Around the World and Taos, Too
(See: http://livetaos.com/2014/10/protester-general-jeff-northrup/ for stunning documentary footage.)
(International) “US relations with Israel have plunged to new depths of bitterness and hostility as senior officials in the Obama administration decried Binyamin Netanyahu as a “chickenshit prime minister”, “coward” and a man more interested in his own political survival than peace.”—From The Guardian
(National) Thanks to Ebola and “lone-wolf” attacks on Canadians and threats from crazies, the National Security State is cracking down and pandering to America’s sense of insecurity. Here come the foot soldiers of the “inverted totalitarian” state, more laws, more guards, and fewer civil rights.
(State) Reversing a national trend, wherein cops shoot people of color nationwide and the homeless in Albuquerque, the cops from Santa Fe are shooting each other. We get our tragedies all upside down in El Norte.
(El Norte) According to Forbes Magazine, Louis of Taos Ski Valley is bringing home the bacon, installing a new lift to open up more ski terrain and will focus on flying in skiers on 45-passenger jets at the Taos Airport when the new runway arrives (someday). As Councilor Andrew Gonzales has noted, we all live off the trickle-down in Taos.
(Law Enforcement) Turns out sheriff’s candidate Jerry Hogrefe is running on his muddled record regarding collaboration with the DA’s local spying on Taosenos in the “Hometown Subpoena” case. And Hogrefe was El Jefe at Taos PD when the cops clamped down on free speech and ignored the Tow Truck Gang assaults on Sign Man Jeff Northrup, who tells me Officer Ron Montez actually told the Gangsters “you’re not supposed to steal his signs.”
(Town and County) Mayor/Commissioner Dan referred to the presentations made by the “dog and cat” people whom I missed yesterday at the Town meeting due to a change in agendas. According to informed but unconfirmed sources, the community (Town and County) spends $240,000 at the animal shelter, $10,000 for spay and neuter programs, and $150,000-$200,000 annually in animal control as well as hundreds of thousands of dollars raised among private parties.
Yet the Town spends $30,000 on seniors, whereas the county spends a similar amount on recreational activities for youth. Town and County spend about $10,000 on homeless men and $5,000 feeding hungry families and the elderly. Course both spend an enormous amount on E911 and the County has absorbed enormous amounts taking over the Taos Senior Center and helping the troubled housing authority recover (again) from local thievery.
Frightened Community leaders are praying for the Animal factions to make peace and “collaborate.”
(Low Cost Housing) At yesterday’s Town Council meeting, Councilor Hahn asked the council and staff to provide him with a vision and mission statement, a notion of goals and objectives regarding public housing in reference to a deal with the Santa Fe Housing Trust for low-income tenants. Former Mayor Peralta and the rest of the Council pooh-poohed the request and said it was time to get on with the project, given its decade or so of discussion.
(MOUs) At the last County Commission meeting, commissioners asked staff, essentially the legal department, to work up an MOU with the Town regarding the future of the Historic County Courthouse. Perhaps Councilor Hahn will ask about the vision, mission statement, goals and objectives of the MOU with respect to Historic Preservation. Is it about the new demographic and craft beer, frescoes and photographs, history and culture or top-down “collaboration and conformity” with the vision of our elected officials? We, the hoi polloi, aka La Gente, don’t know, hence El Mitote and turmoil among the fanciers of preserving this little part of the Plaza as representative of local history because the Plaza, like the poor, like local history, like cats and dogs, will always be with us.
(Taos Plaza) The Town has planned a plethora of events for kids and adults on the Plaza for Halloween: “Friday, October 31, 2014 from 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM at the Taos Plaza. The event will provide the children of Taos with a fun, safe and supervised event. Everyone is welcome and admission is FREE! The first 800 children will also receive a free Halloween bag filled with treats and goodies.” Meanwhile Taos Plaza merchants will be handing out more bags of candy to kids…
(On Collaboration) Mayor Dan is working very hard to unify the community and refers frequently to the notion of “collaboration.” But he has yet, as Councilor Hahn might say, to articulate a vision, mission statement, goals, and objectives. Hence some paranoia, mistrust, and turmoil due to a seeming lack of transparency. Butchie Denver (RIP), Rich Sanders (RIP) and I, among others, supported him and his vision, sight unseen, except for an illustration Nora Anthony came up with in Horse Fly because of his character when he and other commissioners wanted to build a new “complex.” We helped sell a “pig in a poke” by invoking help from the “incredible shrinking woman” and it all worked out at the County: due to character, hard-working staff, and luck.
But ad hoc and improvised responses from the Mayor’s administration at the Town, whether at the Kit Carson Park, Airport, Animal Shelter, the Historic Courthouse (whether as town or county representative), Marketing and Advertising plans, capricious Plaza closures, Planning and Economic Development departments (?) etc. confuse the populace, undermine confidence, and reinforce attitudes about “los politicos.” We won’t mention the tardy progress on the Spring Ditch. We all suffer from PTSD (Political Trauma Stress Disorder) in Taos. Sometimes things appear to be worse than they are.
But “Collaboration” is a big word and the devil is in the vision, mission, goals and objectives and implementation. We’re waiting like Godot for the “word.”