Zuccotti Park/Liberty Plaza/99%/Occupy Wall St./Occupy Taos

Hard Truths About Govern Taos and The Movida Makers.

(Dedicated to Gene Sanchez, Amy Quintana, Lorraine Coca-Ruiz, Arsenio Cordova, Stella Gallegos, Virgil Martinez, Luisa Mylet, and Jerome Lucero: They wouldn’t play ball with the boys and girls who can’t shoot straight but they still fight the good fight. )

For years this writer has noted the connections in behavior between the national and local political scenes. I remember when the Town Council jumped up and supported the illegal invasion of Iraq as if reports of WMD were true. Course the conformists at The New York Times and New Yorker did the same. But the war was an excuse, again, to privatize the economy. As we know Wall St. has turned American politicians into well-paid serfs.

The “99%” are protesting against privatization of public dollars and in favor of fairness for all.

Govern Taos” is a mirror image of Corporate America, an anti-populist elite-serving group “of local politicians and trustees. The local governors frequently visit their betters in Washington D.C. where they study the methods of converting the public purse into private gain. We all know that global viruses spread via air travel—even as populism spreads via social networking and on the wings of the snow-white doves, who seek their better selves.

Let us emphasize that our commentary below has nothing to do with how much we like elected officials or their appointees and puppet masters. Rather we are discussing the issues and trends. The Particular Stands in for the General

I personally like and am in sympathy with some of the principles or sentiments of many elected officials representing Taosenos. But currently I disagree with their specific tactics, strategy, and their goals.  And who has been more disappointing than liberal Sen. Tom Udall? He jumps to do the bidding of the National Security Administration i.e. the government’s movida maker aimed at transfer payments–turning taxpayer dollars into private contracts, based on the hoary idea of Cold War politics at LANL? (Tom, Tom, come home. Remember Stewart.) Udall, like the national Democratic Party has failed to distance itself from the Byzantine “carrot and stick” or “bribe and blackmail” technique of their corporate masters.

In Taos, elected officials and their appointees seek to cover-up their self-serving aims at power by appointing supporters to office or enriching the appointees–regardless of experience or performance. Higher than average salaries, expensive travel budgets, and, yes, private contracts for elected and appointed officials–assuage the pain of public criticism. See the stories of conflict of interest regarding the cabal at the Command Center.

Here are more examples

The local school system, controlled by Fat Cats at CRAB Hall, deceives the elected board and the union. “It” sustains itself with self-serving salaries, and by filing spurious lawsuits against elected officials, which issues are misconstrued in the press. The union has been sucker-punched and sold out its members. The local news piles on and keeps the drama going as a diversion, while the administrators consume the catnip at CRAB  Hall.

The County Commissioners dance to Gravel Gerty’s tune and enrich the private sector by purchasing unnecessary property for unnecessary reasons. Call it “Penis Envy:” he’s got the bigger trucks and graders. In a display of petty bigotry, the commission has committed crimes against the homeless, aspiring brew and restaurant entrepreneurs, while ignoring the desires of insiders and outsiders in an effort to satisfy some “imagined constituency.” It ain’t about us or them or even profits: it’s about commissioners eating a piece of perversity pie.

There’s always somebody else to blame.

The Town and Coop serve the Mayor and CEO, the trustees and their supporters: favorable leases, contracts, the follies associated with personal vendettas and private deals. While the Mayor and CEO dance together, the trustees and councilors sing but the members and citizens pay for the band. Storefronts empty and the Coop doesn’t leave the lights on due to acts of God. Sure the Coop showed up on Peralta Lane to trim trees at 4 am in the morning, post snow—storm. But they left a mess of branches behind blocking the public road. The neighbors cleaned up after the Coop.

Ponzi Scheme

The officials in charge justify spending today by betting on growth tomorrow—a kind of Ponzi scheme. Local government and the Coop are not just over-built and over-staffed but excessively so. The Schools have upgraded their facilities but students and their families continue to leave the system. GRT and property values continue to decline but the County continues to expand local government debt. The Town has turned into a melodramatic oligarchy, serving private interests—media, physical training centers, and the follies at the Coop’s Command Center.

The water makes them Crazy?

Tour the County Complex and the Town’s Civic Plaza/Camino de la Placita behemoth. You will think you live in never never land—not Taos. Only 5,000 (optimistic estimate) residents live in the Town and only 32,000 live in the County. The Coop has what? 29,000 meters and 23,000 members. So they are going from an estimated $73 million in debt today to what? $93 million tomorrow? The County has built a vast 135,000 square foot Complex; the Town has tens of thousands of unoccupied square feet in its public buildings. A local water and sanitation company avoids contractual obligations by using “Wite-Out” to change the terms and conditions–while spending, reportedly, millions in borrowed money and government grants to serve 1000 or fewer members as well as the families of the board, especially.

Talk about planning in advance: the community is prepared  for the 22nd Century.

History is a Guide

In this remote and rural area, we have been witness to the Anasazi Diaspora: Chaco fell when central planning and trade ran up against climate change and economic decline. Centralization did not work. The era of Spanish Colonization was followed by the American occupation. With the 20th Century came the quest for justice to right the wrongs incurred at the hands of swindlers. The indigenous population won major victories.

The 20th Century advent of artists and hippies; and the recent arrival of Second Home and Mesa Dwellers in Taos continues the trend–invasion by outsiders. Now residents have become dependent on outside revenooers like tourists, whose numbers are in decline. Families who can, flee Taos, due to the degradation of economy and education, not to mention self-serving politicos. Still, the Ostrich Syndrome prevails. What imagination?

The Way Forward

The growing numbers of internal Taos exiles, like those who live west of the Rio Grande Rift, are redefining society, just like the Occupy Wall St. crowd. A historic host of imaginative alternative life-style schemes in Taos itself ignore conventional medicine, economics, and the politics of the past and present. Farmers’ markets and victory gardens are growing like topsy–or marijuana.

Despite its designation as a tourist entity and much talk of entrepreneurialism, the local Chamber of Commerce has disappeared and the CEO himself has resigned from Taos. When Babbitry exits, the establishment is lost. Meanwhile, the town’s mega-p.r. firm is making hay out of the past itself i.e. history: Hippies, the Sacred, Famous Women.  We are all part of the museum culture–resting on atavistic laurels. That’s fine for an aging population but what about the kids? Ship them out to boarding schools?

Conclusion

We say ignore “Govern Taos and the Movida Makers.” Cheer the “Zuccotti Park/Liberty Plaza/99%/Occupy Wall St./Occupy Taos” brigades. There’s hope my friends, not in reform, but in random acts of rebellion and wild ideas. Follow the Taos Sign Man, who stands in the median defying oncoming traffic. He speaks for you. But we must act for ourselves. Viva the Wall St. Occupation and the standard bearers at the entrada de la Plaza. Viva Taos. Viva. Viva Los Locos.

P.S. The Disappeared Barber is back in protective custody at Raoul’s Barbershop in El Prado. Viva Wite-Out.