El Mitote: Voter Advisory, Saving Public Dollars, Call for Art
This morning, Friday, May 30 at 8:30 am, Town manager Rick Bellis will hold a courageous meet and greet on the Plaza with Plaza Merchants to discuss plans for revitalizing the historic center of Taos. Counselor Gonzales is worried about spending “political capital.” I hope Chief Weaver attends to protect Rick’s life.
Primary Voters: Friends have asked how I’d vote, even if the NSA was listening or watching. It might be our last “free” election. According to rumor if turnout drops below 20 percent in Taos County, future candidates will be chosen by lot or rolling the dice. (We’re use to that.)
County Commissioner, District One, Jim Fambro
County Commissioner, District Two: Vote for Virgil Martinez in November
County Commissioner, District Five, Candyce O’Donnell
Taos County Sheriff, Betty Martinez-Gonzales
Taos County Magistrate Judge, Ernie Ortega
Taos County Assessor, Bobbi Dehererra
Taos County Probate, Paloma Romo
Democratic Governor: Lawrence Rael
Town Policy and Public Dollars
Just because progressives like Clean Gene Sanchez and Jumpin’ Jeff Northrup are for it and stick-in-the-muds Fred and Andrew are against it, doesn’t mean we should avoid the subject.
Take back the Waste Water Treatment plant from the private contractor and operate it in house. According to a level four certified operator, the community would save from $250,000 to $500,000. The electric bill alone costs like $250,000 a year. The design needs analysis. We’re told Taosenos are operating the plant now but working for a private contractor, who makes enormous profits on the backs of local taxpayers.
Implement the Water Ordinance. Require folks to hook up and amortize fees like the Coop. Current “policy” is patently unfair to town water users, who are metered and charged. At the last meeting of the Abeyta/Taos Pueblo Water Settlement with the objectors, Taos Pueblo’s Gilbert Suazo said the Pueblo itself was designing and planning a municipal water system. Reintroduce fairness to water users, build up the reserves, and find the political will to upgrade Town wells, recharge the system’s pressure for fire protection, and provide the Spring Ditch with water.
Youth and Family Center i.e. recreation: Call in the professional roofers and HVAC technicians. Get a plan together, pronto, for the swimming pool and ice rink: fix the roof. Hold a public meeting with Parks and Rec and really discuss the bungled FIFA soccer field project. You’ve got a first class field, now you need a second grass field. Just as Brian Greer and the Rink Rats like Charlie Rascovich can bring home the hockey trophies and the GRT so could the soccer combine.
Taos County “Call for Artists.”
The Art and Artifacts Committee is ready and willing to accept public art, including site specific donations at The Complex. Walk around the Complex, look at the magnificent walls, balconies, and high ledges. If you read the legals this week in The Taos News, the Committee is seeking outdoor sculpture for the courtyard and has about $75,000 for the project. Criteria includes but is not limited to concepts that address the historic culture of the community i.e. the three cultures and visual objects that require little or no maintenance.
Future plans include landscaping and design, including a potential water feature and possible acequia representation in the parking lot. Some of the committee members have their eye on a possible donation of the famed Egri “Flight” sculpture for a separate installation, which object is being probated along with the rest of Ted’s art. If you, the artist, have a donor/backer with deep pockets or spare change, he or she can help and receive a tax donation. Let’s get this project moving.
Art Alert: Who are these people? See The Art of Nicolai Fechin at Taos Art Museum, Hank Saxe at David Anthony Fine Art, The Gus Foster Collection of notables at the Harwood, and the Bisttram, Phillips, Lockwood, Higgins WPA Frescoes at the old County Courthouse. You might think these folks just hang out at World Cup, La Cocina, Barney’s Beanery, the Plaza Theatre Bar, Max’s Kansas City or Mabel Dodge’s Salon. But the objects these artists create represent obsessively hard work, done mostly at secret studios and workshops during dark nights or sunny days while you were napping. The fusion of craft and concept stirs the imagination. And even if you have seen them before, they seem refreshingly fresh.