On August 5 and 11, Janet Stevens, Diane Greenholdt, Marjorie Burr, Pat Kratz and I met at the library and spent about five hours developing candidate questions for the Voters Guide. Not only are the questions great, but thanks to Diane and her laptop, the process was also very efficient

Thank you League members who emailed questions for consideration and provided comments and changes to the first draft of the Guide. Janet will send the whole packet to the candidates on September 3. The Guide will be printed and distributed by the Las Cruces Bulletin on October 10.

Marnie Leverett has scheduled Voter Registration at the Farmers’ Market on Wednesday, September 17, and Saturday, October 4, from 8:00 a.m. to noon.

There will be two Candidates’ Forums in October. Both will be held in the County Commission Chambers at 845 N. Motel Blvd. from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. The first forum is Tuesday, October 14, and includes candidates for the U. S. House of Representatives and New Mexico State Senators and Representatives from Doña Ana County. The second forum is Wednesday, October 22, and includes candidates for County Commission, County Clerk, County Treasurer, District Attorney, Magistrate Judge, Division 5, and District Court Judges (all divisions) for retention.

Both forums will be televised. However, the public is encouraged to attend to ask questions in person, meet the candidates and actively participate in the process.

This report closes with a question: guess what Voter Services needs? Please contact Donna Tate at 524-9303 or email: draytate@earthlink.com to VOLUNTEER!

My name is Barbara Myers, and I am here to speak on behalf of the Las Cruces League of Women Voters about library services.

Before I give the League position I want to add some words of my own. I grew up during the Great Depression when my parents couldn’t afford to buy books, and we didn’t have a car. Fortunately, there was a public library within easy walking distance of our house. That library opened up the world to me. It saddens me that most Las Cruces children don’t have easy access to a public library.

The League of Women Voters has long been interested in the Branigan Library. A study group was formed several years ago that wrote a position paper that has been restudied and revised from time to time.

In 2007, we pointed out that the Las Cruces Public Library continues to lag behind similar libraries in similar sized communities. The services and the size of the collections have not kept up with population growth. We know that the administration and staff are trying very hard to provide good resources and activities within their limited budget. The range of programs for various ages is a credit to their good work.

One of the concerns that the League has identified is the need for branches that would bring the library into the community instead of continuing the need for the entire community to come to the Branigan.

So far there is only one branch, the one inside the Munson Senior Center. Our first priority would be the East Mesa. Perhaps the branch libraries could be part of a community center such as is the one at Munson.

The loss of the Bookmobile makes new forms of outreach to the community more important than ever. While waiting for new branches to be built, the money saved by discontinuing the Bookmobile could be put to other uses that would make it easier to obtain and return books. There are various suggestions for this: van service to some areas to deliver and return books, using community centers as book drop sites, and sending and returning books by mail.

Please seriously consider how best to serve all of our citizens. We need easy library access for everyone. Please make it happen.

Convention 2008 Video: A Presentation by John Kitzhaber, MD, Governor of Oregon, 1994-2002, is now available. Topic is entitled, Health Care for the 21^st Century: The Unfinished Business of the Baby Boom Generation. Members are urged to view the video to gain another perspective on this important issue. Log onto the League’s web site: www.lwv.org, select Members Only tab (no password needed), and select Council and Convention category. Videos and Podcasts appear on the right side. You will need 30 minutes to view the presentation, but it is worth the effort.

LWVUS Seeks to Reclaim Role in Presidential Debates: Many League members at Convention expressed a strong desire that the League attempt to return to participation in the Presidential debate process. Mary Wilson, president, and Nancy Tate, executive director, are exploring ways to accomplish this request. Within the next few weeks more details will be available.

No Coal-Fired Electric Power Plants for 10 Years: The national board has voted to support a ten-year moratorium on new construction of coal-fired electric power plants. This action is based on the environmental and energy positions of LWVUS and will reinforce the work League is doing around the country to combat global climate change.

In a press release, LWVUS identified coal as the single largest source of global warming pollution in the U.S., with power plants responsible for 33 percent of carbon dioxide emissions. The League supports clean energy alternatives, recognizing conservation and efficiency,

wind and solar power, and other technologies to be discovered.

Additionally, in keeping with its focus on energy, LWVUS joined with other organizations in sending a letter to members of the U.S. House of Representatives. Coalition members urged the adoption of forward-looking policies that would produce real changes in energy investments and reject calls to return to the old way of powering our economy. Issues raised included reducing our dependence on oil, reducing the high cost at the pump, putting more efficient vehicles on the road, and passing clean energy incentives.

Convention Updates: Members of the National Popular Vote (NPV) Compact Study Committee have been identified: Gail Dryden (CA), Barbara Kelin (AZ), Sue Lederman (NJ), Carol Mellor (NY), Jack Sullivan (CA), and chair, Carolie Mullan (TX), LWVUS Board. The study, to determine the feasibility of using the NPV Compact among the states as a method of electing the president, will be conducted by e-mail and free conference calls. Study materials will be produced and posted on the LWVUS web site. Local Leagues will be asked to submit consensus forms in 2009.

Decent, safe, affordable housing is the dream and, many would say, the right of every citizen. For the community at large, housing is basic to the social benefit of stable individuals and families, children ready and able to learn, and adults ready and able to work. These benefits can accrue from luxury single-family site-built homes, from multi-family complexes and from manufactured structures: the point is to have a dependable place to hang one’s hat and dream one’s dream.

"Safe" and "decent" have readily recognized parameters; the commonly accepted base of affordability is 30% of income. Although hard statistics lag behind the calendar, take as a starting point BBC Research & Consulting’s figures that in 2005 only 8% of the City’s renters could afford to buy and only 5% could afford to buy a new home. In January, 2006, there were 769 fewer units for those earning less than $5,000 (even with housing assistance vouchers). However, there was a surplus of 13 units for those earning $150,000+. At the midpoint, the gap was 792 fewer units than the demand for those earning $40,000-$45,000.

BBC Research & Consulting is the firm hired by Las Cruces to guide the work of the Ad Hoc Committee on Affordable Housing, a component of revisiting and revising the City’s Comprehensive Plan (as required periodically by law). As chair of the Housing Authority of the City of Las Cruces, I serve as one of the 15 appointees to this committee, along with a banker, a realtor, a builder and other activists. We are charged with drafting policy recommendations—over the year of our committee’s lifespan—to the Council that will break the logjam of need in our community.

Planning a roadmap for implementation is the watchword of the day. In addition to the Ad Hoc Committee, Council has revived an Affordable Housing Coalition, composed of all the affordable housing providers in the community, who will serve for an unspecified number of years and are charged with turning policy into roofs. Vision 2040 is the group looking at regional sustain-ability and implementation thereof.

If you are intrigued, I hope you will talk with me, or with my fellow housing commissioners and League members, Christina Little and Ellen Haltom. Change is coming,. Council is moving, and LWV/GLC is right up there on the front lines—as usual!

The branding of the United Way database of social and community services has changed. Information and Referral has become Community Connect. It can be accessed from any computer with internet access through the United Way of Southwest New Mexico’s web site: www.unitedwayswnm.org.

On the front page of the web site, click on either Volunteer or Get Help. This will take you to the Community Connect pages. Click directly on the logo or the link immediately above it (Get Connected Now) located at the bottom of the page.

All kinds of information are available on the site. The League of Women Voters of Greater Las Cruces’ posting has been visited 272 times.

As we celebrate the anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution on September 17, let’s acknowledge the convening of the Constitutional Convention and the 55 men from 12 states who wrote this document that has persevered for 222 years. Can you name some of the delegates? John Adams, Samuel Adams, Alexander Hamilton, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and James Madison are mentioned most often. The Bill of Rights Institute, whose mission is to educate young people about the words and ideas of America’s Founders, the liberties guaranteed in our founding documents, and how our founding principles continue to affect and shape a free society, offers a number of interactive programs designed for student education that will jog your memory. Log onto (www.billofrightsinstitute.org) and view a video that presents dialogue among the delegates about the issues with which they grappled.

At this regular board meeting, safety at the SCSWA transfer station was the topic of much of the discussion. Since the fatal accident at the facility last fall, OSHA inspections have been more frequent. One inspection occurred when a dozer hit a hopper in the pit, and this will probably result in an OSHA citation. A Facility Safety Manual has been written with the consultation of Zia Engineering, and will be distributed to all employees. Among other safety issues that have been addressed are new guard rails and screening on the side of the pit where residential customers dump waste. Transfer trucks to the Corralitos Landfill have been running overweight due to inaccurate scales on the hopper that fills the trucks, and this has been corrected. Employees are receiving hepatitis B shots, at about $250 per shot, per OSHA requirements. Employees will also receive ten hours of OSHA training. Board member Miguel Silva asked what policies the board might make or change to improve safety. At the end of the meeting a member of the United Steel Workers local union spoke, saying SCSWA employees had contacted them about organizing because they are concerned about safety issues including a broken hopper, inadequate glass in the weight house, and lack of training. Director Patrick Peck had said these issues were being addressed. Board members Brian Haines and Dolores Saldaña-Caviness suggested that the chair of the employee safety committee present a monthly safety report to the Board.

Another item of lengthy discussion was the impact of the one-year (instead of ten-year) permit for the Camino Real Landfill near Sunland Park granted by the New Mexico Environmental Department (NMED). Between 90 and 95 percent of the material coming to this landfill is from Texas, but Director Peck says that SCSWA cannot handle its waste in the southern part of the county without this landfill. The board speculated on what the City of El Paso is doing to address the possible closing of this landfill. The NMED has closed the landfill in Socorro. The SCSWA Corralitos landfill has an expected life span of 80 years, making it a possible repository of waste from other areas, but the impact of this on the county is unknown. The transportation costs for hauling waste are an increasingly significant factor in decisions. The Board suggested that NMED Secretary Curry be invited to speak to the Board. Renewal of SCSWA’s permit is eight years away.

Tonnage at the landfill, the source of revenue for SCSWA, continues to decrease from last year. Decline in residential construction accounts for part of this decrease, although commercial construction, especially from major projects like the new city hall and new federal court building continues. There was some discussion about how much of this construction waste can be recycled. It is also allowable for contractors to dump "clean waste" at the Foothills Landfill, at $3.50 per ton, much less than at the transfer station.

I arrived an hour early to observe the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) on August 13. Fortunately, Tom Murphy, MPO Officer, agreed to spend some of the hour with me to give me background on MPO and answer some of my questions. I knew that the MPO plays an important part in planning, but beyond knowing that it dealt with transportation, I was pretty hazy. Now, I can share with you some of my preliminary learning. Most of this information is available on the web site at lcmpoweb.las-cruces.org.

The Las Cruces Metropolitan Planning Organization is a multi-jurisdictional agency responsible for transportation planning in Las Cruces, Mesilla and parts of Doña Ana County. Federal regulations require the designation of an MPO to carry out a coordinated, continuing and comprehensive transportation planning process for urbanized areas with populations of more than 50,000. The Las Cruces MPO annually establishes project priorities for consideration by the New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) when programming transportation funds. The MPO is also responsible for planning all aspects of the transportation system, including roads, bicycle and pedestrian facilities, public transit and the airport.

The core functions of an MPO include:

The Major Thoroughfare Plan is a continual planning process. This plan was updated in 2005 and will be again in 2010 using data now being collected. This plan was used in decision-making for the recent city annexations. The MPO does corridor studies, bus system planning, and goals and objectives to guide bicycle and pedestrian planning, as well. Within the Unified Work Plan, the MPO does traffic counts on an ongoing basis and helps its member governments—Mesilla, City of Las Cruces, and Doña Ana County—in their planning processes. This agency also serves as staff, along with the South Central Council of Governments (SCCOG), for the South Central Regional Transportation District covering Sierra and Doña Ana Counties.

With a budget of $266,000 the Las Cruces MPO employs four staff members and a co-op student. The City of Las Cruces is the fiscal agent for the MPO. The Las Cruces MPO Policy Committee includes three elected officials from each of the three governments—Mesilla, Las Cruces, and Doña Ana County.

With this much information, I was able to more-or-less follow the deliberations during the August 13 meeting. First, the group amended the Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) by moving an I-10 project to the outer two-year horizon because funding had not materialized. MPO is allowed to put projects where funding is not constrained into that period.

Then the staff brought up for discussion two items in relation to the Madrid Ave./Sonoma Springs Corridor. They had looked at the traffic situation at Loma Heights Elementary School, which is already in bad straits with teachers pressed into directing traffic at school dismissal time. They are working on a simulation of the effect of increased traffic if Madrid Avenue is extended to Triviz Drive. Secondly, they used modeling software to run six possible scenarios created by the development of the Las Cruces Country Club. Again, this information will help decision-makers in determining the use of that property. Committee members thought the Madrid/Main Street intersection needs to be realigned, but no formal action was directed.

From there, the policy committee members brought up the location of the new high school and wondered why there had been no communication from the school district with the MPO when the site was selected.

In other business, a staff presentation about public participation at meetings with lots of bullets and acronyms was a little hard for me to follow. Binders containing information on all the plans were handed out to Policy Committee members as part of the training effort. A proposal for a new TIP application process was presented that should rationalize the way projects are undertaken by the MPO and remove the appearance of the staff promoting a project when they are just presenting it. I was able to observe only half of the meeting.

Volume 39, Issue 4– September 2008

Published Monthly

P.O. Box 8322

Las Cruces, NM 88006-8322

(575) 524-VOTE (8683)

www.zianet.com/lwv

President—Cathy Mathews

Vice President—Vicki Simons

Secretary—Nancy Phillips

Treasurer—Pat Kratz

Donna Tate

Bonnie Burn

Marnie Leverett

Sue Liefeld

LaJune Smith

Becky Beckett—522-8171

Marnie Leverett—522-0347

Marjorie Burr—522-2528

Barbara Goedecke—522-0323

Archivist—Barbara Myers

Historian—Judith Scott

Web Master—Jim Leverett

Bonnie Burn—526-0013

burnb@comcast.net