Bio Park Flamingos at Night
Raising prices for entry to publicly owned facilities is always risky. Cutting back on days that such facilities are open is also very dangerous. During my term as Mayor I advocated closing the Bio Park facilities on Mondays to save money during an economic down turn. You would have thought I was the devil incarnate.
I had also been an advocate of the real estate boys paying more for the sprawl development they love so much. You would have thought I was the devil incarnate. At least that is what the local media thought. They never much cared we grew the budget during my term less that the inflation rate.
Now, Mayor Berry sees a need to raise prices at the Bio Park by a whopping 30% to help pay for maintenance and improvements. It is a tough call and I can't argue that the facilities need some work done on them. But when you stop and think about it, it is all upside down. This is being done while the administration pushes for lower development costs for the real estate boys. Sure, that may lead to a few more jobs but it will also lead to Paseo/I-25 type issues in the future. Right now the administration is demanding that Bio Park attendees pay for the ongoing costs while they are insisting that sprawl development be given a subsidy.
Well, being a Mayor is a difficult job. But for the life of me I can not figure out why Berry isn't up on the Governor's doorstep looking for money for the interchange project which is really a state/federal issue. Instead the great Bio Park facilities will pay their freight while the state and others get a free pass.
5 comments:
Boy you hit the target with Berry. Notice he is no where to be found on the Balloon Fiesta vendor controversy. City Hall chatter is that Berry already has cut a sweet heart deal with the Fiesta people to get the park practically free for another 10 years in order to get the fat cats on the Fiesta Board to support him for Mayor and donate to his run against Udall in 2014. Ovations who wiill manage the Balloon Fiestta vendors also manages Isotopes park vendors. Ovations is owned by the same person who owns the Isotopes ball team. There are alot of other dots to be connected with this Mayor, including his people's involvement with the Dirty Downs deal such as John Garcia, the City's Economic Development Director being part of the lease selection committee for the Downs. The Journal still puts a positive spine on everything Berry does or merely pretends he is not around when there is bad news, especially involving APD.
Nothing new here. Berry cuts costs by increasing the expenses on everyday folk while giving a break to business interests. He won't address the multiple jurisdictions that hav standing with the Paseo improvement so he'll kick that can down the road for the next mayor. APD is in a tailspin...no mayor. The city's economy is in stagnation...no mayor. All his publicly promoted objectives (remember the property crime "our city" thing?) have failed or withered....no mayor. I hope picket lines pop up at the balloon fiesta, city council, and outside Schultz's door.
And for the life of me, I cannot understand why the mayor or the media isn't hitting on Rio Rancho and Sandoval County to step up on funding Paseo/I-25? If not for the blighted sprawl that is Rio Rancho, there would be no need for a major interchange.
FOG awarded Mayor Berry an award for transparency. How is that for lack of accountability? It is like living in a surreal world where everyone avoids the elephant in the room.
Oh I found the mayor. While yet ANOTHER scandal unfolds in APD, the mayor was hiding at the city's zoo.
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