The Shadow and the Woman
The Shadow Knows
“I’ve noticed recently, literally, hundreds of huge trucks going up Highway 150 toward Arroyo Seco over the past week or so. They are the “center-drop” road material trucks from Silva’s. Today I followed one of them.
“Up Highway 150, left on Highway 230 by the Lumina Gallery, then left again on the Hondo-Seco Road. They go past the elementary school and then turn left once more at the “old” Mariposa Ranch Sub-Division Road. Then they go south where a man in a green safety vest was managing the construction of new road.
“I told him of my curiosity and he said that they are building a new road for a huge new sub-division, 3+ miles of new 30′ wide road… 6″+ of pit-run then 6″+ of top material so the hauling will continue for a while. They already have the power, telephone, Internet and water utilities installed.
“Of course the Hondo-Seco Road pavement suffers from all this and the edges of the asphalt are already cracked and crumbling… especially since there are so many trucks that they have to pass each other going in opposite directions. Probably would have been much better to use Highway 522 but there’s no access.”
The above-mentioned matter, relayed to us from a Friction reader, is part of a new and approved high-end subdivision, 10 or 20-acre parcels for friends of Billionaires? Though Taos Friction has long been a fan of the “trickle down” in Taos, the editor believes that “impact fees” should be levied in Town and in the County against developers to assist with road repairs and maintenance. Despite the practice of building “roads to nowhere, “ the taxpayer does not have a “fiduciary” obligation to developers.
The Woman Problem
Recently, the Barrone Administration factotums, along with The Taos News, scapegoated and manipulated Councilor Judi Cantu in order to divert attention from their own sins: procrastination, no local pros need apply, creating a divisive atmosphere and implementing a policy of “covering up” incompetence at the Public Works Department.
So “they” blamed Judi for trying to increase GRT with a “$35,000″ yard sale and Cesar Chavez celebration. While the yard sale idea seems scatterbrained, it is not any worse than Manager Bellis’s attack on the “blue-haired” tourists while advocating for the craft beer demographic. What’s a little “ageism” what with 10,000 people a day turning “65?”
We’ve seen misguided attacks on female politicians and activists before. 1) The “female” patriarchy at TMS ganged up on Stella Gallegos at the schools (long before she was a member of the board) when she blew the “whistle” on the lack of resources for Special Ed kids at the end of the 90s. 2) County Treasurer “Lovely” Lorraine Ruiz blew the whistle on the manager, finance director, and commissioners and was attacked though she prevailed in the end at the beginning of the 2000s. 3) Councilor Erlinda Gonzales was ridiculed when she opposed the Town manager, mayor, and male councilors. 4) Trustee Luisa Valerio Mylet has been marginalized at the Kit Carson Coop for opposing salary and rate increases or asking questions about Propane, Broadband, and the usual Coop shenanigans.
Despite Councilor Hahn’s characterization of Councilor Cantu as a “bro” or The Taos News accusations of “conflict of interest,” consider the source. The Taos News will shape any story to benefit their mercantile view of the community, whether of finance (advertising) or politics (rarely understood). See “Discover Taos,” a Baker supplement and magazine for a photo-chopped version of, in reality, “funky” Taos. You will no longer recognize your community in this version of wished-for glamour. Meanwhile, Councilor Hahn has proudly confessed that once he makes up his mind he doesn’t change it, regardless of “new information.” Principle or fanaticism?
Meanwhile Father Fred Peralta and Brother Andrew Gonzales have come to Sister Judi’s rescue. On Tuesday, May 26, Councilors Peralta and Gonzales voted to support the Cesar Chavez day with $13,000 (no yard sale). Hahn voted against. Judi abstained.
The real winners appear to be the “Terrible Cordovas” from El Prado who will have their way with “education” and the “importance” of Cesar’s contributions to the labor movement and “social justice,” and perhaps discuss the importance of the dominant culture’s discrimination against Chicanos y Chicanas, Latinos y Latinas, Hispanos y Hispanics. Darn Cordovas want to shove education down your throat just like their abuela in El Prado.
The valiant struggle by Cesar’s United Farm Workers against the growers, strike breakers, and paid bully boys of law enforcement of the 60s and 70s was preceded by a strike in New Mexico at the Zinc mine near Silver City in the early fifties. That strike by “Mexican-American” miners was made famous in the movie, “Salt of the Earth.” The deal for the film was put together at Craig and Jenny Vincent’s ranch in San Cristobal, despite the presence of FBI spies.
Arsenio, Kathy, and Tessa Cordova put together a deal to support Judi, despite Hahn and the Town spies, who, apparently like Bellis, support the “Kongo Bongos” or new-age farmers rather than traditional merchants or “cruisers” on Taos Plaza. It’s not about the “bros” at the Public Works Department or garage sales, Fritz: it’s about Corky Gonzales “Crusade for Justice,” a much bigger idea than kickbacks for contracts or even closing the Plaza.
By the Way: The alley between the old Plaza Theatre and Hotel La Fonda is not private, mis amigos. Wake up! Oh, mi hito y mi hita: what a tangled web we weave when we conspire to deceive.