Taosenos Under Siege

We Are Crab Hall!

In this the most wonderful cross-cultural community, hardened by political conflict, assaulted by mother nature, and under siege by a declining economy, the Taoseno has little but his or her own fighting spirit as personal resource. As one local historian said to me this week, “We can’t make any money so we may as well have a good time.”

Laughter is Our Only Medicine

The Historian above was referring to the fun engendered by 317 Coop members who have filed protests against KCEC’s “Naughty Nine” and their Energizer Bunny, Rabbit Reyes. KCEC seeks higher rates to pay for an alarming number of failed projects—Propane and Internet, Solar arrays, an unpopular Command Center, and expanded infrastructure into no-growth areas of the County. Critics say the Coop’s decade of entrepreneurial expansionism has come a cropper of debt, collateralized on the collective balance sheet by the REA’s historic assets. As the Coop borrows from one bank to make payments on loans to another, the Rabbit is growing more frenetic.

He began losing the public relations battle in late August by accepting a raise, raising rates, and sending trustees on another wild mission: acquisition of Broadband and more debt; $19 million more. Now he is casting more and more dollars into the black hole for attorneys, per diem for traveling trustees, and big ads in the local media to mitigate criticism.

As if spending more bucks isn’t enough, now The Rabbit has initiated a series of retaliatory movidas against perceived threats at the County Commission—cutting off the juice to the new Complex and threatening the populist hero of the moment, County Commissioner Chavez, aka Mr. Macgregor, with litigation. For opposing the rate increase, two populist Trustees, Virgil Martinez and Luisa Mylet, are being shunned by their fellow board members. KCEC employees have been told to avoid contact with the two naysayers.

Indeed Coop HQ on Cruz Alta is taking on the aura of conflict so famously depicted by the actions of board members and administrators at TMS’s CRAB Hall. At CRAB Hall, the reformed-oriented school board members, Cantankerous Arsenio Cordova, Lovely Lorraine Coca-Ruiz, Stella “Heartfelt” Gallegos, and now, Enrico “The Marine” Velasquez have stood up to the Gang of Administrators—who block the delivery of education to students. Three audits, disastrous grad rates, and low-test scores confirm the need for reform. Yet administrators, the news media, and even members of the town council have opposed the board’s fight for the rights of kids.

Recently, the board’s latest itinerant professional, El Weston, the Superintendent, posted his proposed “Strategic Plan” for education in Taos. The elitist text, filled with mumbo jumbo, makes the case for site-based management, according to a current board member. Parents, who seek clarification of curriculum, how to help their kids learn to read, write, and do arithmetic will be mystified by the gobbledygook in Weston’s opus.

Crab Hall administrators have committed an infinite number of civil rights violations against Special Ed kids, lunchroom workers, taxpayers, teachers, and St. Jude. One longtime teacher was forced out, banned from picking up her personal items or stepping on school property due to the ineptitude and cowardice of administrators. They didn’t give her the metaphorical mule for her forty years of servitude or even a Timex watch.

At Town Hall, where the Mayor and his sidekick Rudy, who called for the removal of the School Board—due to perceived public conflict with favored administrators—now have come into conflict with their own semi-handpicked council and manager. At issue is Manager Daniel Miera’s severance package v. the Mayor’s alleged micro managing. The Mayor and Council raised the pay and publicly praised the wunderkind. Now, they have created a Young Frankenstein. According to the Mayor’s statements in the press, the Manager has destroyed consensus and created a schism on the council.

Welcome to Crab Hall, Mr. Mayor.

While conflict has overwhelmed consensus in Taos this Christmas, we give thanks to Senators Udall and Bingaman for voting to deny tax cuts. Both U.S. Senators made clear their concern for balancing the budget, someday. The Senators from New Mexico voted to save social security, which is under siege by cuts in payroll taxes. They voted against the widening gap in income inequality. Even if the gesture was symbolic by the Senators, symbols are important for revolutions as Mr. Obama i.e. “Mr. Bushlite” is learning.

We did not vote to privatize profits and socialize losses at the national or local level. Today, it is not a particular political party but the governing classes, lobbyists, and corporate elites, who are the collective enemy of the people. As WikiLeaks has shown, the collective governors across the world hold their constituents in contempt. At least here in Taos, we know where the politicos live and dine, who their friends and family members are, and how to push their buttons. We know a crook when we see one.

And like Rafael Sabatini’s famous Scaramouche, we were born with the gift of laughter.

Postscript: If you want to see excellence in Taos, visit the Harwood Museum of Art. The new addition is subtle, elegant, and acoustically sound. The shows are hung with sensitivity and beauty. The Harwood on historic Ledoux St. is truly a gem of the first order. Let us praise the man behind the scenes, one Gus Foster, for his particular devotion to detail. Bravo!