Democracy Alive and Well in San Elizario

Last night the San Elizario city council ultimately did the right thing. After a controversial agenda item that would've made property owned by the mayor's parents the temporary city hall, the council voted to no longer consider the location.

The City of San Elizario is going to pursue securing a lease for property that was once a fire station but now belongs to the San Elizario Independent School District as its location for city hall.

Ultimately that makes more sense because they need a long-term plan for city hall. As it is now the current council has to make do. A lot of city business is conducted via cell phone and home visits. That simply won't work.

I went to the city council meeting and most of the council and many in the audience seemed offended that people showed up to the meeting that don't normally go to city council meetings. Council is going to have to grow thicker skin. That is the nature of politics and only a very small fraction of people actually show up to city council meetings. There's about 10 regulars at El Paso city council meetings. There's actually about the same in the city of Socorro even though it has a far smaller population.

The community needs to learn to accept that as well. When something is controversial the media is going to show up. Why?

Because its their job.

They weren't there for the other highlight agenda of the night, the menudo fundraiser. They were there for the controversial item. One prominent member of San Elizario chastised the media for showing up to the meeting stating that "you guys only show up to stir things up and never come around for something good." His wife in tern chastised him for saying that, which was cute in the way that couple who have been married for a long time bicker.

I told him, "well a plumber only shows up when there's a problem too."

The point is, you have to realize that the media will show up if something is controversial. The media showed up a lot when Socorro was trying to annex San Elizario and I don't know a single person in town that had a problem with the media showing up for that. They appreciated the benefit of having coverage from media. It gave them the leverage and momentum they needed.

And have no doubt, had they selected Maya's Garden as the spot for city hall, its would've been a problem. In any city in America, it would've been a controversy if a city leased property for city hall from the parents of the mayor. Look at all the controversy over city hall in El Paso. So don't kid yourselves, it would've looked pretty bad to the public.

Of course anyone in San Elizario knows that I personally used to refer to Maya's Garden as "city hall" back when we were working with the community to fight the annexation by Socorro and later during the incorporation effort.

But that was a joke because they weren't incorporated and it was the main community meeting spot.

Now that they are incorporated and there are public funds involved, its no longer fun and games. Its serious business.

To be clear, I don't think anyone had any malicious intent. I don't think there was a single person involved that was trying to pull some kind of tranza. It was primarily a function of the fact that San Elizario is a very small place and there aren't a lot of properties to choose from. Clint, just up the road on FM 1110 has city hall that is smaller than the barracks I was in during Basic Training.

There were about 30 adults present for the meeting, many of which were involved in the incorporation effort. Most present were in favor of the Maya's Garden site. There were a few present that were opposed to the location and they spoke during public comment as well.

Here's video from Paul Johnson, a prominent resident of San Elizario that was opposed to the Maya's Garden location.



The bottom line here is that San Elizario showed that democracy works. The issue was controversial but the process was open and transparent. After deliberation with the community the process worked.