A National rating group says 25% of New Mexico's highways are in bad shape and costing citizens almost $2 billion a year in vehicle damage and lost time. The solution to this would be a simple 12 cent gasoline tax during a time of plummeting gasoline prices. And don't forget a lot of this tax would be paid by tourists and interstate commerce. But don't hold your breath while the current ideologues hang out in Santa Fe. The lack of leadership is appalling.
The peculiar saga of Mayor Berry's developed trail plan for the Rio Grande Bosque continues. He and his administration are still ignoring public outcry on his quest to unnecessarily screw up that special place. It is a tribute to stubbornness on something that doesn't deserve the angst. I just don't get it. Opposition is overwhelming to this plan, and yet he keeps on pushing it.
4 comments:
Maybe we should follow the money. We all know that the republicans don't do anything that doesn't benefit them one way or another. They're denying climate change all in the name of money, so why would Berry care one bit about destroying the Bosque for money?
Berry has contempt and resentment for the very community he leads, so let him run for Governor so he will be shown what contempt and resentment really means. The Journal can spin his failures just so far.
Speaking of following the money, highway projects are in the tens of millions each and they're all over the state. It might be because I'm out there bouncing around in my old International but it seems to me the stretches they've been paving don't last too long. For instance that hill out there just past Mesita, that some of the Lagunas call Dead Man's Curve, they paved it last summer and within a few months it was almost shot again. Somebody might be watering down the hot mix. It might be half chili pepper skins.
Also if you'll indulge me I wanted to provide this link having to do with an idea I've been promoting to improve the state's economy, which is for New Mexico agriculture to become all organic. A state in India has done this successfully. It took a lot of planning and facilitating by the state because each kind of crop had different problems to overcome, but they proved it's doable and now are getting those high organic prices for everything they produce. There are New Mexicans doing this already, but imagine the publicity New Mexico would get if it became the first all organic state.
http://thelogicalindian.com/story-feed/get-inspired/sikkim-goes-fully-organic-5-ways-the-state-has-made-things-work/
Bubba: I have said the same thing about our roads. The stretch of I-40 around Coors comes to mind. Do they not have any kind of warranty on the work and materials? Of course like everything else, corporations have figured out there isn't any money in making products that last! My Whirlpool appliances come to mind. My previous Whirlpool refrigerator lasted 25 years, not a single repair. My $3300. fridge has already had the ice maker replaced twice and the sealed system once. It's 3 years old. Fortunately I purchased a 5 year extended warranty because of course all of this hsppenned after the 1 year warranty was expired. They used to be among the most reliable and completely made in the US, now the parts, which are what fails, are made in Mexico or China, and they're only assembled here. Sad!
I looked at the link. It is an excellent idea, but unless there us something in it for Martinez and her ilk, I don't see it happening till she's gone.
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