Chavez Agenda

First, Congratulations to Marty Chavez on his reelection.

Mayor Marty Chavez set out his agenda for his next four years in the Albuquerque Journal today. It is not remotely visionary except for his idea on making Albuquerque's library system technologically superior.(See my earlier blog on this from last July) If he could get about 500 or more no cost internet stations in our Libraries that would be great. All you have to do is visit the Salt Lake City Library or the San Francisco Library to see how it has made those libraries into community gathering places.

The disappointing thing about Marty's 'vision thing' is that the word environment never crops up in any context. His water conservation program which he started in his first term and which both of our administrations improved upon over the last 8 years was more of a system of assuring water supplies for future growth. It was more of a economic development initiative than an environmental one.

I hope Marty will get serious about making Albuquerque a leader in alternative energy, increased public transportation, and protection of open space. This is what will serve new generations of Duke City residents. He needs to hire a senior policy advisor to work on these issues, much as Governor Richardson hired Ned Farquhar. It is really remarkable he hasn't done so, but he could remedy that quickly and it would be to his credit.

The most important environmental issue is one that is rarely mentioned, and that is the lack of a conservation ethic in our culture.
Gaylord Nelson