El Picador Awakened

El Picador has been roused from his slumber by several noteworthy Los Ranchos news items:

At the top of the list is the recent Tribune announcement that hizzoner will be hosting the commander-and-thief himself for a Dommenici fundraiser at the palatial 13 acre mayoral manor later this month. That is quite interesting, in that Larry takes great pride in characterizing himself as an independent. With all of the prominent Repubs in this state, why would the RNC put the touch on the lowly mayor of a tiny bedroom community to host, at what will probably be some considerable expense and hassle, an event such as this? El Picador speculates that this may involve some sort of payback for previous favors rendered by the federal administration on Larry's behalf. You see, awhile back Larry had some problems with the IRS concerning a sizable amount of taxes due. He got a favorable settlement from the IRS. Who knows what sort on intercessions were made for him, and by whom? And now it is time to repay the favor by putting on a bash for Bush and one of his most loyal stooges, St Pete.

Moving on, El Picador congratulates all of those who spoke out against the Java Joint dive-though on their recent victory. It is a rare event indeed when the rubber-stamp BOT says no to a project that had been championed by hizzoner. El Picador himself hopes that Starbucks builds anyway, sans drive-through. He needs his morning fix.

And finally, there is the condemnation suit on the SE corner of Osuna. After promising and promising to use it as a "last resort", Larry has used the municipal powers of condemnation to obtain property not for the usual civic uses--parks, schools, etc--but rather for commercial development. This action is certain to be highly controversial and, if fought by the current property owner, could focus national attention on our sleepy little burg. El Picador opposes the use of emennent domain in this manner. Those powers are ment to be used rarely, and only for the public good. And what public good can come from another big-box strip mall, or worse, a Wal-Mart (they are looking for a presence in the area now that they ave lost out on their Los Alturas site)? Most of us moved here to get away from that sort of thing.

A little known fact aboout that SE corner. A previous development, consisting of small stores in the spirit of the old VC zone was approved by a previous board. It fell apart because some property owners--including current trustee Pablo Rael---wanted too much money for their property fronting Osuna. Will the new developer, picked by a vote of the board of trustees, pay Rael then money he wants? Sure, he has been recusing himself from the votes on this particular matter. But what sort of horse-trading is going on behind the scenes?