After an almost two-year absence from the border region I returned to Cd. Juárez in late 1998. I had been working on an Internet project for a European company. In the late 90’s, the Internet was nothing like it is today and for many the Internet was some abstract thing on a computer. For some […]
Posted inPolitics
The Engineering Department Evaluation Report
As most of you know, there have been various controversies involving the city’s engineering department. This has led to the abrupt departure of the engineering department director and the restructuring of the engineering department. All I have to do is point to the San Jacinto debacle for you to get a clear understanding of how […]
Posted inPolitics
Where Was Peter Svarzbein
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 […]
Posted inPolitics
The El Paso Children’s Hospital Joint Chapter 11 Plan of Reorganization Dissected
As you likely know, UMC and the El Paso Children’s Hospital submitted a joint plan to the bankruptcy court in order to take the children’s hospital out of bankruptcy. As you know, UMC is the largest debt holder. The plan was submitted on Wednesday night. Most of the news media has reported on the salient […]
Posted inPolitics
Looks Like Jim Valenti Wants His Job Back
As you probably know, on October 5, 2015, Jim Valenti tendered his resignation as the CEO of the University Medical Center of El Paso (UMC.) The news media has insinuated that Valenti’s resignation was the result of a pending agreement between UMC and the El Paso Children’s Hospital to end children’s bankruptcy. Although I had […]
Posted inPolitics
Taxes Will Pay for the Children’s Hospital
As I have been writing, from the moment it was finally proved that the El Paso Children’s Hospital is financially unfeasible, it will be your taxes that will keep it operational. In 2007, Veronica Escobar and her supporters promised you that the children’s hospital would never be a burden to the taxpayers. She, along with […]
Posted inWorld
Border Patrol Agent Arraigned on Murder Charges for Rock Throwing Death
Last Friday, October 9, 2015, for the first time a Border Patrol Agent was arraigned on murder charges for a cross-border rock-throwing incident. Lonnie Ray Swartz was indicted by a grand jury on September 23, 2015 on second-degree murder charges. The indictment read “Lonnie Ray Swartz, did with malice aforethought, and while armed with a […]
Posted inPolitics
Peter Svarzbein and Pot Holes, Oh Yea and Hollywood on the Border
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 […]
Posted inPolitics
City Negligent on San Jacinto
All of you who have been following the San Jacinto Park debacle have been made to believe that the contractor on the project is at fault for the delays in the opening of the park. The city has been creating this notion going so far as to state that the contractor is being assessed a […]
Posted inWorld
The Russian and Mexican Nuclear Agreement
Last month, an agreement between Russia and Mexico, on a nuclear program, went into effect. Actually, the agreement, which was negotiated in 2013, was officially adopted by Mexico on July 18, 2015. The agreement establishes a working group for developing, researching, designing and constructing peaceful uses of nuclear energy. Basically, anything having to do with […]