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.
A piece of land on Albuquerque’s west side that’s large enough to hold a mid-sized city was sold yesterday on the Bernalillo County Courthouse steps for $148 million. The land was purchased by SunCal Corporation in 2007 for $250 million from…
A bill that would allow a tax district in Las Cruces to issue tax-exempt bonds to help pay for revitalizing downtown cleared the Senate unanimously Monday morning.
The bonds would be backed by future state and local tax proceeds.
Gov. Bill Richardson
As 2009 staggers into the history books, exhausted and a bit lighter in the pockets than when it first appeared on the scene, let’s acknowledge this: the year gave us plenty to write about.
Accusations of pay-to-play, former elected officials getting indicted, electoral surprises and an occasional David toppling a Goliath — 2009 produced it all, giving the year a healthy luster of newsworthiness despite its threadbare look.
The year showed incredible stamina, in fact, with a steady drumbeat of scoops, gotchas and revelations, exhausting many a political junkie and news professional. And 2009 didn’t take long to demonstrate its capacity to shock.
On the fourth day of 2009, an announcement in Washington landed in New Mexico with all the percussive power of a bombshell: Gov. Bill Richardson was withdrawing as President Obama’s commerce secretary, citing a federal corruption investigation into how his administration conducted business.
And the news kept coming.
Some 360 later, the year is ending the way it began — scrutiny, including from federal prosecutors, on how the state invested its money over the past half decade.
In between those two bookends, the state of New Mexico also came to the disturbing realization that it was broke, Albuquerque’s longtime mayor fell short of winning a third four-year term — knocked off by a long-shot two-term GOP state lawmaker — and two former elected officials found themselves on the business end of a criminal indictment.
It’s unclear whether what transpired this year will change the political dynamic here in New Mexico, or lead to more government transparency. But before The New Mexico Independent gets back into the daily grind, let’s take a deep breath and reflect on the busy year that was.
The development community appears to be targeting two of its most vocal opponents on the city council in hopes of gaining a development-friendly board, two Albuquerque city councilors charged Wednesday. Westland Development Co., a subsidiary of SunCal, has spent at least $10,000 on the race.
A large developer hoping to finance a huge mixed-used development on the Albuquerque’s West Side—with bonds based on future tax proceeds—is targeting its most vocal opponent on the City Council. A mailer sent to District 5 voters this week criticizes City Councilor Michael Cadigan, who is seeking re-election. Cadigan is a longtime, vocal opponent of the tax-proceeds scheme — called TIDDs for short — by which SunCal, the developer, hopes to pay for roads, water lines and other infrastructure for the development.
Rey Garduno just sent out a news release announcing that he will ask the Albuquerque City Council to pull his his bill out of the Finance and Government Operations Committee and put it on the agenda for tonight’s…
Veteran state lawmaker Rep. Mimi Stewart told Clearly New Mexico that the full extent of the campaign by Westland Development to pass the SunCal tax-increment development district, or TIDD, may never be known. Westland reported spending more than…
Gov. Bill Richardson is saying he is “seriously considering” making two failed proposals to leverage future taxes against future development a part of his agenda for a proposed special session this fall.
SunCal Corp. has filed a “lobbying advertising campaign” report with the New Mexico secretary of state, detailing $232,540 in advertising costs the company incurred to promote its legislative priorities during the session.
As was widely reported during the session, the…
Developers who want to convert Albuquerque’s dreary Winrock Mall into a showcase of New Urbanism, where people live, shop and work, got a big boost Wednesday.
Gov. Bill Richardson signed into law a bill authorizing $137 million in public bonds…
Reporters and guests live blogged from the House Friday, lasting until after 3 a.m. Saturday. A stem cell research bill and the SunCal tax increment development districts (TIDDS) failed, while a TIDD for Winrock and campaign contribution limits passed. Read the details in the transcript by clicking on the headline.
The Santa Fe City Council approved a new ordinance allowing red-light cameras in the City Different, The Santa Fe New Mexican reports. A last-minute effort was defeated to amend the ordinance to make it easier for the city to…
The state Senate just passed a bill by a vote of 29 to 9 to allow Westland Dev. Co. to issue tax-exempt bonds secured by 50 percent of state gross receipts tax revenue, 30.77 percent of Bernalillo County GRT, and…
Getting something for nothing is always an attractive notion. But if the housing bubble and the Bernie Madoff scandal have taught us anything, it is that there are hidden costs to “free” money.
Two new development districts have been created to subsidize developments at Albuquerque’s Winrock mall location and in downtown Las Cruces — the first such districts created in city centers. But how much the move will cost the state remains unclear.
But Albuquerque and New Mexico needs to do some old fashioned, grassroots, bottom up planning. When Forbes magazine last week ranked Albuquerque fifth in the nation in requests for Obama’s New Deal economic stimulus package, it was news to most folks in the state. Five days later, the Journal, in a solid copyrighted piece by Dan McKay ran a list of the proposed projects that Forbes said would cost $2.3 billion and create an estimated 5,181 jobs.
I got a second mailer from SunCal Corporation promoting TIDDs this week, and it seems that just about everyone I know in Albuquerque and Bernalillo County did as well. This direct-mail promotional effort must have cost SunCal a bundle.…
We’ve decided to do a daily blog roundup here at the Independent, much like the “Today’s Top Stories” we do every day to highlight particularly interesting news from around the state.
Blogging, of course, isn’t like “the…
The New Mexico Board of Finance last week adopted new rules for the Tax Increment Development District (TIDDs) application process as well as how future proposals will be evaluated. The Independent laid out the issues in a
