6/26/10
I don't ride the buses that often. When I do, it's usually from my far East home over to Zaragosa, or maybe even over to Celo Vista mall. Occasionally, I'll take the buses downtown. I take the buses all the way to the west side only once every few months.
Anyhow, today I finally spent enough time at the downtown terminal to see how it works. I was not surprised to find it poorly run.
I needed either Bus 14 or 15 to get to the west side. As a #15 was leaving when I arrived, I was looking for a #14. I spotted a slot with a 14 on it. After a while, a bus pulled into that slot. It was marked, as several of them were, "Out of Service." I quickly went inside to wash my hands. When I came out, that bus, still marked "Out of Service," was leaving. I was annoyed that I had apparently missed #14, but I blamed myself. I found a slot marked 15 and sat down. About ten minutes later, a Bus 14 left the compound. I don't know where it had been all this time; I probably could have gotten on it, had I known where it had been. OK, fine. More education for Charles. At least now, since I was waiting by the slot marked 15, I knew I was in the right place. But as I thought about it, I lost confidence and asked somebody. "15 comes here?"
"No," I was told. "There," he said, pointing to another slot. I didn't so much doubt him, but I didn't want to miss another bus, so I went looking for a diagram to be sure.
When I found the diagram, I learned that those slots were actually "bays," and had numbers. What I had thought to be the bay for Bus 15 was actually Bay 15, and no, Bus 15 did not go there.
I had thought it my fault for missing the last bus but now I realized that I had inexplicably underestimated the incompetence of our El Paso bureaucrats.
At other terminals, the numbers on the posts correspond to the buses that load/unload at those slots, er, bays. A 15 on the post means that Bus 15 loads there. But our numbskull Bus Wizards, ever on the lookout to ruin anything that makes sense, had turned the very understandable into the needlessly complex.
Over the past year, I have ridden buses in both Houston and Orlando, and had used their terminals. I can understand them having Bay numbers. For, at their terminals, there are several different lanes where the buses load passengers. You can't just point your finger and tell someone his bus will arrive "There." The person might wait at a bay that is closer or farther than the correct bay. This is not the case at our downtown terminal.
In our elected boobs' quest to blow as much federal money as possible, they had made the terminal about twice as large as necessary, but it's still just a circular driveway. Like the East Terminal, but twice as expansive. It handles about the same number of routes as the East Terminal, too.
Where does bus 15 load passengers? "There," can still be the answer at our downtown terminal. No need to confuse somebody by telling them, Slot, er, Bay 11, which of course, tells nobody anything. I am certain that nobody that doesn't work at the downtown terminal knows what Bay is where; they only know where their bus loads. Besides, if Sun Metro can paint the bay number on those huge posts, why can't they paint the word, "Bay" above the number? Or, why not make the bay numbers, bay letters? It is quite senseless to have a bay 15, when there is a bus 15 that comes there. At least, if it were Bay F, or Bay P, it could not be confused for the bus number. Here's another alternative to Bays: have a section for the 10s, one for the 50s, etc. Then, the bus drivers don't even have to worry if another bus is in their spot when they arrive. They could just park in any open Bay in that group. Additionally, it would be very easy to tell somebody where there bus loads. "There. All the 50s load over there."
Again, though, we really don't need Bay numbers or letters at all.
Now, why do I care? I had lost an extra 45 minutes, but at least now I knew. Thing is, in Sun Metro Kingdom, if you miss a bus, you usually spend an hour waiting for the next one. Not so in this case, but generally. That's why it is so important that they help people not miss their bus, if possible. Of course, this is not one of their goals. It's not like they have to ride the buses themselves.
At this terminal, they have security guards. There were two guards and two supervisors, standing where two crosswalks come to the southeast corner of the middle island. Their purpose is to blow their whistles at anybody who doesn't use a crosswalk. The supervisors are there, apparently, to make sure the security guards blow their whistles correctly. If you look closely, you can probably read the words, "Politically connected" on their uniforms.
At least one of the security guards was armed with a taser. I reassured myself that they surely wouldn't tase someone that hadn't crossed outside of the crosswalk several times.
If having the riders cross in the crosswalks is so important, why aren't any of the security guards and supervisors standing at the other crosswalk, at the northeast corner? Obviously, they wouldn't be able to chat with the other ones if they were seventy yards away. Generally, one or more bus drivers will also be chatting with them.
Hey, this is about safety, right? You might think so, but again, the circular driveway is about four buses wide. If someone were to dart out in front of a bus, the driver would see them long before they might hit them. Also, there are multiple signs around the circular driveway that say, "5 MPH." The drivers, probably the only competent Sun Metro employees, stay under five miles an hour. I'm sure you couldn't get run over if you tried.
In fact, I would like to see some TV reality show find some terminally-ill cancer patient and pay his survivors $50 thousand if he could get run over at this terminal. It seems cruel, but the real joke would be that it just isn't possible, with or without the security guards and their supervisors. At least the contestant could get a nice consolation prize.
So, why are there two security guards, plus two supervisors, standing around, ensuring behavior that doesn't need to be ensured?
My question is, why aren't they eating donuts?
4/24/09
The other day, a KVIA camera team, specifically, Reporter Darren Hunt and photojournalist Ric Dupont, stopped to cover an 18-wheeler crash on I-10 West. An EPPD officer, Sergeant Raul Ramirez, ordered them to leave. They didn't leave right away. The officer got all pissed off, and arrested them, on camera. Here is the link to KVIA's video center. They have apparently disabled direct links, even to their sanitized version.
The reporter kept giving the officer the "Gee whiz, we're not doing nothin'" routine, but he had to show them who's boss. It's called Contempt of Cop.
According to ABC-7 News Director, Brenda De Anda-Swann, "One of my news crews unwillingly became part of the story they were covering on Monday. That's not something journalists crave or like. Like doctors who end up as patients in the ER, or officers who end up being arrested, my crew did not enjoy being the focus of the news."
Puh-leeze.
This happens all the time to ordinary El Pasoans. The surprise is when an EPPD officer is dumb enough to do something like that in front of a bunch of nuns, or in this case, on camera. Of course, KVIA is making a huge deal out of it all.
I don't have any sympathy for the KVIA reporter and his cameraman. The press never gives a damn about how the rest of us get treated by the cops here; that's why they have the attitude they do. But, let it happen to one of them, and suddenly it's, I guess, something for the Evening News.
In the Good Ole Boys' network here, the cops leave the press alone, and the press pretty much looks the other way when the EPPD steps out of line. To be sure, you see mention of the major police transgressions, but never any moral outrage by reporters, such as when they find dirty bathrooms at Azcarate Park, or that a gas station's pumps are charging an extra couple of cents a gallon for gas.
It was great to see this on video, but at the end of the day, the Status Quo is still the same. In this case, KVIA and the EPPD deserve each other.
3/10/09
Tomorrow, our glorious city council will vote on a new ordinance to let the cops impound the cars of people that drive without insurance. This is being pushed by the El Paso Police Department.
One thing about this that bothers me is, when the officer makes the stop, towing the car is up to his discretion. The individual police officers in this town have enough power over the people they, er, contact. I think this is why the Police Department is involved in this. They aren't having enough fun with the power they already have.
People that have money like this, because it is against people that don't have money. The whole purpose of liability insurance is to protect those with money from those that don't, even though you have to have a car to have a job, to get out of poverty. Especially in a city without decent bus service. If the reasonably-well-off had to ride Sun Metro, they would be willing to spend the money to bring it up to snuff.
People that drive without insurance usually do so because they don't have the money to pay for it. I get the part about being responsible, and not wanting the rest of society to have to pay more for uninsured motorists' insurance, but you kind of need the car to make the money. Having your car towed away will be a disaster for those that this befalls. The city will be thrilled with the extra kickbacks they get from the towing companies, but the poor will be getting screwed.
I don't have a problem with sticking it to the people that drive over from Juarez. The ones that drive over here are the snobby ones that have plenty of disposable income. The ones that Wal-Mart and Sam's Club push El Pasoans out of the way to suck up to.
In Juarez, none of the drivers are insured - it's not a part of their culture. Even those that can afford it don't buy insurance, though the consequences over there of causing an accident are severe.
I used to not believe they'd throw an American in jail if they had a wreck in Mexico without Mexican insurance, but now I know what they do to their own drivers that have wrecks.
Anyhow, I guess El Paso's poor need to grab their ankles one more time.
1/31/09
A PhD in riding El Paso buses. That's what Sun Metro expects their customers to have.
To be sure, you can ride their buses without it, but if you do, Sun Metro has every right to take up a few more of your hours than they should, to get you where you're going. If that makes you late for work, or causes you to miss an appointment, it's not their problem. After all, if you don't know all their silly rules, it's your own fault. It's not like your time belongs to you. No, if you ride buses in El Paso, your time belongs to Sun Metro.
I have been riding the buses here for years, but I don't have that PhD. If I did, I wouldn't have been passed up by a driver just yesterday. I waited thirty minutes, with two of my kids, for a bus that drove right by us. He saw us, and as soon as he passed us up, I knew right away that I had broken one of their rules.
They have buses. They have routes, with signs at all the bus stops. But, the buses don't stop at all the stops on their route. Of course, it is entirely up to the rider to know better than to wait at a stop at which the driver of the bus they want has no intention of stopping.
At about one percent of their stops, I estimate, they have information as to which buses service that stop, along with schedule information. You would think that they would do this at all their stops, but that forgets the rule that it's our responsibility to know what their rules are, and it simply isn't their problem if we miss the bus.
By the way, even at their stops with the shelters, where they can easily post schedules, it is common for there to be no schedules, and if there are, for them to be outdated. Again, it isn't their problem if we miss the bus. Oh, and here's another one: when they change a route, they don't take it upon themselves to re-print new schedules right away. So, even if you are looking at a schedule that you just got that morning, you could have bad information. Not their problem.
Even these things would be bearable, if the buses ran more often. In a city with a decent bus system, most buses run about every ten to fifteen minutes. So, if something goes wrong, you only have to wait a little while for the next bus. Not here. If you miss a bus, you generally have to wait about an hour for the next one. Also, the last buses start their runs at 9 o'clock here, not up to two AM, like in other cities.
My kids and I had been waiting at a stop about fifty yards from a left turn that this driver had to make. So, even though there was hardly any traffic to speak of, he passed right by us. Silly me. The route in question only runs every hour and a half, but if I'd had my PhD, I would have figured out where to wait for the bus ahead of time.
When I called to complain, a supervisor told me that the driver didn't have to stop if we were sitting on the bus bench; we actually had to be standing up. The driver, however, had moved into the left lane well before he got to us, and yes, I was standing before he passed us by. He never had any intention of stopping, even if we had been standing before he came in sight of us. The fact that I had eye contact with the driver for several seconds only emphasizes that nothing mattered except that I had broken one or more of their unwritten rules.
Another gotcha is that Sun Metro has the (really stupid) habit of scheduling all the buses they can, with no reserves. So, if a bus breaks down, they might very well take a bus off another route to replace it. This is generally from a route that runs more frequently. If you're unlucky enough to be waiting for the bus that is now servicing another route, you're out of luck. Not their problem.
Here's another one: over a given week, the earliest driver of a route might come up to twenty-five minutes earlier than the latest driver of that route. Guess whose responsibility it is to account for this, and be at the stop ahead of the driver? Right. Not Sun Metro's problem. They have told me that I should be at the stop ten minutes ahead of the scheduled arrival time. It's not like they have any responsibility to make their drivers be consistent. If your regular driver usually shows up at thirty minutes past the hour, but today's driver comes at fifteen minutes past the hour, guess whose responsibility it isn't if you miss the bus? Not their problem.
Some of the drivers really care about their riders. A lot of them don't. Frequently, and I do mean frequently, a bus will stop for somebody at a stop, and that person will ask the wrong question, and the driver will tell them that his bus isn't the one that they want. They fail to mention that the rider can't get that bus from that bus stop, and that THEY REALLY NEED TO GET ON THIS BUS. Hey, the driver answered the question that he was asked. After the next bus comes by, in another hour, the rider will start to figure out what's going on, and maybe they will ask a better question. After all, it's the riders' responsibility to get served well by Sun Metro; it isn't up to Sun Metro to actually provide good service.
I am not one to be abused in silence. I have called Sun Metro to complain on many occasions. As even at many fairly well-run companies, the emphasis of the people that answer the phones is not on solving problems. They don't care. They just want to handle you. If they wanted to solve problems, they wouldn't have bus stop signs at which the buses don't stop. Their phone people have all had the one-day Help Desk Empathy courses. Lots of empathy; not so much help.
They have a sign, in English and Spanish, about how the riders don't exist for Sun Metro, Sun Metro exists to serve the riders. The riders are the reason that all the administrators and drivers have their jobs.
Yadda yadda yadda.
Lots of companies post signs like this. You don't have to actually live up to this to post the sign. Sun Metro's signs, which appear from time to time on the buses, as well as at the terminals, are posted in English as well as Spanish. This, for those that can't read their bullshit in English.
About six months ago, Joyce Wilson, our City Administrator, brought in a bunch of high-priced Bus Wizards from out-of-town to replace the previous bozos. They came up with a few ideas, then they figured out that El Paso is an NER (No Excellence Required) city, so now Sun Metro is run by more expensive empty suits than before.
Rather than Bus Wizards, what we need are just a few people that care, and that ride the buses every day. This being a city where any position at Wal-mart is considered a plum job, I'm sure they could get such people for much less money than they pay the Bus Wizards. The problem would be finding people that care. Not that they aren't out there, but people that don't care are not able to find people that do.
City Council today unanimously approved a resolution calling on Congress to consider the legalization of drugs. Mayor John Cook, who was not allowed to vote on the resolution, vetoed it, saying, "My reaction was, I can't believe you're doing this"
I can believe it. This is the dumbest waste of time by El Paso's elected officials in, I don't know, a week or two.
This started when the Committee on Border Relations, which is appointed by City Council, proposed a relatively benign resolution which stated that one of the main problems with the War on Drugs (WOD) is that the U.S. and Mexico focus on incarceration, not rehabilitation. City Council should have just rubber-stamped this meaningless resolution and gotten back to the business of twiddling their thumbs.
But no, councilman Beto O'Rourke decided to screw up a perfectly harmless resolution by adding wording calling for the U.S. Congress to discuss the legalization of drugs.
O'Rourke and this Committee on Border Relations (boy, I hope we aren't actually paying these guys) believe in the popular non-sequitur that the WOD is a failure, since we still have drug problems. Well, it might not have totally solved the problem, but that doesn't mean that locking up drug dealers isn't a good idea. We lock up murderers, yet we still have murders. Should we let murderers go because some War on Murder is failing to stop murder?
Anyhow, this is beside the point. It really isn't the job of El Paso's City Council to tell Congress what they should be thinking about. If City Council doesn't have anything more important to do than this, we should buy them overalls and gardening tools, and have them spruce up the town, or something more useful than telling Congress their silly ideas. Congress has lots of their own silly ideas, without adopting new ones from Beto O'Rourke.
If they insist on making resolutions telling other people what to do, I have some better ones for them:
A resolution asking Americans to stop taking illegal drugs. It won't have any effect, like Beto's, but it would fit in better with the Committee on Border Relations' original resolution.
A resolution to ask Jerry Jones to fire Coach Wade Phillips. I mean, with all that talent, he couldn't win a few playoff games?
A resolution asking the makers of TV remote controls to make remotes that will come when you call them, like dogs. What good is a remote when you can't find it?
And, finally, a resolution to ask the Coyote to stop chasing the Roadrunner. I can't see City Council making this one, though. The ineffectual Coyote is a kindred spirit to our local politicians.
1/2/09
Lemme say first off, this article isn't really about the police department, though I know that a lot of people will take it that way. So be it. My complaint here is with the local media. Our local reporters here in El Paso are too passive in general, but especially regarding the El Paso Police Department. I don't know that Officer Raul Melendez isn't telling the complete truth about how he happened to kill Anthony Gonzalez, but I do know that there are a lot of questions that El Paso journalists should have asked, but didn't. That's what this article is about.
The EPPD news release says this:
EL PASO, TEXAS – Detectives have positively confirmed the identity of the man that assaulted a officer with a knife. On Friday, December 26, 2008, 39-year old Anthony Gonzalez entered the Seven-Eleven store located at 9829 Socorro Rd. Once inside he took a small keg of beer and proceeded to leave the store. Investigators learned that the suspect made a statement to the clerk as he was taking the property. At that same time, Officer Raul Melendez was conducting surveillance of the store as part of a special operation, that involved the officer working in plain clothes and unmarked unit capacity. As the clerk called police to report the incident Officer Melendez called out as he was attempting to detain Gonzalez. Officer Melendez detained Gonzalez while visibly displaying his distinctive El Paso Police Department badge and identifying himself as a police officer. Gonzalez threatened Officer Melendez with a knife. As Officer Melendez had contact with Gonzalez, he lunged at Officer Melendez with the knife. At that time, Officer Melendez with no other choice and in an attempt to protect his own life discharged his weapon striking Gonzalez. Gonzalez died at the scene. Officer Melendez was not injured in the incident. As is normal procedure in any officer involved shooting several investigations are taking place at the same time. These investigations include an investigation by Crimes Against Persons, the Shooting Review Team, the District Attorney's Office and Internal Affairs. At this time the investigation continues.
If it happened the way Melendez said, he was absolutely justified in shooting Gonzalez. No question about it. But, it sure seems strange that Gonzalez would have tried to stab a police officer that had clearly identified himself. To start with, in most states, and certainly in Texas, you get the death penalty for killing a police officer. Secondly, even though it isn't clear that Melendez, who was dressed in plain clothes, had drawn his weapon, a police officer making an arrest is certainly carrying a service revolver.
The penalty for a beer run, a Class C misdemeanor (theft under $50), is a $500 fine. If the perpetrator has three misdemeanor convictions in the last 24 months, the maximum penalty is $2000 and up to 180 days in jail. From other news reports, Gonzalez did not seem to have prior convictions that would put him in this category, but in any case, you don't try to stab a police officer to avoid six months in jail.
I could see some sixteen-year-old kid, scared out of his wits at the thought of being arrested, doing something really stupid. But Gonzalez was 39-years-old, and he had a few convictions over the years, including a robbery conviction for which he had been sentenced to five years in 2001. The store he was stealing the beer from was only a five-minute drive from his house. If he was so worried about getting caught that he would try to stab a cop, he wouldn't be stealing from a place where he was likely to be recognized by anybody in the parking lot, not to mention the store employees. I imagine there was a video camera in the place, though that information was not in any of the news reports.
Officer Melendez made 20 arrests in October, the most by any officer at the Mission Valley Regional Command. Is he a little bit eager? Did he have a history with the suspect? I have no idea, I really don't. I would have thought, though, that El Paso's journalists would have asked these questions.