Diddling Around With Albuquerque

We (not the editorial we but we the people) had a municipal election yesterday.  A whopping 8% turnout.  Not sure if that's 8% of registered voters or just of those people of voting age living in the City of Albuquerque--aka Burque or just ABQ.  Not important.  It's a dismal number because most of us know that it's useless to vote for any of the politicians that were running.

Oh, sure.  We elect a new politician every now and then.  It takes them about a year to start doing the same damn things the old politician was doing, sometimes doing them even better (worse?) than the old one.  Case in point:  A couple mayoral admins ago, the city started converting perfectly good traffic lanes to bicycle lanes.  It's an if-you-build-it-they-will-ride-their-bicycles mentality.  When we finally got a conservative mayor into office, I expected this nonsense would stop.  After all, everyone continually complains about lack of jobs; and employers don't move jobs into a city just because their new employees can ride their bikes to work.  (Unless the employer is a totally Californicated liberal moonbeam microchipped dotcom 3D animation studio tofu for breakfast lunch and dinner type--and they don't give a flying rat's patoo about Albuquerque even with the bicycle lanes).

To be fair, movies are made in and around Albuquerque and New Mexico--a couple infamous TV series, too.  But I guarantee none of them want their people to show up for shooting on bicycles.  They roar into town with motorcades sufficient to carry a UN full of dignitaries, and convoys of industrial-sized wheels enough to carry on a major offensive in a third-world country.  Not many bicycles, though.

In case you were wondering, I'm telling you the nonsense of converting traffic lanes to bicycle lanes is continuing, depriving residents who do actually need to drive to work of both sufficient roadways and sufficient parking, sometimes in front of their own houses.  Since Albuquerque has never seen its way clear to outlaw overnight street parking, which would make the city look a lot better to outsiders, suddenly taking away on-street parking spaces is problematic at best, a slap in the face to local residents, and a pander to the bicycle lobby.   (I respect anyone who can pedal a bike more than a block at Albuquerque's altitude, and don't suggest we should deprive anyone of the opportunity to do so.  Let's just be smart about it.)

Another interesting diddle is the transit service.  This consists of the bus system and the Richardsonian (not architecture but former Gov. Bill Richardson) commuter train called Rail Runner Express, for which the State of New Mexico is and will be grandly paying for years to come.  The bus system has three subdivisions, that I can see:  The normal bus routes, the so-called Rapid Ride (faster? No.), and the on-call system for disabled and elderly.  Collectively, the bus systems is known as ABQ Ride.  As far as I can tell, the bus system is under-utilized and not particularly convenient.  Sure there are peak times when the buses are full, but then there are times during any day you can see an ad-wrapped bus scooting up the street with nobody on board, convenient for nobody but the lawyer who bought the ad.  (They sell ad-wrap advertising to cover the windows and keep you from seeing this, I think.)  So now the mayor wants to start a BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) by taking more than the usual bike lanes from Old US 66, aka Central Avenue, the city's only iconic business thorofare.  It's feature controlled signalling for cross traffic, special bus stations in the medians, and other golly-gosh fru-fru.  Believe me.  That's what the Rapid Ride (vapid ride?) was supposed to have.

Meanwhile, the Rail Runner was supposed to stimulate TOD (Transit Oriented Development), and hasn't.  The only thing that developed is a drain on the treasury.  And everybody goes ga-ga for these improvements every time they're introduced and nobody ever . . . EVER . . . thinks about the cost of maintenance and depreciation of these systems once they're built.  Only the best way to get federal funding so some connected contractor can have a new Porsche and his crews can have a job for a few months one year.

I'll keep my vote to myself.  Thank you very much.

©2015 C. A. Turek - mistertrains@gmail.com

Eyes to See With, Ears to Hear

Yeah, it's a biblical phrase.  So sue me!  The fact that half the population of the U.S. can turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to the crap being pulled by the political left is frustrating to the extreme.  

So I'm going to treat you to a blog rant right here!

Let's start with the (still-meeting, still trying to avoid solid legislation) New Mexico legislature.  First frustration:  How can anybody think that "social promotion" of a third-grader to the next grade when he or she can't read to grade level is good for the child?  But that's what the "progressives" want to continue.  After all, like the War on Poverty, it has worked so well for so long that we've got three generations of public school "graduates" who are illiterate in several languages.  The argument is that being held back is a stigma, and maybe we should do something like "extra help" during regular class time in the next grade.

I don't know when these people were in school, but the guy/girl who gets set aside for "extra help" in the classroom is the one who is going to be teased.  So much for stigma.  On the other hand, the child who was held back will have a mild advantage over the new kids in the old grade.  Perhaps the advantage will give the held-back child the confidence to excel and get the heck back to grade level.  Since social promotion hasn't worked, it's worth a shot to do it the other way for awhile.

Next frustration: Somehow, the progressives argue, driver's licenses make those who have them better and more responsible drivers.  What hole have their heads been in?  Just because New Mexico grants a non-restricted driver's license to those who are illegally in the U.S., it hasn't made the streets of Albuquerque any safer, nor has it made them any better insured.  It's a hollow argument that those of us who are conservative will never win because granting driver's licenses to illegals just may give the progressives the opportunity to let them vote for their side in the next election.  Come on, people!

Another frustration:  Right to Work (followed by a strong dose of increasing the minimum wage).  It's impossible to logically argue that forcing someone to pay union dues to get a job is vital to growing a flourishing business community.  Let's face it!  No employer considering a move to, or opening a business in New Mexico wants to have to deal with the extra costs associated with collecting union dues.  And Right to Work does not prohibit unions from organizing once the business is open.  Let's not put the cart before the horse.  Bring in the business!  If the business is then established in the state and then treats its workers badly, bring in the unions!

I've got more.  Lot's more.  Like the idiot conservatives who vigorously opposed Obamacare but are now complaining that a total abolition of Obamacare will hurt people that it has helped!  Hello! You don't know it has helped anyone!  The numbers aren't in yet, and if they are, they are being spoon fed to us in doses that have been adulterated by political crap.  Let's get rid of it before it hurts us all more than it already has!

©2015 - C. A. Turek - mistertrains@gmail.com

The Winter State Fair

The New Mexico Legislature is meeting again.  I like to think of it as the Winter State Fair.  Unlike the late summer event that takes place in Albuquerque, the winter version happens in Santa Fe at the capitol building we refer to as The Roundhouse.  It's either because they built it on an abandoned railroad yard or because of the punches thrown by legislators from one side of the aisle to the other.  Either way, more people go to Santa Fe to see the special events and have fun and games than go to Albuquerque in the summer for the carnival rides and beer.

I can predict two things with certainty:

1. Only about 10 percent of the bills introduced will be passed.  That's a good thing.  Only about 1 percent of the bills intruduced will probably have anything to do with real state business.  The rest of them will be things like naming the State Spinach Salad, or funding a study of whether it's shorter to drive to Santa Fe via I-25 or Highway 14.  Once the study establishes the shorter route, there will be heated debate as to whether they used the right kind of ruler.
2. It will cost New Mexico citizens more tax money.  I'll grant you that Republican Governor Martinez has kept her promise on taxes for the most part, but that doesn't mean those pesky little hidden taxes won't keep cropping up.  Things like increased tuition at state colleges, for example.

Other things that I can predict with confidence:

• There will be at least one constitutional crisis, as legislators are actually forced to read a copy.
• There may be a second crisis as it is determined that the legislature doesn't own a copy.
• At least one Democrat will call a specific Republican a bad name.
• At least 75 percent of the Democrats will call all Republicans a bad name.
• There will be livestock.
• The legislature will spend at least one afternoon debating who will clean up after the livestock.
• The Democrats will find undocumented workers to clean it up at less than minimum wage.
• The Democrats will propose several bills to raise the minimum wage.
• Global warming or climate change will be mentioned at least once in conjunction with each of the following: Oil and gas exploration, gas prices, jobs, education, beer, teacher pay, Republicans, the rich, the poor, green chiles, the homeless, Obamacare, Social Security, bean burritos, Medicare, minimum wage, baseball, beer, and, if they can get it all in, tamales, posole, enchiladas, sopapillas, and beer.

Because New Mexico has a citizen legislature, it only meets for one or two months a year.  This is also good.  It limits the damage that can be done and prevents the politicians from thinking of it as a real job.  This year, the Winter State Fair will go on for 60 days total.  Watch this page to see how many of my predictions come true.

© C. A. Turek - mistertrains@gmail.com

Giving Thanks

There hasn't been much to say this year.  Albuquerque and New Mexico are still in the recession that the gov'ment says ended years ago.  I look around me and home prices are stagnant and homes in my neighborhood are not selling anything like as fast as they once were.  The job guide in the Sunday paper is down to two pages, with at least 20 column-inches used up by an ad for, what else, putting ads in the newspaper.  Albuquerque is about to lose it's passenger train, Amtrak's Southwest Chief, because some people think that passenger rail is an anachronism and do not believe in a comprehensive multi-mode transportation policy for our country. They are shortsighted at best, and criminal in their assumptions at worst.

Nonetheless, in the coming few years we may get BRT (that's bus rapid transit, not bean rolled tacos) east and west on Central, the showplace of Albuquerque that shows a lot of places the city should not be proud of.

Nevertheless, in this time of Thanksgiving, I want to give thanks.  I am thankful that former Gov. Richardson's Rail Runner Express commuter train boondoggle has not yet bankrupted the state.  I'm thankful that we reelected a conservative governor and still have a conservative mayor of the City of Burque. I'm thankful that the Justice Department, the absolute last word in impeccable police work, has stepped in and told the APD (Albuquerque Police Dept., not another person dead) how to do its job.  Thank you Mr. Holder;

the citizens of Albuquerque and the State of New Mexico are certainly too stupid to figure this out for themselves.

I'm thankful that gas prices are falling.  It'll make up for all the money we now have to put into buying food.  I'm thankful that, according to the feds, there is no inflation, there is no inflation.  If something is repeated often enough, you will believe it.  I'm thankful that New Mexico set up an insurance exchange so that Obamacare can finance the uninsurable with my money.  At least they'll get great care at Kaseman Hospital or UNM Emergency Room (UNM stands for under nano-minute, the time it takes them to ask for your insurance card).

Sarcasm, innuendo, and outright snide comments aside, I am very thankful for my wonderful family and friends, my life, my liberty (such as still exists) and the free Blogger platform on which to spill my guts.  My all who stumble upon this blog and my regular reader have a happy, safe and sane Thanksgiving.

Been a Little Remiss

Unlike the APD, I've failed to take a potshot at anything in these blog pages for quite some time.  So let's get up to date.

The water authority apparently not only now plans to punish all of us conservation-minded water users for conserving too much water, but will also be raising rates just on general principles.  Now that's what I expect from a government entity.  There's always something they can do with your money.

The feds have decided that APD shoots too many people, particularly those who seem to be hell bent on getting shot.  I think they're jealous.  The feds want shooting people to be strictly a federal right.

The federal investigation of APD has a lot of people figuratively up in arms.  Not literally, or they might also get shot.  Protesters have staged at least two demonstrations demanding something be done about APD shootings, both of which have prevented something being done about APD shootings.

We've had a spate of warm weather, and we're still in a drought.  Luckily, the feds have come up with a plan to reduce global warming.  The power company says they are ready for the plan.  They've already printed the rate increases for the next 20 years and are covering the southwest with beautiful solar panels and windmills, and the wiring to string it all together.

And that's the latest update from the land of Alberkoikie.

The Price of Conservation

Or: Why did I turn off that sprinkler?

Here's a [link] for you "hug anything that Nancy Pelosi likes" folks.  It seems that water conservation is paying off (or failing to pay off) in good old Burque.   

It's paying off if, like me, you think that we of the Rio Grande Valley should not behave as though water is an unlimited resource.  It's clearly not.  Yet, for the years I've lived here, Albuquerque has boosted most of its prosperity from expanding urban sprawl and population--cut short by the Great Recession, which hasn't ended despite what the feds say.  City Quirky citizens have succeeded in reducing water consumption by so much that the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority (ABCWUA--not to be confused with AMAFCA and MRCOG, a couple of our other interesting "authority" types) isn't taking in enough money!

So, to make water conservation pay off for the ABCWUA, they are "thinking about" raising water rates.  Now, whenever I hear about a political entity thinking about something that involves getting deeper into the pockets of us tax- and rate-payers, I know we've already lost the inning and probably the game.  It's like saying the Democrats are "thinking about" running somebody for president in 2016.  It's like saying the IRS is "thinking about" collecting taxes this April.  

The ABCWUA will want to soften the blow, of course.  So they announce the thought process to begin approximately 6 months before they know they'll actually impose the increase.  They will, undoubtedly, point out that those who conserved have been reaping the benefits of lower water bills, so they will just start paying closer to what they were paying before they conserved.  What a reward.  It's like your doctor saying you should eat better and keep your cholesterol low and you won't have a heart attack, but then telling you they are short on funds so they're going to do a bypass anyway.  They'll just charge you less for it.  

What about Me!?  I never had to conserve when asked, because I always conserved.  So I didn't reduce my bill.  I've been paying the same amount for water since Bill Clinton didn't have sex with That Woman.  (I think That Woman is Bat Woman's sister.)  I use six gallons of water to wash my car--two buckets.  I have low-flow toilets.  (Don't ask if my gut is low flow, too.)  So now me and so many of my friends are going to reap the coveted double reward:  Never got one for always conserving.  Now I'll pay increased amounts to compensate those who did get one for conserving.  Sounds more like the good old double screw to me.

Where's that leaky hose?

©2013 - C. A. Turek - mistertrains@gmail.com

All is Not Momentous

(Content first published on Medium.com.)

There are times when a lie is just a lie and the truth does not set us free; and neither is crucial enough to register on the meter.

For better and worse, we live in a world where those who can afford it can connect to everything, big and small, that happens in the world. Moreover, this can be done in a way that makes every event, no matter how inconsequential, seem crucial to our very existence.

I got to thinking about this when they recently re-opened the Statue of Liberty to visitors. I will gladly admit that I like this statue and I also like it being a symbol of freedom for America and those who would come here. As with every national symbol lately, an inordinate amount of time and effort—read money—is being spent to protect the statue from what a visitor might do. The imagination reels when thinking of what all of those things might be, and the idea of somebody damaging this symbol is suddenly elevated to the momentous, the crucial.

But America would be no less what it is without the statue. In fact, had it never been delivered to our shores, we would be able to designate any of a thousand other important symbols to stand in for her critical place in our national psyche. And elevate them to the absolutely crucial.

In today’s news: We should not care whether a magazine noted for its irreverence puts a mass murderer’s face on the cover. It is not crucial to the state of America that they do not. Nor is it particularly crucial for their circulations figures if they do. They counted on the media jumping right in with the rest of us and making the inconsequential into something consequential.

In similar fashion, one perceived miscarriage of justice—or unexpected serving of same—will not bring our judicial system to its knees; yet we believe that the tip of the iceberg is showing and that we cannot so much as look at it or our holy Titanic will sink.

There are crucial events. They come rarely. A train blowing up in Canada and decimating a small town is one of them. This will change the way important energy reserves are distributed to users for the rest of the century!

However, I am of the opinion that the mass media would not recognize a crucial event if it jumped out of a manhole under their figurative park bench and bit them in the collective nether regions. They are too busy aiding and abetting the politicians in turning everything into a critical mass, satisfying the snooze news cycle and keeping the ratings going. Come on! People! The small city where I live with less than a million population—one that still effectively rolls up the sidewalks at night, except those in front of the meth labs and DWI checkpoints—does not have to have an Evening News—with helicopters, no less—that lasts three hours. There just simply is not enough news of that import, meth labs or no.

Whether Rowling wants to write as a man or as a woman is not going to set literature back to the stone age. Snowden getting asylum in Russia will not restart the cold war. The races will learn to live with each other without show trials. And, oh! The features on the next iPhone will not be momentous, either.

Traffic Calming

An Op-Ed piece by City Councilor Roxanne Meyers published in the 3/28/13 Albuquerque Journal (about a so-called roundabout) got me thinking about this strange phenomenon we call traffic calming, and how our city has pursued some street alternatives that are incomprehensibly inconsistent with a reasonable goal of growing our city economy.  While there are more policies with specific goals in mind, I’d like to mention three that I think fall under this category.

The first is a trend that I began to notice during the Baca mayoralty in which street lanes are either reduced in width or eliminated altogether.  In some cases, bicycle lanes are added – via striping – but in general the area of pavement available to motor vehicles is reduced or eliminated.  Examples are Indian School between Wyoming and Pennsylvania and Morris north of Candelaria, both lane reductions.  I understand that it is green policy to promote bicycle use, but note how many bicycles actually use the allotted space compared to motor vehicles!  I have to wonder if this is a good or proper allocation of resources, when we should be more concerned about having a vibrant city with quick commutes and thriving businesses where people can get to their jobs in a timely and non-frustrating manner.  Slowing down traffic by eliminating lanes is not only counter to this, but it logically has to produce substantially more potential air pollution as a result of slow running (cars are more efficient at 40 mph than at 20mph) and increased stop-and-go traffic.

The second trend is what I call SpeeBuRBoo (Speed bumps, road blocks and one-way.)  Some of the most beautiful residential streets in the city have been reduced to ugliness by grotesque bands of bloated asphalt that only serve to throw the occupants of cars going above 20mph into the headliners and by amoeba-like shapes of concrete and curb topped by huge arrows, red slashed circles, and the stationary equivalent of orange visibility vests to keep residents and visitors alike in perpetual confusion and need to re-Google their routes.

Finally, there are the “roundabouts.”  Back in the day, we used to call these traffic circles.  In big cities, and I mean BIG cities, traffic circles historically have been part of grand designs for parks and vast open areas.  In theory, a vehicle in the circle could keep going around counterclockwise in perpetuity without ever having to yield to another vehicle, as depicted so memorably in one of the Vacation movies.  Therein is the humor.  Sticking a “roundabout” in the existing space of a small, non-vast intersection becomes hysterical as drivers attempt to figure out where other vehicles are actually coming from and going to in a confined space with less room than allowed a bumper car in a street carnival.  Both of the last two trends have got to have negative effects on the quality of life perceived by visitors and those businesses and individuals who might relocate to the Duke City. 

I realize there may be safety arguments for all of the above and more, but I say, “Educate.”  Using one of many possible metaphors:  Train the dog to heel rather than using a choke chain!  But education arguments are for a different piece.

Another Fine Mess - 2 Months Worth

Our fine legislature has been meeting for two months.  TWO MONTHS! The session ends tomorrow at exactly noon.  What have we got to show for it:
1.  A Budget.  The governor won't sign it, and rightfully so.  It does noting to promote job creation, or drag the public schools out from the muck they've been in for years, or really address the financial state of the State.
2.  No new taxes.  Inaction, I suppose, does have it's merits.
3.  Mariachi bands.  Yeah, that they had time for.
4.  New drivers license laws.  NOT!  The state appears to be rolling right along giving ordinary licenses (instead of specially designed ones) to people who are in the country illegally.  One day the Real ID act will kick in and all of the rest of us who voted for these inactive dolts in the legislature will be sorry.
5.  Last minute efforts to make the legislators look good.  We've got plenty.
6.  Special legislative session.  Likely.
At least we don't pay these guys and gals full time.  That would be too much like the federal government.
Bueno!

What's Important?

The last time I posted to this blog, before the holidays, I knew that another New Mexico State legislative session was coming up.  Since it started, it's been coming up and up and up.  I haven't seen something come up this often since eating a bag of Doritos after a half-gallon of moose tracks.  (Rimshot!)

Seriously, our local rag - newspaper to the folks back home - feels the need to give column inches to every crazy law proposed by every crazy lawmaker.  They may all be - both laws and lawmakers.  In any case, the most serious discussion occurring right now is over a statewide minimum wage to match that passed by Albuquerque voters last November.  (I was a voter but voted no for this one.)

'Snot that I don't like people getting paid a fair wage for a fair hour's work, but I do think that government shouldn't meddle.  Once upon a time, the worker had the choice of quitting a job for which he (or she - don't want to catch a case of mysogeny) was underpaid, and the worker had a reasonable expectation of finding a better one.  The politicians and the TBTF banks have done away with any reasonable expectations, particularly those of finding a job, even a badly paying one.

I feel for the struggling business owners running on a very thin margin.  How can this help their employees?  If you have 10 employees and raise the minimum wage from $7.50 to $8.50 an hour for each, then you have to come up with ten more dollars for every hour's work.  OR, YOU CAN JUST CUT ONE WORKER'S TIME AN HOUR AND YOU COME OUT AHEAD.  Business operators are not stupid.  Well, I've tried to run my own business and they may be crazy, but they're not stupid.

Then there are the protesters.  Boycott business A or B into compliance.  How does this help the worker?  Business A may say to hell with it and fire everyone, turning to his family for assistance in keeping the business going.  Business B may just try to keep on going, but are customers going to come in past the picket lines?  No customers, no money coming in, no tips.  I ask again, How does this help the worker?

If I get a chance to post again before the legislature adjourns - and I hope they do before they do more damage - I'll cover the drivers licenses for illegal aliens.

Shut Up Already

You can always tell when Progressives or Liberals (the two overlap like the circles on the front of a Mastercard) think they have won something.  They won't shut up about it.  They also won't shut up about what they think is wrong with the other side.  From advise to out and out criticism, they just keep going as if the election never happened.  Who are they trying to convince?

In fact, I've found that the biggest difference between the political left and the political right is not in social policy, economic policy, or environmental policy.  The left just won't ever, ever let you forget they have something to say.  The right, for the most part, will shut up until something can be said that will accomplish something.  Again, I ask, who are they trying to convince?

Perhaps themselves.

How Long Would It Take Today?

This is an instructive game to play, and the title of a tabular piece in the most recent (August 2012) issue of Trains Magazine written by Fred W. Frailey.

As a game, it can really bring home the impact of government regulation and intervention in all sorts of things.  In the case of Mr. Frailey's piece, its about building a transcontinental railroad, and is written on the 150th anniversary of the Union Pacific Railroad.  Mr. Frailey posits that, instead of the 7 years that it took (1862-1869) to build the Union Pacific, today it would take from August 1, 2012 until May 2069, about 57 years.

Tongue in cheek, he throws in all the possibilities:  Federal court intervention, ten years for an environmental study, EPA intervention, both Democrat and Republican intransigence, environmental activist intervention, endangered species, and forest fires.  In this scenario, it takes until 2057 just to break ground.  You know what, although this piece reeks of sarcasm, I think it is closer to the truth than not.

This post was originally written for by blog, Passenger Rail, but, as a matter of fact, this kind of thing reminds me so much of what goes on in New Mexico, and in Albuquerque in particular, that I am doing this same post on my political barb blog, Turn Right At Albuquerque.

©2012 - C. A. Turek - mistertrains@gmail.com

Paying Through The Nose

First, let me note that I really don't get a chance to post to this blog often enough.  There are a whole lot more stupid political things that happen in New Mexico than I have the time to write about.  Unfortunately, not just on the left side of the political spectrum.

But, today, I want to tell you how much money I had to blow keeping the "tree huggers" happy.

My wife and I own a very old vehicle - over 30 years old to be exact - and it has all the pollution controls that were applied to the vehicle intact.  I maintain it well, and it has passed the so-called smog test every time since the County of Bernalillo and the City of Albuquerque decided it had to be done.  Today it cost me a total of $55 just because the gas cap rubber didn't pass.  I mean it.  This is a vehicle that had a complex system of vacuum hoses to capture and keep all traces of fuel vapor out of the atmosphere, but the fill pipe wasn't designed for a pressurized gas cap.

But the gas cap o-ring didn't seal on their little test thingy.  So:
I paid for the first smog test, which failed.
I paid for a new gas cap.
I paid for the second smog test, which passed.  Had to have them do everything over again and waste about 20 more minutes because they can't just test the cap.  Hello?  If everything else is all right, why not?

Yes, I could have driving 14 miles round trip downtown and gotten the second test for free, but that would have been at a "govermint" facility.  The difference being that employees at Jiffy Lube are at least tactful, courteous, and conscious.

Now I can pay to register the vehicle.

Ugly Thing Politics

You can take my title with or without a comma after "thing."

In Bernalillo County, New Mexico, the county in which Albuquerque is the largest city, sits a commissioner named Michael Wiener.  Mr. Wiener (whether he is appropriately named has yet to be determined) was recently photographed with four young ladies who are more than likely sex workers in an international red light district.  Fortunately, this district is not in Albuquerque.  Even our Republican governor has called for Mr. Wiener's resignation, but he says he's staying.  This seems to be like any of a hundred other scandals where the person who gets caught resists taking his (or her) medicine.  (See John Edwards, under "still resisting.")

We also have an ex-mayor of this town.  His name is Martin Chavez.  He's running in the Democrat primary for  a congressional seat.  He is admittedly the one-time- and allegedly now ex-boyfriend of a lady who is under indictment for embezzlement of considerable amounts of money from a Santa Fe hospital.  When asked, Mr. Chavez says the only important thing is that he did not spend any public money on her.  We think the most important thing to ask is whether she spent any embezzled money on him.

Ugly Thing, these Politics.

Anybody but Obama.

Job Well Done - as in Fully Cooked

The New Mexico legislature finished their obligatory 30-day budget session this past week, and I can't help but think we would have been better off if they had all stayed home.  Yes, they passed a budget.  One that appears to be some sort of a compromise, but one that too readily depends on continuing sources of revenue that could easily dry up if the economy decides to stall.  The left-wingers couldn't help themselves.

If the idea came from our Republican governor, it almost surely didn't have a chance, except in compromised form.  I think that the local socialists have picked up on the tack taken by federal Democratic legislators, who ask for things so far on the left that any compromise looks better than what they are proposing.  This also gives them the opportunity to chastise conservatives for not wanting to compromise.  In the end, what conservatives are asking for is so close to the middle that we wind up swinging way over to the left.

Please turn right.

Inextricably Linked

Anyone who has lived in Albuquerque, NM, as long as I have would know that the politics of Albuquerque and those of Bernalillo County are linked in a way that resembles Siamese Twins joined at the back of the head and sharing a brain.  (If you use the link to the county that I have posted above, please don't email and ask why the county seal is full of sheep.  One day I'll figure that out.)  Any way, to continue the metaphor, each twin has a set of arms and legs that it can use to take potshots at the other.  This leads to monstrosities like the ABCWUA (Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority), and the Metro Detention Center.

By the way, Albuquerque is in Bernalillo County (pronounced ber-nuh-lee-owe), but Bernalillo, the city, is in Sandoval County.  I'm sure there is a Sandoval, but I don't know what county it is in, but you better tell the Truth or (pay the) Consequences in Sierra County.

Shooting for the Foot

New Mexico has beautiful southwestern scenery and magnificent climate.  Just about everything except ocean front property.  It also has national laboratories (Los Alamos and Sandia), White Sands Missle Range, and the Very Large Array.  It is the home of some of the highest tech weaponry in our arsenal, and to some of the most far-reaching space science on the planet.  All those tech jobs pay very, very well.  And yet a number of so-called concerned citizens, environmentalists of the standard lot, would like to curtail some of these activities in the name of cleaning up our environment.  If we do this, and get rid of oil and gas drilling, too, I'm sure we can celebrate the state centennial with massive unemployment, as well.  Let's think about consequences, folks!

The Will of The People

I'm not going to try to define my title.  Let's just say that, nowadays, the will of the people is just something any adult New Mexico resident (or NMer) recognizes without explanation.  It is also something, apparently, that any NM politician does not understand.

Take two recent examples:  The recent special legislative session, and the recent Albuquerque city election.

Legislative Session.
Despite the clear will of the people that the politicians in our legislature cover more ground that just redistricting, and cover redistricting with fairness and within the bounds of the Constitution of the State of New Mexico, they  chose rather to do nothing and create legislative boundaries that do nothing more than secure the jobs of current politicians.  The will of the people be damned!

City Election.
Despite the clear will of the people that Albuquerque do away with red-light cameras and the public leaches that sold them to the city, as evidenced by the results of election, I predict that the city council will vote to retain them.  And despite the clear will of the people that we do not need any more public money spent on frivolous pet projects, Mayor Berry, is expected to push on with The Plan for Albuquerque whether the voters said no or not.

It's examples like this that have young patriots camped out on UNM property.  They may not have good ideas, and they may just be playing into the hands of the ultra left, but they know that something is going on in America, and it's not The Will Of The People!

The Chickens Come Home to Roost

None of us with any knowledge of the business of Passenger Rail think that it is a walk in the park. Start a passenger train, let alone a full schedule of trains, from scratch requires capital, hard work, luck and a loyal customer base. Preferably that base is a broad one, drawn from a variety of demographics. If you are running a train, you should also hope that both ends of your line originate traffic.


Readers of this blog will recall my skepticism and incredulity when then New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson went out of his way to fund rail passenger service for the Mid-Region Council of Governments, AKA MRCOG. This service, one of Gov. Bill's "legacies", from Belen, NM, through Albuquerque, to Santa Fe, is now known as New Mexico Rail Runner Express. Look on my second page to see some photos.

I wrote at the time that the route was too costly and that the whole project would eventually cost the taxpayers of New Mexico many millions of dollars in subsidies. Albuquerque just isn't the kind of metro area that you find in places like Seattle or Dallas. If done at all, the service could have used existing tracks instead of new ones, used DMUs instead of full-fledged communter rail equipment, and grown with demand rather than taking a "build it and they will come" approach. Even now, with heavy rail tracks built all the way into Santa Fe, the equipment could be owned and operate by another entity under subsidy. And New Mexico will now have the dubious distinction of trying to make BNSF Railway run the Lamy to Raton portion of the original Santa Fe Raton Pass line in order to keep just one long distance train, Amtrak's Southwest Chief, running.

In the future, if you hear someone ask, "Who killed the Chief?" the answer will be either New Mexico or Railrunner Express.

The Albuquerque Journal of Sunday, June 19, 2011, reports that the service averages "about" 4,500 passenger boardings on weekdays. That's not a lot. It's why the beginning of the whine has started, as the Rio Metro Regional Transit District board decided to cut weekends from the schedule. Passenger boardings on weekend days of only 1,000 make this seem logical, but the politicians on the board see it as a way to speak to current Gov. Susana Martinez. "Whine! We need more taxpayer money. Whine! The businesses who depend on weekend recreational travelers will lose money. Whine!"

Frankly, as a taxpaying NMer, I don't see why I should have to subsidize riders to the tune of an (estimated) $40 to $80 a boarding just so they don't lose the profit from that latte. I don't think we should let them eat cake, but let them adjust their business practices to take advantage of the business that remains. Or learn a lesson, which is: Don't depend on the taxpayer to keep you in business.

But the better lesson is this. When you're local politician starts to talk about his or her legacy, hide your wallet and your kid's wallet and your grandkid's wallet. The state will be picking their pocket for the legacy forever.

©2011 - C. A. Turek - mistertrains@gmail.com
For the full benefit of all the links in this post, please go to Passenger Rail.

Here We Go Again

OPINION.  John Sanchez v. Heather Wilson.  The only thing I have to say about this is that I was hoping fellow conservatives in NM would be a helluva lot smarter.  Like Heather Wilson smart.

I know a lot of NMers think that we need a senator who is "of the people."  And Heather Wilson is just too well educated and experienced for a lot of NMers to identify with.  That's so much hogwash we ought to have the cleanest hogs in the Lower Forty-Eight.  (By the way NMers is pronounced enn-EMM-ers.)

We elect Lt. Govs the same way we elect vice-presidents.  We put them where they can do the least amount of harm and be useful when and if called upon.  We pray that Govs do not die in office and cause the Lt. Govs to become them.  John Sanchez is right where he belongs.  Right now.

Mr. Sanchez is as close to a RINO as it gets.  Whereas Heather Wilson has leadership skills and a demonstrated mind of her own, like most RINOs, Mr. Sanchez has only the desire to be a senator, a representative, a Gov, or something other than the owner of a roofing company.  He is jealous Gary Johnson thought of running for president first.  My serious reservations are that he would not stand pat for a single difficult issue unless some other prominent Republican could be blamed for it.  And, if elected to the senate, he would be doing it for SIX years.

Vote for Heather