Pavel Lukes: “My integrity is intact” if not “my penis.”
During the May 18, 2017 Planning and Zoning meeting, activist Mark Asmus reminded Chairman Jim Pollard that Pavel Lukes, a P&Zer as well as the agent for Jay Batra, Holiday Inn developer, voted to approve the “hotel overlay zone,” the new planning designation that permits structures to rise above the historic limit of 27 feet. Pollard said, possibly due to age, he couldn’t remember. In yesterday’s post, this writer mentioned “ethically-challenged realtor-developer Pavel Lukes.” Lukes reacted angrily to the post: see below.
Lukes:
Bill,
My integrity is intact, unless you can produce specifics keep your non specific nastiness for your loved ones. (That’s assuming you have any) The only inches I may have lost is from my penis.
Pavel
P. S. You and the non working minority represent are people who don’t give damn about the silent majority and their future. Blocking and trying to sabotage job creating changes you are in fact creating permanent underclass of Taos residents relegated to a handful of decent jobs and many minimum wage jobs. BTW, pick your friends more carefully as your best friend “Flavia” is a bold face liar. Now, go ahead and print this email. Show some unbiased cojones for change!
Friction Responds
Yours truly watched the Town’s Aug. 3, 2016 online account of the meeting. Indeed, at the beginning of the meeting Pollard asks commissioners if any commissioner has a “conflict of interest.” Lukes discloses his relationship with the Batra project but says he doesn’t think that should affect his consideration of the “Hotel Overlay zone.” He remains in his seat on the dais. Neither Pollard nor any other commissioner objected.
A conflict of interest occurs when an individual with the power to vote on the issue also has a vested financial or familial (etc.) interest in said issue. According to Lukes, he arranged the sale of the property to Batra. According to town emails he “colluded” with Bellis and Barrone behind the scenes to promote the Batra sale and development.
Near the end of the Aug. 3, 2016 meeting, according to the taped recording, Commissioner Norbert Mondragon moved to approve the new ordinance and Lukes quickly seconded. The motion passed and the Hotel Overlay Zone, basically created and designed for the one developer, went into effect.
For those who wish to see for themselves look for Case No. PZ2016-46 under “Commissions” on the town’s very efficient web site which catalogues public meetings. The tale of the tape is there. Perhaps both Pollard and Lukes are suffering from memory loss if not some kind of Freudian failure.
Lukes’ additional attacks, below, suggest the delusional nature of the overwrought realtor, who is honest enough to admit that he serves at the altar of Arthur Manby’s legacy (serial killer and land swindler). Lukes, however, does not understand that traditional folk figures, Flavio and Flavia, are native Hispanic sources who have long worked inside local government and keep the Fly at Friction informed of doings among bureaucrats and politicos.
The Lukes’ polemic, aimed, I assume at Lawrence Baker, keeper of the “emails” does not realize that Native Hispanic Taosenas, intimately familiar with the issues and the community, have formed a coalition with Anglo activists. The coalition does not bode well for Barrone’s re-election or Pavel’s reappointment to the P&Z Commission. Lukes was appointed to the commission in May of 2016 in anticipation of the above-mentioned vote on August 3, 2016. As Nervous Jervis once said, “the fix was in.”
Among the lies told on Aug. 3, according to the taped record, Manager Bellis said, “Nobody builds 3-story hotels.” Yet Friction researchers have discovered that developers have built several three-story Holiday Inn Express facilities during 2017 in the USofA.
More Lukes from last night.
Bill,
First frankly, you are full of shit. I do read all of your opinionated and very subjective literary salvos into the cyberspace. While I agree with most, I respond when you make unsubstantiated allegations. As it is in my case. A man, you may be one of those nearly extinct species, has control only over his own integrity and I take that very seriously. That is the reason for my business success, albeit as a “parasite.” Just because the highly arrogant asshole Mark Asmus asks for my resignation on the alleged basis of my having conflict of interest, does not mean you have to become his mouth piece, nor does it mean that it is based in reality. So, why don’t you hire someone competent enough to do some fact checking and only then articulate your specifics in your article blasts.
Mr. Batra is investing over 30 million in Taos. Is that good for Taos? Just look around, it is because the likes of you the town looks like near future ghost town. Look at our infrastructure!
You are just too blind to realize that you are on the wrong side of history. It is your constituents who sabotaged all of Billy Romero’s propane trucks after the last P&Z meeting? Nice company you keep. Maybe you ought to run for a Mayor, then you can show all of us how it’s done. All of us on P&Z have dedicated many years for the benefit of our community and your attacking us is below the level of common civility. But then, that’s why we get the big bucks and so many favors. This applies to our very hard working and very competent staff. So, lay off of them!
In closing, temporary as it may be, I do appreciate being able to communicate, disagree and have coffee together. After all, we have good intentions, but we just are going different ways about it.
Respectfully,
Pavel, the parasite Manby Jr.
Friction responds
I don’t know if Pavel is hallucinating or just a happy liar. Neither developers nor politicos are generally known in Taos for their knowledge of “right and wrong” when it comes to ethics. As my late barber used to say, “conflict of interest” does not exist in northern New Mexico.
Most activists I know are all for creating jobs, expanding the tourist industry, support small manufacturing, and donate regularly or give of their time to help their vecinos. (Though the town refused to spend $10,000 to keep the detox center open and the county neglects best practices when it comes to the detention center.)
Historically, resort communities and tourism contribute to the high cost of living, low-wage jobs, and cause the natives to flee. Call it colonization: a fact of life in the western U.S.
A recent Taos County study showed a substantial drop in the Native Hispanic population of Taos while newcomers increase and multiply. Remarkably, the Mayor, Manager, Councilor Hahn, Lukes and others have attacked the very source of new wealth in the community. Folks who move here spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to take up residency and buy property while weekend tourists spend a few thousand at most.
It is inappropriate to make Ad hominem attacks on activists, tourists, second homers or newcomers, who spend money, or seek to integrate and participate, while protecting and preserving the community from exploitation.
Historically, the ones who contribute most to the problems of the underclass in Taos have been elected and appointed to public bodies at KCEC, the Town of Taos, Taos County, the school board, and the judiciary.
As Pogo said, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” For almost two decades I have recorded, reported, and posted the peccadilloes of Los Politicos and the developers with my own eyes and pen. Now I have seen Pavel on tape vote yes on the “Hotel Overlay Zone” ordinance. Course he grew up behind the “iron curtain.” Pobrecito.