To buy or not to buy? that is the question

Vote! Vote! Open Space Bond Election Tuesday! Vote! Vote!

Wow! This must be the biggest election since Mayor Larry and his gang ran in '04 just after I moved here. I've received 4 glossy mailings now from the self-proclaimed "Friends of the Village of Los Ranchos" who can be reached at 4613 Los Poblanos Cir. NW. This stuff costs serious money, though it may be a lot cheaper than buying an ad in the Mayor's glossy "Village Vision" mouthpiece. But none of my neighbors seem to know anything about what's going on. I really need to get involved and get up to speed on these issues.

In the current fusillade of mail, it's good to see folks with contracts with the Village chipping in for the Mayor's campaign, corporations like Star Paving and Larkin Group (both being paid by the Mayor for the 4th & Osuna project - I saw their names on the signs). I appreciate their loyalty to their client. Don't know what work Albuquerque Asphalt, Sites Southwest and TLC Plumbing & Utilities are doing for the Village. Need to find that out. I don't think they headquarter in Los Ranchos. Perhaps the owners live here?

I'm glad all the Trustees and the Mayor have signed on. Don't know the other folks, however.

That aside, the authors claim that the "open space" to be purchased will
- preserve wildlife habitat
- preserve farmland
- provide opportunities for outdoor recreation, [and]
- preserve scenic landscapes and mountain views

I haven't lived in the Village that long, but I wonder about the logic here. Can you preserve "wildlife habitat" and "farmland" at the same time? Farmers I know back home fight the wildlife that eat their crops and kill their animals all the time. Can you keep sheep and goats in Los Ranchos? I know people keep horses. I've seen a couple of peacocks. Cows seem too big for our little ranchos here. A neighbor told me that there used to be buffalo here. Amazing what you can do in the suburbs!

Then what kind of "outdoor recreation" and "farmland" (along with that mythical "wildlife habitat") can be bought in Los Ranchos today for $3,600,000? The glossy fliers didn't say. I would like a baseball field, please. Who decided what to buy? Is there a wish list out there? I think we need more parks for kids.

On another side of the question, there is one plain paper flyer from folks who call themselves "Concerned Village Residents" who can be reached at Village_visionary@yahoo.com. They don't say that they are for or against the bond and debt, but they describe their understanding of Village open space and their concerns.

"Concerned Residents" say that residents have access to open land today:
- 138 acres of Los Poblanos Fields (is that in Los Ranchos? Someone said it belongs to Albuquerque)
- 40 miles of ditches (with signs that forbid me to walk my dog on them)
- 300 miles of Albuquerque and Bernalillo County bike trails (yeah, like I tried that a few months ago, and almost got run over on my way to the trail. Rocket science is safer than bike riding here, believe me.)
- Rio Grande Valley State Park (but I almost go run over trying to get to the trail to get to the Park)
- Alameda Rio Grande open space (the parking lot is always full, so I've got to get back on the trail)
- 176 acres of Candelaria Farm, (I don't know where this is. Candelaria Road?)
- Rio Grande Nature Center (This was neat to visit. Seems like it's been here a long time.)

The tax will run for 20 years. The glossy fliers didn't state that fact. Does Los Ranchos need to borrow money? The village looks pretty rich to me, with all the new big houses going up, Tuscan and all that. Why not just pledge the current tax revenues to the sellers? Do we have to buy the land?

So are the Concerned Residents right in saying that the $3.6m will be just a "down payment" on 14 acres of the Anderson property? (that's the winery on Rio Grande, isn't it?) I don't know what farmland sells for today, but 14 acres at $3.6m comes out to around $260,000 per acre. Seems like a lot to me for alfalfa, but maybe that's what 1-acre lots for McRanchos on Rio Grande Boulevard are selling for today. If they are $350,000, then we're in trouble, and Mayor Larry will only be able to buy about 10 acres. Seems like a drop in the bucket to preserve "open land" in Los Ranchos.

The Concerned Residents ask a couple of disturbing questions. "Were the residents of the village asked what lands should be targeted for acquisition for open space?" and "... should the village have conducted forums to get residents input?" I wasn't asked to vote on land to be bought, and if there was a village forum, I missed it. Seems like the folks on Rio Grande get all the benefits. What about the folks who live and work on 4th Street?

Perhaps it is time to vote "no" and start over again, give the resident of the village some time to talk and think about the choice. Given our sprawl, it may be a really good idea to buy open land.