Anyone can tell Gov. Bill Richardson’s office what they think about the budget bills passed at the special session of the legislature, which will affect Valencia County, primarily in the areas of education and healthcare.
505-476-2210
special.session@state.nm.us
Margarita Sanchez of Belen writes:
Thanks to our state senator and all representatives that brought forth the Tome Land Grant roadway signs! This was much ahead of today’s news announcement of the federal Scenic Byways funding.
Please put all our land grants — the 95 recognized as well as the 195 unrecognized land grants — on the list for immediate roadsigns. Additionally, we request historical markers for the sights, including forestry areas. Those recognized land grants should most probably have contact address and/or phone number and general rules for public visiting.
During these initial efforts for required land grant history statewide, I am now consulting with various tribal members to include Native American/indigenous history and lands in our proposal of required learning. Do expect such an update soon. Also, please make such changes in the proposal you had been sent (by me) to work with.
Also, I want to thank all who helped with my nephew Ben’s situation; a letter from the governor was sent on his behalf to the institution.
Lastly, the outcome for the Silva family here in Jarales, was very commendable and family/community oriented. Thanks and appreciation to all involved.
Valencia County wants to pass a new anti-rave ordinance — titled in the legal section of the newspaper, “An ordinance relating to ‘Prohibiting rave parties in Valencia County.’”
It’s intended to curtail the high-intensity dances that popped up several times this summer near Rio Communities.
A ban is fine, if that’s what commissioners choose to do, even though there are better solutions. But let’s do at least one thing — stop referring to them as “rave parties.”
As someone pointed out at a commission meeting a couple of months ago, the purpose of a rave isn’t just for teens to have some fun in a boring county. It’s also to be there in spite of parents who don’t want them to be there.
Add to that a prohibitive law, and it could be more enticing. Youth will take their illicit raves further underground, in spite of the law.
Then add one more thing: the term rave parties.
Saying rave parties is redundant, and to the ears and eyes of young people, reinforces what they’ve always believed: you old folks are out of touch.
Gail Goodman of Los Lunas writes:
On September 8, 2009, the Valencia Soil and Water Conservation District held their first meeting in the newly constructed Visitor’s and Education Center. Notice of the meeting had appeared in the Valencia County News-Bulletin and it happened to be on a date and a time that I could attend. I had been curious about this project but had missed their previous events. I’m very happy that I didn’t miss this one.
The Whitfield Wildlife Conservation Area, when it is totally up and running, is going to be a fantastic gift to everyone in our county, residents, local visitors, and tourists coming into New Mexico and our area. What a jewel and a gift, right off of Hwy 47!
According to the pamphlet created by the independent non-profit corporation, Friends of Whitfield Wildlife Conservation Area, “in April of 2003, the Valencia Soil and Water Conservation District (VSWCD) acquired through donation the Whitfield-Trammel farm, a 97 acre tract of irrigated land bordered on the west by the Rio Grande and surrounded by mixed agricultural and residential properties. The land has since been put into a permanent conservation easement with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Services Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP). WRP is a voluntary program offering landowners the opportunity to protect, restore, and enhance wetlands on their property.”
The site map provided by the Friends shows the varied habitat that is being created for migratory birds and area wildlife. The map reminds me of the awesome Bosque del Apache only in miniature, with wetland ponds, food plots, native grass meadows, wetlands meadows, and other areas to attract birds. Future Friend’s projects will engage the public in protection and preservation of the environment, educational, scientific and civic activities that will assist the Management of the area in fulfilling its mandate.
For county residents like me, who have visitors from out of state, or even out of the county, or just want a unique place to visit, this jewel of a project, obviously the vision of many, but come to light through the efforts of the hard working Valencia Soil and Water Conservation District Board of Directors and volunteer Friends of Whitfield, will be such an asset to all of us. With the birds and wildlife will come visitors who will certainly contribute to the county economy. A unique education environment near enough to county schools for affordable field trips is being created.
Actually, the benefits of this wonderful project appear to be boundless. We’re so fortunate to have county residents who care so much about this uniquely New Mexico plot of land. I’m so glad that I got to see Whitfield as the evening was closing in on the fields and the silence filled the place, as though in anticipation of the flocks of birds and visitors who will surely find their way there. Make sure that you are one of them!
Maybe you’d like to start your adventure by contacting Friends of Whitfield.
Valencia! has toured Whitfield. It’s a peaceful place to spend a little time.
A turtle pond in the Whitfield Wildlife Conservation Area.
Ken Wright of Bosque writes in:
Personal responsibility has rightfully been in political and social discussions this last year. Many people have their favorite indignant story to relate. Here is mine.
The Mid-Region Council of Governments (MRCOG) is an organization of governments of various sizes that promotes growth and capital projects spending to encourage more growth. They have various predictions that are used to plan for the future. Most of these come from unelected government persons, engineering companies that will make money from studies or building projects, and various speculators. You will notice that the average citizens input and control over this cheerleading information is limited and intended to stay that way.
Valencia County has been promoted for years as cheap dirt with nearly unlimited water to support its future booming population. Please realize that our water supply is really limited and with each block of homes built, green valley farms will be dried up. Most of the state is very dry. Why kill the valley?
We have families that have been in this area since before recorded history, others since the Spanish reconquest of 1692, and the new inhabitants of 30 days instead of 300 years. Most of these people did due diligence and they were happy with their choice. Personal responsibility for buying property would indicate you would investigate all things you feel are important to you before you put your dollar down to buy your castle. Some didn’t and now want the rest of us to pay for their bridge or road or hospital they forgot to look for, and isn’t there.
If you and yours want more of the big city, please move out of the area and quit trying to kill what the rest of us cherish. Where was your personal responsibility?
The Valencia County Commission will debate a hospital resolution at Wednesday’s meeting. The published agenda only says the resolution will consider what should be done with the hospital mill levy — $20 million over eight years — passed by voters in 2006.
Just over a week ago, the commission got an update on the progress, or lack thereof, of the hospital. Bob Davey, the chairman of Valencia Health Commons, the group in charge of the hospital project, said hospital construction is being held up by two things: in part the lawsuit filed by nine plaintiffs that’s now awaiting assignment in the New Mexico Court of Appeals and the fact that the commission hasn’t committed the mill levy money to funding operation of a hospital once it’s built.
The lawsuit will stick with us for a while longer. The court hasn’t assigned it to a panel of judges, and once it is, the process could take another year. But, according to Commission Chairman Pedro Rael and others, there’s nothing the courts have done that’s holding up construction — no injunctions or other court orders.
Which means construction of a hospital might hinge only on whether or not the commission commits the mill levy money to the operation of the hospital. Why is a commitment important? Though it might not happen, one possibility is for Valencia Health Commons to build a hospital only to have the commission deny the mill levy funding for it. Can the commission do that? Probably. Think of it this way: The mill levy was passed for operation of a hospital or emergency facility; it didn’t specify which hospital or emergency facility.
The resolution coming before the commission on Wednesday will seek to commit that money in a way that will move construction forward. At the last commission meeting four commissioners said they support the hospital, we’ll see how they actually vote on the issue this week.
The next question: If the mill levy gets committed, is Valencia Health Commons actually ready to build?
Belen was tagged this week.
We don’t mean someone spray painted one building. A number of structures were hit — the former post office, a residence, Tabet Lumber & Concrete, the old Valencia County News-Bulletin building, Lowe’s grocery store and the First Community Bank building, to name the instances we noticed.
It was gang graffiti, the pathetic kind, where thugs scribble names on a building like dogs piss on fire hydrants to mark their territory.
Also this week another type of graffiti, if you will, popped up as it has before. Someone placed a hand-drawn panda bear named “Mr. E” on the side of the Trembly building on Main Street. Well, it’s a person in a panda costume.
Mr. E at the Trembly building in Belen.
Mr. E isn’t graffiti, by definition. It wasn’t spray painted on the building. The panda is painted on some sort of paper canvas and then pasted to the wall. (Saves time when trying not to get caught, we imagine.)
This isn’t the first time it’s been done. Someone pasted a face with the letters “AOK” on a brick utility building across from Wal-Mart, pasted a face or two on the side of the former Gil’s Bakery, and perhaps the same artists are responsible for the large “HOLYBLUR.” paint job on a farm structure in Los Chavez.
HOLYBLUR. in Los Chavez
Actually, guerilla art (also referred to as subversive art or street art) is a growing trend in the world, mostly in urban areas, with Bansky leading the way and others like the Graffiti Research Lab offering advice.
There are differences between this guerilla art — unauthorized, as it may be – and gang graffiti. It’s not necessary to explain the differences, really, because it’s all self-explanatory. Most important to note, though, is that guerilla art typically is temporary. It falls off the wall after weathering the elements for a while.
Whoever’s behind this local art — and we have our suspicions, though we haven’t caught up with them yet — should continue to do it, respecting private property, of course.
The biggest problem we seem to have in Valencia County — bigger than any metal recycling plant, bulk fuel facility or housing subdivision — is communication.
The county’s five primary governments don’t know how best to communicate with their constituents, lawmakers don’t know how to communicate with each other and civic groups don’t know how to communicate with their governments. There’s more interplay among interested parties than that, but those three areas are where most of the failure seems to occur.
It’s not tone or content or method. It’s simply that there’s little effort to communicate about issues that may have a serious impact on neighborhoods and communities. Sometimes it that there’s no avenue for the communication and other times it’s that the communication isn’t required so it doesn’t happen.
As a news organization, more than anyone else Valencia! is privy to conversations that most people aren’t. We hear about the failure of communication and the impact it has on issues. Here are some examples:
Last night a Valencia! reporter was barred from entering a meeting of the Historic Tome-Adelino Neighborhood Association. The group had a good reason for keeping Valencia! and about five citizens out — they wanted to have a closed meeting so they could strategize their approach to critical issues affecting them. That’s fine, but the meeting was publicly announced in the Valencia County News-Bulletin.
Last week we heard about an ongoing, under-the-surface feud between two local elected officials. These officials keep getting mad at each other and at others because they’re not being involved in several local issues with impact to the areas they represent.
And just this morning Valencia! reported about officials at the Whitfield Wildlife Conservation Area who are upset with the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (MRGCD). The MRGCD didn’t forewarn Whitfield that it would be working on a drainage canal near the conservation area, and now they’re battling over the impact the work is having on wildlife habitat.
The solution is an easy one. Anytime an issue comes up, or an action will be taken, think at least one thing: Who will be impacted? And then take steps to inform them, listen to them and work with them.
American Iron and Metal wants to build a metal recycling plant in the Rio Grande Industrial Park. The facility will be located just more than a mile from Rio Communities, and it’s got some residents upset, so upset that two of them filed an appeal of the Valencia County Planning and Zoning Commission’s approval of the company’s preliminary site plans.
On Wednesday, the company will come before the county commission to argue why the planning and zoning commission was right. Regardless of the arguments it makes, the company has already beaten the appeal — and it has nothing to do with arguments over the legitimacy of zoning or site plans.
Last week, when the county commission considered delaying this week’s public hearing on the issue, the lawyer for the plant did something smart: He chopped the commission in half.
Commissioners Pedro Rael and Don Holliday, based on their comments last week, are going to vote in favor of the metal plant. Rael’s vote is less certain, but he thinks the appellants don’t even have a right to bring the appeal. Unless the appellants can find residents who live within view of the plant to the public hearing, they’ve got no chance with Rael. Holliday on the other hand was much more blunt. He said he thinks the appellants and county are doing nothing but holding up a good business and new jobs.
Commissioner Ron Gentry, obviously, will vote against the metal plant. He’s been outspoken against it, even if he won’t admit it. He’s also the only person who owns land next to the proposed construction site. Last week, the lawyer for American Iron and Metal tried to get Gentry to recuse himself because of that fact. The lawyer might try again, but he may not even need to with the way the votes have already lined up.
Commissioner Georgia Otero-Kirkham is out of the vote. She recused herself last week on such a small thing as delaying the hearing. She essentially argued that she does, in fact, have a conflict of interest. It would be very unusual if, after recusing herself last week, she now chose to vote.
Medina didn’t speak up last week but voted against Rizzo’s request for a delayed public hearing. He might be undecided on the metal plant, the zoning, and the site plans.
The vote on the appeal takes place next week, after this week’s public hearing. The motion will likely be along the lines of accepting the appellants’ arguments, which stops the metal recycling plant from moving forward. But with the commission chopped in half, two to two, with Otero-Kirkham out and assuming Medina is in opposition to the plant, that kills the appeal by a tie.
The metal plant wins, unless the appellants or others decide to challenge it at a higher level, say, in court.
Someone called Valencia! on the phone today and had a wild conspiracy theory to share.
You may have seen on our website and read in the Valencia County News-Bulletin that Belen Mayor Ronnie Torres isn’t running for reelection as mayor. It gets interesting after that.
In our article, we pointed out that the mayor said (publicly, we might add) that he isn’t running for anything. The newspaper reported it differently, saying he’s “considering” running for council.
What we know for sure is that Torres wants to be a councilor. What’s unclear is how he wants to get a seat. There’s some speculation Torres doesn’t want to run for council — he sort of said so himself, as we reported.
The conspiracy theorist who called wondered if the mayor might resign soon, get a councilor appointed to the mayor’s seat (likely Wayne Gallegos) and then have that new mayor appoint him to the council.
That’s the safest option for the mayor, but it’s the most politically risky for Gallegos. You see, Gallegos has more than two years left on the council. If he became mayor, he’d have only months left as mayor before the next election, but Torres would take on Gallegos’ remaining two years. Such a move would be unpopular locally and Gallegos would likely suffer for it during the next election in March.
It’s unlikely to happen — but you never know.
What’s more likely is that Gallegos will run for mayor. Torres won’t run for anything. (If he ran for council, he might be up against his two allies and incumbents, councilors David Lopez and Terese Ulivarri, should both be running for reelection.) Once Gallegos wins for mayor, it frees up his council seat. Then, he can appoint Torres to it. It’s politically safe.
We’ve seen shenanigans like this before, and it’s usually about money.
Belen’s municipal judge, Kathy Savilla, retired and got appointed back to the judgeship so she could double dip and siphon a ton of taxpayers’ money from salary and retirement.
Some have speculated that some elected officials and candidates want cushy elected positions just for the health benefits. That’s not to mention that Belen’s councilors and mayor make a load of money — more than any other similarly elected officials in Valencia County.
