Cocoposts

California Land Use Law

San Francisco Chronicle on the new California land use law intended to reduce greenhouse emissions by encouraging transit oriented development.

SB375 uses incentives and requirements to encourage local governments and developers to concentrate growth in urban areas or close to public transportation hubs in an effort to reduce Californians' use of cars and lower their greenhouse gas emissions. But it is a complicated law, and its ultimate impact remains unclear.

Developers call this social engineering unless they can see a profitable angle -

Thanksgiving Vacation

Attempting to save the economy by saving the home mortgage and auto industries - what a teeth gnash and brain squeeze.  Listening to continued sanctification of home ownership and the private automobile is difficult if you believe that's what got us into this mess in the first place.  That just won't work.  More credit won't fix the credit economy. 

Then there is the news of Eclipse Aviation in Chapter 11.  There is much concern for the State Investment Bonds but there was also the infrastructure money for the facility at the Double Eagle Airport that never opened.  Classic economic development rationale for subsidized water lines and roads to benefit real estate speculators. 

To save my teeth and head for Thanksgiving I'm back on the mental vacation where I let go of some of my worries - attempt to view my valley anew.  Listen to less about Washington and Wall Street.  Let it go and try and see things like a tourist instead of a bitter old native.

How's that working out so far? 

Well, instead of watching Lonely Are the Brave for the umpteenth time, I watched the 1964 French film, The Pool, with Alain Delon.  I'm all inspired. (No, not to drown someone.)   I can't afford the French Riviera but I'm going down to T or C  to lay around in some hot pools.  No Black Friday shopping at Cottonwood Mall (where we used to ride horses and watch airplanes land).

Driving like a Jet Pilot

One of our family myths was that my father was a great driver.  I remember him telling us this.   Because he was a fighter pilot and not shot down he was Best Automobile Driver Ever.  I also recall clinging to  door handles to avoid flying around in the backseat as he took corners too fast.  

Piedra Lisa

This kind of thing just yanks my chain - the subtle erasure of place names through error or misdirection.  This morning I note the delightful post by Brendan on Duke City Fix who obviously hiked the Embudo Canyon Trail.   Yet his helpful City of Albuquerque Open Space System trail map has renamed it, intentionally or not, Piedra Lisa Canyon. 

No! No! No!  ::snaps ruler on desk::  As I corrected Brendan (cementing my image among the fixers  as an old biddy) Piedra Lisa Canyon is to the north - connecting Juan Tabo with Placitas.

But maybe you can't hike Piedra Lisa anymore because there is a subdivision and houses and private property and paranoia and Indian Land  and so the Forest Service map has a blank rectangle where the trail went (see map at right) and the City just reappropriated the name.

 I wouldn't care so much but my sister always claimed that canyon was named after her and would never let me forget where it was - pointing it out whenever we drove north and going so far as to name the ridge west of the canyon Piedra Lisa Mountain, forcing me to correct her by pulling her  hair or telling mom she hit me. 

A Fortune in Energy, Land and Water

About that deep brackish water in New Mexico's Rio Puerco valley from Sean Olson's Albuquerque Journal story - Waste disposal alone, which usually consists of re-injecting the concentrated salt and minerals into the ground, can cost a fortune in energy....

The story leaves that most important thing for the very last sentence, above, and only uses the word once.  Energy. 

Are we ready to upfront the massive costs of "producing" this water and fund the big-ass ongoing expenses?

 ::chirp chirp chirp::

November Confessions

In reviewing blog news I see wonderful Dooce is pregnant and am momentarily swept up in a wave of  regret about never having had a kid.  Then I remember the news story Friday about the mother who abandoned her five year old at a Nevada hospital because he was ripping off door molding and stabbing her cat. 

Untangling SunCal

SunCal's Chief Financial Officer is out - resigned to pursue other interests.  The Bakersfield Californian says there are now 20 California SunCal projects in bankruptcy.

And Lehman Brothers Holdings has named a new chief executive who will lead a team of 620 workers tasked with unwinding derivative trades - which sounds like untangling miles of fishing line and about as much fun. 

Lest anyone say that this has nothing to do with the Albuquerque SunCal property, there is this part of the story, from the Guardian, about how the bankruptcy judge denied SunCal's request for use of Lehman cash for their D.E. Shaw deal.

Lehman loaned the company about $2.3 billion prior to SunCal's bankruptcy and the developer said it needs to access those funds to move ahead with a $75 million loan from D.E. Shaw Group & Co. Because Lehman is also bankrupt, SunCal said it was in a unique situation where it could not get access to the cash as it would be able to if it had a non-bankrupt lender.

"Geek" and "Scandals"

The Governor of Arizona and a New Mexico native Janet Napolitano is up for a cabinet position as United States Homeland Security Chief.  The Albuquerque Journal, bless their hearts, sees fit to call her "geek" in the headline and adds another  juicy little eye-catchy one: Arizona Governor has Ties to Past Scandals in a second story that describes Cindy McCain's drug addiction and reminds us about  a long ago pubic hair incident.  

Grow up.

In contrast, gray lady New York Times outlines Napolitano's positions on very real and relevant border issues in an informative story here.  

Smashing Skills

Leslie Linthicum in the Albuquerque Journal helpfully addresses the urban myth about where recycled glass in Albuquerque really goes and how it is we generate so darn much of it.  She calls glass recycling: a dirty, smelly, odious chore that is made more loathsome because it confronts us with concrete proof of exactly how much booze we consume.

Smashing bottles one-by-one into that big yellow bin is not as odious as most other chores - such as big dog poop-scoop duty - which are best undertaken in the process of generating the empty wine bottle. 

Many loathsome tasks not involving driving or machinery require opening a decent red bottle of coping skills.

Expo Equestrian Center

Albuquerque Journal reports.  I cut, paste and comment.

Gov. Bill Richardson has abandoned plans to build a $25 million state-of-the-art equestrian center at Mesa del Sol in Albuquerque and instead wants to put it at Expo New Mexico, home of the State Fair.  "Gov. Richardson decided to locate the new equestrian center at Expo New Mexico as part of a larger effort to redevelop the property following the loss of the Downs at Albuquerque," Richardson spokesman Gilbert Gallegos confirmed Monday.  "While Mesa del Sol is an attractive location, the governor's immediate focus is on transforming Expo so it will thrive as a cultural and entertainment destination for all New Mexicans," Gallegos said. "A state-of-the-art equestrian center will be part of the new Expo New Mexico's future."  ...

Valerie Cole with the New Mexico Horse Council — a nonprofit organization that promotes the horse industry — was among those who submitted ideas to the state for Expo's redevelopment.  She was elated over the suggestion that Expo would get the equestrian center.  "We think it's great," Cole said Monday evening. "We believe the facilities are underutilized, and we would love to creatively use them more."

Because there are already extensive equestrian facilities at the fairgrounds, this only makes sense.  The cost of replicating them exceeded the funding which will go much further for renovations the fairgrounds have long needed. 

The Governor and others have said they are trying to promote equestrian and agricultural arts.  Such arts are not exactly booming in popularity.  As I've said before, building additional facilities wouldn't change that.  Not so coincidentally, the location of new facilities becomes a likely excuse for extending expensive new public infrastructure to open up more area to land gobbling development.  Ironically, it is land gobbling development that makes rural horse keeping and agriculture nearly impossible.  

We can best support and promote rodeo and horsemanship through programming funds for education and events.  Not capital. Capital funding, beyond what is necessary for repair and replacement, will support and promote new construction.  Which is nice.  But not the same thing.  Horsemanship is not about hammering.