Wednesday, February 27, 2008
SWOP homepageLife*
It is sick! It is sick to think that some people are being treated like a disease or that they are perverted and a sinner. To most people this is called “being gay” but to me its called life. Being gay is not a disease. If being gay is a disease I might as well call in “queer” to work.
I was saddened and hurt when I received an e-mail from a good friend about a young man named Lawrence King who was shot in the back of the head. Lawrence was an 8th grade middle school student who was shot by his 14-year-old classmate. Why was Lawrence shot you ask? For no other reason than being gay.
It is sick to me that in our schools your kids are being bullied for such stupid reasons, ugly hair, wrong clothes or where they live. Schools are supposed to be a safe haven for children. I myself was abused at school for the same reason. I too am gay and a senior in high school. I was teased in middle school for being gay and on the third day of my freshmen year I decided that I would end the teasing and come out to everyone.
Once I came out to my peers I was surprised that I was not being teased anymore. This was something much different. I was not being teased, but I was given dirty looks and treated as if I had a disease. People no longer wanted to be around me. I felt like a wild animal let lose in a high school. People would stare at me and purposely take a different hall to miss me. I wished I had kept my mouth shut because at least before I came out I was getting human contact.
Then before I knew it, it was the fifth day of school. The school day had just ended and I was walking towards the buses when I heard some books fall and hit the ground. It was nothing to me so I kept on walking. Then before I knew it I was in pain and on the ground. All I could feel was warmth coming over me. I was on my hands and knees with no sight and no hearing. The warmth I felt coming over me was blood. After about 4 seconds on the floor I got my hearing back but still no vision.
I could hear kids cheering. Then I felt a blow to my side. I then knew that I was getting jumped. I was on my side taking blow after pain staking blow. I felt as if there were three or four guys hitting me at once. I screamed for help but all I heard was laughter. I finally got to my feet trying to find my attackers. Once I found him I realized he was alone. I felt as if my life were in danger. If you have never felt the rush of defending your life it feels as if you had been going to the gym your whole life. Your strength becomes impeccable and you use that to your advantage.
I fell to the floor and looked up .All I could see was a foot coming right at me. All I could do was cringe and wait for the foot of my attacker to slam into my face. That was the last thing I remember. The next thing I was at the hospital with two sprained wrists, a sprained ankle, a shattered nose and a couple of chipped teeth. Over the next few months of recovery I cried begging my mother to not put me back in school. I felt that school was not a safe place anymore but more of a mini community, where I was not welcome.
After about a month after the attack I decided that I would go back to school, back to the school where I had started my freshmen year. I wanted to go back so I could show all of the other students that I was not going anywhere and that I was going to fight back. The day I returned I was a changed person.
I managed to get my doctor bills reimbursed but I still suffer from that day. I’m now diagnosed with rental migraines, which means that my brain can’t process stress and I ether loose my vision or black out completely. It can last anywhere from 30 seconds to two days. I will never get rid of the problem and I will have this condition until my dying day. All because of one person who could not deal with me being gay.
In the story of Lawrence King, there are 2 victims. One being Lawrence and the second, Brandon McIerney, the shooter. Once I read the story I was come over with sorrow. Sorrow for not only Lawrence and his family, but sorrow because Brandon not only took Lawrence’s life, but he also took his own.
Our society has failed Brandon in terms of teaching him tolerance and non-violence. Many will say, “see, that’s why we need guns in school,” and what I say is no. This could have been prevented by having prevention programs that teach about tolerance of any and all peoples. Having prevention and intervention programs on anger management and problem solving skills so that no problem, disagreement or misunderstanding NEVER ends up like Lawrence King. I still stand by a No Guns in Schools Policy, and more so now on needing prevention and intervention programs.
I’m telling my story because I know that I’m not the only one that has been hurt by this issue. And the sad part is that I wont be the last. I do not have a disease. I’m a person just like any other. I think that the “disease” is within the people who do not agree with the “homosexual lifestyle” they are the ones filled with hate. Hate is passed on generation to generation. We need to do something. Women had a revolution, as well as the Mexicans and the African Americans. Now this is the start of the G.L.B.T.Q. revolution.
I was saddened and hurt when I received an e-mail from a good friend about a young man named Lawrence King who was shot in the back of the head. Lawrence was an 8th grade middle school student who was shot by his 14-year-old classmate. Why was Lawrence shot you ask? For no other reason than being gay.
It is sick to me that in our schools your kids are being bullied for such stupid reasons, ugly hair, wrong clothes or where they live. Schools are supposed to be a safe haven for children. I myself was abused at school for the same reason. I too am gay and a senior in high school. I was teased in middle school for being gay and on the third day of my freshmen year I decided that I would end the teasing and come out to everyone.
Once I came out to my peers I was surprised that I was not being teased anymore. This was something much different. I was not being teased, but I was given dirty looks and treated as if I had a disease. People no longer wanted to be around me. I felt like a wild animal let lose in a high school. People would stare at me and purposely take a different hall to miss me. I wished I had kept my mouth shut because at least before I came out I was getting human contact.
Then before I knew it, it was the fifth day of school. The school day had just ended and I was walking towards the buses when I heard some books fall and hit the ground. It was nothing to me so I kept on walking. Then before I knew it I was in pain and on the ground. All I could feel was warmth coming over me. I was on my hands and knees with no sight and no hearing. The warmth I felt coming over me was blood. After about 4 seconds on the floor I got my hearing back but still no vision.
I could hear kids cheering. Then I felt a blow to my side. I then knew that I was getting jumped. I was on my side taking blow after pain staking blow. I felt as if there were three or four guys hitting me at once. I screamed for help but all I heard was laughter. I finally got to my feet trying to find my attackers. Once I found him I realized he was alone. I felt as if my life were in danger. If you have never felt the rush of defending your life it feels as if you had been going to the gym your whole life. Your strength becomes impeccable and you use that to your advantage.
I fell to the floor and looked up .All I could see was a foot coming right at me. All I could do was cringe and wait for the foot of my attacker to slam into my face. That was the last thing I remember. The next thing I was at the hospital with two sprained wrists, a sprained ankle, a shattered nose and a couple of chipped teeth. Over the next few months of recovery I cried begging my mother to not put me back in school. I felt that school was not a safe place anymore but more of a mini community, where I was not welcome.
After about a month after the attack I decided that I would go back to school, back to the school where I had started my freshmen year. I wanted to go back so I could show all of the other students that I was not going anywhere and that I was going to fight back. The day I returned I was a changed person.
I managed to get my doctor bills reimbursed but I still suffer from that day. I’m now diagnosed with rental migraines, which means that my brain can’t process stress and I ether loose my vision or black out completely. It can last anywhere from 30 seconds to two days. I will never get rid of the problem and I will have this condition until my dying day. All because of one person who could not deal with me being gay.
In the story of Lawrence King, there are 2 victims. One being Lawrence and the second, Brandon McIerney, the shooter. Once I read the story I was come over with sorrow. Sorrow for not only Lawrence and his family, but sorrow because Brandon not only took Lawrence’s life, but he also took his own.
Our society has failed Brandon in terms of teaching him tolerance and non-violence. Many will say, “see, that’s why we need guns in school,” and what I say is no. This could have been prevented by having prevention programs that teach about tolerance of any and all peoples. Having prevention and intervention programs on anger management and problem solving skills so that no problem, disagreement or misunderstanding NEVER ends up like Lawrence King. I still stand by a No Guns in Schools Policy, and more so now on needing prevention and intervention programs.
I’m telling my story because I know that I’m not the only one that has been hurt by this issue. And the sad part is that I wont be the last. I do not have a disease. I’m a person just like any other. I think that the “disease” is within the people who do not agree with the “homosexual lifestyle” they are the ones filled with hate. Hate is passed on generation to generation. We need to do something. Women had a revolution, as well as the Mexicans and the African Americans. Now this is the start of the G.L.B.T.Q. revolution.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
SWOP homepageProtest of Burger King
Never in my life did I think I would willingly walk 9 miles consecutively.
For that matter when I was still in school, I dreaded PE because every Friday we had to do a one mile run. And although I feel very accomplished at having walked 9 miles, what the walk represented, was more powerful and meaningful to me than just another stroll in the park.
On Thursday November 29th I was fortunate enough to be heading out to Miami Florida. I was picked to be apart of a delegation representing SWOP and Grassroots Global Justice, a national network of grassroots organizations that SWOP is a part of. We headed out on this trip to Miami in support of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) and Florida’s tomato pickers in protest of Burger King.
The CIW in partnership with Florida tomato pickers have been working for several years now demanding fair wages and humane treatment for the workers who pick tomatoes. To do so, the CIW created the Alliance for Fair Food--a campaign which called upon major corporations such as Taco Bell, Mc Donald’s, and Yummy brand corporations to set the standard for tomatoes suppliers and take a vow to only buy from suppliers who paid and treated their workers fairly. In April of 2007 after many years of battling with these corporations all 3 corporations had signed on to be a part of making this dream a reality. Unfortunately not all major corporations were willing to support these standards. When Burger King was asked to a part of this movement which the CIW was attempting to create, not only did they decline to sign on with this agreement but they also publicly stated they did not believe tomato pickers were living in poverty. They also stated that if tomato pickers were unsatisfied with the working conditions Burger King would hire them to work in their restaurants. After further looking into it, I found not only do tomato pickers make on average $10,000 a year, but in order for them to make even a minimum wage, they would have to pick over 2 tons of tomatoes in a average eight hour work day!
I guess this all leads me back to why this walk was such a meaningful and impactful walk in my eyes. Amongst the swarming sea of marchers with cleverly painted signs, a tractor truck drove along with the crowd. Inside of this tractors bed were dozens of warn tattered shoes with a sign that stated, “Doubt our poverty -Walk in our shoes”. This slogan echoed through my mind and warmed my heart as we finished the last stretch of this nine mile march. There I was walking with the Immokalee workers and everyone else who came to support them in their fight. And although my feet were throbbing and my thighs were aching, I couldn’t help but be inspired by the mass amount of people whose feet were throbbing too. We all marched so well together in solidarity for people who have already put enough miles on their shoes while being exploited by corporations like Burger King. Since this epic march where over 1,500 marchers gathered to send a message to Burger King Headquarters, the CIW has continued to put pressure on Burger King and gather media attention around the issue. For continued coverage of the CIW’s battle with Burger King visit their website http://www.ciw-online.org/Written by Emma Sandoval youth intern
FNS: Do Maquila Layoffs Herald Recesion?
Frontera Norte Sur - Dependent on the US economy, the ups and downs of Mexico's maquiladora, or export assembly, industry are indicators of larger trends in the US and global economies. In Ciudad Juarez, the birthplace of the Mexican industry, scenes of idled production lines and laid off workers back in 2000 foretold the US recession that hit some months later. While US economists debate the prospects for recession in 2008, maquiladora industry observers in Mexico are also split in their assessments of whether or not recent factory layoffs mean bigger economic storm clouds are brewing on the horizon.In a reversal of a job growth trend that held for much of 2007, export manufacturing plants in Ciudad Juarez have dismissed significant numbers of workers in recent months. According to El Diario de Juarez, 9,089 maquiladora workers lost their jobs during the last four months, including 5,802 in the months of the November and December. Overall, the layoffs lowered employment in the local maquiladora industry from 243,845 workers last November to 238,043 in December.
Arnulfo Castro Munive, human resources director for Columbus Industries Mexico, predicted more layoffs will occur by the summer. Jorge Doroteo Zapata, Chihuahua state leader of the Workers Confederation of Mexico, concurred with Castro's projections. Citing the planned closing of Ciudad Juarez's emblematic RCA plant this year, the labor leader contended that US economic conditions will make 2008 a "very difficult year" for border workers. Dedicated to producing televisions, RCA's Ciudad Juarez division employed as many 7,000 workers in its heyday three decades ago. According to Doroteo, the RCA shut-down will leave an additional 600 workers without jobs.
Other maquiladora industry watchers are more upbeat about 2008. Officials with the Chihuahua Secretariat of Industrial Development challenge the notion that the maquiladora sector is in a renewed crisis. Recent layoffs, they argue, are merely part of normal end-of-the-year production restructurings. Adan Gomez, promotional director for the secretariat, insisted that "stability" reigns in the maquiladora industry, with Ciudad Juarez even expected to attract new high-tech jobs. Cesar Castro, president of the National Council of the Maquiladora and Export Manufacturing Industry, even predicted a four or five percent growth rate for the Mexican maquiladora business in 2008.
Sources: La Jornada, February 22 and 25, 2008. Articles by Ruben
Villalpando and Julio Reyna Quiroz. El Diario de Juarez, February 22,
2008.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
SWOP homepageR.I.P. ABQ Tribune
The world of news media - particularly with traditional daily and afternoon newspapers - is fluid and chaotic as the industry struggles with its failure to keep pace with changing technologies, content production dynamics and, simply, the world around it. Ironic for an industry dealing with what's "new," no doubt.Yet, studies continue to show that public policy follows the agenda set by traditional, often corporate, press.
With the death of the Albuquerque Tribune, the state's public policy agenda is now almost solely in the hands of the Albuquerque Journal. Given the media's profound influence on how we vote, think and understand our world, today's final edition of the Trib is tough news for progressive public policy in the state.
Over the years, the Journal hasn't been shy in it's aversion to progressive voices, values and issues. (The Tribune, of course, has hardly been the champion of progressive and community voices we all would have liked, but at least it was an option when shut out of the Journal's agenda.)
Whether intentional or by default, the stories that result from such a media market tend to give voice to those in power, while marginalized voices remain voiceless.
This double-bind—serious danger combined with a lack of opportunity—faced by communities challenged by increasing corporate and private control of the democratic process, public space and the media, is something we simply cannot afford to ignore.
This double-bind can balloon exponentially given that the Journal is trying to survive in this same landscape, and will probably continue to cut costs in ways that will undoubtedly hurt its ability to give us the local in-depth coverage of public policy debates we sorely need.
And I have little faith in local TV news to be a part of the solution.
SWOPblogger, and SWOP's news magazine Voces Unidas, will continue to offer news and views from a community perspective, (so come back often!) but we all need to do more. We have to pay attention to those seemingly boring stories about news consolidation and FCC rules. And we must participate and act in the process to defend communication rights of disenfranchised communities each and every time a vote to loosen ownership rules or give more of our airwaves to less and less corporations comes up - no matter how cumbersome and disengaging the process.
Karlos Gauna Schmieder is SWOP's former communications organizer. He currently works as a media strategist at Center for Media Justice, based in Oakland, California.
Labels: Media, Media Bias
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
SWOP homepageWater on the Mesa to become a reality!
Yes it's true, the day has come….We are at the final stages of reaching a contractual agreement with Bernalillo County and the City of Albuquerque to build a water tank for the residents of Pajarito Mesa.
For over 8 years the community of Pajarito Mesa has been fighting to gain better access to water and other basic necessities. Currently the residents have sustained themselves through purifying their own water, installing solar panels and disposing of their own trash properly. This community has been self-sustaining itself since the 80’s around 25 years ago.
After the long fought 8 years and many negotiations, a water system will be put in place on Pajarito Road just before the top of the hill. The Albuquerque Water Authority will be extending the water lines from the County’s Reservoir along with power lines to operate the system.
The water system consists of a fill station that includes a booster pump to deliver water through a four inch line along Pajarito Road. The water fill station will be installed with a card system with set monthly costs for each resident.
In 2000, the Pajarito Mesa Mutual Domestic Water Consumers Association (PMMDWCA) was created to move this process along, but was met with much resistance and stalemates. Political debates arose around the rights of the residents living there since the plots of land were sold to residents illegally. But the residents and SWOP maintained the position that every person had a right to not only live there, but be provided the basic necessities. With the many years of organizing the community and the hiring of Project Manager Eric Schmieder the doors of opportunity finally opened and the negotiations for a water system began underway in the Summer of 2007.
The Memo of Understanding is scheduled to be signed by all parties before February 26th, 2008. In the meantime the board of the PMMDWCA is working hard to update their membership lists that will want access to the water system.
The PMMDWCA and SWOP would like to thank Eric Schmieder for all of his dedicated work as the Project Manager for the water association. He has opened the doors and enhanced the opportunity for the community to put pressure on the city and county to prioritize the needs of the residents. As Sandra Montes, president of PMMDWCA says “before [Eric] we were holding the door open with our foot, when Eric came he helped us swing the door open.”
This huge victory has been long awaited but it’s only the first victory of many more to come, like the public roads for emergency services, electricity and alternative energy.
Written with contributions from Sandra Montes.
Labels: Pajarito Mesa, Water
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
SWOP homepageJeanne Gauna Presente! - from our friends at SWU...
[Edited statement from SWU blog]
We celebrate the life and continued impact of our sister in struggle, Jeanne Gauna. 5 years ago we lost Jeanne to a tough battle with cancer. A powerful women committed to social justice, she co-founded the SouthWest Organizing Project (SWOP) based in Albuquerque, NM and is a leader in the movement for economic and environmental justice.
Viva Jeanne Gauna!
- with much love from your comrades at Southwest Workers Union.
And another from Mari Rose Taruc - a painting on the USSF above (look for Jeanne's name in one of the hearts...)
The whole painting...
We celebrate the life and continued impact of our sister in struggle, Jeanne Gauna. 5 years ago we lost Jeanne to a tough battle with cancer. A powerful women committed to social justice, she co-founded the SouthWest Organizing Project (SWOP) based in Albuquerque, NM and is a leader in the movement for economic and environmental justice.
Viva Jeanne Gauna!
- with much love from your comrades at Southwest Workers Union.
And another from Mari Rose Taruc - a painting on the USSF above (look for Jeanne's name in one of the hearts...)
The whole painting...
Labels: Jeanne Gauna
Monday, February 18, 2008
SWOP homepageLA Times 2/18: Student's deportation roils New Mexico town
How is Roswell Independent School District going to make sure school security officers don't continue to overstep their authority and deny young people an education?http://www.latimes.com/news/We really must stop tearing families and communities apart and get to practical, humane and realistic solutions to the economic push and pull factors of immigration. A new deal on globalization includes human rights for immigrants, with or without papers.
nicholas.riccardi@latimes.com
School attendance falls and emotions rise in Roswell after a senior falls into the hands of immigration authorities.
ROSWELL, N.M. — This conservative city on the barren eastern plains of New Mexico long had been spared the acrimonious debates over illegal immigration that have racked so much of the Southwest.
That is, until December, when immigration enforcement entered the murky terrain of the local high school.
A school security officer stopped Karina Acosta, an 18-year-old pregnant Roswell High School senior, and discovered she was in the country illegally. He called federal immigration authorities, who swiftly deported her.
The district superintendent protested and the officer was removed from the school and transferred back to the city Police Department. About three dozen angry students and parents marched on police headquarters -- a notable event in a town not accustomed to controversy -- and were met by a handful of counterdemonstrators who backed the officer.
The schools suffered a sudden drop in attendance as students whose parents were in the country illegally kept them home. The local newspaper was peppered with angry letters to the editor denouncing illegal immigrants. And even two months later, unease permeates the community.
"What shocked me more than anything is what it did to this town," said Coreta Justus, one of Acosta's teachers. In the classroom, she said, "you can feel the difference vibrating from the students. I don't think they have those safety feelings anymore. School used to be a very safe place."
In 1982, the Supreme Court ruled that illegal immigrants had the right to attend public schools and that educators could not ask students whether they were in the country legally. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has a policy against entering campuses.
>>You Gotta' Continue Reading this one...
No go for TIDD's and SunCal.
Big thanks to the many folks who stopped the TIDD's, 1000 Friends, New Mexico Voices for Children, Conservation Voters New Mexico, Environment New Mexico and SWOP.A particular thank you to Sen. Cisco McSorley, Sen. Dede Feldman, Sen. Cynthia Nava and Sen. John Grubesic for standing up against the TIDD's and this nasty tax payer giveaway.
In case you missed it here's Senator Cisco McSorley's take on how it all ended. Also check out Cocoposts perspective and the comments.
Here's an excerpt from the Tribune on Feb 15:
Sen. James Taylor, a South Valley Democrat, said the session was all about stalling.
He had been pushing to get a floor vote on a bill regarding a tax incentive for SunCal Cos., which wants to build thousands of homes on Albuquerque's West Side.
His problem was with some last-minute strategy employed by Sen. Cisco McSorley, an Albuquerque Democrat, who, saying he was part of a minority that opposed the tax bill, embarked upon a filibuster.
"I'm going to talk for a long time," McSorley declared.
A long time turned out to be 30 minutes of pacing in the corner of the Senate floor and waxing poetic about solar photovoltaic technology at Mesa del Sol, sprawl development and why the Bernalillo County Commission "gave away the farm" to SunCal.
It ended when the bill was tabled, but McSorley later said that using the Legislature's noon deadline to adjourn had worked for others in the past.
"It was my turn to be the minority to stop the work on a bill," he said.
Labels: 2008 Legislature, TIDD, TIF
Saturday, February 16, 2008
SWOP homepageFNS 2/13: Texas Gives Green Light to Copper Smelter
Note from SWOPblogger: ASARCO is an environmental injustice icon. Get the Lead Out has additional information. Here's what bloggers are saying, according to google.Austin, Texas, FNS news - Despite widespread cross-border opposition, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has given a mothballed El Paso plant the go ahead to once again start smelting copper. At a February 13 meeting in Austin, Texas, TCEQ commissioners voted 3-0 to give the American Smelting and Refining Company (Asarco) a five-year air quality permit.
Asarco's air permit request was opposed by numerous non-governmental organizations and governmental entities from Texas, New Mexico and Ciudad Juarez. Straddling the Rio Grande, Asarco's El Paso smelter is located directly across the river from Ciudad Juarez and within one mile of the New Mexico border.
Smelter opponents contended a reopened smelter would degrade the binational Paso del Norte airshed, which already suffers significant pollution levels.
"This smelter has had a sad history of fouling the air and potentially harming the health of citizens in Southern New Mexico," said New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who wrote a letter of concern to Texas Governor Rick Perry prior to the TCEQ's long-delayed decision.
TCEQ commissioners argued that current state law forced officials to grant approval to Asarco’s permit. “If I were king for the day, the Texas Clean Air Act wouldn’t look anything like it does today,” said Commissioner Larry Soward, who was quoted in the El Paso Times. The TCEQ did attach a number of recommendations and conditions to the permit, including the setting up of four lead monitors for the smelter.
Spokespersons for Asarco were pleased by the TCEQ’s decision. “You don’t have to choose between jobs and the environment,” Asarco attorney Pam Giblin said to TCEQ commissioners. “You can really have both.”
The City of El Paso, which was among several parties formally contesting Asarco's permit application, had unsuccessfully lobbied the TCEQ to postpone the February 13 meeting because of pending, unresolved issues
related to the smelter’s operation.
Austin attorney Erich Birch, who represents the City of El Paso, told Frontera NorteSur that upcoming US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) lead emissions standards which could go into effect later this year are
expected to mandate stricter limits than are currently on the books. Also, the City of El Paso plans to petition the TCEQ to revoke Asarco's permission to operate because of alleged violations of the company's air permit that happened before Asarco suspended its operations in 1999, Birch said.
Last but far from least is the issue of who is responsible for Asarco. Embroiled in Texas bankruptcy proceedings, Asarco is owned by Grupo Mexico but controlled by a court-appointed independent board of directors that could sell off the smelter and its assets.
A subsidiary of Grupo Mexico, Asarco, Inc., is attempting to recuperate management control of the company. Late last month, Asarco, Inc. announced it would not reopen the smelter if it regains management authority. In a statement, the company pledged to work with environmental authorities and the community to clean up contamination at the plant site.
"There's all this stuff in limbo," Birch said, adding that he didn't expect the smelter to reopen overnight. Meanwhile, the City of El Paso has the right to appeal the TCEQ's action to state District Court, according to Birch. "I'm sure the City will appeal this decision," he said.
The TCEQ's February 13 meeting in the Texas state capital drew hundreds of smelter critics and supporters who traveled from the borderlands. Groups turning out the troops included the Sierra Club, Sunland Park Grassroots Environmental Group, Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now and Citizens Organized for Integral Community Development of Ciudad Juarez. After the TCEQ's decision was announced, anti-smelter activists staged a protest rally outside the agency's Austin offices.
Environmental activists plan to press their fight. The controversy spread to Mexico's federal Chamber of Deputies last week, when legislators passed a resolution that requested the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs invoke the 1983 La Paz Agreement between Mexico and the US and raise the issue of Asarco with both the TCEQ and the EPA. The Mexican congressmen seek compensation for Ciudad Juarez neighborhoods allegedly contaminated by lead and other heavy metals from Asarco's previous operations.
The Mexican congressional resolution also requested that the possible reopening of Asarco be discussed at the next meeting of the Joint Advisory Committee for the Improvement of Air Quality scheduled for February 28 in El Paso. Made up of government representatives and citizens from both sides of the border, the committee reviews pollution control strategies and issues recommendations for the Paso del Norte international air basin.
Additional sources: Newspapertree.com (El Paso), February 13, 2008. Articles by Sito Negron. Norte, February 12, 2008. Article by Herika Martinez Prado. El Diario de Juarez, February 12, 2008. El Paso Times, January 24, 2008; February 9 and 13, 2008. Articles by Brandi Grissom and editorial staff.
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
Labels: Envirionmental Justice, US/Mexico Border
Friday, February 15, 2008
SWOP homepageCheck out what NM Legislator's have to say about Public Financing
Public Financing takes the money out of politics and makes our elected officials accountable to us, the voters. Why would you want it any other way. Here's a short clip of a few Legislators opinion on the matter. Bottom line: We need it, no if, and's or buts. It doesn't look like it'll pass this session, but we'll get there.
Visit Clearly New Mexico
Visit Clearly New Mexico
Labels: Clearly New Mexico, Public Financing
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
SWOP homepageDoor Knocking!!!!
These past couple weeks SWOP has been door knocking and phone banking to talk to community members about issues that have been discussed in the legislature, such as APS wanting to create their own police force (not in this legislative term, but next year’s), health care for all, fair and ethical elections, open and honest government, and a healthy sustainable planet.This is not my first experience door knocking. When I was younger I went door knocking with my parents, but I never had to talk to the people I was just there for the walk. So in a way it is new to me. It is very challenging for me to speak to people I’ve never met before, especially about such issues, because they seem to be very controversial. When I come to someone who is on one side of the issue and I’m on the other it is kind of discouraging, but it is a good experience. It helps me get over the fact that not everyone is on the same page on these issues, but at least we can talk about them.
Door knocking and informing community members have a great deal of importance, because some of the community members I talked to didn’t know about APS wanting to put together their own police force. Which to me, everyone should know about, because it affects us, the youth (A.K.A. The Future). It’s also important, because the issues we’ve been discussing will affect us all. We should all have a part in the decisions made that will impact us. Also, it assures that more people will vote based on what they know.
It’s also empowering as a young person to go out and do this, because it’s an educational experience. Along with the community members you’re speaking to you get to learn and understand the issues better. You also get to see all sides of the issues. While you may be for or against something, you get to hear the other side. Not only that, you can express to them, if they’re willing to listen, your side and why you feel the opposite. With this, I would encourage EVERYONE to get informed on issues that affect their communities and take part in the process in which these decisions will be made, whether that be by voting, door knocking, discussing them with neighbors, or even the people who represent you.
Labels: 2008 Legislature, door to door organizing, youth
Senator Bernadette Sanchez Hides Industry Driven Deregulation Attempt
Press Release: Tuesday February 12, 2008Contact: Robby Rodriguez, Executive Director of SWOP 505-385-1469
Group exposes Senator Sanchez as deregulation champion
Santa Fe, New Mexico: Senator Bernadette Sanchez is working hard for industry groups this session by sponsoring bills that would have the effect of weakening environmental protection, worker health and safety.
Sanchez is the sponsor of SB 57, the Regulatory Process Task Force Bill. In a press release responding to a mail piece to her district, Senator Sanchez states, "I even got mailings from one group that seemed to think the task force would somehow take away the ability of our State agencies to protect the environment. Of course neither the task force nor the legislative committee would have such authority."
The mailing, created by the SouthWest Organizing Project, states that Senator Sanchez’s bill would weaken protections for the environment, worker safety and health. The mail piece also claims that Senator Sanchez’s bill has all of the earmarks of the work of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), an industry-funded think tank in Washington, DC.
SWOP Executive Director Robby Rodriguez stated, “Senator Sanchez’s bill walks like an ALEC deregulation bill and quacks like an ALEC
deregulation bill. It’s an ALEC bill. Her constituents need to know their health and safety is at risk if these bills are passed.”
Senator Sanchez claims her bill would have created “a broadly representative task force for the simple purpose of studying our State agencies' administrative procedures. However, this task force was industry stacked and even named the Association for Commerce and Industry as one of the members—the only member of the task force specifically designated. Not surprisingly, ACI proposed this legislation in the interim and hails Senator Sanchez as one of their champions who is “committed to changing the regulatory process” not merely studying it.
Last year, ACI’s major deregulatory push was in the guise of Rep. Dan Silva HB685, the so-called Administrative Accountability Act, which was tagged by environmentalists as the “Polluter’s Bill of Rights”. HB 685 was modeled off of legislation developed by ALEC—the American Legislative Exchange Council—a right wing think tank whose agenda includes rolling back civil rights, privatizing public services and weakening environmental regulations. ALEC is heavily funded by some of the country’s biggest polluters—Enron, the American Nuclear Energy Council, the American Petroleum Institute, Chevron, Shell, Texaco and others.
Even the Legislative Finance Committee’s own analysis compares SB 57 to last year’s HB 685, which was the ALEC bill. It’s no wonder that in committee, lobbyists in support of Senator Sanchez’s bill included the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, New Mexico Mining Association, Independent Petroleum Association, New Mexico Restaurant Association, New Mexico Cattlegrowers, New Mexico Homebuilders Association, Association of Commerce and Industry, Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce and Phelps Dodge Mining Company.
"Regulations exits to protect public health, safety and welfare – SB 57 weakens them by putting the health of our communities in the hands of Oil & Industry; and that is dangerous," stated Rodriguez.
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Labels: ALEC, deregulation, Envirionmental Justice, SB 57, Senator Bernadette Sanchez
Sunday, February 10, 2008
SWOP homepageInsider Politics: Bernalillo County Lobbyist goes to Bat for SunCal
Local media outlets have been up in arms about the massive dollars that public agencies spend on “hired gun” lobbyists to get money out of the State legislature. And its true--it’s a pretty outrageous system we have for divvying up our public dollars.
Larry Barker of Channel 13 did a nice piece on the enormous amount of funds spent on lobbying by government agencies. In it, he describes the lobbyists as “…hired guns. They are part of an elite group of men and women armed with fat government contracts they work behind the scenes at the legislature. Their clients: villages, schools, cities, counties, and state agencies. Even though you paid their bills, you don’t know who they are, what they do or how much they make.”
But what makes it ten times worse, and what Barker leaves out of his piece, is the enormous amount of money spent by private industry to woo legislators every year and the sheer insider cronyism so on display at the Roundhouse. The little guys simply can’t compete in that environment. We don’t know how much private industry spends, but its massive. There is a solid professional class of lobbyists who get paid to persuade our elected officials to vote a certain way, and some of them are even the relatives of the legislators themselves. An elite group they most certainly are. And it’s in their best interest to keep a few government clients because it keeps them all in bed together.
For Instance:
The TIDD Greenfield Reform bill, known as HB 451, was heard last Wednesday in the Taxation and Revenue Committee. During the comments section of the hearing, a lobbyist named Daniel Weaks lobbied against the TIDD Reform Bill on behalf of Bernalillo County. Then Representative Elias Barela, who co-sponsored HB 451, called Weaks back and asked him to disclose that he is also a registered lobbyist for SunCal Corporation. SunCal, of course, is the massive California corporation lobbying hard for the creation of tax-payer funded TIDDs to subsidize their development on Albuquerque’s west side. And on the same afternoon he was lobbying against TIDD reform on behalf of Bernalillo County, Weaks was lobbying heavily for approval of SunCal’s TIDD appropriations request, which promises SunCal over $1 Billion in tax revenue over the coming decades.
To refresh your memory, the TIDD Reform Bill addresses serious concerns many legislators and community members have about the serious drain the current State TIDD statute potentially creates on the State’s budget. This Bill would have capped the amount of State Gross Receipts Tax given away to developers at 50% instead of 70%, and it would have implemented real accountability measures for TIDDs. HB 451 is a true compromise bill that does not eliminate TIDDs in the Greenfields.
That Bernalillo County would hire a lobbyist to speak against this reform demonstrates well what we have all pointed out: allowing the creation of TIDDs for new Greenfield housing developments leads to a balkanization of our State, with local governments only looking out for their own bottom line. How else can we interpret the lobbying of Bernalillo County against a bill that protects the future state ability to meet its fiscal obligations to all the small towns of New Mexico?
In essence, Bernalillo County lobbied for itself at the expense of the rest of New Mexico. And it lobbied for SunCal Corporation’s TIDD appropriations bill that was also being heard on Wednesday, by sharing a lobbyist with SunCal. When Weaks says he represents both Bernalillo County and SunCal, the two easily become equated in the minds of state legislators.
This smacks of the insider cronyism between private industry and our public entities that we’re always assured doesn’t exist.
Weaks, as an example, is one of the power lobbyists in the State, working the Capital for decades along with his wife, Marla Shoats. He wears one hat: the Daniel Weaks hat. He knows all the legislators, takes them out to dinner, sends them birthday cards, and tells them how to vote. SunCal has 12 registered lobbyists working the Roundhouse fulltime. Two are registered under SunCal, and the others are registered under Westland Devco, which is another name SunCal uses. The joke making the rounds at the Roundhouse is that you know you’re the cream of the crop if you were hired by SunCal in 2008.
In the midst of all this, the little guy (which is you and me) finds it hard, if not impossible to be heard. Take it from us. When you’re there it is blatantly obvious that the swarm of careerist lobbyists consider our Roundhouse their second home.
This is why the vast majority of New Mexicans need legislation in place that forces accountability and transparency, and that takes the money out of politics. We have real full-time jobs, and we can’t afford to wine and dine our legislators, we can’t afford to take them golfing or buy them nice Christmas presents, and we certainly can’t afford full-time hired guns to represent our interests at the Roundhouse, or City Hall. We need to level the playing field.
Friday, February 08, 2008
SWOP homepageAfrican American voters in California buck voter turnout trend
Cross-posted from Echolandia.Published on: February 8, 2008
Published by: karlos schmieder
Likely and eligible African American Democrat voters made up 9% of Super Tuesday's California primary, according to Survey USA.
ProjectVote.org documented an increase in young, Latino and African American turnout across 5 important primary states (Arizona, California, Georgia, Missouri, and Tennessee), and say young and people of color voted in record numbers in all Super Tuesday states.
Yet African Americans underperformed compared to their percentage of the voting eligible population in California, making up just 7% of the state’s Democratic voters, according to exit polls.So what happened in California that African American’s bucked the trend of people of color outperforming their percentage of eligible voters in this year’s exciting Presidential election?
I think I have an answer, for the Bay Area at least.
Last October, Center for Media Justice (when we were still Youth Media Council) published Displacing the Dream - a study on Bay Area media coverage of housing and development in the region.
One finding that came out of it was that very little coverage focused on displacement patterns, particularly of African Americans. (Go here for blog posts, and see the insightful prologue at SF Bayview.)
As of 2006, Oakland and San Francisco had each lost 20-25% of their African American populations. Since then, this trend has only accelerated.
From the Displacing the Dream prologue: As more and more city space sells out to the highest bidder, longstanding communities - usually African-American, Latino and Asian - which hold rich social, economic and cultural networks, are displaced and, thus, destroyed. And with that destruction, there is tremendous cost.
One of those costs, particularly in the Bay Area, is the resulting loss of electoral, organizing and mobilization power for the region’s African American population.
Does predatory corporate development disenfranchise communities? A body of evidence is beginning to suggest it does.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
SWOP homepageCommunity Groups Go to Court to Clean up LANL
KOB CoverageNEWS RELEASE
For further information:
Michael Jensen, Amigos Bravos
505-362-1063 or 575-758-3874
Megan Anderson, Western Environmental Law Center
575-751-0351
Santa Fe, New Mexico -- Citing significant violations of the Clean Water Act at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), an alliance of nine New Mexico community organizations and two individuals today filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Energy and the Los Alamos National Security, LLC. This morning at the state capitol building in Santa Fe, the community groups said it was time for LANL to address the substantial contamination problems that are migrating off the lab's property.
"We have joined forces to hold LANL accountable for more than 60 years of contamination that now threatens our future drinking water supply," said Brian Shields of Amigos Bravos, one of the community groups. "Every time it rains or snows, these contaminants move through our canyons and springs to the Río Grande. LANL needs to take immediate and effective action to protect our community's waters."
Megan Anderson of the Western Environmental Law Center and legal counsel for the alliance of groups and individuals, said that the lawsuit was based on several violations of the Clean Water Act: failure to comply with water quality standards; failure to conduct adequate monitoring; failure to comply with reporting requirements; and failure to have effective pollution control measures in place.
"The result of these failures is that toxic contaminants are migrating to the Río Grande and to drinking water sources for Santa Fe and Albuquerque," said Joni Arends of Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety.
"In May, the New Mexico Environment Department reported finding plutonium in the area of the proposed Buckman Direct Diversion Project, a future drinking water source for the city."
The groups say that countless studies by the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) and LANL itself show that New Mexico's future water supply is being threatened by a number of pollutants, including PCBs at up to 25,000 times the New Mexico Water Quality Standard protective of human health.
"We joined this lawsuit because we are concerned about contamination from LANL impacting downstream and downwind irrigators and farmers" said Harold Trujillo of the New Mexico Acequia Association. "The Río Grande continues to be used for fishing and farming all along its length, enabling dangerous contaminants to get directly into the food chain."
"It is urgent for rural Northern New Mexico communities downwind of LANL to acknowledge air as a pathway for water contamination and hold LANL accountable for toxic and radioactive pollution that blows on a daily basis into our watershed. We have joined with our downstream communities in this lawsuit because, we can be sure, whatever LANL is sending downwind through the air is going to end up in our watershed, our land and our water," said Sheri Kotowski from Embudo Valley Environmental Monitoring Group.
"There is no justice if LANL is not held accountable for more than 60 years of knowingly contaminating ancestral water," added Kathy Sanchez, Director of Tewa Woman United. "All of us are connected by water. There are more than 1,400 documented contaminated sites in sacred ancestral homelands of water-related life presence. That is why we, as tribal women concerned for all relations, and our children's future, have joined forces to hold LANL accountable for violations against water's natural order- life affirming water. Purity of water must be returned."
Clean water is a spiritual and ethical concern," said Joan Brown of Partnership for Earth Spirituality. "Water is the Creator's gift for the Common Good. Our action today is a moral and ethical stance to invite Los Alamos National Laboratory and all involved to accountability."
"El aqua es la vida! We want zero contaminants discharged from LANL, and we want them to implement Best Management Practices for discharges and dumping," said James Maestas of the Don Gabino Andrade Community Acequia Association.
Robby Rodriguez, Executive Director of SWOP, said that the groups expect the lawsuit would result in LANL honoring its commitments. "LANL has a budget over $2 billion," Rodriguez said. "It is inexcusable that they are failing to clean up their toxic mess, which affects nearby Pueblos and small towns and cities along the Río Grande. We want Federal and State regulators to hold LANL accountable. LANL needs to take immediate and effective action to protect our waters."
Anderson stated that groups filing the lawsuit hoped that total fines from prior and on-going violations would be vigorously pursued, paid in full, and allocated to complete and effective independent monitoring and remediation of the sites in question to prevent future contamination of our waters.
"There's a lot at stake here. We all have a responsibility to protect the Rio Grande from further degradation," said Steve Harris, director of Rio Grande Restoration.
Organizations and individuals filing the lawsuit are Amigos Bravos, Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, Don Gabino Andrade Community Acequia Association, Embudo Valley Environmental Monitoring Group, New Mexico Acequia Association, Partnership for Earth Spirituality, Río Grande Restoration, SouthWest Organizing Project, Gilbert Sanchez, Kathy Sanchez, and Tewa Women United.
Click here for a full copy of the complaint.
Organizations and individuals that jointly filed the lawsuit include:
*Amigos Bravos - Protecting and restoring New Mexico's rivers since 1988.
*Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety - Protecting all living beings and the environment from the effects of radioactive and other hazardous materials now and in the future.
*Don Gabino Andrade Community Acequia Association - An acequia in the South Valley of Albuquerque concerned with water quality issues and providing water to small farmers.
*Embudo Valley Environmental Monitoring Group - Focuses on the public and environmental health and safety issues related to air emissions generated by LANL activities that affect our watersheds.
*New Mexico Acequia Association - Strengthening our communities by sustaining ancestral connections to land, water, and culture.
*Partnership for Earth Spirituality - An interfaith group of people working for care of God's creation through reflection, education and action.
*Rio Grande Restoration - "A policy advocacy group dedicated to protecting the flows of the Rio Grande."
*SouthWest Organizing Project - Working to empower our communities to realize racial and gender equality and social and economic justice.
*Gilbert Sanchez - Member of Tribal Environmental Watch Alliance (TEWA) and a community activist at the Pueblo of San Ildefonso.
*Kathy Sanchez - Director of Tewa Women United and a community activist at the Pueblo of San Ildefonso caring for Mother Earth.
*Tewa Women United - A civic group empowering women from the Northern New Mexico Pueblos.
Western Environmental Law Center, a non-profit, public interest law firm dedicated to protecting the land, sky, water, wildlife and culture of the West is representing the community groups and individuals.
###
"We have joined forces to hold LANL accountable for more than 60 years of contamination that now threatens our future drinking water supply," said Brian Shields of Amigos Bravos, one of the community groups. "Every time it rains or snows, these contaminants move through our canyons and springs to the Río Grande. LANL needs to take immediate and effective action to protect our community's waters."
Megan Anderson of the Western Environmental Law Center and legal counsel for the alliance of groups and individuals, said that the lawsuit was based on several violations of the Clean Water Act: failure to comply with water quality standards; failure to conduct adequate monitoring; failure to comply with reporting requirements; and failure to have effective pollution control measures in place.
"The result of these failures is that toxic contaminants are migrating to the Río Grande and to drinking water sources for Santa Fe and Albuquerque," said Joni Arends of Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety."In May, the New Mexico Environment Department reported finding plutonium in the area of the proposed Buckman Direct Diversion Project, a future drinking water source for the city."
The groups say that countless studies by the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) and LANL itself show that New Mexico's future water supply is being threatened by a number of pollutants, including PCBs at up to 25,000 times the New Mexico Water Quality Standard protective of human health.
"We joined this lawsuit because we are concerned about contamination from LANL impacting downstream and downwind irrigators and farmers" said Harold Trujillo of the New Mexico Acequia Association. "The Río Grande continues to be used for fishing and farming all along its length, enabling dangerous contaminants to get directly into the food chain."
"It is urgent for rural Northern New Mexico communities downwind of LANL to acknowledge air as a pathway for water contamination and hold LANL accountable for toxic and radioactive pollution that blows on a daily basis into our watershed. We have joined with our downstream communities in this lawsuit because, we can be sure, whatever LANL is sending downwind through the air is going to end up in our watershed, our land and our water," said Sheri Kotowski from Embudo Valley Environmental Monitoring Group.
"There is no justice if LANL is not held accountable for more than 60 years of knowingly contaminating ancestral water," added Kathy Sanchez, Director of Tewa Woman United. "All of us are connected by water. There are more than 1,400 documented contaminated sites in sacred ancestral homelands of water-related life presence. That is why we, as tribal women concerned for all relations, and our children's future, have joined forces to hold LANL accountable for violations against water's natural order- life affirming water. Purity of water must be returned."
Clean water is a spiritual and ethical concern," said Joan Brown of Partnership for Earth Spirituality. "Water is the Creator's gift for the Common Good. Our action today is a moral and ethical stance to invite Los Alamos National Laboratory and all involved to accountability."
"El aqua es la vida! We want zero contaminants discharged from LANL, and we want them to implement Best Management Practices for discharges and dumping," said James Maestas of the Don Gabino Andrade Community Acequia Association.
Robby Rodriguez, Executive Director of SWOP, said that the groups expect the lawsuit would result in LANL honoring its commitments. "LANL has a budget over $2 billion," Rodriguez said. "It is inexcusable that they are failing to clean up their toxic mess, which affects nearby Pueblos and small towns and cities along the Río Grande. We want Federal and State regulators to hold LANL accountable. LANL needs to take immediate and effective action to protect our waters."
Anderson stated that groups filing the lawsuit hoped that total fines from prior and on-going violations would be vigorously pursued, paid in full, and allocated to complete and effective independent monitoring and remediation of the sites in question to prevent future contamination of our waters.
"There's a lot at stake here. We all have a responsibility to protect the Rio Grande from further degradation," said Steve Harris, director of Rio Grande Restoration.
Organizations and individuals filing the lawsuit are Amigos Bravos, Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, Don Gabino Andrade Community Acequia Association, Embudo Valley Environmental Monitoring Group, New Mexico Acequia Association, Partnership for Earth Spirituality, Río Grande Restoration, SouthWest Organizing Project, Gilbert Sanchez, Kathy Sanchez, and Tewa Women United.
Click here for a full copy of the complaint.
Organizations and individuals that jointly filed the lawsuit include:
*Amigos Bravos - Protecting and restoring New Mexico's rivers since 1988.
*Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety - Protecting all living beings and the environment from the effects of radioactive and other hazardous materials now and in the future.
*Don Gabino Andrade Community Acequia Association - An acequia in the South Valley of Albuquerque concerned with water quality issues and providing water to small farmers.
*Embudo Valley Environmental Monitoring Group - Focuses on the public and environmental health and safety issues related to air emissions generated by LANL activities that affect our watersheds.
*New Mexico Acequia Association - Strengthening our communities by sustaining ancestral connections to land, water, and culture.
*Partnership for Earth Spirituality - An interfaith group of people working for care of God's creation through reflection, education and action.
*Rio Grande Restoration - "A policy advocacy group dedicated to protecting the flows of the Rio Grande."
*SouthWest Organizing Project - Working to empower our communities to realize racial and gender equality and social and economic justice.
*Gilbert Sanchez - Member of Tribal Environmental Watch Alliance (TEWA) and a community activist at the Pueblo of San Ildefonso.
*Kathy Sanchez - Director of Tewa Women United and a community activist at the Pueblo of San Ildefonso caring for Mother Earth.
*Tewa Women United - A civic group empowering women from the Northern New Mexico Pueblos.
Western Environmental Law Center, a non-profit, public interest law firm dedicated to protecting the land, sky, water, wildlife and culture of the West is representing the community groups and individuals.
###
Labels: Clean Water Act, LANL violations, Los Alamos, water contamination
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
SWOP homepageAPA: TIF, Greenfields, and Sprawl
Good Jobs First yesterday released a new in-depth article about the nation’s most controversial kind of economic development subsidy – “TIF, Greenfields, and Sprawl” – just published in Planning and Environmental Law, a journal of the American Planning Association.
See it on their website at: http://www.goodjobsfirst.org/pdf/apa.pdf.
The article includes a segment on the most notorious current TIF dispute in the nation: in New Mexico, where radical TIF deregulation threatens to undermine funding for state and locally funded public services.
Related links:
TIF and sprawl in the Twin Cities Metro Area
Job subsidies and sprawl: Chapter 6 of The Great American Jobs Scam
Sprawling subsidies for Cabela’s and Bass Pro
ARTICLE SUMMARY: Tax Increment Financing (TIF) is an economic development incentive tool funded by diverting the incremental increase in property and/or sales tax created by redevelopment or new development within a geographically defined TIF district.
As originally enacted in most states, TIF was intended to reverse private-sector disinvestment in older, urban areas with physical “blight” or contamination, so its use was not widespread. However, over the past three decades, some states have loosened their TIF-targeting criteria; in other states, courts have granted localities wide latitude in defining “blight.” In the same decades, federal aid to cities declined, and some states enacted legislation or ballot initiatives causing “fiscalization of land use,” or a tax base-driven distortion of local governments’ development priorities.
For all these reasons, TIF is now increasingly associated with “greenfield” or sprawling projects, including big-box retail. A few retail chains have become especially aggressive seeking TIF, such as Cabela’s, the outdoor sporting goods company. And a mixed-use new urbanist project by the partnership Forest City Covington on the edge of Albuquerque will benefit from a very large TIF tax diversion.
Because such applications are so far astray from TIF’s original pro-urban mission, and because TIF often diverts large amounts of revenue for many years from other bodies of governments—especially counties and school boards—it has become the United States’ most controversial economic development subsidy.
Labels: Campaign for a Better New Mexico, TIDD, TIF
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
SWOP homepageDumping on the Mesa
Channel 4 just recently did a story on the illegal dumping on Pajarito Mesa and the reporter who was covering the story was almost run over by the man they were catching in the act.
But in the story there are claims that alot of the dumping is done by the residents themselves. Which is a total misrepresentation. SWOP has worked hard with the community to educate residents on how to treat their own water and garbage. Attempts have been made to the county to fine the dumping culprits, hold the landfill sitting on the mesa accountable and help in cleaning the mesa, but requests are only ever met with minimal political will to help. Its a complicated situation that no one wants to touch.
Later this week, we will be doing a podcast with our very own field organizer Sandra, also a resident of Pajarito Mesa and her analysis of why the dumping happens in her own backyard and how it can be cleaned up.
Here's the story on channel 4.
But in the story there are claims that alot of the dumping is done by the residents themselves. Which is a total misrepresentation. SWOP has worked hard with the community to educate residents on how to treat their own water and garbage. Attempts have been made to the county to fine the dumping culprits, hold the landfill sitting on the mesa accountable and help in cleaning the mesa, but requests are only ever met with minimal political will to help. Its a complicated situation that no one wants to touch.
Later this week, we will be doing a podcast with our very own field organizer Sandra, also a resident of Pajarito Mesa and her analysis of why the dumping happens in her own backyard and how it can be cleaned up.
Here's the story on channel 4.
Labels: illegal dumping, Pajarito Mesa
Monday, February 04, 2008
SWOP homepageEspejos de Aztlan tonight: SWOP's Tomas Garduno
