Discount Pet Adoptions Today

Last week Newman Park said goodbye to their oldest neighbor: Willie Kucera. Willie passed on just weeks after he celebrated his 107^th birthday. Read the El Paso Times story about this remarkable Newmanisto; also his obituary. Willie will be buried alongside his wife in Ennis, Texas.

The City of El Paso Environmental Services Department and the Humane Society of El Paso will be offering discounted pet adoptions today (Labor Day).  Dogs and cats, four months of age or older, will be available for adoption for $60 on Monday, September 3rd. The fee includes spay/neuter services, microchip with registration, age-appropriate vaccinations and rabies certificate. Pet adoptions on the Labor Day holiday can be made the city’s Animal Shelter, 5001 Fred Wilson, and the Humane Society of El Paso, 4991 Fred Wilson. C all the Humane Society at 532-6971 for their adoption hours.

Labor Day adoption hours for the City’s animal shelter will be from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. The shelter will only be open for adoptions on Labor Day. All other services will resume on Tuesday, September 4. Animal services field crews will be available on the holiday to respond to animal-related emergencies.

This Thursday, September 6, 2012, Representative Susie Byrd will host a community meeting at 7:30am at Tierra Del Sol Restaurant (4201 Alabama). Her guest speaker will be El Paso County Judge Veronica Escobar.  The County Judge will be speaking about the county budget and the proposed 5 cent property tax increase.  As a reminder, Rep. Susie Byrd holds her community meetings the first Thursday of the month at 7:30am at the Tierra Del Sol Restaurant.  For more information, contact  Judy Gutierrez  Administrative Assistant at 915.541.4416 or gutierrezmj@elpasotexas.gov.

There’s a growing national effort to make books more available in an easy, community oriented way in order to foster reading and literacy throughout the country: Little Free Library.  Local school librarian, Lisa Lopez, has already begun a little free library at Zavala Elementary.  The program works like this: wooden boxes are placed in parks or schools or homes. People bring books that they want to share to the box. They take one, leave one.  Ms. Lopez has had great success in placing these at schools and homes but would like to try a couple in parks. The parks department is a little resistant but said they might consider if they had an active neighborhood association who was willing to watch over the Little Free Library in the park. They are concerned that people might slip dirty books in the box and they are worried about vandalism.  An active neighborhood association who was willing to monitor might put them at ease.  What say you, Newman Park Neighborhood Association?

The El Paso Police Department’s Traffic Safety unit will offer its free motorcycle safety course on Saturday, September 15, 2012.  The class runs from 10:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m.  The class will be held at Edge Kawasaki located at 10310 Montana.  Sign up is going on now.  To sign up for the class, call the El Paso Police Department’s Traffic Safety Coordinator, Margaret Petrozza at 915.564.7352 or Edge Kawasaki at 915.593.1024.

Finally, if you are on Facebook and want to get your creative sparks flying, check out and like Different Solutions.

Vaya con Dios!

¡Hola Vecinos!© is an emailed newsletter for the people and businesses in the Newman Park neighborhood of El Paso, their friends and other interested persons. It is written and published by Jim Tolbert who takes sole responsibility for the content of the letter. To subscribe or unsubscribe, just reply to this letter or email jimhtolbert@elp.rr.com.

Please visit www.newmanpark.blogspot.com and www.elpasonaturally.blogspot.com.

The mission of the Newman Park Neighborhood Association is to improve the quality of life in the Newman Park neighborhood through care and attention to the park and surrounding areas, and to build a community network of care, watchfulness and concern for each other and our beautiful desert environment.

This is Volume 7 and Number 26 published on September 3 , 2012

Chew Cruises to Victory

Pat Chew speaks with guests during her election party

Patricia Chew, a Newman Park resident and Association member, easily won her bid to become the next Judge of Probate Court #1. She garnered the overwhelming support of 55% of the electorate.

Pat had won wide-spread endorsements including 71% of her fellow attorneys who were polled by the El Paso Bar Association.

Her sister, Linda, also a Newmanista, ran unopposed and will continue serving as Judge of the 327th District Court.

Neither Pat nor Linda face opposition in the November general election.

Also winning her election easily was our neighbor and current County Commissioner: Veronica Escobar. She won 54% of the vote and will face Jaime Perez in the general election in November for County Judge.

Surrounded by family, Veronica Escobar speaks with television interviewer

New Ethics Commission Message from Commissioner Escobar

As you probably have learned, County Commissioners just passed legislation for a new Ethics Commission. Much thanks goes to our County Commissioner, Veronica Escobar, a reform leader. Here is her emailed message about the new commission and the appointment of its members:

September 2, 2009

Dear Friends,

Commissioners approved implementation of the ethics legislation yesterday by vote of the court. That means we have 60 days to nominate and vote on the new members, and the new commission will meet for the first time on November 2.

Help Spread the Word

Each member of the court is allowed to nominate one person; five additional nominations will come through five other entities. We need strong, thoughtful leaders to serve on this commission - volunteers who can spend the time listening to the public's concerns, evaluating the current ethics code, creating new processes, and individuals who will safeguard the confidentiality of both parties - the individual filing the complaint and the accused. All nominations have to be voted on by the court.

Please feel free to suggest people or even to submit your own name/resume for consideration.

If you haven't had a chance to read through the final version of the bill or the fact sheet, they are available for your review on our home page.

You can send your resumes or recommendations to one or all of us at the following email addresses:

County Judge Anthony Cobos, CountyJudge@epcounty.com

Commissioner Anna Perez, Pct. 1, Commissioner1@epcounty.com

Commissioner Veronica Escobar, Pct. 2, commissioner2@epcounty.com

Commissioner Willie Gandara Jr., Pct. 3, commissioner3@epcounty.com

Commissioner Dan Haggerty, Pct. 4, commissioner4@epcounty.com

Public Forum Tonight

For your information, a group of community members independent of El Paso County's efforts has come together to host a public forum, and I'd like to encourage you to attend if you can. The Citizen's Commission for Best Practices in Government will host its forum, "Power, Greed and Politics," at the El Paso Community College Administrative Services Building in the board room, 9050 Viscount. For more information call 532-2104.

Thank you

I appreciate the input and questions I received throughout this process. Thank you for caring about your county government. Please let me know if I can continue to answer any questions or address your concerns.

Have a great day!

Veronica

Ethics Commission Meeting

Our County Commissioner, Veronica Escobar, recently wrote about a very important meeting on September 1. City Council Representative Susie Byrd urges: " Please participate by attending or emailing your Commissioner with your thoughts."

Dear Friends,

I wanted to make sure you are aware of a very important community issue that the Court will discuss and take action on: implementation of the Ethics legislation. Please read this email, let us know what you think, and attend the special meeting if you can.

A Quick History

For the past year, the effort to create an ethics commission at the County has been underway. The idea started with our Board of Ethics; eventually, they brought forward language for legislation that came to Commissioners Court for approval (and was passed unanimously a total four times); the legislative request went through the legislature (with great work by our sponsors, Representative Marisa Marquez and co-sponsor Representative Chente Quintanilla, Senator Eliot Shapleigh and ultimately gained support of every member of our delegation including Reps. Joe Pickett, Norma Chavez and Joe Moody); finally, a bill authorizing us to create an ethics commission was signed by the Governor on June 19, 2009.

Quick Highlights

The bill that is now in the hands of the County allows us to create an Ethics Commission that will be able to apply consequences to those who violate our ethics code (our code already exists). Here's what the bill would allow us to do:

• El Paso County would be the first county in Texas to create an ethics commission that could assess civil penalties (fines of up to $4,000 for violations, fines of up to $500 for County public servants); criminal complaints would go to law enforcement;
• County officials, County employees and agents, lobbyists and vendors who do business with the County would be covered under this legislation;
• Numerous safeguards would protect whistleblowers AND the accused;
• The cost for the county remains low by created a rotating three person committee to review and weed out frivolous complaints, and repeated frivolous complaints would bring consequences to complaining party;
• This commission cannot interfere with an employee’s collective bargaining or civil service agreement.

The final version of the ethics bill is available for your review.

Share Your Opinions With Us!

Now that the legislation is in our hands, we have three options: (1) we can take no action; (2) we can adopt it by commissioners court vote; or (3) we ask the voters to decide whether we implement it in a November election.

In order to discuss and take action on these three options, the commissioners court will hold a special meeting. Between now and then, please let us hear from you! Do you have questions or concerns? Let me know, and I’d be happy to answer any questions you have. Do you favor an election or a vote of the court? Do you think we should do nothing?

My own personal opinion is that we need to implement this legislation immediately. However, there are benefits to an election. If the Court adopts the legislation, it can be undone by a subsequent court. If the voters decide and vote to have the County adopt the legislation, then only the voters can undo it.

This is a critical issue in our community. The state of Texas (its elected officials and its employees) have to follow state rules and answer to the state ethics commission; the City of El Paso (its elected officials and its employees) have to follow their rules and answer to their ethics commission; the County should also.

I look forward to hearing from you, and if you can attend our meeting, please do!

Veronica

SPECIAL MEETING

Implementation of Ethics Commission Legislation

DATE: Tuesday, September 1, 2009

TIME: 9:00 a.m.

PLACE: County Courthouse, Commissioner Courtroom, Suite 303 500 E. San Antonio, El Paso, TX 79901



CONTACT US

County Judge Anthony Cobos Phone (915) 546-2098 Fax (915) 543-3888 CountyJudge@epcounty.com

Commissioner Anna Perez, Pct. 1 Phone (915) 546-2014 Fax (915) 543-3885 Commissioner1@epcounty.com

Commissioner Veronica Escobar, Pct. 2 Phone (915) 546-2111 Fax (915) 543-3817 commissioner2@epcounty.com

Commissioner Willie Gandara Jr., Pct. 3 Phone (915) 546-2144 Fax (915) 543-3809 commissioner3@epcounty.com

Commissioner Dan Haggerty, Pct. 4 Phone (915) 546-2044 Fax (915) 543-3854 commissioner4@epcounty.com

Houston Elementary on the Chopping Block

Representative Susie Byrd sent this urgent message:

"The School District has done it again. They are proceeding fast and furious to close down Houston Elementary. I had heard from Carlos Flores some time ago that they were considering this. He assured me that me and the neighborhood would be included in the discussion. They had their first meeting tonight. I was never notified. As far as I know, no adjacent neighbors were notifed. No associations were notified.

Here are my concerns and why I think we should act to stop this now.

1. That school will remain vacant and be a huge blight on the neighborhood. Same as the McKee Home but times 10. They are saying that all of the schools in the neighborhood are under capacity. If that was the case, they should have never built Paul Moreno and should have instead invested in our oldest schools in need of the most repair.

2. Small neighborhood schools have the best outcomes for kids. The district is more and more only interested in building mega-campuses which are bad for neighborhoods and bad for kids.

3. They are planning on moving most of the kids to Paul Moreno. This will significantly increase the distance between home and school for most of these kids, increasing the likelihood that the kids will no longer walk and increasing congestion up to Paul Moreno.

The district is planning another meeting for May 13th and then they are going to make the decision on May 26. I just talked to a Times reporter who said that she thinks this is only the beginning of school closures, moving more and more to the model of the mega-school. Our small neighborhood schools like Rusk, like Crockett, like Alta Vista, like Hillside, don't fit that model.

I think I am going to go to the school district meeting on Tuesday and speak under call to the public. I think we should try to get a bunch of folks together to let them know that we are concerned and we think that this whole path is ill advised.

If you are interested in this issue, please email me at ByrdSM@elpasotexas.gov.

County Commissioner, Veronica Escobar, adds:

"Houston is, indeed, only the first of central-area schools that will be shut down. This is awful news, not just for Central residents, who will be forced to live with blight created by the ISD, but it's horrible for all school district taxpayers. School districts are the biggest chunk of our property tax bill, they keep building and building new schools, when we have great infrastructure in the center of our city that will last 100 years. And they're emptying those out for new structures (paid for by all of us) in outlying areas. I haven't heard the district's rationale yet for closure, but it's hard for me to believe that Paul Moreno School was built while we had a declining population. I need to see their presentation, but I am very much against this closure."

Veronica Escobar Headlines Susie Byrd's New Line-up of Public Meetings

Susie Byrd started her 2009 public meetings today and her new location really made a difference! She now has her monthly Thursday meetings at Tierra del Sol restaurant at 4201 Alabama. The number that attended was triple those who met for a long time on Hondo Pass.

Another plus to her new meetings is a pre-announced schedule of speakers. Her staff worked hard on the scheduling and should be applauded.

Today, our County Commissioner, Veronica Escobar, was there. (Another big draw I'm sure.) Always ebullient, Veronica talked up her shared services initiative - a program that allows local governments, school districts and other organizations to share resources. There are 3 principal areas: purchasing, facilities, and information technology.

Any organization can demand a better price if it buys as part of a larger organization. The more you purchase, the lower the price. So, if the County, the City, Thomason General, EPISD, etc. all buy together, they get this advantage.

Over the next 5 years, governments and agencies will see how they can share facilities.

Already started is sharing IT services between the City and the County.

Ms. Escobar also spoke about health care concerns. We all know that Thomason is strained by the extraordinary events going on in Juarez - the war between the drug cartels that has cost thousands of lives and sends victims to seek medical care at Thomason. There is about 65% reimbursement from the federal government for treating Mexican citizens who are victims. When asked for more, Congressman Reyes expressed that Thomason is there to help those people - which is true by law but how about 100% reimbursement. (This is not the place for me to get on my soap box about how poor Reyes is as a Congressman and how a City/County without a viable two-party system gets stuck with these incompetents and their arrogant, uncommunicative staff. No, this is not the place for that soapbox.)

The State requires counties to treat mental health patients. Yet, the State provides little or no funds. The result is a drain on our 911 system and our jails.

Finally, and this should make everyone mad, when the Federal government hands out health dollars, they look first at the poorest states. The State of Texas uses stats from its border counties to show how needy it is. When they get the money, they switch formulas. The State bases handing out those federal health dollars on which counties have the most utilization of services – i.e., the counties with the most hospitals, clinics and so forth. Obviously Dallas, Houston and Austin dominate and not the border counties and they get the most bucks. We come up on the short end of the stick.