Parks and recreation departments work better as one | Letters To Editor
I have been a professional associated with the public parks and recreation field since my
I have been a professional associated with the public parks and recreation field since my first job out of college in 1982. I have seen and experienced changes in municipal organizational structures in many states. I’ve seen several cities and counties separate parks administration from recreation facility management and programming with the sincere interest of saving money and growing efficiency.
The outcomes I’ve observed? It never really works. Over time the two dependent functions end up diminished or eventually reunited. Why? Parks maintenance and leadership ends up being an ignored stepchild in a public works department. It is never given the seriousness, importance or resources that it needs. Parks uses recreation event planners to successfully host community celebrations.
Recreation facilities and programming depend on the cooperation of their parks brethren to support facility maintenance and special event logistics. Please don’t hamstring an already diminished staff by pulling the departments apart. Rather, support and underpin the professionalism that is parks and recreation. Keep them as one department.
Congratulations to the lovely couple I saw getting married at the new Santa Fe County building. As I was dropping off my request for an absentee ballot in the County Clerk’s Office outside box in the back, there, in the little courtyard, I came upon a wonderful sight — a lovely bride in a white dress and her handsome groom in his white shirt saying their vows. Life goes on in Santa Fe.
From the days when Santa Fe County’s case rate remained high as statewide tally continued to drop — “Santa Fe has remained a tourist destination, leading to large numbers of out-of-state visitors. This has contributed to Santa Fe County’s higher rate of daily cases, state health officials have said.” This was from the article, (“Santa Fe County’s case rate remains high as statewide tally continues to drop,” Aug. 24).
I have not seen or heard of any attempt to relate this claim to the data. The 87501 ZIP code encompassing the area where tourists frequent has 47 reported cases as of today. The 87507 ZIP code has by far the largest number with 426, and 87505 is next with 125, and they are the only two increasing. It may well be that the part of 87505 abutting 87507 is where most of those 125 cases are occurring. Health officials should be investigating why the city’s cases are concentrated in a region of the city where tourists are unlikely to go.
Watch the Republican National Convention. Turn off the sound, turn off the hypocrisy and mendacity on steroids: What is the message conveyed by the imagery? We see an image from the White House looking down a long hallway toward a double door. Flanking the door are two Marines standing at attention, holding firearms. The door opens and from the other side of the revealed room a familiar figure, President Donald Trump, strides forward and through the door. The soldiers present their arms. Where have we seen this image before? This resembles an image of Vladimir Putin leaving his office striding down the long, ornate, halls of the Kremlin. The next image is Trump entering a large room in the White House, where two people are waiting.
Trump steps forward, and after an introduction, pardons one of the individuals of a previously committed crime. This image is repeated with five figures and an acting Cabinet secretary in a naturalization ceremony for five immigrants. This is imagery of a benevolent king or authoritarian leader conveying beneficences on supplicants.
Later, we see an image of the first lady speaking from the portico of the White House people below on the lower grounds (without social distancing or masks). Is this an image of a queen in her palace giving her best wishes to her subjects? We have never seen this kind of imagery and behavior in a political convention where the property of the people of the United States is treated as a personal palace or political prop for the president. This is a violation of law, the Hatch Act and is an outrageous violation of our democratic traditions.
The president is not a king. He is an employee of the people of the United States.
Thank you for your extensive coverage (“Altitude at Vizcaya, Broadstone usher in next generation of Santa Fe apartments,” Aug. 25) of the construction of new apartments in my neighborhood. Those of us near the Altitude at Vizcaya have long been aware of the construction, which has sometimes been intrusive due to noise and large trucks using a narrow entrance to the site.
I am discouraged to learn that the 52 new units will use the Vizcaya entrance. The manages of the Vizcaya units have been less than diligent about noise, especially at the southern Vizcaya entrance. There is a regular noisy motorcycle, a 6 a.m. sport or free-flow exhaust noisy vehicle and other noisy traffic. There is a southern entrance to the Altitude apartments on Rodeo Road, and it should be used to minimize congestion, pollution and noise.
Our president now wants Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden to submit to a drug test as a condition for participating in the debates. I think Biden should demand copies of Trump’s federal tax returns as a similar condition.
War is an apt description for our struggle with COVID-19. We’ve lost more people than the Korean and Vietnam wars combined. The front-line “soldiers” deal with daily fear, the unknown, death and lives forever changed. Only this time, our “soldiers” are not the military. They are caregivers, teachers and essential workers, many working for low and minimum wage. Let’s offer them a GI Bill for their extraordinary service: free college, free medical insurance and loans for buying homes. Many are older than military soldiers.
If they aren’t in need of these benefits, they could pass them on to a young family member, building family wealth just like a traditional soldier does on the GI Bill. If they are undocumented immigrants, they also should receive a path to citizenship. It’s the right thing to do.
It’s almost comedic how the speakers at the Republican National Convention take their heads out of the sand just long enough to spew venom and spread the usual lies.
I am very, very, very worried about this upcoming election. Especially about what I believe is blatant voter suppression orchestrated by President Donald Trump and his thugs.
My question is: How will nursing home folks vote? In New Mexico, will we assure that every person can have a ballot? Extremely worried. As we have seen, mail sorting machines have been already removed.