City Council Woman Bemoans Sunland Park City Government

Carolina Renteria Speaks Out on Radio KTAL

City Council member Carolina Renteria unloaded on how things are running in the City of Sunland Park, while on a radio talk show, La Politica New Mexico, KTAL LP, 101.5 FM, on this morning's program.

Among the comments she made:

1.  Ever since municipal elections were held last March in Sunland Park, bringing three new members to the council, she (Renteria) and Olga Arguelles, have been ignored and outvoted in City Council business.  Meetings, she asserted, are held by councilors to which she is not invited.  She does not receive regular communication about what is happening from the City Manager, Julia Brown, nor from Mayor Javier Perea, so she and Olga Arguelles are effectively isolated from city business.

Mayor Andy Nuñez, who was also on the KTAL program, told her on the air that Mayor Perea, not other members of the council, has the responsibility of keeping her informed about city business.  She should, he stated, take this matter up with him.

2.  Things are so bad at the senior citizens center that only 6 or 7 persons regularly go there for meals.  The food, she said, was bad, in spite of heavy expenditures for the center.  Most senior citizens are now going to a facility in El Paso for their meals.

3.  She is concerned about the quality of the water in Anapra (a part of Sunland Park municipality) and does not trust what she is told by authorities about the water quality there.  She gave no specific reasons for her mistrust.  She also complained that the city is dirty, with little or no cleanup effort.  Arsenic levels were found to be unacceptably high three years ago, and only the intervention of Sen. Mary Kay Papen led to a transparent process to correct the situation.  At the time County Commissioner David Garcia, at a forum in Sunland Park, blamed the apathy of the people of Sunland Park for the arsenic in the warer--even though no public entity ever informed residents of the poison levels in the water.  He was defeated in his re-election bid.

4.  Things within municipal government are so bad, she said, people are disgusted, and this is likely to lower the turnout rate in the current election cycle.

5.  She also expressed serious concern that the winning faction on the council--known as the Salinas faction--is "receiving money under the table," (recibiendo dinero por debajo de la mesa).

The Salinas faction is named after Daniel Salinas, a former Sunland Park City Council member who pleaded guilty to 2 felony charges of  extortion after he paid money for a lap-dancer to sit on his opponent (running for mayor) while he was video taped.  He then tried to blackmail his opponent with the tape.  Salinas was elected mayor but was not allowed to serve.

Last March Jessica Avila was elected to the city council.  She was elected to the council first in 2008, and usually voted with Daniel Salinas on city business then.  She votes with the Salinas faction now.  Berta Salmon, elected last March, is also said to be part of the current Salinas faction.  When elected she was a waitress at Ruth Chris Steakhouse in El Paso,  Daisy Lira was also elected to the Council last March.  She is sister to Christian Lira, a former city council member who played an active role in spearheading the "Salinas faction" slate of candidates last March.

Also elected last March was Lizette Salinas, sister to Daniel Salinas, to the position of City Judge.

Sounds to me like someone should check out some of these accusations and let the public know what is happening in Sunland Park.  Things were so bad a few years ago when what might roughly be called the Salinas faction was in control of Sunland Park, that the state government took over the management of the city.  There are a lot of private interests intersecting future policy directions of Sunland Park, and it is high time these became known to the voters in the county.  Sunland Park lies in the path of development of the largest economic project currently in New Mexico--the Santa Teresa project--and the issue of a border crossing at Sunland Park is front and center for the state.  Does no one care anymore?