of public discussion is what the Council finally decided to do. Because Mr. Gonzalez is unarguably the most important city employee, his salary increase by Council becomes a matter for public discussion and debate. I had already decided to vote against raising council salaries before they pulled the proposal from the city charter election. Higher salaries aren't what entice good people to run - big money in El Paso guarantees who gets elected. Just look at Niland, Noe and Romero. With Council's premature decision about Tommy's salary, they spent their salary increases. 

Why do I say that the salary increase is premature? I speak as an environmental activist as well as a taxpaying citizen.

First, Mr. Gonzalez's goals for the City (and they are his goals de facto and not those of Council and certainly not those of El Pasoans) have nothing to say about the environment, open space, conservation, ecosystems, etc. "Attractiveness" is not the same thing as controlling sprawl, being cognizant of the scarce resource of water, protecting the beauty of our mountains, desert and wetlands, and providing trailheads, parks, connectivity and open space for recreation.

Mr. Gonzalez's staff met with members of the West Texas Urban Forestry Council Board. Most of them were the authors of our city's Tree Care Manual, our approved tree list, and (when it was a reality) our Tree Board - a now defunct and forgotten "sub-committee" of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. In spite of the seeming enthusiasm of the City Manager's staff, nothing has been done other than shuffling the organizational chart and re-assigning the City Arborist, a good step for sure. The promised consultations, the resurrection of the Tree Board and following the Tree Manual have not come to fruition.

I understand that Mr. Gonzalez inherited some problems. On the other hand, he has had one year to make a difference on some projects. The destruction/reconstruction of the San Jacinto Plaza Park is a good example. While on this topic, let us recall that Tommy Gonzalez readily ordered taking down El Pasoan's treasured holiday Christmas tree until this blog started a public outcry. Niland didn't like the shape. She said "jump" to Tommy and he asked "how high". 

This jumping is another matter that concerns me because we've seen it in other cases. Gonzalez seems to be impulsive and this characteristic may be the biggest concern.

It has been argued that we would lose our City Manager if we didn't offer him a salary commensurate to other larger cities in Texas. Yes, but, those salaries go to full-time employees. Full time. When Council raised his salary, they also gave him more vacation time. He will not use that "vacation" time to take the kids to Hawaii; he will use that "vacation" time to do more paid consulting work. In other words, we have a part-time city manager who is also a part-time paid consultant. The City Manager should give up his consulting work and become the full-time City Manager of El Paso, Texas. Then let's talk about a commensurate salary.

Finally, I don't believe the financial numbers. I don't believe that the city is doing as well as Gonzalez claims. If so, instead of raising our onerous property taxes, why doesn't Council cut them? Hmmm?

Gonzalez may eventually deserve a higher salary. End the consulting, be less impulsive, be more transparent, listen to tree experts and don't just dictate planting larger trees in smaller spaces, and care about environmentalism - then and only then should he be up for the raise.

Council should be held accountable in the arena of public debate. I wouldn't not support a council person for election on the basis of one issue. However, when it comes to next budget time when they do seek public input, they each better listen carefully. I hope that they hear now that the raise was premature.

What's Going on at the El Paso Museum of Archaeology?

Click on image to enlarge. The sign by which El Pasoans identified their Museum of Archaeology.

If you have never been to the El Paso Museum of Archaeology, make time to go. It "presents 14,000 years of prehistory in the El Paso area, the greater Southwest, and northern Mexico." The museum and the 17 acres on which it sits is dedicated to interpreting the ancient ancestors of 82% of El Paso's population - Mexican Americans, Mexicans and indigenous peoples in our region.

The carefully crafted landscaping around the museum is meant to display native flora as it blends into the Chihuahuan desert ecosystem surrounding it. What people learn inside is interpreted by the desert-scape that they experience outside and vice versa. The artifacts displayed inside came from the desert. Indeed, our identity as El Paso is more than just the magnificent Franklin Mountians - it is also the beautiful Chihuahuan Desert to which those mountains and ourselves belong. Our ancestors survived here and we can learn from them. That is why the museum and its grounds are so important and a key part of the education of all - adults as well as school children.

Yet, the City pays it sparse attention and has failed to act expeditiously to repair damage after recent floods. There seems to be little communication between the City and TxDOT or Ft. Bliss to resolve some of the flooding issues bedeviling the museum. 

Another ugly brown Parks and Rec sign is now displayed. Be sure to bring your binoculars so you can see it as you speed past the Musuem on Transmountain

Cosmetic changes are being made. There's a new sign (smaller and uglier than the previous sign that came to stand for the museum and grounds for so many El Pasoans for so long.) A fence has been removed although that fence diverted visitors away from the pristine desert floor to proper nature paths. Larry Nichols, the new head of Planning and Inspections, and Tracy Novak, the Director of Parks and Recreation, together have deemed the cherished gazebo as unsound. Of course, neither is a structural engineer and no inspection by an engineer is forthcoming.

There is a grounds crew that is untrained when it comes to caring for the native plants. General Services which once maintained park space no longer does so. GS was put under the direction of Ted Marcus of Transportation and you know where his focus is. By the way, Tommy Gonzalez's NOT Lean Six Sigma is based on eliminating staff and not making systems more efficient. Therefore, do not expect much attention to maintenance and do not expect a full-time head of the museum. 

I've just given you the tip of the iceberg. There is more to this story of neglect and mismanagement which will follow including the situation with Indian Springs Canyon.

For now, some good news. In spite of being the step-daughter of MCAD. the Museum of Archaeology offers some very fine programs supported by the El Paso Archaeological Society and others. Tomorrow's talk is especially noteworthy as it is being given by one of the heroes of the El Paso environmental/conservation movement, in fact it's Paul Revere: Mike Bilbo, who will speak about the life of soldiers in this region around 1858, was a key player in events that led to the creation of Franklin Mountains State Park, saving our mountains from commercial development. As a teenager, he and a friend were hiking in the Franklins looking for eagle's nests. They spotted a bulldozer going up to the top of North Mount Franklin and they quickly spread the word. It turned out that old man Knapp, the patriarch of the family now bulldozing more pristine mountain land, wanted to develop on top of the mountain. The rest is history and we have the Franklin Mountains State Park and the Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition the vanguard of protection for our mountains.

You can get more info about Mike's talk HERE.

Please support elpasonaturally©. Go HERE to donate and help turn the El Paso southwest "green".

Council to Discuss Historic Survey Grant

Street sign in the Congress Avenue Historic District in Austin, Texas

Should downtown El Paso become a National Historic District, here are the facts:

If you are a building owner of a building on the national registry and you want to tear it down, put up a parking lot or build something new, YOU CAN. It's your property.

If you are a building owner and want to update your property without preserving the historic character, YOU CAN. It's your property.

If you are a building owner and want to restore the building to its historic character (while updating the inside), YOU CAN. And you can get 45% of the project cost to do so!

It's all up to the property owner. Period. If indeed you want to preserve an historic building that you own and refurbish it to maintain the historic integrity, you will have to follow some rigorous requirements. But you get 45% of the project cost. That's up from just 20% available when the Mills Building was 
redone.

Not only does a National Registry National Historic District mean money in the pockets of building owners, it means money in the pockets of the city. According to Shannon Shea Miller, the Historic Preservation Officer of San Antonio:

"[o]ur historic downtown has contributte greatly to the heritage tourism industry that supports our local economy . . . The income generated by visitors has an overall economic impact of more than $12 billion and employment generated by the tourism industry tops 112,000 jobs. Most of these visitors are staying, eating and shopping Downtown."

So why did the executive director of the El Paso Downtown Development District Joe Gudenrath call City Manager Tommy Gonzalez and Gonzalez then order the return of grant money to do an historic survey that would have led to an Historic Register District, 45% of project money to willing owners and billions of dollars in heritage tourism for the city?

Not only does it not make sense BUT it doesn't make sense that the City Manager took it upon himself to return the money rather than letting City Council make that decision as Rep. Claudia Ordaz argues. (See Why didn’t City Council decide? Historic survey funds returned without rep vote in last weekend's El Paso Inc.)

According to an El Paso Times story "the Downtown Management District said it opposes the survey because 'the simple act of preserving historical buildings does not advance the DMD's goals of revitalizing Downtown El Paso and discourages other investment.'

What other investment? What's the hidden agenda?

Apparently there has been enough outcry to place the grant on next Monday's City Council agenda. 

elpasonaturally has much more to say about this particular item. For now, here is a message from Max Grossman, Vice-Chair, El Paso County Historical Commission:

We just learned that our plan to conduct an architectural survey of downtown El Paso and establish a national historic district there is not dead after all! On Monday, City Council, Mayor Leeser and City Manager Gonzalez will meet and decide once and for all whether to move forward with our plan or terminate it completely.

Please write to the them IMMEDIATELY and express your support:

district1@elpasotexas.gov; district2@elpasotexas.gov;district3@elpasotexas.gov; district4@elpasotexas.gov;district5@elpasotexas.gov; district6@elpasotexas.gov;district7@elpasotexas.gov; district8@elpasotexas.gov;mayor@elpasotexas.gov; tgonzalez@elpasotexas.gov

I just sent a letter on behalf of the El Paso County Historical Commission (below). Please make certain that your own letter is productive and positive. For background information, see the two recent front-page reports:

http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_28459519/city-el-paso-give-back-texas-historical-commission
http://www.elpasoinc.com/news/local_news/article_35bf4106-2977-11e5-a92a-f74d7cb7c552.html

Feel free to share your letter with us as a Facebook message.

Many thanks,


Max


Please support elpasonaturally©. Go HERE to donate and help turn El Paso "green".

When Will T Rex Ever Learn?

You would think that after his staff (Tommy Gonzalez doesn't meet with any of us peon citizens directly) met with representatives of the West Texas Urban Forestry Council and then made some staff changes, that he would reverse a very expensive edict issued from his office. The edict: plant only 4" caliper trees.

What T Rex ("rex" means "king") doesn't understand is that, in order to procure 4" caliper trees, city workers and contractors must use vendors as far away as Florida or Dallas. 3" caliper works just as well and a 2" certainly catches up in time. But why pay less than $100 for a tree, when you can pay a $1,000 or more?

So much for Lean Six Sigma.

Please support elpasonaturally©. Go HERE to donate and help turn El Paso "green". 

Tree-gate: Girdling at High Ridge Community Park

Click to enlarge image.

Tree-gate continues.

The picture above was taken by someone who knows trees and plants and gardening and owns a dog. Here is his report:

"This is the west side dog park at the bottom (west) end of High Ridge. This is the section for small dogs where I've been walking my dog for the last three years since the official ribbon cutting. The trees that the city Parks Dept. people planted the first year died, so they were replaced the second year. Those trees didn't make it either, so last year the trees, ten of them, were replaced yet again! These trees will never leaf out, because they have been girdled around the base; the living bark has been stripped away by the mowers and/or weed-whackers. This is really ignorance in action. Any suggestions? Call the Mayor?"

Quoting from the Policy and Standards Manual for the Care of Trees and Shrubs in the City of El Paso, section 10.4 (Other prohibited actions):


"Taking any action foreseeable leading to the death of a tree or shrub or permanent damage to its health, including but not limited to excessive pruning, cutting, girdling,poisoning, improper irrigation, unauthorized relocation or transportation of a tree, or trenching, excavating, altering the grade, soil compaction, or paving within the drip line area of a tree." [Emphasis mine]

Usually Parks and Recreation (or, up until recently, General Services) subcontracts the mowing of parks. Were the sub-contractors informed about the prohibitive actions not to mention the entire City's Tree Manual? Were they properly trained? Did Parks and Rec inform and consult with the City Arborist? Did Parks and Rec supervise and/or inspect? 

No. No. No. And Hell No.

Three years in a row and ten trees have died each year. Thirty trees! And El Paso needs more trees.

When will Parks and Recreation properly manage our parks and our park trees?

Advice on who to contact: Your City Representative in this case Cortney Niland, nilandcc@elpasotexas.gov. Also, Parks and Rec Director, Tracy Novak, novakta@elpasotexas.gov. Most especially Tommy Gonzalez, TGonzalez@elpasotexas.gov, our esteemed City Manager.

[One warning about Gonzalez. He doesn't know proper tree care either. In an email from him to Fred Lopez and others on December 10, 2014 with subject of San Jacinto Plaza, he wrote: "I saw a tree today that I was told was used for a Christmas tree. It is not representative of a xmas tree. Would you make sure we trim it in the shape of a true xmas tree….don’t make it a Charlie brown tree – but for sure make it triangular. That make sense? Make sure we get that done this week. Thanks! Tommy Gonzalez." More on what email shows about Tree-gate soon.]

BTW, the main search engine for the City web site still won't take you to the Tree Manual. A friend pointed out that one could find it at the Parks and Recreation page. Indeed you can, if you look under "Administration". In essence still hidden. Certainly not intuitive - requires psychic ability. A casual visitor would never take the time to find it.

"The 50 foot pine tree will remain in the Plaza"

Click on image to enlarge.

Those were the words from an official City of El Paso press release dated yesterday.

Read Diana Washington Valdez's story, San Jacinto Plaza reopening delayed until May, in this morning's El Paso Times. Yesterday afternoon she called me for a comment. That is when I learned about the press release. I chose to wait to do a post about the story until this morning after the Times had published. It was her story and so many of us are so glad that she has stayed on top of it (along with many other "stories" from City Hall.)

No doubt elpasonaturally's online petition helped to save the tree. (It is now clear that the City had no intention of saving the tree in the first place and was going to use "damage" as an excuse.) 

What really saved the tree was the fact that elpasonaturally and then the Times brought to light that the tree was on the "chopping block". (Sadly, the pun is intended.) This resulted in the City Manager, Tommy Gonzalez, decrying the fact that the story had come to public attention followed by a concerted effort to cya the entire affair.

Of course, there is more than just the saving of El Pasoan's beloved Holiday Christmas tree. elpasonaturally learned and posted that the Plaza's California palms had not been salvaged but disposed in a landfill. More revelations about the failure by the Department of Engineering to follow city guidelines and policies keep coming to light. Clicking on the link to the "Policy and Standards Manual for the Care of Trees and Shrubs in the City of El Paso" on the new City web site still results in a 404 Error. If you want to read the manual or download a copy, go HERE. Otherwise it will probably be deleted from memory. So much for the strategic goal to "Promote Transparent and Consistent Communication Among All Members of the Community".

By the way, the public didn't even participate in developing those strategic goals. Or does "all members of the community" refer just to a tight-knit City Hall group?

Mr. Mayor, Tear Down that Barrier to City Hall

In my last post, More Than Just One Tree, I explained that Tree-gate is more about the lack of openness and transparency in our city government and the cavalier way that many city departments disregard policies and procedures.

Have you been to the new City Hall since the 2013 elections? We supposedly elected a whole new group that was going to bring more openness and transparency to city government. If you have been to the new City Hall over the past year or so, you will know that it is not easy to visit with the Mayor, your Representative or anyone else. You must first sign-in. A guard/receptionist asks for your destination and they call to confirm that you have an appointment. You then must pass through a metal detector - something that was only required for City Council meetings in the now demolished City building. 

Not long ago I had a meeting with the Mayor at his invitation. Although I made it through gestapo-gate, I was detained downstairs and not allowed to go to the Mayor's waiting area on the 2nd floor until I was summoned. 

On another occasion I went to another city building to get something from a friend who works there. I was confronted by one of El Paso's finest (really?) and had to explain where I was going and why I came through a door supposedly for city officials only. 

None of the check-in procedures represent good customer service or openness. 

I have never been to Mayor Leeser's Hyundai dealership but something tells me that there is not the check-point with the guards that clear you before you can gain entry to see a salesperson.

Not only is the El Paso government our government - they serve us and we don't serve them - we are their customers.

Here's a modest proposal: Move the Mayor and City Representatives and the graduate of the Tricky Dick Nixon School of Government, our City Manager, to offices downstairs, each office having a large glass window. Now that would be openness and transparency. The bunch who got elected because the previous city government and staff were supposedly so secret wouldn't be able to hide behind check-points and intimidating officers. Well - at least not the ones who are accountable enough to be full-time servants available to citizens at all time.

More Than Just One Tree

I didn't catch this but I should have. However, elpasospeak caught it in their post Naturally Secret. I quote:

"Also troubling is what the city manager wrote in an email to city council:

'Staff has proposed alternatives to me, and apparently somehow the information has made it out to the public.' [Emphasis mine]


"The very thought of a public servant serving the public is evidently an abnormal event and it sounds like he plans to investigate the leak.  Maybe they should kill the tree in executive session." 

OMG! The public found out! How horrible! We need to find the source of the leak and clamp down or punish. We also need to stop future leaks.

What happened to all that talk about transparency during the last City Council and Mayoral elections? Weren't El Pasoans fighting mad that the decision about a ballpark was all done secretly? 

Check out transparency talk in the final 2015 Strategic Plan for El Paso:

5) Promote Transparent and Consistent Communication Amongst All Members of the Community
5.1 Set a climate of respect, collaboration and team spirit among Council, city staff and the community
5.2 Leverage and expand the use of current and new technology to reduce inefficiencies and improve communications
5.3 Promote a well-balanced customer service philosophy throughout the organization
5.4 Enhance internal communication and employee engagement 
5.5 Advance two way communications of key messages to external customers

5.6 Strengthen messaging opportunities through media outlets

Really?

Even in violation of a Strategic Plan that he helped to fashion, our City Manager sends out a memo that strongly suggests that information about our San Jacinto Plaza Park's remodel and the damage done to our Holiday Christmas Tree somehow should have been kept under wraps.

The issue facing us is more than just one tree. It is the LACK of transparency in this City and the total disregard of citizen initiatives, ordinances, procedures such as the Tree Manual and all the work done by Mayor Wardy's Green Sweep Program. 

I don't know Mr. Gonzalez. I've never met him and my attempt to get a meeting with him resulted in his getting surrogates to contact me. He may be a great guy but I'm beginning to wonder whether he isn't a graduate of the Tricky Dick Nixon School of Government. (Google "Watergate" if you are too young to know the reference.)

elpasospeak says it the best: "We deserve better."

Much more later. Stay tuned. 

Save El Paso's Christmas Tree

It's insane but true. The City of El Paso is planning to cut down the tall Mondel Pine in San Jacinto Plaza which has served for years as the annual Christmas tree. As everyone knows the Plaza is being completely re-done. Rumors first surfaced that Rep. Cortney Niland wanted the tree pruned and re-shaped to resemble a more triangular tree. Now it seems that the City is looking for a company to take down the tree. Only problem is that the City (its, Manager, Mayor, City Council representatives) are violating city ordinances regarding the removal of such trees.

When the pine was trans-planted at the park, Texas State Urban Forester, Oscar Mestas, wrote about it:

"The new 50’ tall Christmas tree, a Mondel Pine (Pinus eldarica), was transplanted by Environmental Designs of Tomball, Texas. Mrs.Corrine Boyce of El Paso provided the tree in memory of her late husband Chuck Boyce. It was moved from her front yard in the Upper Rio Grande Valley of El Paso to San Jacinto Plaza in Downtown El Paso. The tree was moved on the 9th of September 1998 at a cost of $19,000. In the past the El Paso Parks Department used to send a crew each year to harvest five trees where they would use the branches to construct a 70’ tall artificial Christmas tree at the plaza. This new tree should save the City of El Paso approximately $60,000.00 a year, in labor, equipment costs, travel, materials and supplies, according to Richard Garcia Parks, Maintenance Supervisor. The new living tree is decorated with 3500 lights, and 1000 new ornaments donated by the El Paso Community Foundation. The old artificial tree was flocked, so it is taking a little time for El Pasoans to adjust to the natural green color. The tree is only 25 years old, so it is expected to add on another 20+ feet in height and should live at least another 50+ years. Let’s not forget to mention the other benefits of shade, oxygen, beauty, and pollution control, that this tree will be providing during the rest of the year. If you haven’t seen the tree, take a trip downtown it is worth the trip.The new 50’ tall Christmas tree, a Mondel Pine (Pinus eldarica), was transplanted by Environmental Designs of Tomball, Texas. Mrs.Corrine Boyce of El Paso provided the tree in memory of her late husband Chuck Boyce. It was moved from her front yard in the Upper Rio Grande Valley of El Paso to San Jacinto Plaza in Downtown El Paso. The tree was moved on the 9th of September 1998 at a cost of $19,000. In the past the El Paso Parks Department used to send a crew each year to harvest five trees where they would use the branches to construct a 70’ tall artificial Christmas tree at the plaza. This new tree should save the City of El Paso approximately $60,000.00 a year, in labor, equipment costs, travel, materials and supplies, according to Richard Garcia Parks, Maintenance Supervisor. The new living tree is decorated with 3500 lights, and 1000 new ornaments donated by the El Paso Community Foundation. The old artificial tree was flocked, so it is taking a little time for El Pasoans to adjust to the natural green color. The tree is only 25 years old, so it is expected to add on another 20+ feet in height and should live at least another 50+ years. Let’s not forget to mention the other benefits of shade, oxygen, beauty, and pollution control, that this tree will be providing during the rest of the year. If you haven’t seen the tree, take a trip downtown it is worth the trip."

Mestas wrote the above in 1998. Based on his expertise that tree should have another 34 years of life and service to El Paso. 

It's a beautiful tree.

Please sign the online petition to save the tree.