I was asked by Steve Capra of the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance to sit and discuss land use planning and land protection with the delegation. They were interested in talking to me because I have worked in all three levels of Government in my career. Those are the National Director of the Bureau of Land Management, State Land Commissioner and Mayor.
Mrs. Nurjamal Satarovna is chair of the Bishkek City Council. Mamytbai Salymbekov is a member of Parliament and Head of the Land Use Commission, and Mr. Nurlanbek Toibaev is the Head of the State Committee for Urban Development and Architecture, of the Kyrgyz Republic.
They are dealing with the same problems as most of us in this country, but they have time to remedy their approach to land use, especially as their cities grow. They were astonished at how the city of Albuquerque has sprawled and how on earth we pay for the costs of that sprawl. I told them that although we have zoning laws, the real estate developers wield raw political power and taxes are paying for this kind of growth. They seemed incredulous.
They are very concerned about their public lands around their cities and about their wilderness areas being protected. They are concerned about climate change and pollution. They are just like most of us in this counrty. They are very nice people.
No comments:
Post a Comment