Wallace Bajjali double speak -- and look who's complicit

Here is a good example of the Wallace Bajjali double-speak. I found this rummaging through some old files.

The ethical bankruptcy of everyone on this email is obvious. Congrats to to the old city commission on being country bumpkins.

Wallace Pitner Email

Why the downtown cartel isn't interested in Route 66

Many may have wondered why the city of Amarillo and those pushing the Bajjali-Downtown Amarillo Inc.-Amarillo Globe-News plan for downtown have given such short shrift to Route 66 as an economic driver. And my interest in this matter came up because an advocate of the Wallace Bajjali plan spread some false information on Facebook.

Here is the text of the post and linkto Facebook:

There are limited uses for HOT, which Lissa apparently doesn't understand. Demerson is right about San Jacinto, but he's fighting an uphill battle, and that is a battle against the way the city promotes and supports development. The city in general does not proactively manage growth here, mostly it sits back and watches development happen and capitalizes on that by instituting lots of silly building ordinances and collecting building permit fees. I can't imagine the city becoming proactive about development planning; it would seem far too "liberal" and interfering for the locals. But maybe he will draw attention to our city's need to maintain its historical neighborhoods. We'll see.

Well I have a theory. I just did a PRAD search of Southwest Sixth Streetand not one of those properties is overtly owned by the downtown development cartel members like the Wares, ANB, Joe Bob McCartt or Alan Rhodes. Some of the owners along that stretch of the Mother Road (that’s what it is) are clearly non-Anglo, non-Panhandle pioneer names. That should explain a lot about why the power elite in Amarilloaren’t promoting Route 66.

The assertion that the city doesn’t “proactively manage growth” here is so false on its face that I can hardly respond. The entire rationale of the downtown development debacle and the Wallace Bajjali-Downtown Amarillo Inc.-Amarillo Globe-News plan is to “proactively manage growth.” Unless, of course, economic development isn’t growth. Oh, wait, it is growth for the insiders’ bank accounts who knew what the then-City Commission and prior City Council had planned.

The city has been overtly picking winners and losers for at least the last eight years — with nothing but a cascade of lies falling on more lies. And, Colin Cummings, your post above is a good example of the lies, disinformation and propaganda the Wallace Bajjali-Downtown Amarillo Inc.-Amarillo Globe-News cartel continues to spread, Goebbels-like, including throwing down the “L” word in order to paint the resistance to the Wallace Bajjali-Downtown Amarillo Inc.-Amarillo Globe-News plan as bad for Amarillo.

If you want to throw down the “L” word, thrown it at the then-City Commission, prior City Council and the city administration who bought the prostitute services from Wallace Bajjali with the Globe-News and DAI serving as main pimp and madam.

Resignation and honor, an example to follow

One of the reasons I’ve not attacked Paul Matney about his support for the Wallace Bajjali-Downtown Amarillo Inc.-Amarillo Globe-News ballpark is that at the base of it, I judged him an honorable man. And, he proved himself that today by resigning from the DAI board.

However, DAI still has a major problem with its executive director and board treasurer. Melissa Dailey, I believe, continues to violate state election laws, her organization’s own by-laws and city conflict of interest rules by doing all the advocacy for her Wallace Bajjali-inspired plan. This conflict has arisen since the City Council placed the advisory vote on the ballpark on a city ballot for a Nov. 3 vote. Dailey should have immediately and radically modified her behavior.

As for the DAI board treasurer, Les Simpson, he is in a similar position to Matney. Either he has to leave the DAI board immediately or he must henceforth restrict any mention of the Nov. 3 election to the outlet’s news pages. Any advocacy of for the Wallace Bajjali ballpark must stop forthwith. Otherwise others should, and likely will, file formal complaint with the proper authorities. Given the Globe-News’ track record for journalism ethics, I don’t hold out much hope for either of those events to occur.

Lies, damn lies and the Amarillo Globe-News

Not too many years ago, corrections or retractions of articles in a daily newspaper were rare. And less

frequently were legitimate accusations of news stories containing outright lies for propagandizing. In addition, when running either opinion pieces or editorials, facts and some semblance of truth informed the newspapers’ opinions. Somehow in Amarillo, we have fallen far from those standards.

The Sept. 20, 2015 version of the Amarillo Globe-News offers readers two examples that should have never seen the light of day.

The first is the long and winding editorial, about defunding Planned Parenthood and the videos that purported to show that the organization is “hit with a scandal involving the sale of aborted baby parts.”

The editorial continues with this entirely false one-sentence paragraph, “Speaking of the videos, there really is no debate justifying an investigation, not if you look at the videos from a logical and nonpolitical perspective.”

This line is such an outright lie that I don’t care if someone thinks my criticism is discourteous and unseemly The videos made public were from a rabid anti-woman group that secretly recorded and edited content in the worst way possible — to portray the exact opposite of the facts. It isn’t news when it’s done that way. It is fomenting lies based on the kind of propaganda Joseph Goebbels promoted against Jews during World War II. (Yes, I am playing the Nazi card here, because that is how low the Center for Medical Progress and the Globe-News stooped to put out their lies.)

As LauraBassett points out in her Huffington Post piece, a forensic analysis of the videos on which the Globe-News relies “found they are so egregiously manipulated that they would never be accepted as evidence in a court of law.” It is bad enough that the Globe-News is going to conclude those videos are nonpolitical and a logical basis the basis for an investigation. Congress has asked for the full and unaltered videos from the Center for Medical Progress. We’ll have to see what those show and whether the Globe-News will have the ethics and decency to make that information public.

And speaking of ethics, let’s look at our controversial local issue: the downtown development debacle and the upcoming vote about the Wallace Bajjali-Downtown Amarillo Inc.-Amarillo Globe-News ballpark. In a story about DAI’s Facebook page, the Wallace Bajjali-Downtown Amarillo Inc. propaganda rag has this line, “But voters in a Nov. 3 election will decide the fate of the $32-million MPEV.”

That is flat-out incorrect and, given the Globe-News’ position on downtown development and Wallace Bajjali, its publisher’s role in the Wallace Bajjali and Downtown Amarillo Inc., one can only conclude this is misleading on purpose. In other words, it’s a lie. For those interested in facts, the vote is advisory; it’s non-binding on the City Council.

The DAI Facebook, page, by the way, states, “DAI does not take a position on ballot issues and will not provide a forum for any positions.” That is also a lie. DAI has advocated for the Wallace Bajjali plan all along and the entire Facebook effort by this taxpayer-funded organization is advocacy for Wallace Bajjali and the fraudster firm’s plan. The law is clear on who can and can not advocate on a ballot measure and it is possible DAI’s role on Facebook and elsewhere bears investigation by the Texas Ethics Commission. Given what some of the councilors know and will learn more about DAI and Wallace Bajjali, the council may kill of the entire project and DAI no matter the outcome of the Nov. 3 vote.

And, trust me folks, when the community learns more about Wallace Bajjali and DAI, people will applaud the action that the City Council must and will take to end this fraud upon Amarillo. Stick with me on this one, folks. The Amarillo Independent was right in 2010 and is right about Wallace Bajjali and DAI in 2015.

Meanwhile, just like there are lies, damn lies and statistics, there are also lies, damn lies and the Amarillo Globe-News.

No regrets about Real News and Honest Journalism

A small thread on Facebook became the appropriate, if not perfect, place and opportunity to remind you all that The Amarillo Independent survived for six years but never thrived because the conservative business majority wouldn’t support it. Those few who did bless us with advertising recognized that the progressive editorials and opinions were well-walled off from the journalism, which we practiced with unparalleled integrity. I

look back and realize that the best advice I got and biggest regret I have over lot listening to it was from Claudia Stravato, who told me to run the Indy as a 501(c)3 nonprofit — that the old news business model was dying. She was right.

But that aside, and I know I am harping on this, the Indy’s stories and warnings about Wallace Bajjali were right and had the decision-makers here listened, well … .

The Wallace Bajjali stories weren’t the only investigative pieces that broke ground in this vast journalistic wasteland. We exposed Baptist St. Anthony's Health System’s lack of true charity care. When the Texas Medical Board took action on local physicians, we reported it, including a more in-depth look at why Dr. Roby Mitchell lost his license. We also exposed Amarillo ISD’s unfair treatment of the LGBT community; we exposed the Amarillo Chamber of Commerce for shilling an inferior health insurance plan to its members and, in another story, how the city almost shut down the chamber’s big barbeque event because of food handling problems.

I don’t regret a moment of the six years I worked so hard to practice a craft with passion and to give the community an outlet that truly represented “Real News, Honest Journalism.” And I don’t regret for a minute that I shut it down so my wife and I were no longer shackled to the City Council’s meeting schedule and the (in this case, I am proud to use the word) newspaper’s production timetable. Sometimes I wish I’d been more civil along the way, but in my heart I believe journalism was a higher a calling than the Episcopal priesthood, which I decided to not pursue.

Remember that a free press built and sustain the United States’ form of democracy and freedom and it’s as important locally as it is nationally.

The more we know, the better decisions we can make as a community

The Turner Report, a blog run by Randy turner in Joplin, Mo., has been combing a state audit and other records related to that city’s hiring Wallace Bajjali as master developer. His latest review of the documents once again shows that the now defunct master developer had an inside track with at least one Joplin city councilor, the city manager and others.

Those connections were clearly structured to have certain people benefit from Wallace Bajjali deals. And one city councilor now faces possible censure from the Joplin City Council this coming week. Don’t forget, too, that the state auditor has turned over material to a state prosecutor for review of possible criminal wrongdoing.

We have commented on the strong parallels between Amarillo and Joplin in dealing with Wallace Bajjali and the fallout from the fraudster firm’s vaporizing. It’s too bad neither Texas nor Amarillo have a similar mechanism in the form of a state auditor to undertake the same kind of probe as was done in Joplin. But we have an equally potent one if we care to use it: The Amarillo City Council has Sec. 19 of the city’s code to launch a similar investigation. Between the city and the FBI, the public should learn who did what for whom as part of this tainted deal.

We deserve no less than the full and honest truth. The leftover mayor and councilor need to face the fact that the more they resist letting the full truth out, the more trust they lose — and they ain’t got much left at this point anyway.

It’s time to start the Sec. 19 investigation so some information can come out before the Nov. 3 vote on the proposed ballpark.

More stupidity and propaganda: Guess where

Reading the Amarillo Globe-News these days would be entertaining were it not the “newspaper of

record” for Amarillo. And, in this case, I use the word “newspaper” very loosely. But it isn’t the Globe-News alone that provides the entertainment. It’s also some of those who come before the City Council to comment.

One of those becoming a regular is one Cindi Bulla, a Realtor, who regularly spouts the Wallace Bajjali-Downtown Amarillo Inc.-Amarillo Globe-News approach to downtown development. She has shown she will not be moved by facts. Let’s start with a Sept.8 story that Kevin Welch penned about the tax talks at the City Council Tuesday.

By the way, it’s instructive of the Globe-News’ approach to the news that the story refers to Bulla as a “resident.” That, of course, misdirects the reader away from Bulla’s portfolio or political reach as a Realtor active with the local realtor association. But that isn’t the worst of it. Bulla then goes on to tell the council, according to the article, “Work together and get the job done and get it done right.”

Like many others still enmeshed with the fraudsters Wallace Bajjali, Bulla overlooks the electorate’s mandate to shake things up at City Hall. Further, working together was the go-along-to-get-along approach was precisely that brought us eight years of wheel-spinning, word spinning. The indiscriminate acceptance of plans from Wallace Bajjali, DAI, the Local Government Corp. and Amarillo Economic Development Corp. have gotten us to a likely corrupt downtown development plan.

This isn’t the first time Bulla’s Babbittry has joined voices with the other smug, self-satisfied Babbitts of Amarillo. She indicated during a July 1 community meeting that the voters of Amarillo aren’t smart enough to assess public policy decisions, much less vote on them.

It gets better, of course. It’s not just the entertainment in the Globe-News. It’s the unmitigated gall and hubris from the paper whose publisher, Les Simpson, is so enmeshed in the downtown development debacle so completely as to destroy any credibility for his media outlet. Don’t forget, it was Simpson, as head of DAI’s board along with Melissa Dailey, brought Wallace Bajjali to Amarillo.

So when we’re greeted Thursday morning with an editorialthat purports to tell us that cutting the DAI budget is about taxes instead of a message to DAI and the community about what DAI is worth to us, I can only conclude two things. Either the Globe-News is once again engaging in a propaganda and disinformation campaign to attack those who would follow the electorate’s wishes; or, that whoever conceived of and wrote the editorial is — how can I say this nicely? (I can’t) — is flat out stupid and thinks we are too.

I will continue to wish better for Amarillo than this. And until then, I feel an obligation to help people understand how badly misled we have been by what was once a real newspaper. And how we’re being misled by a bunch of Babbitt-line insiders whose interest is their own, notthe good of the city. Thank goodness we had an election and that it turned out the way it did.

Final thought: Councilors Burkett, Demerson and Nair, gentlemen, stay the course.

Here is more background on downtown you might have missed

Back in February, ahead of Amarillo’s municipal election, I established another blog called “The postexplained why I felt I needed a more personal blog that was distinct and a little more distant from The Amarillo Independent. I re-affirmed that explanation in a brief poston April 30 on the Indy blog.

Quintessential Curmudgeon.” My initial

The elections are long behind us — at least that’s how it feels to me. And I have returned to The Amarillo Independent as my main blog. However, the discussion of the upcoming Nov. 3 election concerning the $32 million Wallace Bajjali-Downtown Amarillo Inc.-Amarillo Globe-News-inspired ballpark for downtown on social media and the Indy’ reaching out through social media has generated more interest in the Indy blog. In light of the continued and increased interest in The Amarillo Independent, readers may wish to look at the posted on the Curmudgeon blog. Consider this one of those ICYMI — In Case You Missed It — posts.

One of the key issues in the past elections, and indeed since the start of the downtown development effort, is the role the Globe-News played over the past eight or so years. Understanding how the paper and its publisher fit into Downtown Amarillo Inc.-Wallace Bajjali narrative is important information. As I noted, Readers should treat “information” and opinions in the Amarillo Globe-News like “Seinfeld” episode “The Bizarro Jerry.” Do the opposite and you’ll be better off for it.

I posted a foreshadowing of my recent open letter to the current City Council (“Tale of Two Cities”) on Feb. 27, a month after Wallace Bajjali vaporized itself leaving Joplin, Mo., and Amarillo holding the proverbial bag. Shortly thereafter, I commentedthat we had every incumbent challenged and that we could have a framework for the election’s issues. That posting also introduced publicly the notion of a forensic investigation of downtown development but it wasn’t until April 27 that I posted information I had found the provision in the City Code that enables the City Council to conduct the kind of probe this city desperately needs. By that time we were well aware of the FBI and grand jury investigation of Amarillo’s Amarillo Economic Development Corp., but for the latter, we’ll just have to stay tuned and hope for the best.

This was also a time I we notedthat the Globe-News became schizophrenic on us — and continued its lies, this time about the ability of the council to give the people a voted on downtown development. And with the now-discredited council in our rearview mirror, the post also pointed out that Mayor Paul Harpole had promised a vote as far back as 2011. It was also a time when none of the former city councilors would acknowledge their culpability in the Wallace Bajjali, although later some said Councilor Brian Eades did so. Still, since the start of the downtown development debacle, people called the old council arrogant and we all know why. It just needed to be pointed out. I also pointedout that Eades, who ultimately survived a challenge, couldn’t really address the issues that led to the council’s flawed decision of hire Wallace Bajjali and cozy it up with DAI. By the way, he never answered my questions at the bottom of the post.

As information about the terms of the various contracts, deal and other obligations for downtown development became public, some revelations a surprise and other information showing the downtown development leadership conducted a variety of disinformation campaigns, we posted a specific storyabout the Liberty theatre and how DAI wasn’t to be trusted. Speaking of distrust, during this time the comments on the Globe-News website flew fast and furious. DAI’s executive director pitched in on comments using an identifier that was based on her maiden name. We bustedher because The Amarillo Independent had done our own due diligence, unlike DAI in recommending Wallace Bajjali.

Less than two weeks ahead of the May 9 election, it must have been clear the downtown development cabal was concerned about losing the lock-step-let’s-support-DAI-and-Wallace Bajjali majority. Grasping at straws, DAI’s board chairman, John Lutz, suggested the old Santa Fe Depot could be an “intermodal” transportation center. The suggestion not only showed how ill-informed and ignorant the leadership of DAI is, but it pointed glaringly to another sad fact, one we have overlooked in all this discussion about downtown development.

What is that fact? The fight over this misguided effort has distracted the city’s leadership from making meaningful contributions to Amarillo’s economic development. No real effort to work with the Texas Department of Transportation, BNSF and Amtrak on a re-route of the Southwest Chief. No real attention to developing and fostering Amarillo as a railroad destination; or as a Route 66 destination; no effort on promoting the cowboy heritage with the various guest ranches in the area; no visible effort to make Palo Duro Canyon more visible. And we could go on.

As we continue toward an advisory vote Nov. 3, I am sure more will come out. However, the links and information in the Curmudgeon blog might be helpful to those still trying to decide about downtown development and whether to support the Wallace Bajjali-Downtown Amarillo Inc.-Amarillo Globe-News plan or to reboot and do something for the whole city.

The more we know, the worse it gets

The Joplin, Mo.-based Turner Report posted two items of note Monday, both giving us more insight

into the post-tornado debacle with Wallace Bajjali.

As I noted, the parallels between Joplin and Amarillo are uncanny. Even more to the point, however, are the behaviors of the Joplin city manager and some of its council members.

In a most important post, Turner calls attention to Amarillo's city attorney report, who used the then-Strasberger Law Firm (now Strasberger & Price) findings and other sources, to determine whether the city should use Wallace Bajjali. The Amarillo City Council ignored warnings from the Independent and the law firm to engage Wallace Bajjali. And, in reading Turner’s posting, Joplin officials were made aware of the Amarillo’s information and ignored the risks as well.

Other findings, including the state audit, indicate certain people in Joplin ignored the warnings for reasons other than denial. Some, including a Joplin city councilor and former city manager, have been implicated in “insider” dealings that might turn out to be illegal — perhaps criminal — activity. That activity may not turn out to be criminal, but it’s suspicious enough for the Missouri auditor to refer findings to a prosecutor.

To even imply that such a thing could happen in Amarillo will prompt screams from former elected officials and those associated with them. Those protests would include asking why some little outsider (after all, I’ve only been here since 2003) would have the unmitigated gall to question their integrity. I experienced such a reaction from Laura Street in 2006 when I questioned her about the then-City Commission sneaking $1.8 million to make up a private funding shortfall for the Globe-News Center. But in this case, I am no longer willing to give these people the benefit of the doubt. I have come to believe a preponderance of evidence points to insider dealing, aided and abetted by knowledge of the moral bankruptcy of David Wallace and Costa Bajjali.

Then, the lateston the David Wallace bankruptcy here indicates to me the Wallace Bajjali deal was a scam from the start. And the rubes on the then-City Commission fell for it. Or, again, were they really rubes?

If the FBI and grand jury find nothing and the current City Council fails to conduct a Sec. 19 investigation, we may never know. Such a pall over a fine city like Amarillo would be a shame.

A Tale of Two Cities: An Open Letter to the Amarillo City Council

An Open Letter to the Amarillo City Council:

I am sending this letter to you and posting it to The Amarillo Independent blog for a specific reason. I

had thought about coming before the council during its session in the Council Chambers to read this. But I chose not to for a few reasons. First, what I have to convey, even if read very quickly, will likely take longer than the three minutes. Second, after watching the former commission and now council, I am quite aware how Mayor Harpole treats those with whom he disagrees. I thus choose to not subject myself to the highly likely interruptions, verbal abuse and boorish behavior that characterizes the way he runs these meetings.

As I write this, I’ve just returned from a week-long camping trip. I only followed the news alerts about Wallace Bajjali sporadically. Now I’ve caught up about Wallace Bajjali’s situation in Joplin, where the now-defunct firm was also a master developer. If anyone wishes to get caught up on that situation, all they need do is Google “Wallace Bajjali” and Joplin or go to The Turner Report. Turner provides a pathway to the media coverage and the damning Missouri State Auditor report. In fact, the findings in Joplin are so bad they have been turned over to a prosecutor for possible criminal action. If you and other leadership haven’t studied the information you best do so.

The audit found that Wallace Bajjali seemed to have an inside track in Joplin, aided in part by the Chamber of Commerce months earlier giving information to Wallace Bajjali firm to respond to the RFP. According to the audit, “It is unclear how Wallace Bajjali was able to obtain 11 letters of intent for various projects within the redevelopment area before the concept of a master developer was presented to the city council or a RFP was issued unless the firm had prior knowledge of potential project details.”

As I’ve written before, much of what happened here and in Joplin are uncannily parallel.

The audit also faulted the decision-makers in Joplin for ignoring the Wallace Bajjali’s problems with regulators, financial liabilities, failures here in Amarillo and other warning signs. In Joplin, Wallace Bajjali won the deal over bidders with no liabilities; their City Council, like ours, ignored warnings, including those that told them engaging Wallace Bajjali would be a huge error. And, in Joplin, that information was kept from the public.

Of course, how Amarillo ended up with Wallace Bajjali remains murky at best, what with so many meetings behind closed doors. But, in November 2010, The Amarillo Independent’s story raised the same issues that later unfolded in Joplin and at the then-Amarillo City Commission Nov. 16 meeting, Downtown Amarillo Inc.’s Melissa Dailey, with Amarillo Globe-News Publisher Les Simpson, who was her board president, said DAI had done due diligence. Dailey downplayed the Independent’s findings. Now, of course, we must raise the same questions about Wallace Bajjali’s selection here. It is a fair question to ask what DAI's Dailey and Simpson knew and when they knew it.

Then there is a matter of the $947,000 in so-called “pursuit costs” the city paid to Wallace Bajjali, even as some councilors knew the firm wasn’t delivering on its promises. What we know now from Joplin is that David Wallace and his firm submitted invoices for such things as a $161 pair of dress shoes for Wallace while in Springfield, Mo.; a hotel stay in Springfield for $333; and, booze for Wallace, Costa Bajjali, a then-city councilor and then-city manager and Joplin Chamber of Commerce employees. Even more incriminating was an invoice for hotel costs in Arkansas for $222 four months before the city issued an RFP. But in Amarillo, we’ve never seen a public itemization of those costs so we don’t know any of those details. Do we have the same issues here and we just don’t know it — yet?

This tale of two cities continues with “newspapers” of record being lapdogs instead of watchdogs. The Joplin Globe, like the out-of-town-owned Amarillo Globe-News, was in the tank for Wallace Bajjali from the start. And while the Joplin paper, as best I can tell, was simply egregious in slanting or not reporting about Wallace Bajjali and downtown development, the Globe-News here was grossly unethical in its participation in downtown development. With its publisher on the DAI and Local Government Corp. boards, how could anyone expect anything but lapdog behavior and boosterism?

It’s time for all of us to know more about this Wallace Bajjali-“catalyst project” albatross around our collective taxpaying necks. So, I am once again calling on the City Council to take decisive action on downtown development:

·Invoke Sec. 19 of the Amarillo City Code and launch a full investigation on the entire eight-year-with-nothing-to-show-for-it effort, issuing subpoenas to all concerned for documents and testimony about their roles in downtown development.

·Suspend any further development on the hotel and parking garage — contracts be damned because if the deals were put together illegally they are void.

·Investigate the investors in the hotel and determine if they have acted with “insider” information equivalent to what would constitute insider information under the rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission and Texas Securities laws.

·Investigate who and what is behind the treatment of the Herring Hotel and why the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone provided abatements to Wallace Bajjali and subsequently the Patel group without them submitting applications as others have done.

·Freeze all payments to Downtown Amarillo Inc. until further notice.

·The Nov. 3 vote on the “MPEV” is advisory only and poorly worded. No matter the vote, freeze any decision until the Sec. 19 investigation is completed.

This entire downtown development effort has been tainted from the start. And throughout, the advocates of the Wallace Bajjali-Downtown Amarillo Inc. approach, including former Mayor Debra McCartt and former councilors, Mayor Harpole, Councilman Eades, City Manager Jarrett Atkinson and members of the DAI, LGC and TIRZ boards have been more than disingenuous — they have been dishonest. No taxpayer money was the biggest lie, but each week we get a new revelation that oozes from one of the contracts.

The City Council with three new members elected can not only stop this insanity and reboot the planning process. But it can also restore trust in city government. I beg you to do so.

TIRZ action on Herring Hotel tip of iceberg

It’s been about 10 months since the FBI served the Amarillo Economic Development Corp. with a

grand jury subpoena, launching a probe into some of the activities associated with the so-called downtown revitalization project. Since then, we have heard nothing about the investigation into the deal involving Alan Rhodes, a shareholder in the Underwood Law Firm, and the AEDC. The deal at issue is a transaction involving the Commerce Building, West Texas A&M University and local property owners.

Secrecy is a common characteristic of this type of scrutiny. But in addition to learning about the probe, we have learned much about the tentacles gripping downtown development:

· Alan Rhodes and Joe Bob McCartt, the husband of former Mayor Debra McCartt, are involved in a deal to invest in the Newcrest Images/Supreme Bright convention center hotel. That information became public last month despite Chuck Patel, the chief financial officer for Newcrest, telling us who are the investors in the publicly subsidized part of the project that the information is none of our business;

·Statements by the Wallace Bajjali-Downtown Amarillo Inc. crowd have claimed, in too many places to document here, that neither the Xcel Energy building now under construction nor the convention hotel would proceed without the ballpark and other guarantees. And yet we recently learned that Newcrest/Supreme Bright has told Richard Brown, the point person on the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone, that construction begins this fall despite the vote on killing the ballpark part of the MPEV being on the ballot;

·The contract with the city of Amarillo for the heavily subsidized convention center hotel, part of the Wallace Bajjali-Downtown Amarillo Inc.-inspired trifecta that includes a ballpark and parking garage, includes a non-compete clause barring the public assistance of any type for another downtown hotel;

·The parking garage contract with the now defunct fraudster firm of Wallace Bajjali includes the city’s requirement to eliminate free street parking downtown with parking meters. One implication not fully explored at this point are the costs and scope of that requirement give nthe large area in the “downtown” definition established eight years ago;

·In a scurrilous act of betrayal of the public, the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone has sat on the Herring Hotel’s request for a tax abatement for three years. And, in a more despicable move than a civil tongue bars other words, on Thursday finally denied the iconic hotel’s request.

What we know about FBI-grand jury investigations in general are they are carried out secretly — that neither the FBI nor grand juries make information known to the public during their process. What is less well known here is that the investigation may well delve into more than the Commerce Building. I have it on good authority that the FBI is fully aware of the situation with the Herring, including the possible anti-trust implications. Of course, no one on the outside knows about the progress or depth.

But I have a couple of theories that I have mentioned to an attorney or two and, while I may not be right about these as I was about Wallace Bajjali, those hypotheses make sense.

First, I believe the “where there’s smoke, there’s fire” cliché is plausible here. Had the federal level investigation cratered early on, it would have stopped; the public would have known, in part, with the release of information about the lack of indictments. That may be a bit simplistic, of course.

Second, I think there is a fair chance this investigation is being done under the framework of RICO, or the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. This law, born in the 1970s to for after the Mafia, covers far more than the Goodfellas these days.

As the Wallace Bajjali-Downtown Amarillo Inc. plan advocates move forward and we see Amarillo divided in a war within itself, one can only think the famous Winston Churchill line: “In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.”

It also brings to mind another observation about the truth: The advocates of the Wallace Bajjali-DAI plan for downtown development find the truth so precious that they use it sparingly.

I wonder when the facts will emerge to give us the truth.

Did a Wallace Bajjali plan derail another approach to downtown revitalization?

My friend, John Kanelis, works part-time for KFDA-Newschannel 10. He has posted a storyabout

Santa Fe Railway's Madame Queen at
the city-owned mini-park downtown

Walter Wolfram, an Amarillo attorney who has tried for years to establish a railroad museum here. After all, Amarillo was a huge railroad town and remains an important part of BNSF’s Transcon route.

Wolfram has proposed to the city of Amarillo using the old Santa Fe Railway depot for such a nonprofit enterprise. You remember the Santa Fe depot that the city bought for $2.3 million from Bob Goree, the auctioneer, in September 2013. At the time, ABC7 News/KVII reported that now-former Commissioner “Lilia Escajeda said even though the city has no use for it right now, there are definite plans for the future.”

Escajeda went on to say the building and six contiguous acres might be used for the Civic Center and, at that time, also made clear the deal was no intended to attract Amtrak. At the time, Amtrak’s Chicago to Los Angeles Southwest Chief route through Colorado and New Mexico was in jeopardy and sending the iconic train through here on the Transcon was a possibility. However, as far as I know, the city made no real effort to further that possibility. And now, that train has left the station since then Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico have worked out an agreement with Amtrak and BNSF to keep the current route.

But I got sidetracked, didn’t I?

According to the Kanelis story, “Wolfram submitted his proposal to the city this past March. He’s waiting for a response.”

Once again, we can see the damage to the city from the Wallace Bajjali-Downtown Amarillo Inc.-inspired ballpark. Even were the Southwest Chief always a lost cause for Amarillo, the entire issue and controversy about an under-sized ballpark has distracted the downtown development advocates away from a viable form of economic development. Train tourism is a big deal and with a museum in the historic depot as a nucleus, more development could follow. It is certainly no more speculative that vying for convention business against cities with far more to offer.

More instructive to those watching the performance at City Hall is that five months later, Wolfram hasn’t heard from the city. That’s just plain rude. At a minimum, good manners would call for an acknowledgement of receiving the proposal.

I guess, that too, is too much to expect until the culture at City Hall and the city’s leadership changes.

Double standards for Wallace Bajjali supporters

From what I can tell by seeing reactions to the Amarillo Globe-News stories posted to Facebook as well as other Facebook posts, the allies of the Wallace Bajjali-Downtown Amarillo Inc. plan for a ballpark are in panic mode. These people are running scared because the voters dared to turn out in the past municipal election to vote against the entrenched “leaders” of the city. Those are the same leaders who gave us an insider’s plan for making money on a downtown development plan flawed from the start. And, if it succeeds, is sure to put money in the pockets of prominent lawyers, a former mayor’s husband and others who have insider and advance knowledge.

It’s my observation that all this social media activity is an attempt to mischaracterize this recent election and nullify the results by insulting the new councilors, Randy Burkett, Mark Nair and Elisha Demerson. I noted the most recent attacks in a previous blog post. The direct attack came in the story attacking Burkett and Nair on their interactions with the group of some 20 or so millennials who claim to represent the 43,000 millennials in Amarillo.

Here is how Laura Street tried to discount the results of the recent election, according to a Globe-News quote, “They feel they have the mandate of the public, but only 15 percent of registered voters voted.”

Two years ago, then-incumbents were re-elected with a lower voter turnout than we had in 2015 and they claimed a mandate to continue with the downtown development plan, even though some of them knew then that master developer Wallace Bajjali was in trouble in Joplin, Mo., and had missed deadlines in Amarillo. When Wallace Bajjali cratered in January 2015, the incompetence of the City Council, DAI and others became part of the election calculus. It was not just the city’s operation problems that led to the defeat of two incumbents and the defeat of an “establishment” candidate for the open seat. The egregious examples of the lack of diligence were very clear to the voters who wanted things fixed, changed and done so transparently.

Street and her Wallace Bajjali-loving allies need to explain how they can now claim the election with a better voter participation is less legitimate than the one before with a lower turnout. And they need to do it in context and honestly.

Amarillo's media schizophrenia

The Republican debate and Donald Trump have dominated so much of the news over the past few days that Amarilloans may have been sidetracked from the escalation in the schizophrenic propaganda war about Amarillo’s downtown development. Or lack thereof ager eight years of wheel-spinning, word-spinning, elections and massive tax money spending.

A war of words is now unfolding on social media, especially Facebook, a shift away from the Amarillo Globe-News website since the AGN disabled comments a couple of weeks ago. In disabling public dialogue, the out-of-town-owned media outlet has also made more evident than ever that it’s not a news outlet any more. Of course, those of us who consider ourselves real journalists stopped calling the AGN a newspaper a long time ago.

Now what AGN readers are getting is pure propaganda — and worse. Like a snake, the AGN has turned on those it previously supported. The recent obvious hatchet jobs (hereand here) on newly elected City Councilor Randy Burkett are examples of a media outlet that can no longer be trusted. It is also one afflicted with political schizophrenia. Burkett was one of the challengers during the most recent campaign in which those challengers made clear they wanted to make drastic changes at City Hall. The AGN supported him, as it did successful challengers Elisha Demerson and Mark Nair. Also noteworthy was the AGN’s lack of endorsement for the incumbent mayor, Paul Harpole.

The Amarillo Globe-News is under no legal obligation to explain its positions, changes of position, editorial policy or matters of news judgment. And one can argue, in fact, no moral or journalism ethical rubric would require it to do so. I suspect that articulating a rational, non-schizoid explanation without their, or our, heads exploding would be impossible. Let’s face it, the local chief executive was the chairman of the Downtown Amarillo Inc. board and, along with the DAI executive director, brought us Wallace Bajjali.

Of course, there’s a real tragedy here. A look at United States history makes clear that the strength of our republic rested on a vibrant free press and an educated electorate. Since the 1950s, radio and television have supplemented and complemented the print outlets. But electronic media can only do so much. In Amarillo, only ABC 7 News/KVII is doing accountability journalism.

And while the age of Internet and the World Wide Web has certainly impacted the news landscape, communities relied on their “newspaper(s) of record” to provide the basis for civic discourse and publishing information adhering to solid journalistic standards that demanded balance, fairness and accuracy on news pages.

Amarillo has lost that and now social media has become the forum here.

What a shame.

Wallace Bajjali-DAI ballpark plan goes to November vote

The people of Amarillo will now have their chance to directly express their opinion on whether the

downtown development should include the Wallace Bajjali-Downtown Amarillo Inc.-inspired ballpark. The non-binding referendum is scheduled for November will give the people of Amarillo what they’ve been asking of City Hall and the City Council for years — to be heard.

ABC 7 News/KVII made the meeting available over the Internet with a live stream, with far better quality than the city feed to Suddenlink.

The measure passed on a 3-2, with newly elected Councilors Mark Nair, Elisha Demerson and Randy Burkett prevailing after also defeating Councilor Brian Eades’ attempt to move the election to May 2016. The three new members lived up to their campaign promises to be more responsive to the voters while Eades and Mayor Paul Harpole continued to fight for the status quo. 

However, an Eleventh Hour stunt showed just how panicked the moneyed, establishment old guard is about the people of Amarillo having a say in their city government. Bill Gilliland and Laura Street “surprised” the packed Council Chambers by saying their mover and shaker friends had worked over the weekend to get pledges of about $2 million to contribute to “something” — but exactly what wasn’t clear. And, Gilliland and Street had a proviso: The money would come after construction. Other terms of the rich and famous crowd weren’t clear. Don’t forget, it was the same two people who, some 10 to 15 years ago pushed for the Globe-News Center with a plan then to raise about $30 million. The fund-raising came up short in 2005 by $1.8 million and the City Commission at the time made up the difference. That’s the same amount of money being bandied about for a ballpark about which no one seems to know anything.

I am glad the three new members adhered to their promises. I wish they had run on a promise to vote the Wallace Bajjali-Downtown Amarillo Inc.-based plan down. But, nevertheless, it is where we are and now we’re going to have another three months of campaigning, lying, spinning and name-calling — all in the shadow, by the way, of an FBI and grand jury investigation on part of the downtown plan.

Hang on, folks. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Globe-News to Amarillo: Shut Up!

Short and sweet: On the heels of the Amarillo Globe-News’ decision to cut off comments, as is its right of course, the out-of-town owned propaganda organ has decided Amarilloans are too stupid to make decisions about the future of their town. The headline on the editorialon Wednesday says it all.

“Editorial: Parts of downtown development cannot be debated.”

Oh, yes it can. And thanks to ABC 7 News/KVII, the members of the public who could not attend the Tea Party-sponsored presentation but had internet could watch a live stream of the event. This was the event that had UTSA Prof. Heyward Sanders joined the other rational voices in deconstructing the Wallace Bajjali-Downtown Amarillo Inc.-Amarillo Globe-News plan for downtown development.

As part of incredible public service to this community, ABC 7 News/KVII hosted a town hall last week, moderated by prominent journalist Mark Hyman. The public service in The Panhandle Spirit continues with the posting of that meeting here.

Meanwhile, here’s a message to the Globe-News quoting Archie Bunker, “Stifle yourself.”

Fighting against the truth

The Amarillo Globe-News, without notice or explanation, shut down comments on its website a couple of days ago. Then, Friday, it posted a storyoutlining the situation.

The Globe-News quoted the publisher, Les Simpson, thus, “But allowing those on our website to call out people by name and make accusations against them — sometimes criminal — isn’t fair and won’t be tolerated in the future unless you put your name by it. And even then, comments that make factual claims that aren’t substantiated may be deleted even if the author is known.”

I truly believe this arises out of some of the solid and scathing deconstruction of Downtown Amarillo Inc., Les and the whole hotel-garage-ball park thing. Les has a huge ego and he and his allies are fighting to preserve this three-legged deal. Of course, if he has more invested than ego, he may have more motivation to stifle dissent. And none of this discussion on the Globe-News site was at risk until the composition of the City Council changed and put the Wallace Bajjali plans at risk. So, let’s see if Les plays this fair and square.

Further, the reason I valued being anonymous was on the basis that Les or whomever would have me blocked or banned knowing who I really was as a poster. He or whomever did so when they learned that I was, in fact, posting as “kumquat” (my homage to W.C. Fields). That said, I will defend the Globe-News’ right to ban or block anyone or any reason. It’s their circus and their monkeys.

After a hiatus, I returned to post as opinionista after the pro-Wallace Bajjali-DAI plan propaganda became intolerable and devoid of any truth. By the way, I identified myself about two months ago after Melissa Dailey, DAI’s $134,000-per-year executive director, tried to hide her identity with her maiden name as a handle. It will be interesting to see if Les will let me in if he knows my real name.

It will also be interesting to see what “standards” he sets about substantiating posts, especially in light of the way the AGN slants news, mostly by acts of omission. Here’s the thing, and it derives from one of my favorite quotes, one by Dag Hammarskjöld, “The madman shouted in the marketplace and no one stopped to answer him. Thus it was confirmed that his thesis was incontrovertible.”

I will also defend any news outlet’s right to handle content as it sees fit. But as a journalist, I won’t defend an outlet’s removal of the wall between news and opinion; and, I won’t defend the removal of the wall between the news and business side; and, I won’t defend the removal of the wall between the news and the outlet’s political agenda. The Globe-News didn’t maintain those walls when I worked there and my view is that it doesn’t do so now.

Les wouldn’t let one major story that could have won the paper an award had he let it see the light of day. And I can tell you about at least one other story in which editors ignored the substantive issues in the story. Both of those stories would have cast Baptist St. Anthony's Health System in a negative light and it was a struggle to get the leadership of the Globe-News to give Northwest Texas Healthcare System a fair shake.

By the way, the story about BSA’s charity care subsequently ran in The Amarillo Independent and got gratifying support.

You don’t have to buy my assertions above any more than you have to buy my opinions. But what strikes me about all this is that Amarillo as a community deserves better. I tried to give it better with The Amarillo Independent and try to counter the Globe-News’ slanting of news as best I can with my blogging and with the posting on the Globe-News website. I also am trying to contribute to more investigative reporting in this community to balance the Globe-News by working with ABC 7 News/KVII as a consultant. The prior general manager there valued my input, sometimes referring to Les and Wallace Bajjali as “The Music Man.” I hope the new GM will support those efforts.

I am perfectly willing to post on the Globe-News site openly. I would challenge the Globe-News to maintain an open dialogue in the community, but will be surprised if the new policies settle in that direction. Given its news philosophy, why would it? And, I would ask, what motivated the Globe-News to make this change? Who pressured Les?

As I’ve said, let’s see what happens.

Time to start the investigation

In early August 2014, a couple of folks met to explore the idea of launching a slate for the now-recent municipal elections. The slate would carry the name “Reform Amarillo.”

We never got that off the ground, but I played with some planks for a platform focused on downtown development. I thought these ideas would resonate with the voters who wanted to reject the insider dealings and the Wallace Bajjali-Downtown Amarillo Inc. plans. Since then, of course events overlook this platform. But, still, are the key elements:

• As soon as possible terminate the contract for Wallace Bajjali as master developer. This provision should be offered to the public with as much fanfare as possible, emphasizing that Wallace Bajjali failed to meet several deadlines and benchmarks; and, point out the City Council’s extension of those were poor public policy. This should also freeze development of the ballpark, convention center hotel and parking garage.

• As soon as possible defund and dismantle Downtown Amarillo, Inc. The only funding for DAI that would remain are the amounts needed to dismantle the corporation. Any contracts in place with consultants would be terminated or bought out. The new City Council will seize all DAI records, including cell phone records and texts, for possible turning over to investigating authorities.

• As soon as possible defund and dismantle the Amarillo Local Government Corp. The only funding for the LGC that should remain in the budget is the amounts needed to dismantle the corporation. Any contracts in place with consultants would be terminated or bought out. The new City Council will seize all LGC records, including cell phone records and texts for possible turning over to investigating authorities.

• Undertake a legal and forensic review of the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone to determine if it should remain a viable entity or if it can and should be dissolved.

• As soon as possible, instruct the city staff to develop Requests for Proposals to redevelop and/or renovate the Civic Center with an emphasis on attracting and accommodating larger and “better” national shows and conventions. The criteria in the RFP would place greater weight on local businesses being involved with the studies, designs and construction of the Civic Center.

• Restart the downtown redevelopment process, possibly using Center City as the facilitator. As part of this effort, review for likely revision both the area under the downtown development rules, the rules themselves and the specific design standards.

• Conduct a forensic/management audit of the Amarillo Economic Development Corp. Conduct a management audit and review of the city staff. Promise to freeze taxes until the management audit and review are complete.

The new City Council can do this. The City Council has the power under Section 19 of Amarillo’s Municipal Code, to “investigate the financial transaction of any office or department of the City government, and the acts and conduct of any officer or employee. In conducting such investigation, the Council may compel the attendance or witnesses, the production of books and papers, and other evidence, and for that purpose may issue subpoenas or attachments which shall be signed by the Mayor; which may be served and executed by any officer authorized by law to serve subpoenas or other process, or any peace officer of the City.”

Sec. 19 is a powerful tool in the City Council’s arsenal. Under this provision, an investigation might provide answers to some very serious questions. An investigation under this provision in the Code would have serious consequences for those who might lie their way through such a probe. Can you say perjury?

Given the suspicions surrounding downtown development, much less city management, the City Council should move to do this as soon as possible, either with a new city attorney or with a contract attorney retained directly by the council. And, to those status quo people now attacking the new councilors, I say this: What do you think the message will be if you oppose such an investigation?

If not the new council, who? If not now, when?

And then the you-know-what hit the fan

“Fascinating.”

That was a favorite term that the late Leonard Nimoy’s character, Spock, used on the iconic “Star Trek.” it was reserved for observations that had no obvious explanation but nevertheless were unusual or interesting.

It can also be applied to the goings-on at Amarillo’s City Hall in the wake of a new majority on the City Council. Let’s recap briefly.

In May, two incumbents who supported the Wallace Bajjali-Downtown Amarillo Inc. downtown plan fell to challengers. You remember Wallace Bajjali? It was the master developer firm of fraudsters the old City Council hired, despite warnings. And then Amarillo joined Joplin, Mo., Waco and Kingswood as victims of these snake oil salesmen. But, the status quo candidates, who spun the Wallace Bajjali mistake as inconsequential, lost decisively to challengers who don’t want the status quo or the full plan without more public input. A month later, the third anti-status quo, pro-transparency candidate beat the “establishment” candidate in a landslide.

On June 30, the new majority called for the resignation of an assistant city manager (which they got), the city manager and members of the Amarillo Economic Development Corp.

And then the you-know-what hit the fan.

The supporters for the Wallace Bajjali and Downtown Amarillo Inc. plan have launched a major public relations campaign to impugn the new councilors, stooping to dragging out the old epithet “CAVE,” meaning Citizens Against Virtually Everything. The name-calling is but one of the tricks of the propaganda trade the pro-Wallace Bajjali plan supporters are foisting on the community. Another piece is to claim the new members of the City Council haven’t done their homework, are acting too precipitously and must slow down and that they don’t have the facts. Still another is to trot out a bunch of naïve high school and college kids as part of stacking the audience at the July 1 Kabuki Dance dog and pony show at the obsolete Civic Center. These are the “millennials,” say the pro-Wallace Bajjali plan people, who think a convention center hotel, parking garage and undersized, empty-in-the-winter ballpark are keys to the insiders building them a new generation’s nirvana.

Two years ago, the same cabal made much of a city election that retained the pro-Wallace Bajjali, vote-in-unanimous-lock-step, on the council. The election was an affirmation of their vision and leadership, they said. But since the election, despite the efforts to hide the Wallace Bajjali-inspired plans, the voters learned the downtown development deal was for insiders all along; that the Wallace Bajjali work in Joplin resulted in corruption that may yet see public officials there indicted; and, that the Amarillo AEDC’s work with the former mayor’s husband and a prominent Amarillo lawyer triggered a federal grand jury probe and FBI investigation. Taxpayers also learned that city management has stumbled badly, to put it charitably. Bad hires; plagiarism for the city logo; egregious, if not criminal, problems at the city animal shelter; huge problems with getting the right contractors for rebuilding streets; and, of course, what many believe to be the final straw: the water billing debacle.

As I write this, we learned Monday morning that the city attorney has resigned. As the news spreads across Amarillo, with some of the media spinning this as a tragedy, we hear lamentations that this is the first of many to leave City Hall and these exits will devastate city government. I’d suggest the supporters of Wallace Bajjali’s plan for Amarillo and for the status quo take a deep breath. If major turnover indeed devastates city management in any objective sense, that speaks volumes about the former City Council and management of the city. Any large organization’s leadership that hasn’t considered these types of contingencies has foundered in its fiduciary duties. I know some of the new leadership has given thought to those contingencies.

In light of this, the psychotically apoplectic reaction to the result of the 2015 municipal elections is (back to my main theme) “fascinating.” After all, how does one claim one election is legitimate and the other not? And how, in a representative democracy, how does one not accept the legitimacy of the most precious right of a United States citizen — the right to vote?

Instead of impugning those who have spoken and telling those of us who now constitute the majority of the voters to back off and slow down, I suggest they open their eyes and look for ways to be honest and help repair the damage to this city from the insider-trading, paternalistic, status quo and anti-open government cabal that has taken us down this path.

Lessons from the sessions

Advance Amarillo is on Facebook crowing about the great turn out and support for the Wallace Bajjali-Downtown Amarillo Inc. plan for downtown development.

“A big thank you to everyone who voiced their support for the plans to revitalize downtown today, it was a good day!” reads the post. And one of the supporters, a Sally Jennings, responded, “Today was a great day for the citizens of Amarillo!! Those that want to create and do something good and make this a great city spoke up and were heard. 99% positive comments!!!!”

Here are some major takeaways about the Wednesday session.

• While the turnout was good at the start, let’s remember that the purpose of the all-day dog-and-pony show was to sell and/or pressure the new councilors to buy into the Wallace Bajjali-DAI plan. By the way, one of the speakers said the ballpark wasn’t a Wallace Bajjali idea, but that was one of the many pieces of disinformation. The so-called three-legged stool is the cookie cutter approach Wallace Bajjali peddled elsewhere.

• The daylong meeting was designed to bring out the supporters who had pecuniary interests in the plan and to exclude those who would have spoken against the ballpark in particular. Amarillo’s working stiffs had zero chance of sitting through this disinformation campaign.

• After almost 8 hours of the advocates representing Center City, the Local Government Corp., Downtown Amarillo Inc. and Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone as well as the city itself with the mayor touting elements of the plan, the public comment session began 2¾ hours after the originally scheduled 3 p.m. start time for public comment. This was a transparent ploy to wear down the outnumbered opponents of the Wallace Bajjali-DAI plan.

• It became clear that the public comments portion of the day was also a setup when participants learned about the City Council’s sacred three-minute time limit, wired to favor the advocates of the Wallace Bajjali-DAI plan. The setup included “youth” with clearly scripted speeches that conveniently fit the time limit. When was the last time you heard a high school or college kid refer to “catalyst project?”

• And, speaking of three-minute time limit, it was impossible for anyone sitting through the 8 hours of presentations from the advocates talking without time limits to come up with an equally balanced critique of the disinformation.

• While one of the key pitches to the public, and made by several at the meeting and after as presented on ABC 7 News Nightside, the purpose of the meeting was transparency. But when some key questions came up, there was not transparency. Case in point: Who are the investors in the convention hotel? NewcrestImage’s Chuck Patel said it was no one’s business. But newly elected Councilor Randy Burkett got a confirmation that Joe Bob McCartt, former Debra McCartt’s husband, and Alan Rhodes, of the Underwood Law Firm, were two of the 30 investors in the hotel. And McCartt and Rhodes are also involved in the Commerce Building scandal that has triggered an FBI and grand jury probe.

The new City Council members — Mark Nair and Elisha Demerson — have joined Burkett in the first shake up at City Hall. They called for and got Assistance City Manager Vicki Covey’s resignation on Tuesday and succeeded in getting City Manager Jarrett Atkinson’s job status on the agenda for next week’s council meeting. They also called for the resignation of the entire AEDC board. I can’t imagine that the DAI and LGC boards are far behind.

But ultimately, the meeting, while cordial, generated more heat than light. We still lack in-depth and, perhaps, honest answers about:

• Why the city didn’t move to rebuild the Civic Center first.

• Why it focused Wednesday so much on “millennials” while throughout the process until now we’ve not heard about those folks.

• How the “millennials” would drive conventions and hotel usage and how that relates to the ballpark.

• Why the budgets after eight long years of planning are so tentative.

• Why the city is stonewalling the Herring Hotel and who is behind this attempt to put this kind of squeeze on the owner.

• Who the other local investors in the hotel are and what ties they have to public money and local decision- and policy-making.

• Who the organizers of Advance Amarillo are and the interests those people have in property downtown.

• How DAI’s Melissa Dailey came up with Wallace Bajjali and has contributed to some of the enmity toward her, going back to the 2007-2008 years with her treatment of people objecting to the design standards.

• How Dailey has also misled (some have told me she lied) about some of the plans.

The City Council, it turns out, has the power under Section 19 of Amarillo’s Municipal Code, to “investigate the financial transaction of any office or department of the City government, and the acts and conduct of any officer or employee. In conducting such investigation, the Council may compel the attendance or witnesses, the production of books and papers, and other evidence, and for that purpose may issue subpoenas or attachments which shall be signed by the Mayor; which may be served and executed by any officer authorized by law to serve subpoenas or other process, or any peace officer of the City.”

In the 12 years I’ve lived here, I don’t remember anyone using this provision. But, if that is what it takes to get answers to the questions that may make the citizens and taxpayers of Amarillo more trusting, then I hope the new council will do so.