Dear Editor,
Last week the Marfa City Council took extraordinary action and fired City Manager Andrea Walter only six weeks into the job. While they gave no justification, I know why tensions were high at City Hall: whistleblowing.
I am sorry for my neighbors who never got a chance to meet Ms. Walter and see her at work. She hit the ground running and worked tirelessly on behalf of the people of this city, improving government procedures and transparency. She quickly uncovered examples of willful mismanagement, stretching back years and demonstrating active, knowing participation by officers of this city, resulting in the loss of millions of dollars. And so she set to work.
She discovered that street repair equipment, purchased by the taxpayers, had been sitting idle in a field, having fallen into disrepair. So she rolled out a plan to rescue that equipment and bring street maintenance operations fully in-house, with a goal to fix a new road every week — no more waiting and hoping that outside contractors might fit us into their schedules.
She also uncovered that the city has failed to equally enforce utility collections. Hundreds of so-called “preferred customers” receive unlimited and unmeasured free utilities from the City of Marfa, paid for by the rest of us, while the hammer is brought down on less prominent residents who fall behind. And so she implemented immediate reforms. Now that she is gone, this work remains incomplete and its future uncertain.
Former City Manager Andrea Walter was working to make our government better. Her efforts to correct past and present mistakes clearly ruffled the feathers of those responsible, and she was sent packing. To be clear — firing someone who uncovers your wrongdoing not only shows a lack of good judgment, it is a failure of leadership.
Anyone unwilling to put the peoples’ interests above his own should step aside for the good of the community. Failing that, it is time for the community to pick up where Ms. Walter left off and hold our elected officials to account.
Sincerely,
Travis Acreman
City Council Member, City of Marfa
_____
Zoning lines aren’t just ink on a map. They’re promises. When you settle or buy in a residential neighborhood, you do so with the security that large-scale infrastructure won’t replace your neighbor’s house. To break that trust for the sake of convenience, or to accommodate corporate interests, is reckless.
What AEP proposes with a new substation on Oak Street isn’t a small tweak. It’s a major rezoning — from residential to industrial — of a lot the size of an entire city block, tucked inside a neighborhood. Not commercial. Not mixed-use. Industrial. In researching this issue, I found only three examples nationwide where residential land was rezoned to industrial use — each one in a mid- to large-sized city: Des Moines, Fresno, and Dallas. Even there, these decisions triggered significant backlash, and in some cases, years of effort to undo the damage. For a town the size of Marfa, the implications are even more serious.
If this zoning change is allowed to go through, it will mark a shift in how Marfa governs its growth. It won’t just affect one corner of town — it sets a precedent that residential zoning is up for grabs any and everywhere.
We can support necessary infrastructure and uphold the character of our town — those values aren’t mutually exclusive. But once the line between residential and industrial is crossed, the slope gets slippery. Each exception builds on the last. And as the saying goes: you can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube.
This isn’t about one lot or one neighborhood. It’s about whether we grow with intention — guided by planning, community input, and care for the neighborhoods that make Marfa what it is. This rezoning decision will shape what’s possible here for decades to come — in all of our backyards.
Jennifer Elsner
Marfa, Texas
_____
Due to actions by the current administration, the future of the Marfa Food Pantry is at risk. The looming tax cuts favoring the wealthy and increased import tariffs (taxes on the low-income) will raise the cost of living in a way that will most affect the very people that the Marfa Food Pantry serves.
An increase in the number of people served, along with an increase in food costs and a decrease in donations is anticipated. It is likely that the cost of food will rise even at the Odessa Food Bank where the Marfa Food Pantry purchases most of its food. The freeze of the USDA grant will affect farmers across the nation. Owner-donated use of the Marfa Food Pantry building may also change due to the higher cost of living.
Elbert Bassham
Marfa