Candidata Carolina Renteria Anoche en Sunland Park

Las Elecciones en Sunland Park:  ¿Qué Hay en Juego?

Anoche en la Iglesia Católica de Sunland Park, los candidatos para alcalde y concilio del municipio se presentaron ante el público en un foro auspiciado por el Proyecto Suroeste de Organización Cívica (SWOP), cuyo jefe executivo local, Arturo Uribe, actuó en el evento como árbitro y cronometrador.

Javier Perea ofreció continuar el liderazgo que ha ejercido desde que fué nombrado alcalde en agosto 2012, a raíz de los lamentables hechos que resultaron en la dimisión de Martin Resendiz, la elección de Daniel Salinas como alcalde y la decisión posterior del procurador del estado de no permitir su ascenso a la alcaldía.  Perea presentó una lista impresionante de los logros del municipio durante su posesión.  Sergio Carrillo, quien ha fungido hasta ahora como miembro del concilio del municipio, y sin atacar directamente al alcalde sostuvo que para recuperar la confianza del pueblo, es importante que los ciudadanos vean señales visibles de mejoramiento en las funciones del municipio--en la colección de basura, en el arreglo de los parques, etc, por una parte, y por otra parte pidió más unidad en las relaciones entre los miembros del concilio, y entre el concilio y el alcalde.

El tema de la unidad sonó fuertemente anoche.  El candidato Donald McBride (Distrito 6), por ejemplo, planteó la idea de iniciar un programa inter-vecindario, en el cual los ciudadanos de los distintos vecindarios intercambiarían visitas para conocerse mejor y evitar, en especial, la división entre Sunland Norte y Sunland Sur. "Es importante hablar con una sola voz de Sunland Park," dijo.   La candidata Olga Argüelles tambien habló elocuentemente sobre la necesidad de sanar relaciones y actuar con mas unanimidad y con altivez.

Por su parte, Ken Giove, regidor actual y candidato para el Distrito No. 1, enfatizó que el concilio tendrá que enfocarse no solamente en la modernización de reglamentos y ordenanzas, sino tambien en su aplicación sistemática, para mejorar la cultura cívica de la población.  Giove habló tambien de la necesidad de fomentar una comunicación mucho mas estrecha entre los departamentos municipales, y digitalizar cuatro décadas de archivos para dar acceso a esta información.

Fernando Clemente y Jesus Nuñez, a pesar de que estan participado en el ámbito político por la primera vez, demuestran álta calidad como candidatos.  Clemente, (Distrito 6) biólogo con mucha experiencia en la creación de medio-ambientes sostenibles, tiene mucho que ofrecer en el diseño del entorno natural urbano de la región y, entre todos los candidatos es el más conciente de la necesidad de planificar a largo plazo para la creación de un espacio urbano sano, atractivo, y sostenible. Nuñez, (Distrito1) por su parte, como ingeniero y con mucha práctica en la construcción de cosas, tiene una visión muy acertada de cómo emplear sus conocimientos, como regidor, en servicio a la comunidad.

La única persona  titular por elección (Giove es titular por nombramiento) que se postula para re-elección es Isabel Santos (Distrito 4).  Ella enfatiza su rol de venir a las juntas bien preparada, de hacer las preguntas a veces difíciles pero necesarias, y de mirar cuidadosamente al presupuesto del municipio.  Carolina Renteria (Distrito 4) es bien conocida en la comunidad, y se postula principalmente en apoyo at trabajo del actual alcalde.

El público que asistió anoche fue atento, culto, y bien informado.  Los candidatos--todos--son de altísima calidad, y cada uno tendría mucho que ofrecer en servicio al municipio.  Para mi ha sido un honor, y una experiencia sumamente grata poder observar la dinámica electoral de un pueblo que empieza a imaginarse un futuro urbano íntegro, un puente bello y fuerte entre dos naciones, un reflejo vibrante de toda la grandeza de las dos culturas que lo alimentan.

Links:  Are you Hispanic and for Bernie?  Look Closely

• Millenials make up almost half of Latino Eligible Voters in  2016:  Pew Foundation
• Statistical Portrait of Hispanics in the U.S.:  1980-2013:  Pew Foundation
• Is Speaking Spanish Necessary to Be a Hispanic?  Most Hispanics Say no:  Pew Foundation

Erratum:  in the previous post I asserted that all candidates for mayor of Anthony are Democrats:  Mr. Acevedo corrected me this morning; he used to be a Democrat, but, a few years ago he switched to Independent.  I apologize for the mistake.

En el articulo previo, indiqué que todos los candidatos para alcalde son Demócratas:  El Sr. Acevedo me corrigió esta mañana:  el era Demócrata hasta hace algunos años, pero cambió su afiliación partidista a Independiente.  Pido mis disculpas por el error.

Candidatos protestan involucramiento del partido Demócrata en las elecciones para alcalde de Anthony

Un folleto parecido a muchos de los que aparecen durante las campañas electorales, está circulando en Anthony, con una fotografía de Arnulfo Castañeda, alcalde de Anthony.  El folleto anuncia que el partido Demócrata del condado de Doña Ana servirá como co-patrocinador de un evento en el cual el alcalde dará una ponencia sobre el estado del municipio, la tarde de Miercoles 24 de febrero, a las 6 p.m. en el palacio municipal.

Pero, hay cuatro candidatos postulándose contra el Sr. Castañeda, en una contienda electoral muy combatida, para las elecciones de Marzo 1.  Dado la cercanía de las elecciones con este evento, es natural que una persona pensara que el partido Demócrata estuviese ofreciendo un respaldo informal, al Sr. Castañeda.  

¿Hay algo anormal aqui?  La constitución de Nuevo Mexico explicitamente dispone que las elecciones municipales serán no-partidistas.  Asi que, aparte de la injusticia implícita hacia Juan Acevedo, Raymundo Aguirre, Peggy Scott, y Diana M. Trujillo (todos Demócratas, por casualidad), es posible que el partido haya cometido un delito constitucional al inmiscuírse en las elecciones de alcalde.

Pero, hay mas.  El folleto indica que el otro patrocinador del evento es el propio municipio de Anthony.  Pero, hablé con dos regidores esta tarde.  Segun ellos, hasta ayer, ninguno de los dos habían oído hablar del evento.  El concilio nunca aprobo la patrocinación, y los miembros nunca recibieron invitaciones para asistir.  Por eso surge la pregunta:  si el concilio desconoce del evento, y nunca aprobó la patrocinación, como puede uno afirmar que el municipio de Anthony sea el patrocinador del evento?  ¿O es que el partido Demócrata se haya permitido suponer que el alcalde actual es el municipio?

 Un foro para todos los candidatos para alcalde se llevará a cabo el dia miércoles 24, a las 6:30 de la tarde.  Aqui la transparencia me obliga a decir que yo acepté el papel de moderador de aquel evento.  Arturo Uribe, uno de los organizadores principales de éste foro, me dijo que cuando él  llamó a Liz Rodriguez-Johnson, presidenta del partido Demócrata del condado, para confirmar el papel patrocinador del partido, ella se lo había negado.  Pero cuando él insistió que personas en Anthony le habian dicho que el folleto indica claramente este rol, ella dijo, "el problema es que hay personas en Anthony que no saben leer lo que está escrito el el folleto," o alguna cosa semejante, segun la version de Uribe.

Pues, ni modo; yo tampoco no se como leer el folleto.  Ud., lector, juzgará si el partido Demócrata haya o no haya insinuado un respaldo a la candidatura de Castañeda?  Y si fuera así, quien lo autorizó, y por qué?  Es justo anunciar que un co-patrocinador del evento es el municipio, sin la aprobacion del concilio, sin avisar a los regidores electos de Anthony del hecho,  y sin proveer invitaciones al evento?  ¿Es justo que el partido Demócrata se inmiscuya en elecciones no-partidistas?

Esta tarde hablé con una candidata para alcalde, la regidora Diana Trujillo.  Ella me dijo que se había enterado del evento por casualidad el día lunes de esta semana.  La participación del partido nunca se discutió en el concilio, ni la patrocinación del evento por parte del concilio.  Esta noche hablé con la regidora Betty Gonzalez y con el candidato para alcalde Raymundo Aguirre.  Ambos estaban asistiendo una reunión en el palacio municipal.  Les pregunté a los dos si era justo que el partido Democrata patrocinaria el evento cinco dias antes de las elecciones para alcalde, Aguirre respondió simplemente "no."  Betty Gonzlez, regidora del municipio, respondió mas enfática:  "Es completamente inapropriado que el partido Demócrata patrocinara esta ponencia," dijo.  Juan Acevedo y Peggy Scott no devolvieron mis llamadas.

Candidates Protest Democratic Party Involvement in Mayor's Race in Anthony

A colored flyer, looking pretty much like a campaign mailer (see below), is circulating in Anthony, with a photograph of Arnulfo Castaneda (Mayor of Anthony) on it.  The flyer announces that the Dona Ana County Democratic Party is "co-sponsoring" a state of the city address by the mayor on Wednesday evening, February 24, at 6 p.m. at City Hall.

There are four candidates running against Mr. Castaneda, in a hotly-contested election that will be held on March 1.  Co-sponsoring this event, given the timing, can legitimately be viewed  as constituting a Democratic Party endorsement, perhaps an informal one, of Mr. Castaneda over the other candidates.

Is there something wrong with this picture?  The Constitution of New Mexico explicitly makes municipal elections non-partisan.  So, in addition to being unfair to Juan Acevedo, Raymundo Aguirre, Peggy Scott, and Diana M. Trujillo, (all of them, incidentally, are registered Democrats) it may well be illegal, not just unethical, for the Democratic Party to involve itself or even seem to be involving itself in a mayor's race.

But there is more. The flyer lists the "City of Anthony" as a co-sponsor.  I spoke to two council members this afternoon and evening.  Until they were informed about it from non-official sources yesterday, and viewed the flyer, they said, neither had heard about it, nor had they been invited to it.  The question arises:  if the city council had no knowledge of it, much less approved it, can the "City of Anthony" in fact, be said to be co-sponsoring it?  Or is the co-sponsoring Democratic Party suggesting the mayor is the city?

A mayor's forum, involving all candidates, is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, February 24, at the Catholic Church Recreation Hall.  Full disclosure:  I was asked to serve as moderator for this event, and I accepted.  Arturo Uribe, one of the principal organizers of this function, told me he had called Dona Ana Democratic Party County Chair Liz Rodriguez-Johnson to confirm the party's sponsorship of the City Hall event the same night.  She denied it, according to Uribe.  When he replied he had been told by people in Anthony that the co-sponsorship was clearly on the flyer, she said "something to the effect that the problem with some people in Anthony is that they don't know how to read what's on the flyer," according to Uribe.

I guess I don't know how to read it, either.  You be the judge.  Is the Democratic Party hinting it is endorsing Mr. Castaneda?  Under whose authority?  Is it proper to list the city as a co-sponsor without the city council's approval, and without inviting them to attend?  Should Dona Ana County's Democratic Party be involving itself in a non-partisan election, constitutional issues aside?

This afternoon I spoke with mayoral candidate Diana M. Trujillo.    She told me she learned about the event on Monday.  She thought the co-sponsorship by the Democratic Party was unethical.  This evening I spoke with City Councilwoman Betty Gonzalez, and mayoral candidate Raymundo Aguirre, who were attending a meeting at City Hall.  I asked them if they though it was appropriate for the county Democratic Party to co-sponsor this state of the city event.  "No," said Mr. Aguirre.  Betty Gonzalez was more emphatic.  "It is completely inappropriate for the Democratic Party to sponsor this event."  I tried, but was unable to connect with Juan Acevedo and Peggy Scott.  Neither returned my phone calls.

Elecciones en Anthony y Sunland Park:  Panorama Global

Mis entrevistas con los candidatos municipales han sido reveladoras para mi, ya que he estado ausente durante los últimos cinco años.  Lo mas impresionante es la álta calidad de la gran mayoría de los candidatos.  Esto implica una rápida concientización política en el seno de la comunidad.  Yo puedo afirmar, sin exageración, que preferiría ser gobernado por un comité compuesto por los candidatos con quien me entrevisté, que por la lista de comisionados del condado y los regidores de Las Cruces. 

En cada municipio se está creando una propia capa política, con una visión, autónoma, no dependiente de la voluntád de otros.  Esto representa un gran paso adelante, el producto, en el caso de Anthony, del discurso político que acompañó la incorporación hace séis años.  en Sunland la concientización es la consecuencia de las amenazas que le acosan y de la sombra de vergüenza (no siempre merecida) que ha sacudido a la ciudadanía.

Sunland Park, la mas antígua, se incorporó en 1983.  Desde esa época la comunidad ha sido conciente que, igual que una isla en el Caribe en el siglo 16, los actores dominantes, moldeando la historia local, son intereses ajenos:  el hipódromo, los multiples socios inmiscuídos en el proyecto Santa Teresa, los intereses comerciales de El Paso, el gobierno muchas veces hostil del condado, y las familias potentes de Cd. Juárez.  Y de repente aparecen naves pirata.  Frente a este hecho ¿cómo creár una identidad netamente local?   Lo que aparentemente ha cambiado es la voluntad de la nueva capa política, primero, para impedir su propio desmembramiento y, segundo, para poner los recursos de la comunidad al servicio de la creación de fuentes de riqueza para todos.  Ambas metas requerirán la unidad del pueblo, una fuerte habilidad política, y mucha voluntad.

En el caso de Anthony la capa política en formación solamente a última hora se está despertando (despues de una divisa y ebria fantasía del casino) para descubrir que la mancha urbana tambien es una isla, en el medio del camino de fuerzas poderosas que no viciliarían en convertirla en un paradero de camiones y un enorme Walmart entre Ft. Stockton y Deming.  Pero el discurso electoral hasta ahora solamente ha tratado la creación de parques y banquetas, el establecimiento de normas institucionales y reglas del juego entre el alcalde y los regidores.  Este discurso es necesario, pero alguien dentro de la clase política debería tomar una clase en la UACJ  (campus de Anapra) sobre la-politica-de-desarrollo-urbano-cuando-uno-está rodeado-por-gigantes-que-quieren-comerte-vivo, y sonar la alarma y poner un dedo en el dique.

¿Existe alguna posibilidad que los dos municipios pudieran formar alguna alianza limitada entre los dos?  Para compartir recursos escasos?  O mejor, impulsar la formación de candidatos que representan perspectivas mutuas en la legislatura o en el condado?  O desarrollar planes de infraestructura en conjunto?  Despues de las elecciones los ganadores tendrán much trabajo que hacer.  Saludos a todos.  Jose Z. Garcia, Las Cruces

Municipal Elections in Anthony and Sunland Park:  The Big Picture

Interviewing municipal candidates has been an eye-opener for me, after an absence of five years.  I was struck by the high quality of candidates across the board.  This suggests a stronger citizenry.  Without exaggerating I can state that I would rather be governed by a committee composed of the candidates I interviewed than by the list of Dona Ana County commissioners and city council members of Las Cruces.

Most impressive, Sunland Park and Anthony are each beginning to develop a political class keeping up with who gets what, when, and how.  Incorporation had a huge impact on self-examination and political discourse in Anthony.  In Sunland greater self-awareness is more the product, first, of serious threats from neighboring entities and second, from the shadow of shame (not always deserved) the city has fallen under in recent years.

Sunland Park is the older of the two, having been incorporated in 1983.  Since then Sunland has been aware that, like a Caribbean island in the 1500s, outside interests were the dominant forces making local history:  owners of the racino, the Santa Teresa project (in all its many phases), El Paso downtown business groups, an often hostile county government, and powerful interests in Juarez.  There is also an occasional pirate ship swooping down.  What is new is a growing determination among the city's emerging political class first, to prevent potential dismemberment, and second, to learn, like all successful islands, how to put obvious assets to good use and make serious money.  Both of these goals will require unity of purpose, nimble politics, and dogged willpower.

In the case of Anthony the emerging political class is only beginning to wake up (after a lengthy, divisive, and intoxicating fantasy about a casino) and discover that it, too, is an island, in the path of powerful forces that would just as soon see it become a franchise truck stop and Walmart between Ft. Stockton and Deming.  But the focus of the city election is not so much how to deal with the giants surrounding it, as how to deal with the nuts and bolts of building parks, paving sidewalks, developing elementary rules of political civility, and understanding the mechanics of its own institutions.  These things are important (first things first) but someone in the political class needs to take a crash course in the politics-of-urban-development-when-surrounded-by-giants-who-would-like-to-gobble-you-up, and then spread the alarm and put a finger in the dike.

Is there any possibility the two cities might explore creating a limited partnership with each other?  Sharing resources?  Even better, finding leaders who who represent Southern perspectives in the state legislature and county?  Developing long-term infrastructure plans together?  After the elections the winners have their work cut out.  Saludos a todos.

CANDIDATES FOR MAYOR OF ANTHONY

 ARNULFO CASTAñEDA

Cuando uno le pregunta a Arnulfo Castañeda sobre sus logros en su función de alcalde, la respuesta suele tener que ver con estructuras físicas--edificios visibles, carros patrulleros, etc. --y con cifras alentadoras--números de empleados, de metros cuadrados, de dólares obtenidos, etc.  Cuando Arnulfo llegó a la alcaldía en 2012 el municipio contaba con 4 o 5 empleados.  Habían dos carros de patrulla antíguos, donados por el municipio de Las Cruces.  Las oficinas se alquilaban de la Iglesia Católica.  Hoy día el complejo municipal goza de 3 acres (más de una hectárea) con 15,000 piés cuadrados (1400 metros cuadrados) de espacio para sus oficinas.  Tres carros patrulleros, nuevecitos, amenazadores, adornan el parking y cinco más quedan a la espera, listos para cualquiér incidente.  El personal policiaco ha crecido de dos a siete oficiales entre 2012 y 2016.  El presupuesto municipal ha crecido de $200,000 en 2010 a más de $2 millones en 2016.  Hay obras públicas extensas en la calle Cuarta para mejorar el drenaje, y el MPO (La Organización Metropolitana de Planificación) de El Paso ha aprobado gastos de $3.4 millones para la pavimentación de banquetas y obras de drenaje.  Hay que reconocerlo:  el municipio ha crecido de una forma impresionante.

Ahora bien:  frente a la magnitud y cantidad de estos y otros innegables logros municipales, cabe preguntarse, si los recursos disponibles para el municipio han aumentado rápidamente bajo el liderazgo de Arnulfo, ¿por qué hay cuatro candidatos postulándose contra él?  En mis entrevistas con ellos, cada candidato trató de formular y expresar sus razones. Y la respuesta de cada uno, de una forma u otra, reposa en las dificultades evidentes en la relación entre el alcalde y los miembros del concilio, o entre algunos empleados del municipio y el público.  El alcalde, segun varios candidatos y otros observadores, empezó su turno con un apoyo amplio entre los miembros del concilio.  Pero debido a las deficiencias en su estilo de comunicación, dicen, ha ido perdiendo, miembro por miembro, este apoyo.

Por su parte, don Arnulfo admite que sus relaciónes con los miembros del concilio muchas veces han sido "volátiles."  Pero esto se debe en parte, según él, al hecho de que "en algunos casos miembros del concilio han interferido indebidamente en las operaciones cotidianas del municipio."  El concilio tiene el deber de dar dirección, dice, pero no de inmicuirse en las operaciones del municipio.  Por otra parte, dice, hasta ahora muchas de las obras del municipio no han requerido la aprobación del concilio.  

CANDIDATES FOR MAYOR OF ANTHONY

RAYMUNDO AGUIRRE

Raymundo Aguirre, 47 años de edad, oriundo de Anthony, ha trabajado muchos años en construcción, ultimamente con una empresa en El Paso que fabrica alambre.  No formó parte de ninguna corriente que abogaba en la cuestión de la incorporación o del casino.  Según Aguirre, él se postuló para alcalde cuando unas cuantas señoras mayores de edad le plantearon la idea de correr precisamente porque no pertenecía a ninguna de las facciones politicas.  

En este sentido, Aguirre pudiera representar una nueva corriente de votantes que, frustrados, desean deshacerse de la capa política que nació a raíz de las luchas de la época 2009-2010.  Dijo que no existe un espiritu de colaboración entre los miembros del concilio, y que se pelean uno contra el otro buscando crédito para los logros.  "Mucha gente," dijo, "sienten que hablar con el municipio es hablar frente a una pared."  Como alcalde, Aguirre publicaría la agenda municipal en español, igual que la documentacion, y permitiria que la gente se expresara en las juntas o en inglés o en español.

Su campaña se basa en una crítica fuerte del gobierno de Arnulfo Castañeda.  Según Aguirre, el énfasis de los gobiernos Gonzalez-Castañeda ha sido el desarrollo de nuevas viviendas y nuevos sectores del municipio, y no en una inversion necesitada en los antiguos barrios del municipio.  Tampoco, no han puesto prioridad en la creación de parques.  El condado mantuvo las calles de Anthony mejor que los gobiernos municipales, dijo.

Por otra parte, dice, mucha gente está descontenta con el departamento de policía.  Anthony es un lugar de mucha violencia, y, según Aguirre, la gente se queja que la demora cuando alguien pide una patrulla es inaceptablemente larga, y que los oficiales no tienen suficiente contacto con la juventud.

Hablando del famoso incidente de los signs que fueron quitados de las propiedades municipales, por órden de autoridades municipales, Aguirre mantiene que nadie, en ningun momento, le notificó que le iban a quitar los signs, y hasta el momento nadie los ha devuelto. 

CANDIDATES FOR MAYOR OF ANTHONY

PEGGY S. SCOTT

Peggy Scott is well known in Anthony, having worked for incorporation in 2010, and having faced many residents as municipal judge from 2010 until now.  Her husband is retiring as a member of the Anthony City Council.  Her case to be elected mayor lies not so much in wanting to improve the appearance of the city or lay a groundwork of infrastructure for future development.  Her ideas about these are thoughtful and well informed, but not much different from that of the other candidates.  What sets her apart is a passion to improve relations; between the mayor and the council; between city employees and the public.  What offends most her is an underlying attitude of disrespect that she believes, if corrected, would create a positive relationship between city and residents and make Anthony a more welcoming place for people to call home.

Two examples of poor relations or communications:  first, the now-famous incident with the campaign signs.  A few days ago city employees were ordered to remove campaign signs from city property.  Candidates were not notified of this beforehand, nor members of the city council. It just happened, by order of city officials.  To add insult to injury, only Peggy Scott signs, according to her, were removed, until her husband brought it to the attention of city managers and then all signs were removed. This type of arbitrary action, she says, typifies an underlying attitude of disrespect, and a poor flow of communications that she would like to change.

Second, the case of the police citations.  According to Peggy, during the tenure of Police Chief Diana Mejia, some police officers felt free to make inappropriate, informal, comments to her, the sitting municipal judge, about the merits of citations.  Peggy stopped this practice.  In retaliation, she says, officers began mailing their citations to magistrate court rather than hers (officers are given a choice as to where to mail a citation).  These dropped from about 140 citations per month to about 18, depriving the city of the benefit of the money from fines paid.  In December of 2014 police wrote 293 citations, and scheduled 190 court appearances for January 5 at 1 pm, creating a traffic jam in the parking lot, chaos inside, and anger all around.  This, and other incidences of intimidation, she says, have not been addressed adequately by the mayor.  Mayor Castaneda corroborated most of the factual points given by Scott, but denied there was much he could do about it.  Mejia was fired by the council in July 2015 apparently over the objections of the mayor, by a vote of 4-0.

CANDIDATES FOR MAYOR OF ANTHONY

DIANA MURILLO TRUJILLO

Nota aclaratoria:  Diana Murillo Trujillo fué alumna en una de mis clases de ciencia política en NMSU en 1999.  JZG

Diana Trujillo fué elegida al Concilio de Anthony en 2010, y re-elegida en 2012.  Recibió su licenciatura en administración pública en NMSU.  Se postula para alcalde porque no está conforme con la administración del actual alcalde Arnulfo Castañeda.

En específico se queja, primero, que el alcalde no ha escuchado a la voz del pueblo, dándo como ejemplo el rechazo del alcalde a las sugerencias de miembros de la comunidad para la colocación de luces callejeras, entregadas al municipio después de una discusión amplia.  El alcalde, dice ella, no tiene paciencia con el público que lo eligió, no informa, y no escucha.  Segundo, se queja que el alcalde no ha podido mantener el apoyo del concilio debido a su falta de consultar con ellos sobre temas importantes para el bienestar del municipio. Y tercero, dice, el alcalde no ha podido movilizar a la comunidad municipal, ya sea con miembros del concilio, con los empleados municipales, o con el público en general, para que todos actuémos como ún solo equipo para movernos adelante.

"Todos los candidatos para alcalde, menos él, estamos inconformes con el actual alcalde," dijo.  "Pero creo que merezco ser elegida porque después de seis años de servicio conozco bien el funcionamiento del municipio; no requiero un período de aprendizaje."  Me relaciono bien con todos, dijo.  "Yo sé trabajar en equipo, y sé como resolver conflictos y no crearlos.  El municipio necesita sanar nuestras relaciones con el pueblo y con otras entidades, y creo que soy la persona que mejor puede cumplir con este compromiso."  Mi prioridad principal es invertir en nuestra juventud, dijo. Hay que reabrir el ahora difunto parque de beisbol y renovar el parque adjunto.  Tambien tenemos que crear un centro recreacional para jovenes.  Otra prioridad es buscar fondos para mejorar las calles, y hay que restablecer la confianza del pueblo con la policia, dijo.

CANDIDATES FOR MAYOR OF ANTHONY

JUAN ACEVEDO

Juan Acevedo afirma que el municipio se ha estancado.  No hay parques.  No ha aumentado el flujo de ingresos porque el municipio no ha atraído nuevos negocios.  Muchos lugares municipales no sirven las necesidades de los discapacitados.  El servicio policiaco no es suficiente.  Las promesas de los últimos dos alcaldes no se cumplieron, y cada día se nota mas la arrogancia de los que estan en el poder.

Para mover adelante Acevedo propone tomar varios pasos.  Primero, crear un departamento de desarrollo económico que se enlazaría con sus homólogos en El Paso y Doña Ana para integrarse con el desarrollo urbano de la región.  El departamento trabajaría con las autoridades municipales y con el público para crear un plan de desarrollo.  Varias entidades crearon un plan en 2010 pero, según Juan, los alcaldes de turno lo ignoraron.  Segundo, trabajar contínuamente para atraer negocios, para que el municipio no tenga que contar exclusivamente  con los subsidios de otras entidades.  Tercero, crear un programa para que la policía se involucre sistemáticamente con la comunidad.  Este punto es sensible para Juan, ya que él me relató un incidente personal en que un oficial de la policía le trató con una falta de respeto y, dice, ha escuchado varias quejas similares entre residentes de Anthony.  Cuarto, Acevedo propone promover ligas deportivas, clubes sociales, y servicios comunitarios.

Juan Acevedo, pastor desde 1995 del Centro Familiar Cristiano, participó en el movimiento que produjo la incorporación de Anthony, junto con la pareja Scott, dentro del grupo Moving Anthony Forward. En 2012 Juan se postuló para alcalde, pero perdió la contienda, ganando el alcalde actual, Arnulfo Castañeda.  Aunque Juan siguió participando en algunos asuntos del municipio, se frustró y se separó del gobierno al descubrir que su trabajo fué ignorado, y se dedicó a otras actividades cívicas.  En 2016 Acevedo se postula una vez mas para alcalde.

CANDIDATES FOR SUNLAND PARK CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT ONE

Ken Giove

 I arranged to meet Ken Giove at the Village Inn on Mesa Street and when I arrived he offered to take me on a tour of Sunland Park in his SUV.  Giove has had a long career doing various things, including a stint with the Merchant Marines, 23 years in the Border Patrol, owning a restaurant cleaning business, and in the past few years since retiring in 2010 attending Sunland Park City Council meetings and involving himself in the affairs of the city.  His wife is from Sunland Park, and his job with the Border Patrol kept him near the border, so he is not exactly a newcomer to the region.  By all accounts from other candidates he has done his homework and has a strong understanding of the history of the city council, its problems and its promises.

Giove drove me through various neighborhoods in Sunland Park, pointing out planning screw-ups, code enforcement problems, city facilities, and the like, while patiently answering my questions about water, the border crossing, relations with the state, and other topics.  His overall take is that Sunland Park needs to lay out an internal infrastructure--computerize city records, organize the public works department, get software programs installed so that departments can readily exchange information, update and modernize city ordinances, and so on--that will enhance the city's ability to improve the quality of life of the residents, while at the same time trying to build a consensus around major issues affecting Sunland Park's relationships with its neighbors, and planning and executing strategies for getting there.  In spite of spending years studying Sunland Park he was quick to point out things he didn't understand, lapses in his historical understanding, and details surrounding city council actions in the past.  He seemed particularly preoccupied at the time with finding ways to fix the senior citizens center, a theme that would be repeated again and again in my interviews with the other candidates.  Almost certainly this is one of the issues voters care about this year.

Jesus Nuñez

Mr. Nuñez was born in Durango, Mexico, but has lived in the region for 30 years and is a U.S. citizen.  Mr. Nuñez is a shipping and receiving administrator for NCH marketing Services in El; Paso.  He graduated with a two-year degree in industrial engineering a the Technological Institute of Durango, and has worked in El Paso for six years.  He is familiar with what building materials cost, with the strengths and weaknesses of different technologies, skills that could be put to good use in evaluating proposed city projects.


Nuñez appears to have gotten interested in Sunland Park as a result of the poor image the city developed after 2012.  As he put it, people are proud to be from Sunland Park, but they are not proud of the leadership there.  He used the term "professional" in various contexts to describe what he feels is often lacking in the city's leadership.  Sunland Park councilors, he said, do not work as a team.  Professionals know how to work together, as do athletes engaged in team sports:  some people work offense, others defense, each player has a role and all work together to win.  He has attended city council meetings in Santa Fe where, he said, the council works as a team, and he feels he could contribute to making this happen if elected.  He knows a good deal about how stuff works, given his industrial engineering background, and he is particularly interested in committing Sunland Park to design its future around sustainable energy concepts, such as low-energy electricity, solar energy, and so on.  In the long run investing in updated technology will save the taxpayers money, he said.  I found him to project a relaxed, professional demeanor.

When I inquired about his motivation to run for this position, he said he had initially hoped to be elected so he could work with Ken Giove, whose work on the council he admires and would like to emulate.  But the redistricting process wasn't finished until this year, and it turned out his residence now falls within Giove's district, forcing him to run for the same seat.  "I am not running against Giove," he said.  "I am running for myself."

CANDIDATES FOR SUNLAND PARK CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT 5

Olga Arguelles

Ms. Arguelles has been a health care worker for many years and is a substitute teacher at Gadsden School District.  She was a student teacher at NMSU and then got cancer and had to drop out one year before graduating. "I got to know a lot of people in Sunland Park as a health care worker," she said, "and I have never disconnected from the community."  She stated clearly that if elected she will support Mayor Javier Perea's major initiatives.  "There are too many personal agendas on the council, and people asked me to run," she said.  She has known Perea since her daughter went to school with him.

Describing what Sunland Park needs, Arguelles used the term "recuperación" (in Spanish) several times.  "Hubo tanta falta de respeto en las juntas que había que traer policía," she said.  "Era como una familia después de un divorcio."  "The lack of respect shown at meetings was such that it was necessary to bring the police to assure order.  It was like a family after a divorce.  We need a period of recuperation."

Asked what she sees as the major problems facing the city, she mentioned schools, health care, housing, "y sanar las heridas de los negociantes." (heal the wounds of the business communicty).  Not all of these can be solved by the city council, but we can prove that we can act as a united community once again ("volvernos a unir").  She is in favor of the international crossing, and would like to be able to get a better deal for Sunland than the contract the city was forced to sign with CRRUA, under pressure from Governor Richardson.  "We need to see what we can do," she said, "but we may not be in a position to fight it."  Speaking of the new redistricting of the city council, finished last month, she asserted that the city was badly gerrymandered and redistricting was needed.

I asked what, if she won, she would like people to say about her, say, ten years from now.  "I fought, I had integrity, I gave it my best, and I knew (she said with a smile) when to get out."


Isabel Santos

Ms. Santos is an incumbent city councilor, having been elected in 2012.  She also worked in the City from 2008-2011.  "Daniel Salinas (the mayor who resigned after the lap dancing incident) fired me," she said with a hint of pride, "even though I had seniority."  She prepares carefully for every meeting, she said, studying the agenda, doing research, and asking questions." I know what the issues are when I go into the meetings."

One of her concerns is the water supply.  We were forced to sign the contract with CRRUA, she said, but services have not improved.  They raise rates frequently, the water has unacceptable levels of arsenic, most of us buy bottled water for drinking, and our water is being controlled from the outside.

Santos has a number of complaints about the way the city agenda is prepared.  It is written by the department heads, handed over to the city clerk, and the clerk and the mayor write the agenda, instead of it being a collaborative effort with council members.  Often things that the council has already disapproved are placed on the agenda for action again and again, until votes change and the item is approved.  She cited as an example the vote to redistrict the council.  "Ken Giove was able to get the item placed on the agenda ten times," she said, "The mayor wanted to redistrict now because people in Sunland Park (referring to the Southern part of the city) don't like him, and he needed to get votes from the new areas."  As examples why he is disliked, she said he voted in favor of the rate hike at CRRUA and has had difficulty getting support from the state. 

Coalitions within the council shift according to the subject matter at hand, she said.  But she appears to identify on many issues with Jessica Avila (the old District 6), and Sergio Carrillo.  Ken Giove, she says, is closer on most issues to the mayor than he is to Avila, Carrillo, and herself.  Carrillo is often at odds with the mayor, she asserted, in part because he fights for his district in the southern part of the city as opposed to the north.  She said she feels alienated from other councilors, and is frequently bypassed in decision making.
 
She said for the campaign she would spend only whatever money is returned to her from the IRS, and that will be very little.

INTERVIEWS WITH CANDIDATES FOR SUNLAND PARK DISTRICT NO. 4

Carolina Renteria

Carolina Renteria began by explaining (we spoke only Spanish) that she originally had no intention of running for the seat.  She is more comfortable, as a long-term community activist, proposing candidates.  But when the candidate she had proposed, Alma Alvarado, became ill and decided not to run, she was asked to sign up for the job and did so at 3 pm on the day of the deadline to file.  Her opponent, former City Clerk Elizabeth Gamez, filed for the position 15 minutes before the 5 pm deadline.

Ms Renteria also made clear she is running because she feels Mayor Perea, the incumbent, needs more support on the council.  She ran for city council in 2008, losing to Daniel Salinas, she said, by 26 votes.  In that election she spent a total of $800, but will spend little if any money this year.

She has concerns about various issues affecting the city:  she is strongly in favor of the proposed international crossing at Sunland Park; she wants to get the senior citizens center back into operation, with meals served as they once were; she objects to the high cost of water and garbage services; she wants to hire a sports director for the sports complex; and she wants the city to hire a grant proposal writer.  She also believes council meetings should be held in Spanish, inasmuch as the predominant language of the community is Spanish, and many citizens would feel more willing to express themselves and come to meeting if they were held in Spanish.

Born in El Paso but a long-term community activist in Sunland Park, and associated with the Democratic Party, Renteria supported Susana Martinez for governor in 2010, but now regrets having done so.  Martinez, she says, personally promised her she would support the Sunland Park international crossing but then turned against it.  (I am translating here):  "Governor Martinez dropped her support for the crossing because she says we are corrupt, but in fact she always identified with Santa Teresa and all of her local visits are to Santa Teresa, not to here."

Elizabeth Gamez:

Elizabeth Gamez is a former Sunland Park City Clerk.  I tried numerous times to contact her, and left several messages on her voice mail, but was unable to establish contact.

Interviews with Sunland Park City Council Candidates for District 6

Fernando Clemente

Mr. Clemente is a biologist with a degree from the University of New Mexico in Wildlife Science.  His wife is an accountant, and he has three teenage children.  He was kind enough to stop by my house one afternoon when he was in Las Cruces, where I interviewed him.

Clemente sees the City as being part of an eco-system that merits close attention in order to enhance the quality of life of the people in the region, to conserve this attractive natural setting for future generations, and to serve as an attractor for people and businesses to locate here.  As a member of the city council he would bring a professional environmental perspective to enhance the planning of the region.  For example, he believes school children should be taken to the Parque de Segura as part of the normal curriculum, to learn about their own natural environment, to see the interplay of humans with nature, and to foster a respect for conserving its beauty.

When asked about his view of the management of the city, Mr. Clemente asserted that as he sees it the council does not always act in a professional manner.  Some council members come unprepared.  Council interaction often reveals a lack of mutual respect among members.  Rather than being a deliberative body, sometimes the meetings are simply opportunities for council members to show off.  In his conversations with citizens he finds that many people are disappointed in the council, frustrated that not enough attention is paid to what the people think is needed.

"It is not enough to elect good council members," he said.  "Voters need to be part of process, engaged, in order for it to work.  Citizens need to be proud of the city and to feel part of the team.  I can't solve all of the many problems in the city, but I can try to get some things better."

Clemente sees clearly that he can make a contribution to the city's development by adding a professional voice to the interaction among council members, and by helping citizens see and manage a connection between the natural beauty of the environment around Sunland Park and the development of the built environment for future generations.

Don McBride

Mr. McBride is the plant manager in a Cd. Juarez maquila operation, RR Donnelley, which employs 200 people and specializes in specializes in reducing lead times in the supply chain for hard-drive manufacturers such as Hewlett Packard.  He has been working in Mexico for 26 years, mostly in Cd. Juarez.  He is a turnaround specialist, and in one job he helped a declining blood pressure cuff manufacturer increase sales from less than three million to 40 million per year.  Like Clemente and Nunez, McBride exudes a relaxed, self-confident but understated professional demeanor.  Also like Clemente, McBride has done his homework, attending city council meetings and assessing his potential contributions.

When I asked him what Sunland Park needs, he immediately responded that it needs vision.  The city is emerging from its previous identity as a colonia on the border.  El Paso is spilling over into New Mexico, the region is growing quickly and the city faces multiple challenges.  To stay above water, the city needs to understand where it is going.  To create that vision, and to forge a consensus around it, will require leadership, citizen engagement, and stronger communications.  As an example, he cited a need for the business community and the city to develop stronger ties, and for the Northern part of the city to communicate with the South.  He suggested creating a sister-neighborhood program, modeled after the sister cities program, to foster a stronger sense of belonging to a single community.

McBride sees the council as developing not only the vision for the city, but also to develop strategies for getting there.  He believes the city manager, a key position, should be the tactical operator for the city.  As for the image of the city, he said, "once we prove we've turned the city around, we will get all the favorable attention we need."  If Mr. Clemente challenges us to see Sunland Park in terms of its relationship with the river, and preserving the natural attractiveness of the area, Mr. McBride challenges us to begin now to begin putting the pieces together to make vision visible.

SUNLAND PARK CANDIDATES FOR MAYOR

Sergio Carrillo, Candidate for Sunland Park Mayor

Sergio Carrillo was elected to the Sunland Park City Council in March 2012.  He has a degree in music education and is currently a substitute teacher at Gadsden School District.  He has served as mayor pro tem for the past three years, and sits on the CRUA board.  His salary as council member is $8400 per year.  He is vacating his seat to run for Mayor.  

I located Mr. Carrillo on McNutt Avenue, waving signs for voter registration at passing cars.  We agreed to meet at the nearby MacDonald's on Sunland Park Drive, across the railroad tracks in El Paso.  I began my interview with him by asking him what motivated him to run for Mayor.  Carrillo responded with several points, all of them indicating he is frustrated with the current leadership at city hall.

Among his arguments:  (a) communications between the Mayor and Council members are poor.  Council members need more updates from the mayor about the affairs of the city and the mayor should work more closely with council members; (b) relations between the Mayor and the staff should be improved.  City staff are not held accountable; tasks the Council has directed the staff to perform are ignored, and deadlines aren't met; (c) he believes, like Mayor Perea, that after the scandals of 2012 the city needs to engage the public more to regain trust.  Government, he said, "is getting people together.  The key to engaging people is doing the nuts and bolt."  What the city needs is "better streets, lights, and parks;" and too often small steps toward improving these are often not taken.  He believes that until these items are taken care of, such as getting the parks up to ADA (legal requirements for the disabled) standards, people won't be convinced that the big ticket items, like long-term planning, the border crossing, and water issues, are being taken care of. (d) There is lack of transparency sometimes in how things are run.  

As an example of a lack of transparency, he cited the recent redistricting of the council districts, which he opposed, not because he was against redistricting, but "because of how it was done."  A proposal to redistrict was brought to the council.  It failed.  Carrillo voted against it on the grounds that the cost of redistricting was not provided.  When the proposal failed, a petition to proceed with redistricting was circulated but, Carrillo argues, the petition was not certified by the City Clerk and shown to the council prior to its circulation. When the petition had sufficient signatures the services of Research and Polling were enlisted without the city issuing an RFP, which Carrillo asserts was required.  They redrew the maps and brought the results to the council.  Council member Jayme proposed switching the numbering of districts 2 and 6.  This would have the impact of altering the rotation of city elections so that district 6, formerly district 2, would have to vote in 2016.  Carrillo voted against the motion to accept the new map, but it passed.  Carrillo cites this (I have not examined the minutes to verify all details he mentioned) as an example of a characteristic lack of attention to detail, in this case abiding by the rules, on an important issue, which adds up to a lack of transparency which he hopes to remedy.  "My whole purpose in serving on the council has been to promote transparency," he said.

Carrillo is most comfortable talking about "nuts and bolts," a term he used often.  His conviction is that the way to regain the trust (he takes loss of trust in the municipal government as a given) of the community is one small step at a time, fixing up potholes, improving a playground or park, listening to the daily complaints and suggestions of citizens, etc.  This is one sense of what he means by the terms "nuts and bolts."  The other sense of this term appears to be to improve processes (he mentioned personnel procedures, minute-taking, code enforcement, and the like) to make them more transparent,  He clearly wants fellow council persons to cultivate the habit of following rules to the letter, and to make certain debates take place within a set of rules known and understood by all.  Once this culture has been established he believes the questions about Sunland Park's relationships with the external world--the state, El Paso, Cd. Juarez, Santa Teresa, and issues such as the border crossing and the future of CRUA, will be more likely to be solved in a rational manner.

SUNLAND PARK CANDIDATES FOR MAYOR

Javier Perea, Sunland Park Candidate for Mayor

 Javier Perea was appointed Mayor in 2012, after Daniel Salinas, who was elected to the position that year, was not allowed to serve.  He has a degree in business administration from NMSU.  His salary as Mayor is $26,000 per year.  This will be his first electoral campaign.  I interviewed Mr. Perea in his office last week, beginning with a wide-open-ended question which he snatched up like a basketball player above the rim going for a slam dunk:  

(a) Sunland Park is one of the fastest growing cities in the state, growing from about 14,000 in 2010 to about 16,000-17,000 today.  It is the Northern part of the city, where the new district is, that is growing fastest.  The recent redistricting of city council seats, which produced the new district, was needed in order to equalize the number of voters in each district.  (b) The financial situation of the city has improved greatly in the past two years.  Audit findings have been reduced from 40 to 5, and the city is no longer on the at-risk list.  (c) the demographic character of the city is changing, and it may even lose its status as a "colonia" (a designation used for areas not up to minimal infrastructure standards).  (d) Sunland Park is one of the safest small towns in the US, in violent crimes.  (e)  Improvements in the fire department have resulted in lower insurance rates.

I had to struggle to absorb all of this, given the pace of his speaking, jotting down what I could but probably dropping a point or two.  Next, hoping to avoid another slam dunk, I asked him about the status of the proposed international crossing for Sunland Park.  This is a sensitive subject, for many reasons.  Racino owner Stan Fulton gave Sunland Park a donation of $12 million cash a few years ago when Ruben Segura was mayor to use toward getting the crossing planned, approved and under way.  As the city's finances came into question the state has insisted on giving prior approval of expenditures from this fund.  An international crossing requires state approval and a presidential blessing.  The presidential approval in turn requires an environmental study and all kinds of other hoops to jump through.  Governor Martinez at first seemed in favor of the crossing, but the conventional wisdom in Sunland Park is that she is now opposed.  There are rumors the state of Chihuahua, favorable at first, is also backing away.    The city is paying $90,000 to a border crossing specialist to move the project along, and there is some criticism that, given the growing opposition from the state, this is a waste of money.  Finally, the apparent loss of support from the Governor toward the crossing is seen by some as a consequence of, and a reminder of, the scandals of 2012, especially the poor financial condition that brought about state intervention, which damaged the image of the City.

Perea responded that insofar as relations with the state, the City signed a contract paying $575,000 to the Border Authority, an entity of the state, a few years ago for assistance in the crossing, but that there is no evidence the City has "anything to show for it." Thus, although Perea didn't say this directly, he was implying the state has a share in whatever blame might be tossed about in terms of the delay of the project.  In spite of this, and the apparent loss of support from the Governor, the City is moving along with the project, and has put out an RFP (request for proposals) for firms to bid on taking over the project.  As for what appears to be growing opposition from the state, Perea indicated the negative image of the City after the scandals of 2012 contributed to this, making it all the more urgent to turn this image around.

Changing subjects, I asked what was at stake in the upcoming elections.  Perea responded that there needs to be a change in both the culture of the council and in the culture of the city staff, and that continuity is needed with the direction the city has undertaken so far.  He hopes if elected to stimulate more community engagement with the City through creation of more committees; he wants to undertake a more comprehensive plan for the city's future; he wants to continue working on an "entertainment corridor," building on the existing racino and on part of the vision Ruben Segura had for Sunland Park; and he hopes to find ways to increase the city's budget. At various points in the interview he stressed the need for greater citizen involvement.