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Welcome to El Paso Metro’s week in review. This section is updated every Tuesday night.
City Council Review
- Approved the hiring an outside consultant, a Mexican attorney, to help the City interpret Mexican law regarding an international transit service;
- Approved renewal the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce contract for $140,000;
- Approved 2 street lights for District #7;
- Approved 20 year Certificates of Obligation to purchase 38 used program cars for Police Department;
- Passed resolution to support a 4 year medical school. Texas Tech has been working on this project for almost a decade without city participation.
Other news
- In a desperate effort to salvage a sliver of credibility, Mayor Ray Caballero, Senator Elliot Shapleigh and County Attorney Jose Rodriguez attempted to represent a role for the City in the coordination efforts of UTEP, EPCC and Texas Tech. The press paid little attention. The pictorial representation of the “Proposed Vision for the BHI” that covered the front page of the Times included 15 items: 6 were existing streets, one was I-10, two were existing schools, one was the County Hospital, two were existing parking garages, one was an existing power plant and one was a proposed Medical research center funded through Texas Tech. The city has had no role in the development of UTEP, EPCC or Texas Tech programs. This fact did not stop Senator Elliot Shapleigh from going to city hall and obtaining a “Resolution” of support from Mayor Ray Caballero for the efforts of Texas Tech in an effort to give the impression they have something to do with the Texas Tech program’s success;
- At the UTEP-EPCC-Texas Tech briefing on their progress and coordination efforts, Shapleigh, Rodriguez and Byrd, Caballero’s assistant, made a show of unity by sitting together. The forum to educate the public about the BHI accomplished an important objective. It demonstrated that the City has not had a significant role in the development of UTEP-EPCC-Texas Tech programs and initiatives. It demonstrated further that the City has no plans, projected programs, business prospects or other medically-related initiatives in the offing. In short, it confirmed that the BHI is a sham designed to bilk taxpayers of 100s of millions of dollars;
- The absence of any plans for a BHI has not stopped Mayor Ray Caballero from carving out millions of future tax dollars from other taxing entities and forcing the other entities to participate in his scheme;
- No plan was presented by the Mayor that would explain what he plans to do with those millions of tax dollars.