I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
Bernalillo County Economic Development Manager Dan Gutierrez told the Independent this week that his office has expanded.
Gutierrez has long been a one man show in the economic development department of the state’s largest county despite the fact that the county’s unincorporated area holds a huge chunk of the land still available for development in the Albuquerque metropolitan area.
But as of this month his office has two additional full-time employees. And their focus, he said, will be on small business, the film industry and cultural events.
“Small businesses are a big part of our future, we want to assist homegrown businesses and help create niche markets,” he said.
While the film industry has its detractors, Gutierrez isn’t one of them. The amount of money spent in the county every time a film is made is significant, he said, not to mention the increased skill set of local film workers and the infrastructure each project leaves behind. The county wants to streamline how it works in conjunction with the city to make it easier for films to be made in the county.
Mentioning the Lavender Festival in Los Ranchos as a good example of the sorts of events that can be created, Gutierrez said his office also wants historic communities like the South Valley to become cultural destinations, on the tourist map along with Santa Fe and Taos.
At the same time, his office will continue to support the recruitment of industry to the area from outside the state, recently demonstrated by the announcement that Solar Array Ventures would build a large manufacturing plant on the western edge of the county. This work will be more successful, he said, now that there is more capacity to help support local business creation.
“It’s important to assist local, indigenous businesses meet their mission, to have the thriving economy we want,” he said in his characteristically upbeat manner. “And ultimately it’ll make it easier to recruit companies. I mean, who wouldn’t want to come here?”
