Doth the Red Flag Cometh to Autumn Acres?

Teaching Moments

Earlier this semester, I was teaching Frank Waters’ “To Possess the Land” in Southwest Regional Literature at UNM Bachelor and Graduate program. The course focuses on Southwest literature and Taos culture. About the time we began learning about the famed land swindler, Arthur Manby, local land granters filed warranty deeds against some forty thousand acres on behalf of the heirs to the Spanish Conquest era grants. Land grant activists claimed their actions were also based on historic signatories to the Treaty of Guadalupe and various guarantees given to the longtime residents of El Norteno by Los Americanos prior to statehood. Their timing was impeccable for my class.

The Spring Ditch

This last week we began reading Sylvia Rodriguez’s “Acequia,” an academic cultural ethnography and study of the ditch systems here in the Taos Valley. The Rodriguez project was initiated at the suggestion of the Abeyta lawsuit progenitors. The lawsuit, also known as the Taos Pueblo Water Settlement, was filed in 1969. Though funded by congress and signed off on by President Obama, the lawsuit particulars have to be approved by the courts, according to Friction sources. So, it ain’t over.

Among other acequias, Ms. Rodriguez mentions the historic Spring Ditch and the struggle of parciantes against 40 years of urban encroachment. I recently saw a copy of the brief the Town filed in response to a lawsuit filed by the parciantes. The town is asking the courts to set aside the Spring Ditch lawsuit until the Abeyta—Taos Pueblo Settlement is approved by the courts. (What year?) Basically, the Spring Ditch parciantes are seeking redress, due to the destruction of the spring-fed ditch because of Town Well No. 5, which has depleted the water table as well as the installation of town roads, which block lateral ditches, etc.

One of my students brought an old postcard to class that depicted the pond that was covered over when a developer built the original Taos Kentucky Fried Chicken, which is now La Bell Cleaners. The springs have been further compromised by a commercial condo project built on the site of the old spring-fed pond. Boosters and developers, who see horticulture and pastoral practice as old-fashioned, typically promote urban encroachment.

Autumn Acres

Not to be outdone by the developer who smothered the spring ditch springs, the developers of the Autumn Acres project, aka Valverde Commons, are developing a new housing project for wealthy seniors below Valverde St., just west of the former Plaza de Retiro and down the hill in the vega. According to parciantes, an acequia, a couple of laterals, and drainage ditch have been compromised by the development. As I write this, I’m told by town sources that the developers have started drilling the first of six OSE-approved wells, which, however, are forbidden by the Town’s code.

During the run-up to the controversial development, Ms. Rodriguez herself testified against the development and warned of possible damage to the acequia system. Neither the town council nor the developers give any indication of having have read the book.

The Autumn Acres project raises sore points for the town. One councilor compromised his integrity by voting to approve the project despite or because his brother was the engineer. A second councilor, we’re told, has contracted for the dirt work and could be responsible for blocking or changing the location of the acequias. Oh, can you hear the legal eagles gulping.

Many supporters, who spoke in favor of the project, count themselves as environmentally friendly and call themselves friends of the Rio Grande. One of the attorneys for the spring ditch developer also served on the board of the organization that seeks to keep the Rio Grande pure. In fact, the organization just won an agreement from LANL to reduce run-off that pollutes the Rio Grande.

Some folks understand that there is a hydraulic and organic relationship between surface and ground water. Yet, the town dumps storm water and nasty run-off into the Spring Ditch that turns up in the Rio Grande. If the developers of Autumn Acres succeed in drilling more wells, blocking the acequia system, and reducing aquifer recharge, they, too, will contribute to the decline of run-off into the Rio Grande.

Perhaps the Singing Plumber and his Shark-toothed partner don’t understand the hydrology of the valley or the town ordinances that forbid drilling domestic wells for any purpose–if the developer is within 300 feet of the town’s muni water system. Perhaps the supporters who spoke in favor of Autumn Acres are victims of cognitive dissonance and need therapy.

The supporters spoke in favor of this dreamlike project, designed for ex-hippies and others, who have come to love this town, they say. So they want a garden and a sidewalk so they can walk to the Plaza and the TCA before slowly sinking into the sunset. Ironically, after the Autumn Acres project was approved, several of these supporters called to raise the red flag about the huge un-permitted Blackstone Ranch debacle in the County.

Say what I thought? Not in my backyard, you say?

My People?

On Tuesday night, I told my class, “These are my people,” raising a laugh or two about transients who arrived in Taos lo’ these many years ago. Yes, we read about the hippies in Lois Rudnick’s “Utopian Vision.” They set new standards for self-indulgence and invented the “me” generation. They like Taos because, as my friend Taylor Streit says, “They think it’s a very special place.”

Sure they did some good. Taos also saw the Social Engineers, who came here in the 30s and 40s and 60s, memorialized by Suzanne Forrest in “The Preservation of the Village.” They came here to fix the community but due to unintended consequences sometimes screwed the folks instead of helping them. Now, we have a generation of graying do-gooders, who are going to fix the ditch, teach us to grow organic veggies, show us how to walk and sit down in a private park, and save the ditches by destroying them. And they will save the open space by growing houses in a great green meadow.

Full Disclosure: I lived above the great meadow, now covered in dirt, during the 70s—right next to the former owner of Autumn Acres. She indicated that she bought it to preserve it. But then I’ve lived above and by other meadows despoiled by the agents of greed and callous development. With so much vacant high ground in the Town, I could never figure out why the developers chose and the town approved this project.

At press time, we heard the Town fathers were making phone calls and discussing red tags for the errant well drillers, hired by the developers. It might be time for Judge Dickie to hear a case about real lawbreakers—not an anti-fire-cracker town crier. Let’s turn that kangaroo into a lion. Does the Town have a code enforcement person on the staff? Where’s Daniel?

The Spring Ditch parciantes filed a “can’t lose” federal case against the town, seeking remediation. The parciantes on the ditches in the Valverde Commons area also have a case that is made for an attorney who wants a sure winner—even on contingency. Acequias are protected by the New Mexico Constitution. The developer who covered up the Spring Ditch source behind La Bell cleaners got the Taos Lesson: “Old parciantes and their water rights never die, they just come back to haunt you.”

The longer the Town and the developer collude and dig, the bigger the damages. The parciantes are patient. After all, they saw how the Taos Indians began the struggle to get Blue Lake in 1906, finally winning back the prize in 1970. The Abeyta lawsuit is only forty plus years old. As my buddy Saki used to say, “You never know who you work for buddy.”

Hey thanks for the teaching moment (and the memories) guys.