Budget Better Left Undone

NM gov plans special legislative session next week – BusinessWeek

I don’t know about anyone else, but for me, no legislation is good legislation, even when there is no budget. The fiction is that the state will grind to a halt. The fact is that our government will continue to spend money faster than a Vegas drunk (see Harry Reid) even without the budget.

In the mean time, the Albuquerque Journal points out that it might be better to just wait. In today’s editorial, they suggest that maybe reconvening in April when more revenue projections are in, would be the ticket.

That is juxtaposed with an editorial about the winter meeting of state governors in DC. A kernel of truth is there, and I hope our legislators see it. Fact is that New Mexico should be selling off assets to balance the budget.

Start with the Railrunner Express. This albatross is no good for New Mexico, but could be good for private enterprises. Warren Buffet just bought BNSF (see Passenger Rail), on whose former tracks runs the “runner.” Maybe he’d like to bid on Railrunner. Maybe even buy back those tracks for which I believe NM paid $50 million. (We won’t use more than a third of the mileage this century.)

The next to go should be the New Mexico Space Port. And then any real estate owned by a school district that isn’t being used – now!

Instead, I’m sure, the legislature will meet on Wednesday and raise taxes. Business as usual in NM.

Citizen Legislature

Our citizen legislature is back to work. The big task is plugging budget shortfalls without raising taxes, something that probably won't happen.

All these citizen guys and gals have trouble focusing. I've heard about legislation from legalizing same-sex marriage to changing the way we generate electricity in this state. (For the record, we have abundant coal, oil and gas in this state, as well as uranium deposits and ample potential for solar and wind power. Guess which ones the citizens proposing the legislation want.)

Oh, well. It may be for the best. With so much on the plate, they won't eat it all. No new laws are good new laws, and the citizen legislators who fail to legislate will blessedly leave the rest of us citizens alone.

Budget Black Hole

Showing a stunning lack of ability to see the obvious, the legislature will meet starting next week for a one-month session. They will have to take up the matter of a budget deficit that won't go away without some major sacrifices. Whether those will be from state government or from taxpayers seems to be up in the air.

Governor (don't call me a lame duck because I am) Richardson is in favor of new taxes. Not across the board, just some. Like sin taxes and maybe going back to taxing food as long as it's unhealthy food. The legislature is in favor of cutting everything administrative and all state wages by a percentage large enought to cover the shortfall.

The obvious part is that New Mexican's can't stand new taxes. We are Taxed Enough Already as the TEA Party saying goes. How is the state going to raise revenue when the pool of employed workers is shrinking at an alarming rate? The rest of the obvious part is that government isn't entitled to go without cuts just because it exists. And stop already with the threatening that "services" will be cut. You don't give much in the way of service already.

The legislature should just go in there and cut. Ask the question: What percentage of cut in the budget of all state agencies and state employees across the board will cover the deficit? Then do it. Don't fire anyone, don't cancel programs or services. Just have everybody make do with less, just as the private sector has had to do.

I guarantee that it will work. But raising taxes won't.

Some Tasks for Mayor Berry

In an unexpected (by him) and welcome (by the electorate) defeat, Mayor Martin Chavez lost to (now) Mayor Elect R. J. Berry in the October election. The new mayor doesn't get to take over until December, but in the mean time, here's some suggestions to undo some of the things that are just "a bit off" from the last mayor's terms. (Yes, that's plural. Chavez had been mayor for just too long.)

1. I have nothing against bicycles, but stop reducing traffic lane counts in favor of bicycle lanes. There aren't, and won't be that many people bicycling to work. It takes people who are extraordinarily physically fit to bicycle for miles uphill. If ABQ were flat, I could see it. But most of it is not flat. Reverse the trend. For example, put back four lanes on Morris north of Candelaria. And on Indian School west of Wyoming and east of Eubank. Come on already! Traffic is already bad enough. And even Smart cars need regular traffic lanes.
2. Take down the silly sewer-cover / tinpot dictator emblems from the Rio Grande Blvd., I-40 bridge, and do something with those tricentennial towers.
3. Stop with the rapid-rides and just put on more regular buses that travel by "grid" routes so we can all figure out where we are going if we have to ride them.
4. Don't even think about putting your picture on everything "city."
5. Get rid of the red light / speed cameras. I don't care if they reduce accidents. (Harsh.) But banning all auto traffic from the streets would reduce accidents, too. Both actions intrude on our rights. We have a constitutional right both to due process and to confront our accuser. The cameras and their kangaroo "administrative" hearings provide neither. I can't confront a speed camera. And a hearing officer paid by the city can't provide due process.
6. Do nothing else in the name of safety and/or environmental purism that infringes on our constitutional rights. There are enough things that are within the framework of the constitution that can be done in both arenas.
7. Just be mayor. Don't try to be all thing for all people. And don't have delusions of grandeur. Albuquerque is not New York or Los Angeles, nor is it Las Vegas. Stop trying to make it so.
8. Limit growth. I have been in ABQ for 15 years and I never imagined when I moved here that it could sprawl so badly. It is as horrifying as the city I moved from in that respect. A sea of oversized housing on undersized lots, with no landscaping, is not scenic. It's scary!

Tax Lightning

Where else but in New Mexico could a law that has been declared unconstitutional by the highest court still be enforced.

Tax lightning is the reassessment of real estate to full value after it is sold, whereas before sale it was limited to an increase in value of only 3 percent for the same owner. This results in extraordinarily unfair tax bills for the buyer of an existing home. The courts have stated this is unconstitutional because it creates a targeted class of taxpayer instead of taxing uniformly over the population as a whole.

But the Bernalillo County Assessor will continue to insist that you pay, dear Sir, because the legislature has not changed the law. So if I refuse to honor an unconstitutional law, I can still be punished.

That's New Mexico.

Vision

It's now trendy in the political world - because of President Obama's great success with it at the polls - to lead your constituents by having a "vision" of what (blank) should be; where (blank) is any or all of the following: your city, county, state, region, country, continent, world, earth, universe, and etc. You get the idea. The only other requirement for this "vision" is that it should represent "change."

Change is good. Isn't it? Before I go off on that tangent, let me make my point.

Mayor for Life Martin Chavez . . . what? He's not? Give me a break! He's now in the latest race for Mayor of Q and has already circumvented well advised legislation to limit mayoral terms to 2 consecutive. I have already swallowed 12 years of him and I have only lived in Q since 1995. Anyway, Mayor of Q for Life Marty has the vision thing down pat.

First, you can't fault him for having "vision." Even if his vision of Q is much different from anything you would want or need. Take dogs for instance. Who can object to dogs? Make dogs a part of your "vision" and people can't help but vote for you no matter how kinky your other politics might be. And then there's streetcars. He can't get enough of them. As a railfan, I think we never should have stopped having streetcars. But as a taxpayer, when I read what Houston, TX, has just forked over (puked up, as in hairball) for them, I know Q doesn't need them. The list goes on, including solar panels and cactus gardens on rooftops. Bicycle boxes? Take a look at the towers on I-40 near Old Town! Bicycle boulevards! Dogshit parks.

We don't need his infamous red light cameras, and his administration's incessant discouragement of motor vehicle use. Use the bus, use the bike, walk, take the train. Well bite me, but I don't feel like becoming one of Q's self-righteous road hogs who can't figure out what direction traffic is going, never saw a stop sign or red light they didn't pass, and haven't learned yet what happens when a 2-ton vehicle hits a 300-pound bicycle and rider. Ouch! That's gonna hurt whether it's the vehicle driver's fault or not.

Where was I? Vision! Used to be something New Mexicans got from a weed. Anyway, what happened to government of the people? Or are we now too slow and stupid (after all, we voted for them) to decide for ourselves? We gotta have politicians, most of whom are liars (rhymes with lawyers), to decide for us? Not for this writer!

Where's the Tylenol? Oh, wait, it might be illegal soon. Where's the Oxycontin?

Mom Always Liked Harry’s Brother Best

Congressman Harry of NM wants the Rail Runner, already suffering from marginal density in its Belen terminal, to go to El Paso.  (See article.)  The reasoning is, and get this, the rest of New Mexico wants commuter options, too.  This shows that Mr. Teague has no concept of how to use rail resources and recover revenue.  Yes, El Paso would be a high-density city population, also with potential Mexican passengers (and concomitant border crossing problems like Amtrak’s international trains), but running a train because the other 2/3 of New Mexico has one isn’t a good reason.  And the northern end of the route is a marginal terminal (Santa Fe), that even the old namesake railroad didn’t go to.  (See my blog Passenger Rail.)

On the other hand, 2/3 of the population of the state already has (have) a train that can’t and won’t pay for itself, and for which funding for the indefinite future is in doubt.  Perhaps the rest of the state deserves to have the same thing. 

Gov. Bill might have a few friends who would like a finder’s fee to place the bonds for the project.