Police Station In Edinburg.... We're Finally Getting Things Done
There was a recent article in the Monitor which touched on the current state of construction projects in the City. Namely the Police Station.
It was plain to me that prior to my election, Velasco had terminated his work on the job, (This is public record for anyone interested). Everyone must keep in mind that prior to the contractor terminating the job, there were numerous delays and hold ups.
Once the new Mayor and I were elected, the Mayor and I immediately called to start having Open, Public, Televised work sessions, where the new council and the public could hear what was happening. (It's all public record for anyone interested)
Suddenly the newspapers started publishing facts, council members started blaming each other for mistakes, our city manager quit, the public was finally made aware of the fiasco. Coincidence? NO WAY!
There is a story here folks, one that will cost the taxpayers dearly, cost someone else an election, and others jail time. (if I had it my way)
Why was this not addressed before the election in May? If I had known about it, it would have been at the forefront of my campaign.
My position is that an omission of the truth might was well be a lie when it comes to public taxpayer money. A needless million dollar mistake cost to the taxpayer should have been addressed.
I ask you...Should I not say anything, should I keep my mouth shut? That I could easily do. You see, it would be so easy to keep it from the public, to get along, to help my fellow council and ask for a political favor later.
But quess what I wasn't raised to decieve other or keep quiet. What's right is right folks!
BOTTOM LINE... the public needs to know that the previous administration should have screamed to the high heavens! Not keep it from us. I don't know mayby they were afraid they might lose the Mayoral election, or my predecessors election. I will leave that question to you to decide. For now, I will remain ever vigilant in letting you know exactly what I know.
Now some may try and sugar coat this, or say that it was being addressed.
I will say it now and again, THAT SIMPLY IS NOT TRUE! What we as citizens and I as a public official must realize is that the PD problem could have been fixed a long long time ago. It should not have taken the new Mayor and Myself screaming, yelling, and begging for something to get done.
Now that we have done so, others criticize.
Here we have a potential two million dollar mistake, and no one knew about it, and yet the Roadrunners were behind in rent payments by an amount that does't equate to 10% of the PD Fiasco, but we kicked them out of town, filed charges, sued them and let the door hit them on the way out.
What is wrong with that scenario? I ask the public not believe the political rhetoric by me or anyone else. Just look it up, it's all public record, and its your right!
What the public needs to ask themselves is...
What would have happened if the Mayor and I had not won our elections. Sometimes it's good to have checks and balances, if anything it keeps us honest.
Have fun with this one Councilman!
28 comments:
Gus,
Will you let all blogs come in or are you going to censored them?
Will you let the blogs come in the way they are sent even if it disagrees with your thoughts?
what about the city attorney? When are you all going to get rid of him. He is also responsible for these projects.
Let's not forget about the internal workings of the PD. I just read Rey Chavez blog about the PD goofing and loosing his gun. Alot of people complain that there cases never get solved. The chief is a good man, but he's allowed alot of nonsense and covered up mistakes by certain favorites because there his buddies.
in response to the first comment. Yes I will publish, however i will not publish comments that are purely made to hurt or malign our purpose here. The purpose of my blog is to interact in an intelligent and respectful manner. I will not publish hurtful or harmful comments. If you want to criticize, fine, but do so intelligently and constructively. I promise I will admit if I am wrong. We are all human and we all make mistakes. I know I will make mine.
I hope that answers you question.
Gus
Earn you bring up a very valid point, and I agree with it. The current Mayor should have completed the job once it started back in 1997. However it was my understanding that we did not go out for bond until 2002 for the armory. It wasn't until 2004 that we went out for bonds on the rest of the structure. I will look into your point and comment on it soon.
If what your saying is true, then yes the Mayor should have completed it a long long time ago. However, this still does not take away from the fact, that this very big hiccup was not being addressed the administration prior to my election. I was and still am very concerned with what has transpired.
I will get back to you on this, and if I have too, call a spade a spade.
Gus
Earn,
No one has exonerated the Architect. The city still reserves the right to recover monies from anyone and everyone responsible for this fiasco.
Right now we believe this is the best course of action to get this project completed. The architects drawings, input, and take on what has transpired is essential in completing this project for the taxpayers.
Please do not think for one moment that David Negrete is home free. Trust me, his neck and everyone else's for that matter still remains on my chopping block.
Please be patient, and trust how we handle this project. Of all the members on the council, Noe Garza and I have the most experience with these matters (I know, the other guy will probably disagree, but that just isn't the case) anyway so far we are taking the right course of action.
Try to trust us on this one. If I am wrong I will admit it. If I am right I promise I won't say I told you so.
Deal?
Earn,
I have looked into the PD situation further. Here is what I have gathered.
Your Right, Joe and company did initiate the expansion of the PD back in 1998. In 1998 from what I understand, the PD was am item that Joe and Company wanted to expand, apparently the PD and officers needed more space. Initially the armory was looked at by council for the expansion, but after meeting together it was determined that the initial budget would not cover the expansion that the officers wanted (the armory).
When this was discoverd, everyone decided (Joe, council, and PD) that the city should wait before such a large project was initiated. So yes Earn you are right, the council decided to wait until what they felt it was a more appropriate time to begin construction.
Later somewhere between 2000 - 2002 Council started looking into design the PD again, Negrete was hired and everything started up again. Bonds were sold etc etc. Then in 2003 an elction took place and 3 new members were added to the council.
The new council worked with the plans and got the ball rolling (to their credit this was a good thing)
Finally we were seeing some progress. Then the next thing you know things start going down hill. This is were I have my issue, why was this not addressed, why did council and staff, contractor, and architect not come together on this? I just cannot figure out what happened. Whatever it was I will continue to look into it until either someone fesses up to, or a Judge tells us what happens.
Gus continue digging, there is an answer!, look at the meetings before you got elected, look at the videos of city meetings, ask J.J. Rodriguez to feel you in on the details. especially on correspondence, all the answers are there. You said it before in a meeting "Negrete's example how he has dealt with this project". Keep digging and the truth will set you free! If you are "An honest, kind hearted, generous, tenacious, driven, God fearing christian. No hidden agenda's everyone, just a young man looking to help do what's right." show us, put your money where your mouth is, or are you just a puppet like everyone says you are?
If you look further into the matter you will find out that there were meetings that Negrete did not bother to show up to. Meetings call by city officials, Mayor, council members and city manager, it is a surprise that finally Negrete is showing to meetings. could it be that he was trying to jeopardize the project? think about it and do your homework.
TO comment 9:43, I appreciate your sentiment, but do me a favor and take it easy on the BOLD statements, you don't have to resort to reverse physcology to get me motivated. Trust me I am plenty motivated.
Secondly, I will continue looking into the matter until I have resolved it for the taxpayer and myself.
Again Thanks for the words of encouragement.
Gus
That's a big conspiracy to say that Negrete willfully stalled the project in order to jeopardize it and therefore making Garcia look bad. There's plenty of blame to go around, and the city needs to fess up and stop passing blame to someone else. You keep doing that and where is that going to get you? Right back where you started out. The mistakes have been duly noted, now it's time to correct them at no further cost to the taxpayers. Git 'r dun!
Dear We are Watching,
I don't believe I said I had more experience that Noe Garza, my comment was that Noe and I have the most experience in these matters, him because he is a Licensed Engineer, that experience is Key to Construction and Development, if you will notice in the council meetings, Noe and I have never verbally engaged in debate on an engineering issue. I respect Noe's professional background, i will however hold my ground when I have done my research and have the documents to prove it. You will rarely see me bring something out or to the forefront without something in black & white to prove it. I learned a long time ago that suggestions and inuendos' leave the culprits and Bull Shitters a way out in any debate. If you ever go to the meetings, you will notice that i have a briefcase with me each and every time. That briefcase is full of my documents for each and every meeting.
Secondly, yes I agree the building would have been finished with or without me and Ochoa, my question is would the issue have been brought to the forefront as it is now. My quess is that it would not have been. Why? Becuase prior to the election nothing was said yet it was an issue, secondly there are some very peculiar relationships that I have observed these last few months that lead me to believe nothing would have been said. The contractor when hired had a very good reputation, why then did the project go south so badly, there is a lot to be resolved here. So yes the project would have been finished, but how much would you the taxpayer have known, and how much of the fiasco would have been published. Don't you see that I am on your side. I didn't even know Gene, Noe, Alma, Richard, Eddie, or Joe, the Contractor, or the Architect prior to this election. Why on earth would I one day decide to try and embarrass them. I am just trying to give you guys a Straight forward assesment of what happened. PERIOD!!!
My comments however cruel are simple and steadfast, there are those that will criticize me but those same people will criticize me regardless of what I do, right or wrong. The trick is for me to know the difference.
Let me see, your next comment was Gilbert Enriquez, and me and Joe, hiring him. Let us not forget that the prior Admin hired Gilbert for the City Hall, yes he was the Low bidder, but if they did not think he was competent they would not have hired him. At least logic would tell us that right.
I have no issue with Gilbert, or any other contractor who has come before us other than we pay too much. Well we have been down that road many times already. I will however voice my opinion on any job that gets awarded. That is my job after all.
Geez, I didn't realize how tough this crowd would be.
Hey Guys, I'm just trying to help.
I guess this is what volunteering gets u huh. Momma was right when she told me be careful what I wish for!
Guys,
I will be on the road to Austin over the next few hours.
I will get back on the blog at about 11:00 tonight.
SO I will be able to moderate comments and post those comments tonight.
I will however be receiving comments on my blackberry on the road.
Talk to you guys soon.
Gus
and where's negrete and this whole equation...he failed to cooperate with the council on updates for the police station. Yes, it is rather a "coincidence" that Negrete disappeared during the previous administration...and lo and behold his primary source for money (joe ochoa) is back in office and now negrete can be found. why is it that you have yet to explain why he stalled projects if you're saying that you want to tell us the truth on city issues??? I think you only want us to know some truth..that would involve painting a squeaky clean picture of you and ochoa...please get over yourself and quit acting like you're God's gift to the council because if you really were a good person you wouldn't pride yourself with whatever accomplishments you think you are earning...BE HUMBLE!
You my friend are already comitting the CARDINAL SIN in Politics. You are associating yourself, projects, platforms, and above all influence with a career politician. What does Gus Think? Do? Debate? and Stand For? It's bad enough you are perceived by many to be a mouth piece for a man who's been in office for a DECADE, SO BE CAREFUL AS TO HOW MUCH YOU DIG FOR THE TRUTH, YOU MIGHT BE DISCOURAGED ABOUT YOUR CAREER POLITICAL FRIEND'S DEEP ROOTED SECRETS. 10 years in politics leaves plenty of room for shady deals, corruption, and the like. But here you are a freshly minted coin ready to go into the pockets of many. You are to walk the straight and narrow, so I hear, so then why do you BITCH about 3 years of an administration that did nothing, why don't you instead BITCH about this City's PAST MISTAKES under a career politician that stood in office for a DECADE? And believe me there are plenty. AND IF YOU SHY FROM THIS QUESTION, THEN WE KNOW, what Gus Garcia is REALLY ABOUT, you are not an INDEPENDENT VOICE FOR THE PEOPLE, but simply a recruited MOUTHPIECE. This is no psychological, philosophical, mind game, trash talk, or anything resorting to such trickery, it is simply a question of WHO YOU REALLY ARE and YOUR MOTIVES ON THAT COUNCIL, for your actions now will dictate your POLITICAL FUTURE and Mr.Ochoa has gone down in flames before, what a shame it would be if your wings got clipped early in the ballgame prior to taking flight. DONT BE A RECRUITED CLICHE, YOU have a mouth, wit, and a dry sense of humor, so we know you aint that charming, why dont you play towards your strengths of research and debate rather than arrogant "let me school you on this" giberish.
Primo Hermano,
I am not "bitching" about an administration that did nothing. With the exception of probably one (which I will not mention) I respect the prior administration. They have done many wonderful things for the city. My issue for now is with the PD and the PD specifically. I beleive that Gene, Noe, Alma, Richard, Joe, all have their respective strengths and made decision based on those strengths. I do not however understand why the PD has taken so long. I do have my opinion on the matter, but at this point I will not state it until I have concrete evidence to support it.
As far as siding with Joe, yes it is true he is my friend and ally on the council, that is no secret, if you have been watching the meetings, and I will assume you have, you will also notice that I have sided with both Gene, Noe, and Alma on many occasions, especially on angenda items where they have a real understanding of the issue.
In some of these situations, Joe has obviously not voted. I can assure you that several issues have passed without his consent. You just don't realize because there is not an arguement on the issue.
However, on some of the more sensitive issues (my opinion), you will notice that I am met with resistance and sometimes hostility from some of my colleagues, but in fairness to them, they too have agreed with me on many occassions. I think the problem we are having is there is very little that the five of us have done together, and therefore we have disagreements on exisitng projects. Naturally Joe and I want to put our two cents in. Sometimes that can be construed as "a fly in the soup" or making trouble. We are all elected officials and consequently do not want to be embarrassed in the public eye. I am sure one day I will be in their shoes feeling the same way. Beleive me I do not look forward to that, but I assure you I will be prepared to accept my flaws when it comes. For now, it is easy being on the side I am on. I of all people know that, but it does not mean that I should turn a blind eye to the costly mistakes (my opnion) that have been made.
I view it as participating in the discussion. I think once we get further down the road, we will be more in line with one anothers thought processes.
Again, I don't think I ever said that the previous administration did nothing. I beleive my statements have been specifically about the PD, and even then, my comments on that issue have been specifically about why the previous administration did not inform the public about the delays.
Primo, I would like to ask that you not put words in my mouth when commenting. There is no question that you have very valid points, but in this last comment, you appear to me to "beg the question" on me accepting that I am only investigating the last three years.
My intent is not to disparage or attack any one politician. Heck one of the primary reasons for running was becuase I was fed up the sweetheart deals, and kickbacks. IF I attack one then I might as well launch a full blown assault on the entire country when it comes to corruption. I am aware that there are many politicians out there who are not free from turning a blind eye, or even blantant theft of the taxpayers money. My intention is to only follow the trail on the PD. Right now that is on my plate. Let's see were that takes me.
I started this blog for many reasons one of them because my colleague has a website informing the public/bloggers on several issues that on occasion I beleive to be skewed.
When I see this I feel compelled to give my side of the story. Then let you the public decide which is more accurate, or at least question the inconsistencies.
I ask that you not believe either of us, but do your own research. It is all a matter of public record. There you will find the truth. I merely want you to know what to look for.
Afterall, if you don't know what you are looking for, you won't know what questions to ask.
Sincerely,
Gus
TO we are watching,
You asked me to comment on Supersplash.
Okay Here goes...
Let me preface this comment with IN MY OPINION... Supersplash was a complete and utter failure as a business, no question about that, but I do not see the resemblance to our PD Station. Why, because the PD station is owned by you the Public, Supersplash was owned by some company up north. How do you compare these two.
Are you saying that Joe caused the city to lose millions because supersplach failed, or what? Quite honestly I do not see what you mean.
Please clarify, there are some issues here, but I am not sure if you know what you are trying to compare. Maybe you do, but please clarify what you mean, then I will comment.
I await your response.
Sincerely,
Gus
GUS SAID on his BLOG:
Primo, I would like to ask that you not put words in my mouth when commenting. There is no question that you have very valid points, but in this last comment, you appear to me to "beg the question" on me accepting that I am only investigating the last three years.
GUS SAID on his BLOG:
“There is a story here folks, one that will cost the taxpayers dearly, cost someone else an election, and others jail time. (if I had it my way)”
PRIMO SAID:
So if Gus had it his way, someone on the council would end up losing an election, HOW GUS? And others would go to jail, WHO GUS? These are facts us the citizens would like to hear.
GUS SAID on his BLOG:
“My intent is not to disparage or attack any one politician. Heck one of the primary reasons for running was because I was fed up the sweetheart deals, and kickbacks.”
PRIMO SAID:
Not to Disparage or Attack any ONE politician? SO How many do you want to attack or disparage? You sure aren’t getting along with others on the council with the exception of Ochoa.
OH and about SWEETHEART DEALS or KICKBACKS and PUBLIC RECORD?
GUS have you met Eddie Saenz and Hector Casas? Why don’t you as the present bean counter on the council dig into lets say about 4 to 10 years back into city business and find a great deal of SWEETHEART DEALS and KICKBACKS. Some Ochoa Buds got rich over night, you’re a smart guy, it won’t take you long to piece the puzzle.
RESEARCH IT, ITS PUBLIC RECORD, BIDS, CONTRACTS, DEVELOPMENT, THERES A STORY THERE FOLKS!!! THEIR SHOULD BE SOME JAIL TIME AND LOST ELECTIONS HERE: wait a minute, there was, OCHOA GOT OUSTED ON ELECTION DAY!!! And The city FIRED Saenz as the City Engineer and Casas also got some heat from the City Council.
GUS SAID on his BLOG:
BOTTOM LINE... the public needs to know that the previous administration should have screamed to the high heavens! Not keep it from us. I don't know maybe they were afraid they might lose the Mayoral election, or my predecessors election. I will leave that question to you to decide. For now, I will remain ever vigilant in letting you know exactly what I know.
Now some may try and sugar coat this, or say that it was being addressed.
PRIMO SAID:
SO GUS, who is really SUGARCOATING past Administrations’ record, SWEETHEART DEALS, KICKBACKS, and CORRUPTION. Again I have a keen sense of smell, when It comes to smelling B.S., granted Ochoa is popular this time around, But that is not to say the aforementioned culprits never profited from his administrations “turning a blind eye or getting some type of sweetheart deal” and yes from the sound and looks of things are you just gearing up about the PD station and suffering from NEAR SIGHTED VISION THAT ONLY SEES 3 years back.
GUS SAID on his BLOG:
Sometimes it's good to have checks and balances, if anything it keeps us honest.
PRIMO SAID:
Are you going to keep CHECKS on JOE OCHOA as well as you do with the rest of the council members Gus? I mean you did mention “checks and balances” and “keeping us honest” in your blog, you’ve chastised the past administration for the PD station, but have yet to hear you mention a word on this City’s DECADE under OCHOA, not peep so far, don’t worry I’ll wait.
WARNING: NO WORDS WERE PLACED IN THE MOUTH OF OUR CITY COMMISSIONER AGUSTIN "GUS" GARCIA, ONLY CLIPS OF HIS BLOG WERE CALLED INTO QUESTION BY A CITIZEN.
Earn, Is your name "we are watching"....Just Kidding
Earn if we did not have the citizens to put us in our place, then who would. Thank you for your comment.
However, I think I must clarify two of them. The bonds that you speak of were not an obligation of the city. They were in fact issued by the IDC An independent entity that was formed by the city,(this does not mean that the IDC is a city entity. It is exactly what I said it was, an independent entity.) You infer that the bond holder was the city. THis is not true, the bondholders were several private accredited investors unrelated to the city (accredited meaning: investors who are capable of making these type of decisions, or have the ability to do so, in other words: plenty of money) these investors simply made an investment and that investment failed. The city is not responsible for this. Consequently, those unrelated investors lost out. The city tax payors did not carry or have to pay back these bonds, so as you put it "put me in my place" I'm sorry I think you may be a little off. Please correct me if I am wrong, beleive me I am not trying to antogonize you, I am only reporting what I am being shown by public documents :)
Where you were on the mark, was the 600K loan that we made to Superslash, your right in that regard. The city loaned about 600K to Supersplash in order to kickstart it financially, unfortunately the business failed. This is altogether different than paying millions for the building by issuing bonds obligated by the tax payers. Don't you think.
A 600K laon and 8 Million dollar facilty are two different. Don't you think. It is definitely not equivelent. I mean 600K = 600k
I don't know what do you think? Is loaning 600K with the chance of getting it back probably better equivilent or worse than than the EEDC giving money to developers in the hopes that they produce jobs.
Don't we take a risk either way?
I have will have to get more details on the impact studies of the supersplash before I give my opinion on it. I am not sure how long it was in existence, and how many jobs it created during that time, or if their were any taxes associated with it. I will say this, it did spur some growth in that part of town. We now have several properties being zoned commercial there, and of course the Golf Course. Like I said, I would have to look at all factors surrounding this.
Earn, You mentioned the Sam Houston Elementary. I noticed the date being April 2003. Right off the bat I would have to say that the Mayor lost his seat shortly after this in May. Do you know what happened after that. I know the city is currently in litagation on this. In fact Foremost is blaming the City for negligence. I have to look into this one further. I will get back to you.
Earn, I must say I am a little disappointed that you did not put everything out there. I will confess that I was not aware of these details either, my awareness was about equivelent to yours, until I saw your response and freaked out! I thought for sure you had a flawless argument. If you had, I would have supported it. Once I saw what you wrote, I immediately contacted the appropriate personell at the city and got the intricate details of this project.
Again, if you call the city this is all available as public record. (this comment is meant for "We are watching" not you earn. I know you know about public records! :))
Earn, all of these mitagating factors are very real, this is why I am waiting to make a final staement on the PD, Once I have all the issues nailed down, you can bet I will be commenting. Right now, I am trying to report the truth on these things.
Number one, when the monitor published the comments I made, they were off and not reported in the context I made them. Unfortunately, this act created a chain reaction.
Yes I do beleive that the movement on the PD is a direct result of Joe and I being elected, and yes I do beleive that the past administration was not informing the public adequately.
I also belive that this project is finally going to get completed and supervised in a manner far superior to what was being done before. I beleive this is a direct result of my experience at a contractor and accountant, and Joe's experience as a politician and leader. I don't doubt that Joe has made mistakes, but all leaders do. Taking risks is part of that process. I too have made plently of them, it is part of our growth as businessmen. What I will not accept is negligence and blatant corruption at the expense of the taxpayer.
The reason for the banter and debate is simply because my colleague over there continues to sugar coat or diminish the fact that nothing or very little was being done. He needs to accept some responsibilty, or at least keep his mouth shut. The last thing he should be doing is defending his actions. I'm sorry but "that dog won't hunt"! As long as that continues, I will create a rebuttal.
I am sorry that the monitor misquoted me, and I am sorry that it offended people. The truth of the matter still remains that very little was being done to fix this before Joe and I were elected.
Sincererly,
Gus
Earn, Primo, We are Watching,
Why does addressing the mistakes made on the PD make you feel that I am being biased for Joe?
I have never said the Past Administration did a poor job in everything they did. The PD construction is not the past, it is very much a present issue that we are dealing with right now.
OK, OK, so the EDC created a development agreement with Hector Casas for JOBS and business at Los Lagos, and Eddie Saenz made a a lot of money as the City Engineer. I am not disputing that.
Seriously. what does one have to do with the other?
Do you guys want me to ignore the problems with the PD, because you feel Joe screwed up 10 years or 5 years or 4 years ago?
I would like an answer to this?
You guys need to communicate with me on an even Keel, and Primo I noticed that on Councilman Espinoza's blog, you posted some of the excerpts discussed here, which is fine, but I must say that your bias was very apparent. I don't think I have ever treated you as such. I would like to request that you be a little less biased when commenting in such a manner. I am very much trying to be fair with you, i ask that you do the same.
Call me sensitive or whatever, but hopefully my request will be honored. You have the priviledge of remaining anonymous please do not abuse it.
Not sure if you care but doing so will simply alienate you and I. Or at least identify yourself that way I know who I am dealing with.
You could take a few lessons from Earn.
Sincerely,
Gus
Earn,
Are you suggesesting that the information I stated is inaccurate.
I would like to send you what I have. I can assure you that I did not speak with Joe on this, I called two people at the City and had them get me the info asap.
Give me a way to get it to you without divulging your identity and I will get it to you.
If you have something different please get it to me. I would love to see it.
Thanks,
Gus
Word of advice your better off turning your comments off people are just looking for you to type something wrong dont try to persuade other people to see your views you already did that back in may and won these people already have there mind set
nice try gus trying to get obie into office or the board hahahaha
Thank you!
Gus,
First, let me start by apologizing for blogging anonymously but I think it is necessary so many people have lost there jobs for voicing there opinion. I know you have concerns on some of the bids awarded through council, but what about the ones not sent to council. The Department of Solid Waste Management has given many contracts to South Texas Printing going under another name but owned by Juan Cano, these contracts were to build a roof at the recycling center, paid a little under 10,000, (still unfinished), the other was to redo the parking Shed at the Edinburg Service Center I am not sure what they paid for that but I think it came in under the $14,000 mark, the last one was to build some so called porches at the new office for the landfill at the Jasmine Road entrance. I don't know what that came in for but also under the $14,000 mark. I bring this up because there is alot of fishy things going on with this department and no one seems to be able to do any thing about it. Numerous grievances have been filed. Employees have quit or retired rather than deal with all the bull that is going on. Can you help us. I will await your response and hope that you are willing to help us. I can come out of hiding then but only then. I still love my job and what I could do for this wonderful city of mine.
well, have you done your homework?, Have you found out how many contractors are suing the city because of Negrete?, have you asked the ECISD how many contractors have had problems with Negrete?, Have you even wonder why Negrete never appears during Richard Garcia's administration? He only starts appearing and making a fuzz about the contractor after June 6, 2006, have you wonder why? Why you try to say you are open minded, yet, you do not even asked why the contractor is having problems with the Negrete? why?, why? please do not be a hypocryte.
Hello, Gus,
My friend, if you are not careful, you are going to spend so much time trying to figure out what letters to use and which to reject that you won't see the light of day sometimes.
Just a word of advice, particularly after some of the postings on your very fine web site that allege corruption and kickbacks by nonpublic figures. As the owner of this website, you can be held liable for libel and/or defamation of character, or even invasion of privacy by anyone who wants to even the score with you in court.
Hard to believe, but it is true.
The USA Today had a cover story, entitled "Courts are asked to crack down on bloggers, websites," which detailed a growing trend by people attacked online to file libel lawsuits (story ran Tuesday, October 3). In one case, a blogger was ordered by a Georgia court to pay $50,000 for libel -- the first time a blogger in the USA lost a libel lawsuit, according to the Media Law Resource Center in New York, which tracks litigation involving bloggers.
"The case reflected how blogs – short for web logs, the burgeoning, freewheeling internet forums that give people the power to instantly disseminate mesages worldwide – increasingly are being targeted by those who feel harmed by blog attacks," writes USA Today correspondent Laura Parker. "In the past two years, more than 50 lawsuits stemming from postings on blogs and website message boards have been filed across the nation."
Now, because of anonymous postings, more and more innocent people (even politicians) are getting their good names and reputations tarnished in websites, so chances are that when a blogger is sued for defamation, there will be more than a few jurors hearing the case who have been victimized themselves in blogs, and use the case for their own revenge. For that matter, chances are the presiding judge has been victimized as well, so there will be another legal hurdle to clear.
Yes, freedom of speech is a sacred right here in the USA, but the first amendment is not absolute. You can't falsely yell there is a fire in a crowded theater because if people are hurt, you will face the legal consequences.
The same principle will soon apply in the blogsphere if damages can be proven. Even if a person cannot prove they suffered financial losses because of alleged libel, they can still file a lawsuit, and that opens up people who operate websites and blogs to an expensive and nerve-racking experience.
I admire your willingness to take so many comments, including mine, but it won't be your comments that will land you in a legal landmine, it will be the comments from anonymous writers that you post, innocently believing that somehow you are shielded by the First Amendment.
Do your realize that if you are sued for someone else's posting on your web site, you are going to have to prove that their comments are true? Good luck on that one, and that's only part of your legal defense you would have to construct.
You notice that your good buddy and mine, Rep. Aaron Peña, a pioneer in internet communications with his constituents, covers his posterior very well by almost never carrying the type of inflammatory comments you publish from unknown writers.
You also notice the McAllen Monitor also never publishes comments like those posted by anonymous writers (although their news coverage of Edinburg is pretty biased against the community, so who needs nasty letters to the editor?). There are reasons a $24 million a year operation like the Monitor refuses to carry those type of personal attacks, and that is their bottom line.
Let's focus some more on positive and/or constructive comments from your constituents, and quit wasting your precious time trying to explain your positions to people who have their own political or personal agendas.
They can still communicate with you anonymously through a letter, so it isn't like their voice won't be heard by their elected leaders. But don't be their fall guy, because they will be nowhere to be found when you are in the legal hotseat for their cowardly attacks.
Keep up your due diligence on the city council, do what is right, and let the chips fall where they may. But don't confuse personal attacks with legitimate discourse of public policy. Your readers and constituents deserve much better than that.
Gus,
I respect you and what you are doing but I do have a problem with your reasoning at times. You wrote, and I quote:
"Where you were on the mark, was the 600K loan that we made to Superslash, your right in that regard. The city loaned about 600K to Supersplash in order to kickstart it financially, unfortunately the business failed. This is altogether different than paying millions for the building by issuing bonds obligated by the tax payers. Don't you think.
A 600K laon and 8 Million dollar facilty are two different. Don't you think. It is definitely not equivelent. I mean 600K = 600k
I don't know what do you think? Is loaning 600K with the chance of getting it back probably better equivilent or worse than than the EEDC giving money to developers in the hopes that they produce jobs.
Don't we take a risk either way?"
Look, you are both a contractor and a businessman. Do you agree it was a bad decision to pre-pay the contractor to do a job? I don't care who did it, it doesn't matter to me. When have you ever seen it done besides this police station project? This was a very poorly planned project to begin with and there were multiple factors that went into the delay but honestly, I really don't see what changes have been made from May till now. The only major change is that huge pile of bricks were moved from the front of the building to the back of the building, otherwise, it's nothing more than asthetics and court battles, but in reality, the movement on the project is, in my opinion minimal. Now, here is my gripe. You are trying to justify the loan to supersplash by talking about the cost of the police station. Do yourself a huge favor. Don't do that. First and foremost, what incentive did the contractor have to finish the project in a timely manner when he was prepaid for his services? What role did the architect have in the delay? Yes, there are cost over-runs, but with any stalled project, that is going to happen. Still, I would gladly have my tax dollars used to pump into projects like police stations, fire stations roads and schools than to have my money "loaned" to a private business to, and to use your words, "kickstart it financially." The sad part is this is not the first time the city, has "loaned" money to private businesses in hopes to kickstart them financially, only to see them fail. If memory serves me right, didn't the city, loaned Haggar $1,000,000 only to see them close down soon after also? I don't know how you handle your personal finances, but I work hard for my money and watch how I spend it and I have a real problem with the city pretending to be bankers with our tax dollars, loaning anywhere from hundreds of thousands of dollars to millions of dollars in high risk loans to businesses, again to use your words, "with the CHANCE of getting it back."
Yes you are right, there are risks that are taken, but any person who goes into business is aware and accepts those risks. How many small business in Edinburg who struggle everyday to make ends meet, would love to have the city "loan" them that kind of money to kickstart their businesses? I use the term "loan" very loosely because as you say, they loaned them the money with "the CHANCE of getting it back."
I am your average taxpayer who works hard for his money. I expect better roads, better schools, better city services, clean, safe parks. I don't expect my tax dollars to be "loaned" to businesses who can't manage their own finances. I don't expect my tax dollars to be used to make other people rich before they decide it time to duck out of town.
I have very high hopes for you on the city council to bring some positive changes, but as far as I can see, it's all politics as usual. As far as I can see, it just seems like there are two sides, yours and theirs and both sides are doing nothing more than placing blame and pointing fingers. Nobody is rising above it all to extend the olive branch and say, you know what, there were mistakes in the past from both sides, but it's time to work together to get past it and make things right. Instead, we have our city leadership fighting to secure their own foothold and destroy the other side for political gain. Meanwhile, our police station isn't finished, there hasn't been any movent to address the issue of parking with the new library, there is sewage spewing onto the road a few hundred yards from an elementary school and so on. At what point do you or any of the other council memebers and the Mayor just decide to put your pride second and the city first?
If you want to do something postitive for the city, work to bridge the gap and bring something which has been missing from city hall for years... dignity and respect. I look forward to that day, but as far as I can see and your latest blog shows, it's business as usual.
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