The Journal and most other media have done a poor job of educating the public about the most important local issue of the year. A giant corporation, SunCal, is seeking a huge tax gift that will last 25 years. Councilor Michael Cadigan calls it a "ripoff" of future tax dollars that could easily top a BILLION dollars--Tax Increment Development Districts (TIDDs).
The City Council -- at least the five members who decided to show up for work and vote on the public's interests--also agreed, voting 4-1 to limit TIDDs to developed areas or places where there is already a TIDD. Too bad the other four councilors were too busy having a hissy fit to do their part in voting on this important matter.
Last week's Westside Coalition of Neighborhood Association’s meeting explored this issue in great detail, listening to supporters like WSCONA Prsident Dan Serrano, Councilor Ken Sanchez as well as Cadigan. It then voted 9-3 to abolish TIDD tax incentives for the outlying 1,400 acres of the Albuquerque portion of SunCal's holdings.
1,400 acres is a HUGE development! BUT it is inconceivable that the County, led by Alan Armijo, has already paved the way for SunCal to gain TIDDS for 53,000 acres of land. 53,000 acres! That is bigger than Las Cruces and Santa Fe COMBINED!
This is a complicated issue, so one wonders why the local media have been so lax in running stories. There are many reasons for opposing this corporate welfare, so the WSCONA rejected giving this CA corporation hundreds of millions of dollars or our tax money to further stimulate development on 55,000 acres of the Westside (land that will be developed anyway), especially since other parts of Albuquerque desperately need such stimulus.
SunCal says is will pay for everything and be a great business partner, but some City Councilors have testified about SunCal's "take it or leave it" attitude. I suggest we look at recent corporate malfeasance; can you say Enron, Tycho or the savings and loans crisis of the 1980s (over 2000 crooked S&Ls)? Even if SunCal is pure, what if they are bought by a hedge fund. Fully 50% of U.S. corporations are now owned by global hedge funds who often turn out to be bad stewards of the public interest.
No matter what SunCal says, costs for police, water, environment, jails, I-40 interchanges, pollution, etc., will be bourne by YOU AND I! SunCal has already said that not a penny will go to Wesgate or east/west traffic abatement (which SunCal will worsen dramatically).
We are at a crucial crossroads.
Thirty years ago, Albuquerque developers and politicians promised a lake beneath the city that would be endless. For years, many educated people repeated this myth.
Fifteen years ago, we learned how small the 'lake' was and how fast we were pumping it down--eight feet per year!
Now, developers and politicians (and the front page of monday's Journal) say, “Have no fear. We will take plenty of San Juan/Chama water from the Rio Grande.”
The San Juan/Chama myth is now being repeated by those who want to double the size of Albuquerque in a few decades, but it would only take a few years of drought to dry up that source.
Common sense demands that we ask:
1. How much longer can we draw down our aquifer?
2. What if the drought continues? We are growing at a rapid rate right now.
3. The city has already granted a huge TIDD to Mesa del Sol. What about its thousands more homes and their future demand upon our water?
What about Black Ranch (tens of thousands more homes)
What about other developments?
What about Rio Rancho, other communities and Native Americans’ future demands upon the Rio Grande aquifer?
Water (not oil) is the most important scarce resource.
We must look at Georgia, turning brown, fighting lawsuits with Florida as drought dries up the river systems that also feed into Florida. Florida is losing industries, jobs and whole ecosystems RIGHT NOW because of overdevelopment in Atlanta. Those developers said that their crisis would never happen, but just one more year of drought wil put Atlanta flat out of water!
If the city and county throw gas on the fire of our insane level of development by offering hundreds of millions of dollars in tax incentives to make California developers richer, we are courting similar disaster.
It makes no sense, and, if the Journal can run a series of front page stories about beautifying the I-40 interchange, they sure should run a series about this key issue.
Bob McCannon
President,
Ladera West Neighborhood Association
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Dec 3: Front Page Says Water Plentiful!!
CURRENT SOURCES ARE SET FOR DECADES. BUT THEN WHAT? This is the lead line for an irresponsible story about water. The city is about to start pumping Rio Grande water -- the San Juan/Chama project which cost hundreds of millions of dollars -- into its sparkling new purificatin plact and huge new pipelines.
Why is ABQ doing this? Because we are pumping our aquifer dry; it is falling 8 feet/yr. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the SJC water will only meet ABQ's needs AT ITS CURRENT SIZE, so we are obviously going to have to start pumping again soon to support our rapid rate of growth.
"Ahhh, but this will give the aquifer time to recharge," say the developers.
These are the same developers who used to promise us that there was an endless, huge lake of water beneath ABQ.
Question: what happens to SJC if we have a few years of drought?
Huh?
Why is ABQ doing this? Because we are pumping our aquifer dry; it is falling 8 feet/yr. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the SJC water will only meet ABQ's needs AT ITS CURRENT SIZE, so we are obviously going to have to start pumping again soon to support our rapid rate of growth.
"Ahhh, but this will give the aquifer time to recharge," say the developers.
These are the same developers who used to promise us that there was an endless, huge lake of water beneath ABQ.
Question: what happens to SJC if we have a few years of drought?
Huh?
Friday, November 30, 2007
Outright Lies by Today's Journal
Today’s Journal completely misrepresented a Westside Coalition of Neighborhood Association’s meeting last night. It said that the Coalition supported Councilor Cadigan’s bill to put limitations upon future TIDD tax incentives to developers. Not true!
In fact, the coalition rejected Cadigan’s bill. It voted to reject greenbelt TIDDs entirely, especially the one requested by SunCal which would give the CA corporation hundreds of millions of dollars in tax incentives to develop its 55,000 acres on Albuquerque’s Westside.
My fellow Albuquerque citizens, no matter what the developers say, costs for police, water, environment, etc., for SunCal will be bourne by you and I.
Furthermore, we are at a crucial crossroads.
Thirty years ago, Albuquerque developers and politicians talked about a lake beneath the city that was virtually endless. For years, most of my friends, educated people, repeated this myth.
Fifteen years ago, we learned how small the lake was and how fast we were pumping it down--eight feet per year. But, the developers and politicians, said, “Have no fear. We will take plenty of water from the Rio Grande.” Thus, the San Juan/Chama myth was born.
The San Juan/Chama myth is now being repeated by those who want to double the size of Albuquerque in a few decades.
It was repeated last night by a misinformed man at the Westside Coalition. “San Juan/Chama will meet the needs of this development,” he said confidently.
Another person suggested that “the world is full of salt water” (another 'pipe' dream).
Common sense demands that we ask:
1. How much longer can we draw down our aquifer?
2. What if the drought continues? We are growing at a rapid rate.
3. The city has already granted a huge TIDD to Mesa del Sol. What about its thousands more homes and their future demand upon our water?
What about the proposed Black Ranch development (tens of thousands more homes)
What about other developments?
What about Rio Rancho, other communities and Native Americans’ future demands upon the Rio Grande aquifer?
We need to wake up. Water (not oil) is the most important scarce resource.
Look at Georgia, turning brown, fighting lawsuits with Florida as drought dries up the river systems that also feed into Florida. Florida is losing industries, jobs and whole ecosystems RIGHT NOW because of overdevelopment in Atlanta, and if the drought continues, Atlanta will just flat be out of water.
If Albuquerque further stimulates our insane level of development by offering hundreds of millions of dollars in tax incentives to make California developers richer, we are courting similar disaster.
It makes no sense and, BTW, the Journal need to print a retraction.
In fact, the coalition rejected Cadigan’s bill. It voted to reject greenbelt TIDDs entirely, especially the one requested by SunCal which would give the CA corporation hundreds of millions of dollars in tax incentives to develop its 55,000 acres on Albuquerque’s Westside.
My fellow Albuquerque citizens, no matter what the developers say, costs for police, water, environment, etc., for SunCal will be bourne by you and I.
Furthermore, we are at a crucial crossroads.
Thirty years ago, Albuquerque developers and politicians talked about a lake beneath the city that was virtually endless. For years, most of my friends, educated people, repeated this myth.
Fifteen years ago, we learned how small the lake was and how fast we were pumping it down--eight feet per year. But, the developers and politicians, said, “Have no fear. We will take plenty of water from the Rio Grande.” Thus, the San Juan/Chama myth was born.
The San Juan/Chama myth is now being repeated by those who want to double the size of Albuquerque in a few decades.
It was repeated last night by a misinformed man at the Westside Coalition. “San Juan/Chama will meet the needs of this development,” he said confidently.
Another person suggested that “the world is full of salt water” (another 'pipe' dream).
Common sense demands that we ask:
1. How much longer can we draw down our aquifer?
2. What if the drought continues? We are growing at a rapid rate.
3. The city has already granted a huge TIDD to Mesa del Sol. What about its thousands more homes and their future demand upon our water?
What about the proposed Black Ranch development (tens of thousands more homes)
What about other developments?
What about Rio Rancho, other communities and Native Americans’ future demands upon the Rio Grande aquifer?
We need to wake up. Water (not oil) is the most important scarce resource.
Look at Georgia, turning brown, fighting lawsuits with Florida as drought dries up the river systems that also feed into Florida. Florida is losing industries, jobs and whole ecosystems RIGHT NOW because of overdevelopment in Atlanta, and if the drought continues, Atlanta will just flat be out of water.
If Albuquerque further stimulates our insane level of development by offering hundreds of millions of dollars in tax incentives to make California developers richer, we are courting similar disaster.
It makes no sense and, BTW, the Journal need to print a retraction.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Journal Front Page Snubs St. Marks' Best Class
A careful examination of today's Albuquerque Journal provided no evidence of any data about the most excellent St. Marks eighth grade student class--obviously, just another example of superficial journalism from Albuquerque's "finest" paper.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Most dangerous country, but not to the Journal
Only a series of big stories in the mainstream media jolted the Journal (J) into today's semi-major story about Pakistan.
It was a tepid and uninformative fluff piece about Benazir Bhutto, avoiding most information that Americans need to understand Pakistan, which many experts consider to be the most dangerous country on earth. Consider this missing information:
Osama Bin Laden moves ever closer to control of a radical Islamic Pakistan armed with nuclear weapons!
While Bush concentrates on Iran, which is far from producing a nuke, Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal is falling into radicalism.
Bush’s slaughter of civilians in Iraq and Iran is driving Afghani and Pakistani moderates into the arms of Islamic radicals, weakening our allies, making the world much more dangerous and costly (for us).
Over 20,000 Pakistani schools (Madrasas), pumping out vicious Anti-American, pro-Talibani propaganda, are increasing dramatically in popularity.
The U.S. intelligence community agrees that Bin Laden and the Taliban are now stronger than they have been in years, secure in nuclear Pakistan—a story you seldom see in the J,
BUT, you did get nine paragraphs in Section A about Ms. England. She apparently is too thin.
It was a tepid and uninformative fluff piece about Benazir Bhutto, avoiding most information that Americans need to understand Pakistan, which many experts consider to be the most dangerous country on earth. Consider this missing information:
Osama Bin Laden moves ever closer to control of a radical Islamic Pakistan armed with nuclear weapons!
While Bush concentrates on Iran, which is far from producing a nuke, Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal is falling into radicalism.
Bush’s slaughter of civilians in Iraq and Iran is driving Afghani and Pakistani moderates into the arms of Islamic radicals, weakening our allies, making the world much more dangerous and costly (for us).
Over 20,000 Pakistani schools (Madrasas), pumping out vicious Anti-American, pro-Talibani propaganda, are increasing dramatically in popularity.
The U.S. intelligence community agrees that Bin Laden and the Taliban are now stronger than they have been in years, secure in nuclear Pakistan—a story you seldom see in the J,
BUT, you did get nine paragraphs in Section A about Ms. England. She apparently is too thin.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Slight of Hand Journalism
Today’s Journal (J) spent three columns telling us that Bill Richardson ran behind Stephen Colbert in a recent poll. Now there is real news!
At the same time, the J continues to omit crucial information needed by citizens in a democracy.
Today’s article on the Valerie Plame outing neglects to mention that the President vowed to fire whoever was involved in this violation of federal law, which cost us a valuable expert who was fighting nuclear proliferation. It has since been proven that at least three White House aides were involved, all of whom lied about it, and probably Vice-President Cheney. Not only did Bush not fire the culprits, but he commuted Libby’s sentence.
Yesterday’s front page reported that the war has cost $455 Billion, which is a joke. Responsible estimates (that take into account future obligations) range from one to two trillion, the latter from Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz.
Today’s section A reports that casualties are way down in Iraq and includes a giddy comment from a US general saying he’s never been so optimistic, and that Iraqis are, “coming forward in masses” to fight al-Quaida. Remember this!
Let’s see. Twenty-one U.S. families ruined and 651 Iraqis . . . in just October. Now that is progress.
Oh, and October cost 20 to 30 billion dollars that we DO NOT HAVE out of an economy that is teetering on the brink of recession due primarily to our debt imbalances.
At the same time, the J continues to omit crucial information needed by citizens in a democracy.
Today’s article on the Valerie Plame outing neglects to mention that the President vowed to fire whoever was involved in this violation of federal law, which cost us a valuable expert who was fighting nuclear proliferation. It has since been proven that at least three White House aides were involved, all of whom lied about it, and probably Vice-President Cheney. Not only did Bush not fire the culprits, but he commuted Libby’s sentence.
Yesterday’s front page reported that the war has cost $455 Billion, which is a joke. Responsible estimates (that take into account future obligations) range from one to two trillion, the latter from Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz.
Today’s section A reports that casualties are way down in Iraq and includes a giddy comment from a US general saying he’s never been so optimistic, and that Iraqis are, “coming forward in masses” to fight al-Quaida. Remember this!
Let’s see. Twenty-one U.S. families ruined and 651 Iraqis . . . in just October. Now that is progress.
Oh, and October cost 20 to 30 billion dollars that we DO NOT HAVE out of an economy that is teetering on the brink of recession due primarily to our debt imbalances.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
What's Missing From J "News"
The Journal (J) keeps avoiding the amazing cost of the war which we are adding it to the astounding debt that our children have to deal with.
The fiscal cost of the war, estimated to be at $2 TRILLION by Nobel Prize winning economist, Joseph Stiglitz, is a major factor in the impending fiscal disaster facing this country.
We are cutting back on prevention and enforcement even as crime hits record increases. We cannot afford proper care for our 82,000+ maimed Iraq war veterans. We are cutting programs to schools and infrastructure.
We are the only nation in the industrial world that does not provide health care for its citizens.
The value of the dollar is plummeting, reaching record lows. China and the oil countries are getting very nervous about the US paying its debts in dollars, of which they have trillions, while we pursue policies that reduce the value of these dollar holdings.
We are walking a tightrope of economic and social disaster, but reading the front section of the J will not tell get you the story.
THEREFORE, when slogging through the J’s daily promotion of the Iraq war and ceaseless front page promotion of fluff stories, take note of what important stories the J is NOT telling.
The fiscal cost of the war, estimated to be at $2 TRILLION by Nobel Prize winning economist, Joseph Stiglitz, is a major factor in the impending fiscal disaster facing this country.
We are cutting back on prevention and enforcement even as crime hits record increases. We cannot afford proper care for our 82,000+ maimed Iraq war veterans. We are cutting programs to schools and infrastructure.
We are the only nation in the industrial world that does not provide health care for its citizens.
The value of the dollar is plummeting, reaching record lows. China and the oil countries are getting very nervous about the US paying its debts in dollars, of which they have trillions, while we pursue policies that reduce the value of these dollar holdings.
We are walking a tightrope of economic and social disaster, but reading the front section of the J will not tell get you the story.
THEREFORE, when slogging through the J’s daily promotion of the Iraq war and ceaseless front page promotion of fluff stories, take note of what important stories the J is NOT telling.
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