SWOPblogger

By Ashlee Vance in Mountain View

CNET has come out as the first organ willing to put a firm number on Intel's alleged upcoming mass layoff. The online rag reckons that up to 10,000 workers will be cleaved from Intel's payroll. Word of the layoffs should arrive next Tuesday after the stock markets close their regular trading sessions. More.

[Karlos says] It's doubtful Rio Rancho will not feel the upcoming layoffs from Intel. The question is whether or not Intel will have to pay back some of their tax breaks to Sandoval County as per their agreement.

Intel
Layoffs
Oregon
New Mexico
Rio Rancho

The city denies a permit for a local youth event and draws the ire of organizers

By Amy Dalness - Alibi

Right: Youth members of the SouthWest Organizing Project gather for a rally on Civic Plaza. (photo by Wes Naman)

Standing atop a soapbox on the stage of Civic Plaza, Rodrigo Rodríguez, 18, put down the feedback-inducing microphone and spoke to his peers without amplification.

“This was a positive event,” he said. “We weren't coming over here to party and throw down ... we were coming to educate people. We were coming to empower people. We were coming so people could learn, so they could live healthy, more informed lives.”

Amid the cheers, Rodríguez stepped down from the soapbox to make way for another speaker. He all but faded away into a crowd of young and old, wearing T-shirts bearing the title of the event that was to be: Rock Out With Your Cause Out. Read More.

Right: Ruben poses with the message of the month.

Left: Monica addresses the crowd.

Left bottom: Youth organizers, supporters at press conference.

[karlos says]

Both the Journal and Trib failed to see the larger point of the event - offering young people important, practical information about access to public services, including health care services.

The graffiti battle (SWOP's held 3 to my recollection - including one at the Roundhouse in Santa Fe and at least 2 more at Washington Park, all permitted.) was just a small part of the event's planned line up of local entertainment and young talent. Over 30 non-profit and governmental agencies were on board to offer information to young people and helped coordinate the event. [I won't name them here, to protect the innocent from...well, Mayor Marty]

It was truly a community effort.

The Journal and the Trib also failed to mention free speech as an issue after the Mayor publicly objected to the content of the event during a press conference about denying the permit.

Anyway, happy reading :)

Albuquerque Journal (New Mexico)

August 28, 2006 Monday

SECTION: EDITORIALS; Pg. A8

LENGTH: 230 words

HEADLINE: Political Theater: Nixed Graffiti Contest

BODY: What's in a name? Walls full of bad associations when the name of a proposed event at Civic Plaza is "graffiti contest."

The SouthWest Organizing Project sought a city permit to stage a youth event last weekend, promoting graffiti as an art form. That's despite the fact a spokeswoman says the organization opposes its most common form - the defacing of property. In SWOP's plan, contest entries would be painted on panels brought to the plaza.

The permit was denied. Mayor Martin Chávez said SWOP wanted special treatment on security, cleanup and fees. SWOP said it would have followed normal procedures, but the mayor blocked the event because he didn't like it.

While the basis of the denial isn't clear, this much is: The Chávez administration has made quick eradication of graffiti and punishment of taggers a top priority. And the mayor says it is "repugnant" to stage an event that promotes pride in graffiti.

When the mayor took office the first time, the city's landscape was something of a spray-can catastrophe. So Chavez deserves credit on this score.

SWOP should be politically savvy enough to know the mayor could hardly relax that zero-tolerance in Civic Plaza and could have channeled the artistic impulses of taggers in a more acceptable vein. And it could have educated the artists on how appropriating private property for their canvasses creates more grief than art.

LOAD-DATE: August 28, 2006
Albuquerque Tribune (New Mexico)

August 28, 2006 Monday

SECTION: OPINION; Pg. B3

LENGTH: 534 words

HEADLINE: Give kids a graffiti outlet to curb problem

BODY: Permits and regulations aside, Albuquerque officials could have done a lot better job of handling the recent showdown at Civic Plaza over graffiti.

They missed an opportunity to build a bridge, even if a small one, between the often authoritarian world of adults and the free-wheeling, sometimes troublemaking world of adolescents, too frequently expressed these days by graffiti on public and private buildings and other structures.

Too bad, because anything that might cut down on this illegal spray-painting should be welcome.

The SouthWest Organizing Project, which had planned a large youth rally that would have included music, break dancing and graffiti demonstrations, had to settle for a protest against the city's decision not to grant a permit for the rally, originally titled "Rock Out with Your Cause Out."

Monica Cordova, the project's youth coordinator, defended the program for allowing kids to express the "art form" of graffiti on special boards confined to legal areas. The rally would have provided a safe, one-day outlet for graffiti expressions. It might also have provided an opening for future opportunities for kids to have safe and legal artistic opportunities.

Both sides dispute whether the group complied with the city's rules governing use of the Civic Plaza. But clearly, Mayor Martin Chavez wanted none of it, telling reporters the event would have promoted illegal "tagging." Cordova said the denial of permits was personal and another indication that Chavez is "anti-youth."

The event drew the ire of Police Chief Ray Schultz and conservative talk show hosts. Schultz said the event glorified "something (graffiti) that is destroying $1 million worth of property" this year.

But it sounded like a cheap shot at an organization trying to channel kids' energy into positive, supervised activities.

Such verbiage is reminiscent of the long-standing battle between authorities and skateboarders and roller bladers.

While City Hall hasn't ended boarders' and bladers' illegal use of public streets and shopping areas, the city's creation of a sanctioned park for these activities, at the very least, has reduced the conflict and provided an alternative to illegal behavior.

Nobody condones tagging, particularly that done by gangs. When it's found on public or private property, it's illegal, not welcome and should not be tolerated.

What if, however, there was an alternative - a graffiti park - where youngsters could do graffiti legally, just as we have a skateboarders' park, numerous public golf parks, a city shooting range and a model airplane park?

What if the city constructed concrete or wood walls at the edges of some of its neighborhood parks and invited kids to express themselves, if supervised by an adult, who would have ultimate control over the spray cans of paint and ensure that the content was not offensive or gang-related?

Would Albuquerque shudder and come to a halt?

Or would illegal graffiti and tagging go down, and along with it some portion of the costs of cleaning it up and pursuing the perpetrators?

Pssst: Did you know that some in corporate America are actually embracing graffiti - for example, offering colorful "graffiti skins" for all those cell phones?

LOAD-DATE: August 29, 2006

Alibi.com

[LUCKY 7] Rock Out with your Cause Out -- This isn't like the health fair you were forced to attend in high school. You won't be shuffling your feet from booth to booth, staring at pamphlets warning of the potential social repercussions for not bathing. Sure, part of the reason to go to Civic Plaza today from noon to 6 p.m. is for oodles of information about local health care resources, but the main reason is the live music, graffiti art and break dancing. Alt.rock, break-dance battles and health options--it's a win-win situation. 247-8832. (AD)

Contact: Monica Córdova OR Rodrigo Rodríguez 247-8832

For Immediate Release
Wednesday, August 22, 2006

Mayor Marty Chavez once again turns his back on young people hoping to make change in Albuquerque; Young people forge ahead.

For the past three months, local youth worked to plan an event called “Rock Out with your Cause Out,” intended to educate youth on how to live healthier and more informed lives by using community resources; as well as entertain local youth and have a safe place for young artists to express themselves. The mayor’s office denied the young people’s request to use Civic Plaza.

Organizers did not receive word that the city had denied their permit until Thursday August 24, 2006, just days before the event. The city has since insinuated the request was in part because of an objection to content of the event.

"It is unfortunate and dangerous to tell our young community leaders that we really can't make a public space available for them to exercise their constitutional rights of assembly and free speech. All Americans are equal, but apparently in Albuquerque some are more equal than others,” says State Senator Jerry Ortiz y Pino.

The youth who worked towards this event were ready and able to meet all requirements of the City. Craig Drury a student in the paramedics program at Central New Mexico Community College points out, “City facilities aren’t open and accessible to youth, we followed all the rules and went through all of the proper procedures and were denied at the last minute.”

“We want to organize youth to make a stronger Albuquerque, we only ask for support of our culture and respect of our art,” said youth organizer Rodrigo Rodriguez.

The event also showcased talented local youth performing music, art and dance in a positive and safe environment. “We see this as age discrimination, the city refuses to provide positive outlets for young people but they won’t let us do it for ourselves either,” said Julian Moya English major at the University of New Mexico. The youth believe that instances such as this are what keep young people from becoming engaged in their communities.

SouthWest Organizing Project and other organizations that were in collaboration during the planning of Rock Out will be holding a peaceful demonstration Saturday August 26, 2006 at 12pm . There will be plenty of great photo ops and young spokespeople.

August 26, 2006

Open Letter to the City of Albuquerque and the Public:

The Board of Directors of the SouthWest Organizing Project would like to express its deepest disappointment in response to the blatantly discriminatory and free speech-violating tactics of Mayor Martin Chavez and his Cultural Services Department in shunning the "Rock Out With Your Cause Out" community event from access to our tax-payer afforded Albuquerque Civic Plaza. The event, scheduled for Saturday, August 26th, 2006, would have been a day-long positive community-oriented event for hundreds of local youth and was the result of coordination by over thirty non-profit and governmental public health and youth-oriented organizations from around Albuquerque. Planning for the event began three months ago. Youth organizers followed the City’s event permit application process to a “T.” Then the staff of the Cultural Services Department ceased communication with the organizers. By the time the event's organizers were able to hire legal representation to force a response from the City, the Cultural Services Department justified the permit's denial by claiming that the necessary permitting deadlines had passed.

When the Mayor discovered that the event was being co-coordinated by the SouthWest Organizing Project, an organization that has historically challenged several of his policies, did he in fact direct his staff not to communicate with the event's young coordinators?

This past Tuesday, the event's young organizers chose to bring the situation to the attention of the local media. Upon receiving word of an impending press conference by the event's young organizers, Mayor Chavez scrambled to hold his own press conference, closed and confidential at his request. He charged the SouthWest Organizing Project with promoting illegal vandalism through proposing to host a "tagging" competition, and "ghetto-izing" Albuquerque's youth. He then went even further to assert additional disparaging comments including describing the SouthWest Organizing Project as an "organization of brown berets from the 70s who haven't gotten over it," and calling the planned event “repugnant.” Before making such belligerent remarks publicly, Mayor Chavez ought to take a brief look at his own "Hispanic" history and realize that the opportunities in life that he himself has taken advantage of exist only because of the hard work of such civil rights efforts.

The SouthWest Organizing Project has never condoned the illegal vandalism of any property in the very community that we have fought so hard for, throughout our grassroots organization's twenty-five years of existence. The activity that Mayor Chavez was referring to was one aiming to provide a desperately needed space for young people to positively express their artistic talent in a graffiti mural competition. What was the competition's criteria? "Express your community pride." The activity, just one component of a day-long itinerary of constructive youth activities including music, education, and voter registration efforts, fit right in with the youth organizers' genuine attempt to engage youth in Albuquerque in positive expression and community engagement, no matter what their background or interest.

Considering that throughout this situation, Mayor Chavez was dealing with young event organizers and not high-powered political moguls like himself, we are disgusted but not surprised at the underhanded tactics of the supposed leader of our City. These are vengeful politics and amount to a shameless repression of positive free speech in a publicly funded space like our community's Civic Plaza.

• We call on the City of Albuquerque to invest in its youth. Not by spending more money on the APD Gang Unit, nor spending additional funds on youth incarceration. We rather demand a complete reexamination of the priorities of the City when it comes to its youth, its very future.

• We demand that the City create adequate spaces for artistic expression by youth, and end the evident but unstated policy of the Mayor to criminalize our young people.

• We demand a public apology from the Mayor for his disparaging remarks and his actions directed towards the organizers of Rock Out for your Cause Out, and towards our organization.

• And we ask that everyone throughout the City work to support efforts that develop leadership among our young people, and that they respect the desires of our youth to conduct activities that they believe to be relevant to their lives.


The Board of Directors of the SouthWest Organizing Project.

Roberto Contreras
Ozawa Bineshi Albert
Celia Fraire
JoAnn Gutiérrez Bejar
Javier Benavidez
Louis Head
Rey Garduño

"They may have taken the Rock but we still got our Cause!"
Casandra Stewart-SWOP youth

It’s me again!! Ok, Ok this will be the last time I e-mail......I hope. So here is the latest. The rally is going to be pro-youth so all supporters come out to say, "Organized youth make a stronger ABQ!" Those of you who need to get back to me regarding speakers please do so ASAP!! Also we need all the letter of support we can get.

OUTRAECH is the main focus now attached is a flyer send it out post it please get the word out especially to YOUTH!!! Text messaging and myspace are also good ways.

Today at 5pm we will be making signs and doing last minute things please be here is you can!

Peace Keepers meet tomorrow at 11am at Civic Plaza.

Any other question call me at the office if I am not here try my cell 385-6590

Mónica Córdova
Youth Coordinator
SouthWest Organizing Project
211 10th St. SW
Albuquerque, NM 87102
505.247.8832 (phone)
505.247.9972 (fax)
www.swop.net

Pics:
Top - from Graf Battle, Break Dance-off at State Capitol last year. Bottom - from Graf Battle at Washington Park...

Call SWOP to get involved (247 8832), or for more info on Saturday's (August 26, 2006) Rally at Civic Plaza.

Friday, August 25, 2006 - ABQ Journal

City Angers Group by Denying Graffiti Event

Journal Staff Report
A group that wanted to hold a graffiti contest on Civic Plaza is sharply criticizing Mayor Martin Chávez for not allowing a permit for the event.

Monica Cordova, youth coordinator for the SouthWest Organizing Project, said the organization supports graffiti as an art form but opposes defacing property.

The contest would have been part of a youth event Saturday aimed at entertainment and education, SWOP says. Panels would have been set up for the graffiti contest.

Instead, SWOP is planning a rally at noon Saturday on Civic Plaza.

Chávez said he objects to the idea of a graffiti contest, but the permit for the event was rejected for other reasons.

He said the group did not adequately provide for security and cleanup, and it didn't want to pay required fees.

The organizers "wanted special treatment. They won't get it," Chávez said.

He said the group "pretends to want to enhance community pride," but graffiti "has nothing to do with pride. It is vandalism. It is a crime.

"When you tell primarily minority youth that this is something to be proud of, it is repugnant," Chávez said.

Robby Rodriguez of SWOP said the group would have followed the rules and dealt with fees, security and cleanup.

"The mayor didn't like the event, and he stopped it," Rodriguez said.

SWOP is an activist organization that has been involved in a variety of local issues.

City Council President Martin Heinrich said he doesn't know if the group met the requirements for a permit, but it shouldn't make a difference "if we like or dislike groups that want to use Civic Plaza."

04:45 PM PDT on Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Associated Press

HILLSBORO -- The largest single industrial employer in Oregon may be facing job cuts as Intel prepares to lay out its reorganization plans following the layoffs of a thousand managers worldwide last month.

Analysts expect Intel to slash its work force as much as 15 percent by year's end, putting thousands of Oregon jobs at risk as the largest semiconductor manufacturer in the world restructures its operations.

Tough competition from rival Advanced Micro Devices forced Intel to rethink its basic strategies -- including whether to pare back its work force of more than 100,000 employees.

And the largest group of those workers are all based in Oregon, mostly in Hillsboro, where Intel has steadily expanded operations since the 1990s.

Intel says it will lay out its reorganization plans by the end of next month, but nervous Intel workers in suburban Hillsboro anticipate word within the next two weeks.

[karlos says: What's up over in Rio Rancho? This must be hitting folks pretty hard. Any stories in the local press that I missed?]

Intel
Layoffs
Oregon
New Mexico
Rio Rancho

$15 for the Girl T, $12 for the Regular T (union made).



Call the SWOP office [505 247 8832] to order T's, bumper stickers...

Or email us.

New Mexico
T-Shirts

[Karlos says: It's looking more and more like a free speech issue. I don't think anyone's been given so much grief over content of an event. Especially since we've been granted permits for 25 years doing this work. Scroll down if you don't know what the heck I'm talking about.]

Group, City dispute festival

Mayor says event promoted 'tagging'

By Peter Rice
Tribune Reporter
August 24, 2006

Permit or not, the group at the center of a dispute with the city will go forward with a planned gathering at Civic Plaza on Saturday.

Instead of a six-hour festival complete with bands, informational booths, graffiti demonstrations and break dancing, the Southwest Organizing Project will host a brief rally starting at noon. It will feature speakers and possibly some acoustic music, according to Monica Cordova, the group's youth coordinator.

She said the rally will serve as a protest of the decision by the city's Cultural Services Department last week to reject the permit application for the larger event.

That rejection sparked a round of press conferences Wednesday, in which group organizers and city officials accused each other of being anti-youth or promoting repugnant behavior, depending on who was doing the talking. Read More...

Some news from Austin, where Bill Richardson, NM Governor is. Alternative conference held by SNEEJ, Local groups...

Great job, y'all.

Here is a link to CBS news in Austin about the Alternative Border Conference:

Watch the Video

Two Different Groups Discuss Border Issues
Aug 23, 2006 10:11 pm US/Central

Keith Elkins
Reporting

(CBS 42) AUSTIN There are two different conferences underway discussing issues affecting the U.S-México border.

Governor Rick Perry’s official border conference is closed to the public and another in East Austin is being sponsored by grassroots coalitions begging the public to attend.

The two conferences are about as different as the people who attended each event.

At the Capitol, governors from 10 border states are meeting behind closed doors for the next few days with border security topping their list of concerns. While the alternative border conference attendees are speaking out for human dignity, equality and respect.

While border governors huddle under the granite dome discussing ways to stem the flow of illegal immigration, and better protect our borders from potential terrorists, different concerns and priorities are being voiced across town.

Community group leaders from many of the same border states have converged on East Austin talking about human rights.

They say the real issues should be health care, education and a lack of suitable living conditions, not more military muscle and what they call racist prosecution of those who get caught.

“This is a chance for people all over those states, which is California, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas, to hear what is really happening at the community level with the whole issue of immigration,” said Susana Almanza with People Organized in Defense of Earth and her Resources.

Governor Perry disagrees calling border security everyone's top priority.

“We can't sit here and wait for Washington to act while we have drugs being smuggled across the border, kidnappings, murder and extortion--other violent crimes that are being committed on our citizens," Perry said.

About the only thing the two groups seem to agree on is that building a 2,000 mile wall or fence to try and keep people out would be a waste of time and money.

Alternative conference members have requested a chance to meet with the border governors at the Capitol to present their issues for consideration, but so far say they have heard no response to their request. But they say they refuse to be silenced and have scheduled a news conference and outdoor rally for Thursday afternoon. They say they are determined to add their voice to the discussions as well.

(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

immigration
Bill Richardson
Human Rights
Governors
Austin

Channel 13's coverage can be seen here. [Transcript]

Mayor blocks “repugnant” youth event
Source: KRQE News 13

Watch Addie Knowlton's report.

ALBUQUERQUE -- City officials have canceled a youth event in the works for three months with organizers saying it’s a sign the mayor doesn’t care about young people.

Leaders of SWOP--the Southwest Organizing Project--and the South Valley Male Involvement Project planned to host an event they called Rock Out With Your Cause Out. But today Mayor Martin Chávez pulled the plug.

While organizers said they wanted to entertain and educate young people, the mayor said some of its elements, particularly a graffiti-painting contest, would “ghettocize” the city.

Chavez said the reason a permit was not granted is because the group didn't want to provide security and clean-up and they didn't want to pay a fee to hold the event.
SWOP said it was willing to meet the city's requirements, and the planned graffiti battle represents graffiti as art.

“The kids were going to do graffiti in a controlled and safe environment,” Monica Cordova of SWOP said.

Chavez said he sees it differently.

“For this group to pretend to enhance youth pride under the guise of graffiti is repugnant to Albuquerque,” he said.

The city has spent $1 million dollars cleaning up graffiti that's here, according to Chavez who said the event would send a bad message to kids. SWOP countered by accusing Chavez of not supporting youth in Albuquerque.

SWOP also said it’s not giving up and plans a rally at Civic Plaza on Saturday.

[karlos says] Mayor Marty should be called on his inflamatory rhetoric - particularly as it's pointed at young people who are involved with and care about their communities.

He's the mayor of a major city and he can't go around attacking young people just because they disagree with his policies.

If you're serious about stopping people from spray painting your walls, you offer space - controlled, safe space - for young people to express themselves.

His comments about "ghettocizing" the city are over the top and insulting. Mayor Chavez should be ashamed of himself using such race-coded language against young people of his city.

Young people deserve access to public facilities, yes, sometimes under their terms. The complaint is that young folks don't have enough positive, culturally relevant things to do in this city.

The Mayor seems mean, negative and vengeful at every turn. It's time he deal with young people, particularly those who care about this city and want to make it a better place to come of age - even if they disagree with him.

It's what responsible, caring Mayors do.

This one just doesn't get it.

So the Mayor heard about the youth's press conference they were planning for tomorrow and tried to pre-empt it w/ his own this afternoon.

This resulted in SWOP young people moving up their press conference to follow the Mayor's.

All major TV outlets, print and community press were there, so look out for the stories.

I just have to say that the youth organizers, interns and their allies and supporters really took it to the Mayor. We'll see how the stories are framed when they come out, but I'm so proud of the youth for exposing Marty's anti-youth agenda!

(scroll down for more info - the following post explains a lot:)

also from Louis:

***NEWS FLASH*** SWOP Youth: Press conference TODAY at 3:30

DEVELOPMENTS RE. SWOP YOUTH "ROCK OUT" EVENT

WHAT: PRESS ACTION TODAY
WHERE: ALBUQUERQUE CIVIC PLAZA
WHEN: 3:30PM

BE AT CIVIC PLAZA TODAY (WEDNESDAY) AT 3:30 PM! RESPOND TO THE CITY'S DENIAL
OF PERMIT FOR POSITIVE YOUTH ACTIVITIES!

The other day the City of Albuquerque, without informing event organizers
directly, denied a permit for the "Rock Out for your Cause Out" event
planned by the youth of the SouthWest Organizing Project and others for this
coming Saturday afternoon. The youth had originally scheduled a press
conference for tomorrow at 3:30pm to address the issue.

Mayor Martin Chavez has called a pre-emptive press conference of his own
this afternoon, Wednesday, at 3:30pm in an attempt to beat the SWOP youth
and their allies to the punch.

SWOP'S YOUTH AND OTHERS WILL BE THERE TO MAKE SURE THEIR VOICES ARE HEARD BY
THE MEDIA AND PUBLIC.

THEY REQUEST THAT ALL WHO CAN COME TO ABQ CIVIC PLAZA TO SHOW THEIR SUPPORT
FOR THE YOUTH OF THE CITY.

For more information, call Mónica Córdova at SWOP - 247-8832 or 385-6590.

From: Mónica Córdova, SW Organizing Project

To: Friends and Supporters,

I am angered to inform you that the event the SWOP youth and the South Valley Male Involvement Project have been planning for the last three months has been cancelled. The youth have faced numerous difficulties from the city in trying to put on Rock Out with Your Cause. We received word via our lawyer that the city is not going to grant us the permit to go forth with the event, meant to entertain and educate young people on how to lead healthy and informed lives. Proving once again that the city does not support youth.

Attached is the press advisory further explaining the situation and the next steps. SWOP would like to ask for your support in the days to come. On Thursday August 24, 2006 at Civic Plaza at 3:30pm we will be holding a press conference to explain the situation and to announce the rally we will hold on Saturday August 26, 2006 at Civic Plaza at 12:00pm.

There is a much BIGGER situation at hand than the youth not getting the permit, youth are not supported by the mayor and the city and our community needs to know.

[karlos says: It's important to note that the Mayor singles out a certain part of the youth community to abuse his power - young people of color who are working to change their communities and who disagree w/ the Mayor's "anti-youth" agenda.]

You can help by:

Attending the press conference in support.
Attending the rally to support youth of this city.
Sending me a statement in support of our event and the youth.
Outreach by getting the word out about the rally!!
A press release and a flyer for the rally will be sent to you tomorrow.

Again THANK YOU for your support and we hope to see you at the rally!!!!

Mónica Córdova, Youth Coordinator

For Immediate Release:
Press Advisory – August 22, 2006
Contact: Monica Cordova 247-8832
Mayor Chavez Crushes Hope For Positive Youth Event; City denies permit for “Rock Out With Your Cause Out”

Youth demand a space to empower themselves and access to public facilities.

While Mayor Chavez claims to support youth, he and the city of Albuquerque have once again proved his claim hypocritical. The city has very few spaces for youth to express themselves in a positive way. The SouthWest Organizing Project and South Valley Male Involvement Project have spent the last three months organizing “Rock Out With Your Cause Out”, an event intending to entertain and educate youth on how to live healthier and more informed lives by using community resources.

In process of obtaining a permit, the youth working to organize “Rock Out with Your Cause Out” met several obstacles from the city of Albuquerque. City officials led the organizers to believe that Civic Plaza was reserved for August 26th, 2006 and the permit would be granted. SWOP and South Valley Male Involvement Project left several messages with various departments as to the status of the permit, and have received no answer. SWOP was informed through their lawyer, who contacted the city, that the permit had been
denied. The city has yet to give any statement or reason for the permit denial.

What Are People Saying?

· “We want to organize youth to make a stronger Albuquerque, we only ask for support of our culture and respect of our art” explains, Youth Organizer Rodrigo Rodriguez.

· Craig Drury, a student in the paramedics program at CNM, points out that “City facilities aren’t open and accessible to youth, they followed all the rules and went through all the proper procedures yet were denied permission at the last minute.”

· “We have safe and positive environments for our dogs [dog parks], what about providing the same spaces for our youth?” says Monica Cordova, the Youth Coordinator at the SouthWest Organizing Project.

· Sandia High School student, Alex Smith states, “The Mayor turns his back on groups that educate and empower youth, all we want is to engage youth in their communities.”

What: Media event by SWOP. SWOP youth invite the media to inform the public of the recent interaction between Mayor Chavez’ office and the youth organizers of “Rock Out with Your Cause Out," and to expose yet another incident proving our mayors anti youth agenda.

When: Thursday August 24th, 2006 at 3:30pm

Where: Civic Plaza at 4th Street and Marquette.

karlos says: the following piece is comprehensive (read long:) But it's an important read. As always, Kent Patterson seeks out his sources.

Joaquin Lujan, SWOP organizer, knows well what Patterson talks about. He keeps calling from Polvadera (n. of Socorro) complaining about a "big mud puddle" where his fields once were.

Background
This year's Border Social Forum, scheduled for October 13-15 in Cuidad Juarez, will have many groups and representatives from the Gulf Coast who will be on hand to share their experiences and talk about real paths for working solidarity between the regions. SWOP, Southwest Workers'Union and Southern Echo have met about a South by Southwest initiative to begin to connect the two poverty torn regions historically, politically and culturally.

August 13, 2006
FNS Feature

Recovering from the Borderland's Little Katrina
Legendary for its sparse rainfall and blistering dry heat, the Paso del Norte region of the US-Mexico borderlands was jolted by torrential storms and floods in late July and early August. Living in an area that normally receives only about 9 inches of rainfall per year, residents were drenched with nearly the same amount of precipitation in just a few days. Streets were turned into small raging rivers, homes crumbled under the weight of water, mud crashed into houses, and land peeled away in the sheets of rain. The deluge followed a July 6 storm that also disrupted life in the border zone. According to the US Drought Monitor, 6 inches of rain clobbered the El Paso area in the 7-day period ending on August 5.

Assessments of the damage to human life and property are still in progress, but preliminary reports from the press, government agencies, non-governmental organizations and residents sketch a portrait of widespread property destruction and loss of family and public patrimony in Ciudad Juarez, southern New Mexico and El Paso County,
Texas.

"From what we have seen, (Ciudad Juarez) resembles a mined zone-as if there had been a war in our city," said Gabriel Flores Miramontes, the president of the Ciudad Juarez branch of the Canacintra business association.

In Ciudad Juarez, about 5,000 homes were destroyed or damaged, while scores of schools, businesses and public places were similarly affected. In the rural Juarez Valley south of the city, more than 1,500 acres suffered crop damage, according to Mexican press reports. Gonzalo Bravo, spokesman for the binational, Ciudad Juarez-based Border Environment Cooperation Commission (BECC) told Frontera NorteSur that about 50 percent of the existing paved roads in Ciudad Juarez were damaged.

At one point or another, more than 10,000 people were forced to flee their homes on both sides of the border. At least 6 people have died in Mexico and the United States from causes attributed to storms since July 6. Ciudad Juarez's poor neighborhoods, or colonias, which are often built in environmentally unsound zones prone to flooding, suffered the worst impact.

"People in the colonias remain afraid, because their homes are on the verge of falling apart," said Felix Perez, the Ciudad Juarez representative of the Rio Bravo Environmentalist Alliance. "There was damage in the whole city, but most of it was in the colonias," Perez said, adding that the practice of past municipal administrations
granting land titles in dangerous zones aggravated the risks to many people.

Up against a potential catastrophe, Mexican authorities evacuated hundreds of residents to several shelters located in safer sections of the city, and announced that hundreds of families will have to be permanently relocated. Liz Flores, the Ciudad Juarez director of the Roman Catholic-affiliated Caritas relief organization, said most of the people facing relocation still don't know where their new homes will be situated. "They don't have answers," she said.

DAMAGE ON THE US SIDE TOO
The Paso del Norte's flood disaster vividly demonstrated how Mother Nature does not respect borders. While storms wrought their greatest fury on the Mexican side of the border, they walloped the US side too. In El Paso County, hundreds of residents were evacuated from the communities of Vinton, Westway, Canutillo, and Socorro.

A scary moment came when a small dam located in Ciudad Juarez about one mile from the US border threatened to break and flood downtown El Paso, prompting city authorities to temporarily evacuate more than 1,500 people from the historic Segundo Barrio and Chihuahuita neighborhoods.

Farm workers gathered in the Border Agricultural Workers Center on El Paso's Oregon Street were trapped by international bridge closures, many unable to return home to their families across the border in Ciudad Juarez. Carlos Marentes, center director, said the low-income seasonal workers faced financial losses by not being able to go out and pick chile in wet fields. The chile pickers are paid on a daily, piece-rate basis.

According to a report in the El Paso Times, more than 1,500 homes, 50 businesses and 100 roads in the west Texas country sustained damage estimated at more than $100 million dollars.

Up Interstate 10 in southern New Mexico's Dona Ana County, residents in low-income subdivisions and colonias were either forced from their homes or trapped inside because to the surging waters. "People were living as if they were on islands inside their mobile homes," said Veronica Carmona, an organizer with the Las Cruces-based Colonias Development Council. "People are going out with shoes in their hand," Carmona said. At the southern edge of Dona Ana County, on the Texas and Chihuahua

In an interview with Frontera NorteSur, Jess Williams, public information officer for Dona Ana County, declined to give a damage estimate for the New Mexico sector of the Paso del Norte. Williams said authorities want to be careful about coming up with an accurate assessment, which is still underway. Confirming some property damage, Williams added that no injuries were reported in his county from the downpours. "We didn't get hit nearly as hard as El Paso County did," Williams insisted. "We were able to respond very quickly."

HOLES IN THE BORDER INFRASTRUCTURE
Striking almost 15 years after negotiators for the North American Free Trade Agreement pledged to rehabilitate the border's underdeveloped infrastructure, the Paso del Norte flooding disaster nevertheless exposed continued, gaping holes in emergency response, storm control, infrastructure, environmental protection, and housing needs.

Built decades ago and showing wear and tear, Ciudad Juarez's flood control system of small dikes and dams was severely tested by rains not seen in the borderlands since the 1950s. A dam at El Paso's Fort Bliss (which is undergoing a major troop expansion) overflowed, flooding homes in a central El Paso neighborhood. Ciudad Juarez's notorious problem of illegal garbage dumping came back to haunt the city as trash washed from hillsides, empty lots and arroyos.

Authorities in both the US and Mexico are busy figuring out how to pay for the recovery costs, which will likely run into the hundreds of millions of dollars. State disaster declarations in Texas and New Mexico will help free up funds to assist local governments in paying for reconstruction, and a federal disaster declaration should provide another source of aid.

In Mexico, however, hundreds of low-income homeowners who don't have flood insurance suffered complete losses. The preliminary cost estimate for new houses, repaved roads, upgraded dikes, storm wastewater systems, and repaired schools and public properties in Ciudad Juarez alone are tagged at more than $400 million dollars-roughly double the city’s annual city budget.

Chihuahua Governor Jose Reyes Baeza and Ciudad Juarez Mayor Hector Murguia Lardizabal have announced that about $35 million dollars in pledges from the three branches of Mexican government and the private sector for reconstruction aid have been made-a proverbial drop in the bucket of the required funding.

"Obviously, what we have to do is look for extraordinary resources," Mayor Murguia said. "It's not a question of 20 or 30 million pesos, but much bigger goals that involve the three levels of government." The Ciudad Juarez mayor said international bridge fares collected by the Mexican federal government should be returned to the city to help pay for the clean-up and rehabilitation work.

Kent Paterson
Frontera NorteSur (FNS): on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news
Center for Latin American and Border Studies
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico

For a free electronic subscription email fnsnews@nmsu.edu

A collaboration of of organizations educating youth on getting involved in their community

Live Bands! *** Live B-Boy Battle! *** Live Graffiti Battle!

Saturday, August 26
12:00 to 6:00pm
Civic Plaza in downtown Albuquerque

Sponsored by the SouthWest Organizing Project and the South Valley Male
Involvement Project
for more info call Rodrigo at (505) 247-8832 or Craig at (505) 833-9950


Message from SWOP:
Rock Out with Your Cause Out on August 26th at Civic Plaza is aimed to educate the youth in the city on all the organization and services out there for them. There will be live bands, a graffiti battle and b-boy battle. You can help in any of these ways:

1. Send us the information of any organizations or groups you thinks should be there
2. Get the word out through e-mail, calls, myspace how ever you can

3. Be a volunteer for security (we need all the help we can get and will have a training)
4. Help with resources we are still looking for tables, chairs, tents, prizes for bands and graffiti winners (if you have any connections help us out)
5. Be there the day of to help set up
6. Donate money

Border Social Forum Fundraising
The youth are fundraising to go to the Border Social Forum in Juarez,
Mexico we have two main events coming up. The first will be a dinner on
August 31, 2006, location to be announced. Tickets are being sold at
SWOP office for $10 each. Second we are having a yard sale on September
10th at SWOP. You can help by:

1. Buying a ticket to the dinner
2. Volunteering to help with the dinner
3. Donating to the yard sale (call monica to see about pick up or
drop off)
4. shopping at the yard sale
5. Volunteering at the yard sale
6. Donate money


Mónica Córdova, Youth Coordinator
SouthWest Organizing Project
211 10th St. SW
Albuquerque, NM 87102
505.247.8832 (phone)
505.247.9972 (fax)
www.swop.net