Taos: The Town that Time Forgot
On Tuesday, June 9, the Taos County Commissioners will consider the appeal of the Planning and Zoning Commission’s approval of the Town of Taos’s expanded runway project. While Charmin’ Joey builds roads and runways, the opponents protest against what they characterize as subsidies for militarists, elitist skiers, and members of the 1/10th of 1% Billionaire’s Club.
Now comes news of unsavory allegations in the Bahamas, according to court documents circulated on the WWW. “For decades, Mr. Nygård, his neighbors, and native Bahamians lived in peaceful harmony, sharing in Bahamian culture and ideals and enjoying many celebrations together. In the early 2000s, however, hedge-fund billionaire Louis Bacon purchased an estate that borders on Mr. Nygård’s property, and over the past ten years, Mr. Bacon has terrorized, intimidated, and corrupted native Bahamians and Bahamian government officials, and has made it his mission to destroy Mr. Nygård’s reputation and to cost Mr. Nygård as much money as he can in the process.”
According to Reuters, Bacon and his company, “Hedge Fund Moore Capital Management, LP, and Its Affiliates Moore Capital Advisors, LLC and Moore Advisors, Ltd., [have been] Ordered to Pay a $25 Million Penalty to Settle CFTC Charges of Attempted Manipulation of Platinum and Palladium Futures Settlement Prices.”
Opponents also claim the U.S. Air Force continues to expand its war games across the greater Southwest and will use the runway as part of the endless war effort. As we know, since 9/11 the American Government has turned increasingly against its own citizens, targeting private communications and bleeding taxpayers. The “burgeoning” American military-industrial complex, now merging with “commerce” and “corporatism” can be seen in the local incarnation of the Kit Carson Coop, which, however, has fumbled the effort to provide “Broadband” listening services to NSA as the local spy on rural Taosenos.
The Coop has scheduled its annual membership meeting for June 13 and has several proposed “by-law” changes on the agenda. But, according to critics, who feel betrayed by most trustees, including alleged reform trustee, Peter Adang, it us unlikely that members will show up in numbers large enough to muster up the required quorum. The debt-encumbered Coop, where members serve the trustees and the trustees serve the CEO, seems like the very opposite of a community “Cooperative.” The “debt-driven” Coop has a long list of excuses for everything, including Broadband delays as well as the failure to put in place simple procedures to avoid robberies hatched up in house.
At Town Hall on Wed. June 10, 1 pm., the Council will, allegedly, hear from Taos Plaza Merchants, concerned with the squeeze on revenues, caused, they say, by the Farmer’s Market. Merchants have proposed a modest alternative to the Town’s plan to keep part of the Plaza open to traffic on Saturdays. The Town will plead faux “safety” concerns as a way to avoid responding.
While the Council diverts attention from potholes with pretty Plaza lights and healthy farm products, and even a few guys with shovels, filling potholes, one can only ask what, if anything, is being done about “marketing” or a “Public Works Department” that has been running amok and misleading the Council and Mayor for years. But, as one councilor has said, you can’t get rid of the corrupt employees lest the families suffer from the loss of a wage earner.
As for arts and entertainment, the Mesa Brewery folks should be praised and encouraged for offering up a fine music festival to the community in an ideal venue, while the street banners will tell you, the local arts/historical community is moving forward, fulfilling the long-held interests in not only the Taos Society of Artists but also in their predecessors and descendants. More exhibitions are forthcoming in terms of Native American and Native Hispanic art traditions.
In late June the County is making the Historic County Courthouse Mural Room available for a literary festival: “Taos Writers On Taos.” The festival aims to unearth a number of local writers and works set in the community as well as cookbooks, recreation books, art books, academic tomes, novels, poetry, and prose ad infinitum. Writers are invited to sign and sell books, read, enjoy meeting new readers and each other, while learning about the rich cultural traditions of the community. (Contact bwhaley@newmex.com: we’re just getting started on this project.)
Mother Nature’s bountiful moisture has been a surprising bonus and antidote to drought and dry forests this spring. Agua es vida and picks up the spirits of rural residents and visitors to the great outdoors. Just as we look to the rich heritage and continuing interest in creative cultural opportunities of northern New Mexico, so we Taosenos must look to our natural resources and try to capitalize on the recreation and experiential potential of the area. If we work toward policies that recognize the natural beauty and let the charm of “funky” Taos emerge, we might survive the declining interest in retail consumerism.
Due to ‘top-down” mandates and a general lack of transparency at Town Hall and the Coop, for instance, we see the rise of apathy as interest in politics declines. If local government could just fill more potholes and fix the roads while exercising restraint over the ever-expanding number of signs, banners, and sandwich boards, we could concentrate more on the natural beauty and architectural attractions.
The plethora of pop-up and directional signs suggest the dread and desperation felt by members of the polis in the private sector. Yet, the energy emerging from the hospitality, cultural, and recreational sectors seems fresh and invigorating. Avoid the pain of politics and enjoy the pleasures of the culture and Mother Nature’s beauty. We all need to “revisit Taos” and take a second look at the community that time forgot: make a virtue of necessity.