Monday, August 30, 2021
Wednesday, November 2, 2016
Windcrest Elections are NASTY!
¡PURO SAN ANTONIO!
Things are nasty in Windcrest; time to vote
GILBERT GARCIA OPINION COLUMNIST
If you think the presidential campaign has become too ugly to bear, you might want to stay away from Windcrest over the next few days.
A nasty feud between forces aligned with and against Mayor Alan Baxter has escalated over the past three weeks, with police being called in to settle political scores and the rhetoric getting uglier by the day.
The most recent incident happened Saturday afternoon. Karl Amrhein, a 70-year-old Democratic activist, was arrested at Takas Park for “assault by contact,” after Councilman Gerd Jacobi called police to say Amrhein grabbed Jacobi’s wife, Edith, around the neck and tried to jerk her campaign pamphlets out of her hand. Edith Jacobi has been wearing a neck brace since Saturday.
Amrhein was handcuffed and held in a police Tahoe for more than 20 minutes, before being handed a citation. (Assault by contact is a Class C misdemeanor and carries a maximum fine of $500, according to the Texas Penal Code.)
Amrhein acknowledges that he got in the middle of a crowd of pro-Baxter people trying to sway a voter with whom he’d been conversing. He said he’s not sure if Edith Jacobi was part of that crowd.
“I may have touched her during that incident, but I don’t have any memory of that,” Amrhein said. “If I touched her, there wasn’t any energy involved.”
Two weeks before the Takas fracas, Bel McFall, the wife of Baxter ally (and council candidate) James McFall, drove kids around Windcrest neighborhoods in a golf cart, so they could place fliers — consisting of harsh attacks against the anti-Baxter slate — on residents’ doors. When a resident started videotaping the kids, Bel McFall called the police.
The knock on Baxter is that he is a foul-mouthed bully who rewards his friends and punishes anyone who fails to meet his loyalty test. Exhibit A is the recording of his 2015 phone conversation with Erick Vargas, then the head of the Windcrest Volunteer Fire Department.
On the recording, Baxter launched into a profanity-laced tirade and warned Vargas, “You decide who you’re going to be loyal to.” When Vargas resigned last year, he said Baxter pressured him to purge the department of firefighters who backed Baxter’s opponents.
Timothy Wilson, the mayor of Kirby, ran against Baxter in a 2014 Republican primary for Bexar County Commissioner. Wilson said Bel McFall yelled at his wife at a Windcrest polling site, and Baxter supporters hurled so much abuse at his volunteers that Wilson had to hire a polling worker to protect them.
The pro-Baxter faction on the council consists of Gerd Jacobi and Jim Shelton, with Pamela Dodson and Kim Wright in opposition.
Part of Baxter’s effort to consolidate his control over the council has been a recall effort against Wright, a first-term council member who knocked off James McFall for the Place 4 seat last November.
Wright has some strange notions. In a 2015 application for a place on the Windcrest ballot, she crossed out “United States” and declared herself a “citizen of Texas.” In a March 16, 2016 tax filing, obtained by the Express-News, she replaced the line stating “U.S. Citizen” with “Texas resident.”
Wright also showed a lack of sensitivity when she blamed the academic challenges at Windcrest Elementary on an influx of kids “from undesirable neighborhoods outside of our city.”
But the recall-election attacks against her have been excessive. An anti-Wright flier distributed to Windcrest voters has described her as “against education & children” and “against equal rights.” It drives home its points with a bizarre image of a turkey vulture picking at a dead armadillo, with a nearly subliminal backdrop of a confederate battle flag.
The worst thing about this effort is that it has exploited Wright’s situation to lump the rest of the anti-Baxter slate — Dodson, Frank Archuleta and Joan Pedrotti — in with her controversies.
Pedrotti, a former Bexar County court administrator, has been astounded by suggestions that she doesn’t support the police.
“My husband is a homicide detective,” she said. “So I’m pretty much pro-police.”
Pedrotti, who is running against James McFall for Place 2, added, “I worked in the courthouse for 20 years. I’ve put up with a lot of stuff. I have never dealt with anything like this.”
On that point, at least, she and James McFall can agree.
“It’s crazy,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Hopefully, Windcrest won’t see anything like it again. ggarcia@express-news.net Twitter: @gilgamesh470
Exhibit A
Exhibit A
Friday, October 7, 2016
How the Rich Pay NO Taxes
Remember Michael White? He was the money man behind the Windsor Mall project that funded Gary Cain's purchase of the mall properties which he and WEDC then sold to Rackspace..
Sources tell me, Windcrest officials made a side deal with Michael White to entice him to fund the 30 million dollars needed to purchase the property.
In exchange for fronting the money Michael White wanted his other properties deeded to WEDC to avoid paying taxes. He purchased 180 acres of vacant property which included all the vacant land on Walzem from Pep Boys around to Eisenhaur and back towards Midcrown, including vacant land at Eisenhaur and Woodlawn Parkway. All of these properties are physically located in the City of San Antonio so Windcrest loses nothing, only NEISD, Bexar County, COSA lose property tax dollars.
Sources tell me, Windcrest officials made a side deal with Michael White to entice him to fund the 30 million dollars needed to purchase the property.
In exchange for fronting the money Michael White wanted his other properties deeded to WEDC to avoid paying taxes. He purchased 180 acres of vacant property which included all the vacant land on Walzem from Pep Boys around to Eisenhaur and back towards Midcrown, including vacant land at Eisenhaur and Woodlawn Parkway. All of these properties are physically located in the City of San Antonio so Windcrest loses nothing, only NEISD, Bexar County, COSA lose property tax dollars.
All of this 180 acres, about 6 or 7 parcels were purchased by Michael White, BUT DEEDED to the City of Windcrest Economic Development Corporation! Michael pays NO property taxes because WEDC is tax exempt.
Fast forward to 2013, Walmart wants the vacant property across from McDonalds. So Michael White has WEDC transfer the property to him under his I Wanta Oil, LLC and Michael sells the property to Walmart. During this sale Michael whittles out a few parcels of that sale for himself. I Wanta Oil, LLC, aka Michael White sold one lot in 2015 to Brewingz which will open soon, and in 2016 sold another lot for a strip mall currently under construction..
The remaining vacant properties, according to the Bexar county tax assessor records, is valued at about $10 Million dollars. These are still deeded to WEDC so Michael still pays no property taxes.
Yes, still today some 130 acres, located in the City of San Antonio, are deeded to Windcrest WEDC waiting for Michael White to find a buyer. Meanwhile he pays no taxes. What a sweet deal!
Monday, September 12, 2016
Windcrest Witch Hunt- Guess Who?
Windcrest Administration is conducting an orchestrated Witch Hunt, with none other than Alan E. Baxter at the helm with 1st mates Gerd "Jake" Jacobi and Jim Shelton supporting. Plus James McFall is waiting in the wings. Folks, he wants his Majority council back and will stop at
nothing to accomplish his dream.
Fact: The Windcrest City Attorney advised the recall committee Before the Recall Petition started. Is the City Attorney suppose to provide legal advice to citizens that submit Petitions to Windcrest? Sure seems very inappropriate to this blogger. Why would a City attorney recommend Underlining focus words or making them Bold for added emphasis. Folks, that's exactly what happened!!
1st document (below) is an email to Michael Brenan labeled "Comments from a person on the committee", Dbgic@aol.com dated June 13, 2016. Look up Dbgic Management, LLC on the Secretary of States filing and you will find that is none other than Alan E. Baxter, Mayor of Windcrest! So he is on the Petition Committee? This email was Two Days before the Petition Affidavit was even submitted to the City Secretary.
2nd document (below) an email where Michael Brenan, Windcrest City Attorney, advises Alan Baxter to Underline or Bold the Focus words for added emphasis. This was the day Prior to the Petition Filing! Ok, so you had the City Attorney and the Mayor conspiring on the Petition even before the "Petition Committee" submitted the affidavit to the City Secretary.
This is a Witch Hunt! Voters can stop him in November. Vote Archuleta, Pedrotti and Dodson for Council.
Note: These documents were obtained from Bexar County Court Document Files, which are open to the public, therefore these are Open Records.
.
Fact: The Windcrest City Attorney advised the recall committee Before the Recall Petition started. Is the City Attorney suppose to provide legal advice to citizens that submit Petitions to Windcrest? Sure seems very inappropriate to this blogger. Why would a City attorney recommend Underlining focus words or making them Bold for added emphasis. Folks, that's exactly what happened!!
1st document (below) is an email to Michael Brenan labeled "Comments from a person on the committee", Dbgic@aol.com dated June 13, 2016. Look up Dbgic Management, LLC on the Secretary of States filing and you will find that is none other than Alan E. Baxter, Mayor of Windcrest! So he is on the Petition Committee? This email was Two Days before the Petition Affidavit was even submitted to the City Secretary.
2nd document (below) an email where Michael Brenan, Windcrest City Attorney, advises Alan Baxter to Underline or Bold the Focus words for added emphasis. This was the day Prior to the Petition Filing! Ok, so you had the City Attorney and the Mayor conspiring on the Petition even before the "Petition Committee" submitted the affidavit to the City Secretary.
This is a Witch Hunt! Voters can stop him in November. Vote Archuleta, Pedrotti and Dodson for Council.
Note: These documents were obtained from Bexar County Court Document Files, which are open to the public, therefore these are Open Records.
.
Friday, June 17, 2016
Double Standards in Windcrest
This blogger thanks Mr. Jim Shelton and Mr. "Jake" Jacobi for their service, as both are retired military, but how dare they berate a fellow council person over conduct during the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag during council meetings when they can not follow US Code!!.
US Code concerning the proper salute during the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag was recently changed and now states "....and veterans may render the military salute in the manner provided for persons in uniform." The Code states "Persons in uniform should remain silent, face the flag, and render the military salute." Both Mr. Shelton and Mr. Jacobi do NOT remain silent per the Code. They salute and recite the pledge at every meeting. Double Standards at work here folks.
Below is directly from the US Code. You can see the formatted version of this at
http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title4-section4&num=0&edition=prelim
US Code concerning the proper salute during the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag was recently changed and now states "....and veterans may render the military salute in the manner provided for persons in uniform." The Code states "Persons in uniform should remain silent, face the flag, and render the military salute." Both Mr. Shelton and Mr. Jacobi do NOT remain silent per the Code. They salute and recite the pledge at every meeting. Double Standards at work here folks.
Below is directly from the US Code. You can see the formatted version of this at
http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title4-section4&num=0&edition=prelim
From Title 4-FLAG AND SEAL, SEAT OF GOVERNMENT, AND THE STATES CHAPTER 1-THE FLAG
§4. Pledge of allegiance to the flag; manner of delivery
The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag: "I
pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to
the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible,
with liberty and justice for all.", should be rendered by standing at
attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart. When not
in uniform men should remove any non-religious headdress with their
right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the
heart. Persons in uniform should remain silent, face the flag, and
render the military salute. Members of the Armed Forces not in uniform
and veterans may render the military salute in the manner provided for
persons in uniform.
Friday, November 6, 2015
Contract Amended Before Parties Agree.
Watch the Nov 5 2015 City Council meeting, the last action item. The Water District Manager and the City Manager have been negotiating a new interlocal agreement. They narrowed it down to three possible options. But before the details like the cost of each option, who would pay for what could be discussed for the three different options the City Council opted to Approve Option 3. No discussion, no coordination, just the normal bully attitude of Take it or Leave it! The Water District Manager spoke up saying any action was premature as they had not worked out the details of any of the three options under consideration, for example who would pay for what, etc..
Then Council went ahead and approved Option 3, amending the contract saying the Water District would pay the first $50,000, (this does not have WD approval) then the city would pay $9,000 (nothing about who would pay from here on) plus the city would pay architecture and engineering fees to add an additional 250 Sq Feet of office space for the Water District's use. The lease would be extended to a 15 year lease with the same $100 and current water usage allowed by the current contract.
Ms Dodson said any action by council at this point was premature and the item should be tabled until the details were worked out. Then as per normal, the mouth pieces made the motion and it passed 4-1 over the objections of both the WD Manager and Ms. Dodson.
Now the council can say they Approved an agreement, but the Water District would not sign it. "Hello?" You now have a guarantee that the Mayor will remind citizens about this action many many times.
Then Council went ahead and approved Option 3, amending the contract saying the Water District would pay the first $50,000, (this does not have WD approval) then the city would pay $9,000 (nothing about who would pay from here on) plus the city would pay architecture and engineering fees to add an additional 250 Sq Feet of office space for the Water District's use. The lease would be extended to a 15 year lease with the same $100 and current water usage allowed by the current contract.
Ms Dodson said any action by council at this point was premature and the item should be tabled until the details were worked out. Then as per normal, the mouth pieces made the motion and it passed 4-1 over the objections of both the WD Manager and Ms. Dodson.
Now the council can say they Approved an agreement, but the Water District would not sign it. "Hello?" You now have a guarantee that the Mayor will remind citizens about this action many many times.
Monday, October 26, 2015
Taxes are NOT lower! Mayor Baxter Lies
Many Windcrest residents received their tax bill recently. Check it out. Your taxes went UP , although Mayor Baxter claims he and council reduced your taxes by 2%. That's just a darn right lie folks.
Council lowered the Tax Rate. Your taxes went up because Bexar County increased the assessed value of your home. That's a fact.
Windcrest will received MORE property taxes this year than last. That would NOT happend if your Taxes were lowered.
2013 Tax Rate was: 0.4152310 (The .07 Interest and Sinking Fund was paid off this year. That
was for Road 7 years ago)
2014 Tax Rate was: 0.3409000 (Lower because the Interest & Sinking Fund was Paid off.)
2015 Tax Rate is: 0.3341000
Each year Bexar County sends out two figures for municipalities to consider.
During the budget process Cities must determine what Tax Rate they will assess. There is NO figure automatically assigned. Cities determine what they want to spend and assess a Tax Rate that will support that budget. If property value increase as they did in 2015, Cities can assess a lower Rate and still get MORE money that the previous year. That's what Windcrest did for 2016 budget. The Council assess a 0.3341000 Tax Rate which Netted the City more $$ that was netted in 2015.
Your TAXES were NOT lowered by 2%, that's a LIE. Your Tax Rate for 2016 is lower than in 2015, but you actually pay MORE $$, so your taxes were NOT Lowered!
The 2016 Tax Rate is a little lower than the 2015 rate, but you pay more taxes. True, the Tax Rate is NOT as High as allowed by law, but the Net $ income is More for 2016 than in 2015.
The economy has picked up and businesses are having a great year. More businesses creates more Sales Taxe for Windcrest.
Between the Sales Tax increasing and the increased assessed home values, Windcrest is stitting pretty.
So WHY the LIES? It's what magicians and attorneys do, they create Misdirection to take your eyes (and mind) off what the other hand is doing.
In 2009 the WEDC forcasted budget which comes from 1/4 of 1 percent of the City sales tax was $300,000. The 2016 WEDC budget is $487,000. That's a hefty increase and all WEDC can find to spend money is Trips to Las Vegas for half a dozen folks, including the Mayor and Council persons.
Remember the Misdirection? Our streets are terrible is one example. Last year during Phase 1, there was street repair on Hickory Hollow and a couple of other streets. Phase two was suppose to start last year, but was held off because of the Christmas season and visitors to Windcrest should not have to deal with construction. Guess what? Nothing was done in all of 2015, and now Christmas season is hear again so construction will be delayed once again.
Now if you don't spend 1 Million on street repairs in 2015, where is the money? The flyer say the city has over 2 million in the rainy day fund.. well Yea, I hope so, but what about the streets?
It's time for a change, Stop the LIES. Elect real people to the council, get rid of the McFall and Gretz Poster Cut outs.
Council lowered the Tax Rate. Your taxes went up because Bexar County increased the assessed value of your home. That's a fact.
Windcrest will received MORE property taxes this year than last. That would NOT happend if your Taxes were lowered.
2013 Tax Rate was: 0.4152310 (The .07 Interest and Sinking Fund was paid off this year. That
was for Road 7 years ago)
2014 Tax Rate was: 0.3409000 (Lower because the Interest & Sinking Fund was Paid off.)
2015 Tax Rate is: 0.3341000
Each year Bexar County sends out two figures for municipalities to consider.
- Effective Rate: The rate at which the City will receive the same $$ as last year. Automatically decreases as the home values increase.
- Rollback Rate: The Maximum rate a City can increase their tax rate without issuing bonds.
During the budget process Cities must determine what Tax Rate they will assess. There is NO figure automatically assigned. Cities determine what they want to spend and assess a Tax Rate that will support that budget. If property value increase as they did in 2015, Cities can assess a lower Rate and still get MORE money that the previous year. That's what Windcrest did for 2016 budget. The Council assess a 0.3341000 Tax Rate which Netted the City more $$ that was netted in 2015.
Your TAXES were NOT lowered by 2%, that's a LIE. Your Tax Rate for 2016 is lower than in 2015, but you actually pay MORE $$, so your taxes were NOT Lowered!
The 2016 Tax Rate is a little lower than the 2015 rate, but you pay more taxes. True, the Tax Rate is NOT as High as allowed by law, but the Net $ income is More for 2016 than in 2015.
The economy has picked up and businesses are having a great year. More businesses creates more Sales Taxe for Windcrest.
Between the Sales Tax increasing and the increased assessed home values, Windcrest is stitting pretty.
So WHY the LIES? It's what magicians and attorneys do, they create Misdirection to take your eyes (and mind) off what the other hand is doing.
In 2009 the WEDC forcasted budget which comes from 1/4 of 1 percent of the City sales tax was $300,000. The 2016 WEDC budget is $487,000. That's a hefty increase and all WEDC can find to spend money is Trips to Las Vegas for half a dozen folks, including the Mayor and Council persons.
Remember the Misdirection? Our streets are terrible is one example. Last year during Phase 1, there was street repair on Hickory Hollow and a couple of other streets. Phase two was suppose to start last year, but was held off because of the Christmas season and visitors to Windcrest should not have to deal with construction. Guess what? Nothing was done in all of 2015, and now Christmas season is hear again so construction will be delayed once again.
Now if you don't spend 1 Million on street repairs in 2015, where is the money? The flyer say the city has over 2 million in the rainy day fund.. well Yea, I hope so, but what about the streets?
It's time for a change, Stop the LIES. Elect real people to the council, get rid of the McFall and Gretz Poster Cut outs.
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