Cocoposts

The Authority's Authority

The development community's objection to Albuquerque -Bernalillo County Water Authority's conservation measures goes deeper.  It is indicative of why the Authority was created under direction and support of the developer lobby in the first place.  Not about the cost of rain gutters.  Ya think?

 From the Albuquerque Journal:

"We feel the water authority has overstepped its authority," said Katherine Martinez, Home Builders Association governmental affairs director.  Martinez said her group does not believe the utility had authority to pass the legislation, which places requirements on the construction of all new buildings within the authority's service area.     She said those requirements can be imposed only by cities and, to a lesser extent, counties.  "Nowhere in state law does any other entity have the power to change building codes," Martinez said.

The state's largest water  utility is now an entity without any regulatory power - outside the control of representative city and county government and disconnected from the normal planning tools of building, zoning and subdivision codes.   

As a practical matter, how do you implement water planning without those tools?  The water system is semi-privatized and it is increasingly difficult for the public to exert any control over management of the resource.    

I may actually agree with Katherine.  The Authority has no authority.  By design.

Roundhouse Rally for Clinton

The weather and crowd were a mix and I now have a crush on the State Auditor. 

Cringeworthy Infrastructure

Top news in town for days is this damn road closure - Paseo del Norte.  Actually, the news is only about the traffic - not about the water or the line or even the road.   Traffic as news.  I knew I wasn't going to like reading Sean Olson's Albuquerque Journal story with the headline:  Officials See Paseo Closure as Wake-Up Call.   

Don't expect a new bridge to the West Side anytime soon, but officials do have a few ideas on how to prevent massive traffic jams in the future.

Uh-oh. I hate it when they get a few ideas - suspicious of the motives of officials who act surprised when major infrastructure fails.  More often those aware of the big picture will wonder at how well stuff works half the time.     When the unexpected happens it isn't entirely unexpected.  It either confirms or informs what they knew already. 

Like we knew Paseo del Norte would never "solve the traffic problem" - even with all lanes fully functional.  The old adage is something like, you can't build your way out of traffic congestion.  This was clear from the beginning.  We build roads anyway and they fail.  Traffic backs up. Stuff falls apart. 

Then someone makes pronouncements to appease those stuck in traffic.  Suddenly, something must be done.  Wait for it...   

The closure of Paseo del Norte from Saturday through Monday highlighted the need for something to be done about crosstown traffic, especially when a major road is shut down, said Don Leonard, Mid-Region Council of Governments chairman.

 

"Hopefully, this awakened us to the fact that this isn't the first time and it won't be the last time" for street closures, Leonard said.

Armijo said two more river crossings are needed— one in southern Albuquerque and one in the northern part of the city.

LOL.  

Potential TIDD Reform

The New Mexico Legislature's House Judiciary Committee may consider House Bill 451 - Tax Increment Development Act Reforms at their hearing tomorrow at 1:30pm.  Thanks to SWOP for the alert and the summary by New Mexico Voices for Children.      

SWOP reminds us who the members of the House Judiciary Committee are:

Rep.   Al Park (D)   Chair                  
Rep.   Joseph Cervantes (D)   Vice Chair   
Rep.   Elias Barela- SPONSOR (D)    Member
Rep.   Gail Chasey - Co-signer (D)     Member 
Rep.   Daniel R. Foley (R)   Member
Rep.   Antonio "Moe" Maestas (D)  Member
Rep.   W. Ken Martinez  (D)     Member
Rep.   William "Bill" R. Rehm (R)    Member
Rep.   Mimi Stewart (D)   Member
Rep.   Thomas E. Swisstack (D)   Member
Rep.   Gloria C. Vaughn (R)   Member
Rep.   Eric A. Youngberg (R)   Member
Rep.   Teresa A. Zanetti (R)   Member   

That's going to be a close vote in a stuffy room. 

The money line about the bill from the Fiscal Impact Report: 

"Particularly from the state’s point of view there are very few oversight and accountability mechanisms to safeguard the state’s investment in these developments. In unincorporated areas of a county, this means that the state is financing upwards of 90 percent of local government infrastructure with very little input into the process and approvals."

Crossposted on my page at Duke City Fix.

State of the Smirk

Watched our President give his last State of the Union last night  - which is to say I made a margarita and yelled at the TV.  This worries the dog who figured the TV as a one-way thing and looks concerned when I curse at smirking man.   

What really gets me is the cheering.  Cheering for tax breaks and war.   At one point, at the end of a noisy ovation for some Rambo-talk, one ass actually shouted "You Rock!" 

Bush "waxed amnesiac" said Walter Spapiro in Salon:

"There is little that Bush could say at this point about Iraq that has credibility. And it seems almost unsporting to waste time parsing his words for omissions, misstatements and contradictions. Yet it was dizzying Monday night to hear Bush invoke Osama bin Laden -- He who shall not be named -- to justify his Iraq policy. It was a feat of presidential logic to argue, in essence, that multiplying two failures together (bin Laden and Iraq) equals success."

John Dickerson in Slate.

"But the speech did have an overarching political philosophy: The American people should be trusted with the solutions to their problems. "We must trust in the ability of free people to make wise decisions. … We must trust people with their own money. … The people's trust in their government is undermined. … We must trust Americans with the responsibility of homeownership. … We must trust students to learn … trust in the good heart of the American people. … We must trust American workers to compete. … We must trust in the creative genius of American researchers.

There were more examples. Trust me.

This is the first part of a standard GOP refrain: We trust the people; Democrats trust the government. If you oppose Republican policies, it is because you don't have faith in the American people."

Christian Brando RIP

Died at 49 of pneumonia in LA.   A story of his life in San Francisco Chronicle  from LA Times.

Debate This

The masthead from Chantal again on Duke City Fix. 

Time Takes Back

Johnny Mango post describing his photograph.    

“It proved to be something of a disappointment.  Or maybe not so much disappointing as requiring a different aesthetic on the part of the viewer...one that appreciates both the fleeting moment when everything works just like it should, and the more common moments when only about half of everything is perfect. The rest of it is something that Time takes back as payment for having lived long enough to remember how it used to be.”

Exploring the Valley last week, searching for buildings and places now gone or changed,  I remembered this and was comforted a little.   

 

Can I Get it in Euros?

New York Times on the "economic stimulus" package.   

Pig Kissing

Thanks  Joy!