Dear Friends and Media:
Yesterday marked precisely three years since the City of El Paso filed its Expedited Declaratory Judgment lawsuit in the 250th Judicial District Court of Travis County, beginning the litigation that is now at the doorstep of the Supreme Court of Texas.
Somehow, many of our local reporters have forgotten that it was the City that fired the first legal shot, plunging their “Arena” project into chaos and dividing our community.
As we enter the fourth year of litigation, six members of City Council are as intransigent as ever. They are determined to press ahead with this non-essential project, even as they furlough hundreds of City employees and cut the salaries of more than 3,000 others. Even City Manager Tommy Gonzalez accepts that this project should be formally suspended, but certain powerful campaign contributors to City Council elections feel otherwise.
Reps. Cassandra Hernandez, Sam Morgan and Henry Rivera are up for re-election this November and we will fight like hell, with absolutely everything we’ve got, to see them defeated and replaced by leaders who understand how to balance a budget as well as listen to their constituents.
“AMID BUDGET WOES, COUNCIL STICKS BY ARENA 6-2. VOTE LEADS TO FOSTER-GROSSMAN DUEL – IN WRITING”
That is the headline of a report that David Crowder just published in the Oligarchy Gazette on page 4. There you will read how angry JP Bryan and I have made Paul Foster, who claims to know the will of the citizens of El Paso. You will also read my contention that a 15,000-seat multipurpose basketball arena will cost more than $500 million, which neither Mr. Foster nor any of my other detractors deny, because it is a indisputable fact. Foster gets personal. I stick to the financial issues.
Enjoy your Sunday.
Max