District 2 Blog

Thanks!

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 12:59:21 -0700

I could not have gotten the (barely above 40%) votes needed to win this election without the help of a lot of great people. I won't attempt to name all of you, but if you are reading this, you are probably one of them.

Most importantly, thanks to the hundreds of voters who with your votes showed that you trust me to be the right person for this critical job. Let's work to make that number in the thousands for District 2 the next time!

Thanks to all of the people who allowed us to put signs in your yards and on your properties. I still maintain that people knowing who I am and what I want to do is the key, but those signs helped get the word out there.

Thanks to all of you who hosted breakfasts, coffees, and evenings so that I could meet people face-to-face, hear their questions, share my thoughts. Thanks for the words spoken on my behalf, the introductions, the supportive greetings on the street and at events, the walking of the neighborhoods, the delivery of signs and campaign materials.

Thanks for the campaign contributions of money, manpower, goodies (great cookies and waffles especially), and signs. Thanks for believing that this is the time for someone like me to help move Las Cruces forward.

Thanks to my opponents, Clint for being such a gentleman from the get-go, Fred for meeting with me early on to agree that we would keep the race about the issues, Charlie for keeping the race positive and wishing me well even though the final count was so close. I hope all three of you will bring your passion for this community, your experience in the workplace and in public service, and your diverse perspectives to my attention so that this community can derive the greater benefits of our working together.

Thanks to Dolores Conner for representing this district so ably for eight years, far caring so much about this city, for speaking with me about community issues for the last five years, and for working with me to ensure the smoothest transition possible.

Thanks to my mother, my mother-in-law, and my grandmother (all either living or doing business in District 2) for your moral support mostly, but also for the wide range of tangible and intangible support you gave my campaign and me. Thanks to friends and relatives in other cities and other states who were enthusiastic cheerers for this campaign.

Finally, thanks to my wife for your belief in me, your campaign managing skills, your editing and website savvy, your hard work, and your love.

I am truly blessed.

The Power of Your Vote

Mon, 7 Nov 2011 21:43:39 -0700

We have been distributing door hangers with information about polling places for people in each of the precincts in District 2, and that work is now done. If you are not sure of your polling place and you somehow were missed by the folks distributing our literature, please check with one of your neighbors or look at the following website:
http://www.las-cruces.org/Departments/Legal/Services/City%20Clerk/~/media/Legal/Documents/2011%20Municipal%20Election%20-%20Polling%20Places.ashx

While I hope you have been given more than enough good reasons to vote for Gregory Z. Smith, regardless of who your choice is, please vote tomorrow, if you have not already done so. Voting is such a fundamental, core piece of our democracy functioning, I think it is something akin to a sacred obligation for eligible citizens to vote.

The polling places are open from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.; so, please find time to visit yours and vote!

The Sockless Avenger and Unfair Kickball

Mon, 7 Nov 2011 08:12:12 -0700

Last week, as I hurried to get to the radio studio on time, I gave up on finding a matching pair of black socks and went sockless. It reminded me of a fun moment when I was teaching about seven years ago.

Several mornings I went sockless to school because I wanted to be on time, and there seemed to be no matching pair in the pile of black socks. I don't know how there can be so many varieties of "black" socks, but trust me, I still have a pile of them that are each just enough different to make getting a match a challenge, especially when time is short.

So, one day, seven years ago, a student in my class chose to write a story about someone who taught during the day and was out protecting the community at night. Because this hero went about doing his good deeds without socks he was called the Sockless Avenger. The story was quite popular with the class, and soon several sequels were shared. I didn't make a habit of encouraging the students to write about me, but it was gratifying to have a humble school teacher portrayed as a hero, and it was great to have an excuse for showing up on occasion without socks! Each time I did thereafter, there was a certain gleam in some students' eyes, and the occasional question about what I'd been up to the night before.

I have also had occasion several times recently to hark back to something else I did with my students that was quite popular. I remember being disappointed when several of my fellow teachers told me they always ended their kickball games when the score was tied... or even that they told their students the score was tied when the game ended despite that fact that it wasn't. Their reasoning was that there was less contention and better sportsmanship when the score was a tie. That seemed to me to be a cop-out when an important life lesson could be taught.

My solution was to create "unfair kickball." All the rules were the same except that one team was made up of five students and the other team was made up of all of the rest of the class. So, the larger team often had three times as many players as the small team did. The disparity could be even greater when two classes played together. Often the students actually wanted to be on the smaller team because that team won at least as often as the larger team did. When the game was over, we could laugh about how "unfair" the game was.

I mention these stories here and now, not only because there have been opportunities to remember them recently, but also because they point to how we can think outside the box to learn, to work together, to find solutions, and to have fun as we accomplish great things.

Answers to Las Cruces Issues Need Depth

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 13:51:28 -0600

Heath Haussamen asked some questions of those of us seeking seats on the City Council. Please follow this link to see the answers from the District 2 candidates. Please note that while my answers are indeed long, they attempt to answer ALL of the questions and to give some specifics as far as what I see is possible.
http://www.nmpolitics.net/index/2011/10/cruces-district-2-council-candidates-on-the-issues/

Labor and Business Agree on Infrastructure and Jobs

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 12:35:40 -0600

Back in February, the heads of the AFL-CIO and of the United States Chamber of Commerce agreed on something fundamental and did so in front of a Congressional Committee. Now, they are publicly talking about it and something else they agree upon, the need to encourage more jobs. Please see the following links to see their respective statements from February:
http://www.aflcio.org/mediacenter/prsptm/tm02162011.cfm
http://www.epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Files.View&FileStore_id=5386d34c-5fbe-4321-911a-9efe311c2e4d

I take heart in seeing that we are connected here to thinking that is happening at a national level... collaborative thinking that crosses traditional lines.

So, let me again express my belief that we make Las Cruces stronger in several ways:
1. We encourage an environment in which rewarding jobs are incentivized, recruited, cultivated, maintained, and expanded.
2. We economize, collaborate, and innovate to establish and sustain infrastructure that undergirds our commerce, our quality of life, and our pursuit of happiness.
3. We look beyond immediate needs to what we ourselves will need tomorrow, what our children will need the day after that, and what those who will follow us will need in the future... to leave a lasting legacy.

We have to do this for ourselves.

Saving the City Money

Sat, 22 Oct 2011 21:34:56 -0600

One thing I learned while I was a teacher was that a lot can still get done on a tight budget. My late first wife and I were both teachers, and we were often spending our own money on materials and books for our students and our lessons. Even so, we often felt that our combined personal and school budgets had to be stretched for maximum result, and we could be very resourceful about how we used and reused things. As the owner of a home design business, I use that same resourcefulness to operate my business through hard economic times.

There are basic services that must be provided to this community, and to provide those services there are both city staffers and providers who offer those services under contracts with the city that are both economical AND of high quality. It can be so true that "you get what you pay for" and the low bid is sometimes the substandard bid. So, here are half a dozen thoughts on saving money:
1. Even in times when the money seems to be rolling in, but especially in times when funds are tight, always ask the question: how is this project, service, or initiative going to benefit this community now and in the future?
2. Look for ways to get materials or other resources to do double or even triple duty.
3. Find ways to combine the resources of different departments and different agencies so that we avoid having duplicated facilities or services sitting unused because we have too many rooms or too many different ways to do one thing.
4. Sometimes you have to pay the higher price up front to get the longer lasting, better working, less-expensive-in-the-long-run results.
5. Develop an eye for spotting the difference between classic or enduring and trendy or faddish so that what lasts can be what is acquired or cultivated and what is wasteful can be avoided or kept to a minimum.
6. Do all of this with some sense of fun, creativity, trust, and integrity so that a culture of personal investment permeates the culture of City Hall and results in pride in jobs well done and in services and facilities that are truly valued in this community.

I recognize that efforts are already under way to improve "customer service" at City Hall. I recognize that there are already many people on the city staff and under city contract who work diligently and resourcefully to provide service of which they are proud and from which we all can benefit. I commend those efforts and those people, and I would like to have the opportunity as a Las Cruces City Councillor to encourage something of a ripple effect extending throughout the organization and beyond.

The good people of Las Cruces can enjoy an exceptional quality of life without paying east or west coast prices for it if we are smart about how we use our resources.

Honor

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 16:17:34 -0600

I Am Honored

This campaign for the City Council District 2 seat has been about what works for Las Cruces from the get-go. Yes, I have some things I personally want to see done: a parking structure downtown so that downtown revitalization continues to be an asset for ALL of us, a multipurpose pool so that our "Aquatic Center" can truly be one, innovative transportation that connects us and draws positive attention to Las Cruces. However, I know that we have to spend what limited resources we have judiciously and not commit those resources too quickly to things that may not directly or quickly benefit the community. The job of councillor is more complicated than perhaps meets the eye, and I know I will have to learn a lot to do that job well.

So, I am honored by the support expressed in today's Las Cruces Sun-News. They have distilled what I have been doing and what that means for Las Cruces into a few short paragraphs. Let me take one sentence from those paragraphs that distills even further what their endorsement means to this community, "We believe Smith's leadership experience and history of volunteerism make him the best candidate." I thank the Sun-News editorial board members for their endorsement.

What gratifies me even more, if I may say this, is the support of such a wide range of individuals in this community, from the man who preferred that I speak Spanish to him in front of his manufactured home in District 2 to the man whose Mesilla home will someday be a state museum and who has said several times he'd vote for me if he lived in my district. I have been touched by the people in other cities in New Mexico and even other states in the United States wanting to contribute to my campaign (and whose efforts to do so I've always politely declined). They have often expressed a desire, not just that I should win, but that Las Cruces should have someone working in its best interests the way that I would. From artists to city staffers, from executives to college students, and from people well known in this community to those who've come here because of a vague promise of a better life, I keep hearing words similar to these, "Bless you for caring about what we need here enough to want to do this."

So, let me humbly say that I am honored.

Police and Fire Coverage

Sat, 15 Oct 2011 10:26:31 -0600

Heath Haussamen had a third question for the mayoral candidates that I will answer here:

• Has the city adequately kept up with the need for police and fire coverage? If not, how could it do better?

I believe the city has adequately kept up, yes, but more can certainly be done. If we do more to improve those aspects of planning and community pride that can reduce crime and fire hazards (an ounce of prevention), we reduce the need for special equipment and uniformed officers to deal with the consequences of not having done those things (the pound of cure). So, before giving a knee jerk reaction to crime and fire issues and saying we need more coverage, I would suggest we need to be looking more to the root issues and seeing if we are addressing them adequately. If we determine that we are already providing all of the “ounces of prevention” that we can, then I would encourage us to turn to finding the “pounds of cure.”

Specifically, the new Mesilla Valley Regional Dispatch Authority center does need to get built. Police and fire stations need to keep pace with our growth. However, despite some apparent recent increases in some crimes, we are doing pretty well here, and better job opportunities may reduce some crime statistics while better early intervention may reduce some others. There is also something to be said, as I mentioned in the previous paragraph, for how we plan services and amenities in this community and the opportunities we give members of this community to take pride in where we live, who we are, what we do.

Impact Fees, Again

Fri, 7 Oct 2011 19:07:07 -0600

Heath Haussamen's second question to the mayoral candidates was regarding the contentious topic of impact fees:

• Do you support the city’s implementation of impact fees? Why or why not?

I have expressed limited support for the city’s implementation of impact fees previously in this blog, to council members and others who asked my opinion, and at the LCAR candidate forum. However, there are some key aspects to how the impact fees are structured that I would have asked to see handled differently:
1. Given that developers and contractors may be able to currently establish the required infrastructure less expensively and on credit, the City having a set fee, and one that is extracted whole and before work starts, can present understandable frustration. I would suggest that the City’s arguments for the fees would have been better served if more time could have been spent showing how it would cost less and be more lasting for the City to do the infrastructure than if the contractors do it themselves. The City’s case could have benefitted even further if it had included a list of qualifiers and a program allowing for payment on an installment plan.
2. Rotarians recognize this question: is it fair to all concerned? While making a case for those who increase the infrastructure needs being the ones to pay for them, the City unfortunately included scenarios where existing infrastructure in already established areas could be updated or replaced by the fees. In the fairness arena, this would seem to miss the mark. More attention should have been given to separating out funding streams so that there would be less question of fairness. Rules should be fair, consistent, and transparent.
3. Insufficient time was spent clarifying that not only would implementation of the fees be delayed, but also that the Council still has an option to either further delay them or abandon them if the economic situation does not improve.
In short, I believe I understand why the City Council felt they had to impose the impact fees, but I believe some significant amendments to the structure of the program and its presentation to the public should have occurred.

[Please note, in my last blog on this topic, I referred to the "emergency center" several times when I should have referred to it as the "emergency dispatch center" or MVRDA - Mesilla Valley Regional Dispatch Authority.]

Growth

Wed, 5 Oct 2011 16:00:44 -0600

Heath Haussamen has asked the candidates for mayor some questions, and he assures me that questions for the councillor candidates are coming soon. I have taken the liberty of answering some of the mayor candidate questions already. Here is the first one:

• What has the city done in the last four years related to growth and development that you agree with, and what have you disagreed with?

In the area of how we encourage growth, I have agreed with the downtown revitalization efforts, the visioning for the El Paseo Corridor, and the incentives for infill development. I have also felt that it has been wise to scrutinize more carefully the plans for developments that may unduly stress our infrastructure or run the risk of not being completed as promised. I believe a more thoughtful and measured approach to growth helps ensure greater success for all sectors of our community, including those who are in the business of development. Success comes in the form of what is made possible for those living and working here as well as for those who may contemplate moving themselves, their families, or their companies here.

I have disagreed with some aspects of the University Avenue Corridor development and with any complacency about Las Cruces being labeled “anti-growth.” Growth is an inevitable part of being in a location with so many attractive features, but we can seek out those ways of growing that enhance our community health and attractiveness as opposed to simply growing. An analogy might be made between the kind of growth made possible by going to the gym and working out versus the kind of growth made possible by simply eating the most convenient foods. In the University Avenue area, this might equate to using zoning and incentives to encourage a healthy mix of uses versus turning the avenue from I-25 to I-10 into a single long strip mall.

We truly do have many blessings here in Las Cruces, from the weather and the views, to the natural and manmade resources making so much possible here. It's a little like having a fantastic personal gym: do we get in there and use it to look good and feel great, or do we ignore it and just eat the easily prepared stuff in the refrigerator?