City breaks $100 Thousand dollar mark on trip to DC

It looks like the city has become increasingly brazen in their continued taxpayer-funded junkets to Austin and Washington DC.  The Laredo Morning Times reports that the city broke the $100K mark this time around.  Nice fringe benefits wouldn't you say?

The following is NOT an actual City of Laredo memo but for all intents and purposes, it might as well be one.

City of Laredo, Texas USA

Department of Free Trip Planning 

 

Dear fellow Department Head 

With the new year comes a renewed opportunity for us to travel at the taxpayer’s dime.  Also, we can solicit funds from private donors many of whom have contracts with us.  This has the added value of increasing the likelihood that all of us will stand to get some pretty impressive gifts throughout the year.  

As you know, we have been expanding the number of people who join us in these lavish vacations to our state and national capitols.  Please feel free to extend an invitation to the top members  of your department. Most taxpayers could care less and those who do cannot really do anything to stop us.  

Let’s see if we can break the record number of those in our entourage as well as the amount of money that we squander up there.  The more, the merrier! Remember, this is not costing any of us one red dime.

 

Viva Laredo !

 

Thank You and maybe next time you can all bring your significant others

From CNN: Immigration bill includes cutoff date



  

Washington (CNN) - Any undocumented immigrant who entered the country after December 31, 2011, will not be eligible for citizenship under terms of the immigration deal set to be unveiled Tuesday by the bipartisan "Gang of Eight" senators, a Senate aide told CNN on Saturday.

 

Specifics of the program included in the legislation were among the details the eight senators - four Republicans and four Democrats - needed to iron out. Sources with knowledge of the matter told CNN this week the sweeping measure was on track to be unveiled Tuesday.
Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold their first public hearing on the legislation on Wednesday, followed most likely by committee markups in May and consideration by the full Senate in June, according to the sources.

The measure includes a 13-year path to citizenship that could affect up to roughly 11 million undocumented residents, as well as the creation of a system to assess border security.
The path to citizenship would take 10 years for undocumented workers to get a green card, and then another three years to gain citizenship.

Along the way, undocumented workers would have to pay a fine and back taxes and pass a background check. The size of the fine remains unclear.
No undocumented worker would be eligible for citizenship until the border is considered secure - a key sticking point for conservatives.

To measure border security, a commission would be created with the task of establishing and assessing a set of quantifiable criteria. The commission would be made up of officials named by state and federal leaders.

Read the entire article at: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/04/13/gang-of-eight-sets-cutoff-date-for-citizenship-under-immigration-deal/

Airports gets over $30Million in grants: where has all the money gone?

Maybe the airport can buy some paint to touch up this sign which doesn't look as nice anymore.

During the 2011-2012 time period, the Laredo Airport raked in over 30 Million dollars in grants according to today's Laredo Morning Times.  The exact amount was $30,930,445. Hopefully, The  Times can get more specifics about exactly how these multi-millions were spent.

 Perhaps surprisingly, it was during these last two years that the city started looking at charging for parking at the airport. Obviously, it was not for a lack of funds.  On top of that the city recently sold off about 77 acres of airport property to the Laredo Town Center.  The nearly $10 million upfront money plus another promised $4Million are reportedly to be re-invested into the airport as well. 

Of the nearly $31Million dollars the airport received from assorted grants, approximately $5.2 million were designated for a "noise contour study" and for the federal noise abatement program. That still leaves about $26 Million for other improvements/expenditures.

Also, there was no mention of how much of this funding was obtained as a direct result of the city's lavish trips to Austin and Washington. That question continues to be asked by many Laredoans.  Good job LMT for this report and hopefully, you will soon be able to provide us with more details on how these grants were actually spent.

MSNBC:So much for leaning forward, more like leaning White

 

Someone forgot to send a copy of the 2010 census to the decision makers at MSNBC.  That census shows that as of 2010, about 16 per cent of the US Population were Hispanic. Whites (non-Hispanic) accounted for 64 percent and Blacks 12 percent.

Yet, of the 21 daily hosts or co-hosts, zero percent are Hispanics. Even Fox News has a weekend show for Geraldo Rivera but no Hispanics at MSNBC.   White hosts/co-hosts make up roughly 80 percent of the daily (M-F) lineup, while Blacks account for about 15 percent and other minority hosts (Alex Wagner & Martin Bashir collectively account for the other 5 percent)

Once, again, the fasted growing and largest minority in the United States- Hispanics have absolutely no representation on MSNBC.


MSNBC Lineup

Time    Show                     Host

5am    Morning Joe         
           Joe Scarborough     White
           Mika Brehevich      White
           Willie                      White
           Mike Barnacle         White
    
8am    Daily Rundown
          Mike Todd                White
9am   Jansing                      White
10am Thomas Roberts        White
11am  Alex Wagner                                       German/Burmese
12 pm Andrea Mitchell       White
1pm   Tamron Hall                                                            Black
2pm    The Cycle-4hosts     White, White, White,             Black
3pm    Martin Bashir                                    English/Pakistani
4pm    Hardball                   White
5pm    Pol.Nation/Sharpton                                                Black
6pm    Chris Mathews         White
7pm    Chris Hayes              White
8pm    Rachel Maddow       White
9pm    Lawrence Odonnel   White

Another layer of government: Webb-Laredo Regional Mobility Authority?

The city of Laredo is about to authorize the city manager to get the ball rolling on putting together a Regional Mobile Authority that would include the city and Webb county.  RMA's, as they are usually referred to, have been allowed in the Lone Star State since 2001.  Here's some basic info:

Under Chapter 370 of the Texas Statutes, a Regional Mobility Authority can be formed by one or more counties. The Texas Legislature first authorized the creation of Regional Mobility Authorities in 2001 with passage of Senate Bill 342. A subsequent constitutional amendment was approved by Texas voters on November 6, 2001.

A Regional Mobility Authority is authorized to finance, design, construct, operate, maintain and expand a wide range of transportation facilities and services. Potential projects include highways (tolled or untolled), ferries, airports, bikeways, and intermodal hubs. Projects can be financed using a wide range of methods, including the sale of tax-exempt revenue bonds, private equity, public grants, government loans, and revenue generated from existing transportation facilities. A Regional Mobility Authority can acquire or condemn property for projects, enter into public private partnerships, and set rates for the use of transportation facilities.


The city's operations committee will take the first step towards our very own RMA.  From the operations committee agenda scheduled for Tuesday, April 9th, 2013 at 12:30 pm at City Hall.


Authorizing the City Manager to coordinate with Webb County to establish a Joint Webb County - City of Laredo Regional Mobility Authority (RMA) to finance, acquire, design, construct, operate, maintain, expand or extend City-County transportation projects.

North to Alaska: Designated walker next?

Voy a tener que gatiar para la casa!

Should Laredo follow in the footsteps a small Alaska village?  Bethel, Alaska is seeking to pass an ordinance that could lead to drunk citizens getting cited for WWI, Walking While Intoxicated.  I don't know the exact distinctions between WWI and public intoxication but I'm sure that overall there's some similarities.

This begs the question, when friends get together, get drunk and decide to not drive, will they sill need a designated walker?

From The Washington Times

Bethel, Alaska, government leaders are fed up with drunks who behave poorly in public, and they have moved to pass an ordinance banning walking under the influence.

The ordinance is aimed at quelling the number of complaints related to public decency laws. Newser reported that residents who are found to be drunk in public — and are urinating in public, or committing a like offense — could be fined up to $200.

Not all the city council members are backing the ordinance, however. Some see it as too farfetched, and say they’ve never personally seen a drunk relieving himself or herself in public view.
“I understand people can be a menace,” a council man said in Newser, “but there’s other ways to handle it than outlawing drunk walking.”

The council is due to take it under further consideration on Tuesday, Newser reported.

Why not say "wienie dogs" instead of "chihuahuas?: Oh, it's Fox.

The integritilly-challenged bunch over at Fox News  found a way to take the Rutger's coach firing incident and turn it into yet another racially-charged slur. Talk about creative writing  whining.