The third estate appears ready to revolt in Taos, where the unpopular new paid parking scheme launched by the town has merchants up in arms.
"This is a tough one, because everything was promised to us and everything that we voted for seems to have disappeared somehow in our community, and I'm here today to talk about the parking," Ruthann McCarthy, a multigenerational downtown business owner, told the Town of Taos Council during its regular meeting Tuesday evening (Sept. 24).
"We hired you guys," McCarthy said, turning to look at Mayor Pascual Maestas. "I, we — many of us — attended meetings about the parking. It's not figured out yet. It doesn't work."
McCarthy and several other business owners organized under the Taos Roundtable, an informal group that traditionally meets every Wednesday at Casa Benavides, one of McCarthy's businesses, are calling for a moratorium on parking fees downtown until the NM 68–U.S. 64 Roadway Project undertaken by the state through Taos' historic district is completed — at least for the season.
"It is abundantly evident to downtown business owners, local residents, tourists, and, I believe, to you as town officials, that the system was, a) poorly timed, and b) ill-conceived," Bent Street gallerist Julie Lake said in a letter read into the record by Town of Taos Clerk Francella Garcia.
Several speakers during the citizen's forum listed what they said were questionable investments the town has made with public money, such as the unannounced plaza renovation last year, the replacement of an old iron fence around Kit Carson Park and the planned purchase of the U.S. Bank building for $2.1 million.
Not to be mistaken for General Fund spending on the part of the Town of Taos, as Councilor Corilia Ortega noted, officials accepted two state grants worth $8.2 million in passenger air service subsidies that are intended to help pay for new flights over the next two years. The subsidies, which require a 10-percent match, are intended to pay for empty seats as rural air service provided out of the Taos Regional Airport stabilizes. A total of $11.4 million in Rural Air Service Enhancement program monies have been directed to the town in the past two years.
The new funding will support a return to seasonal air service between Taos and Los Angeles, San Diego and Austin, in addition to existing flights to Dallas. Year-round flights to Denver will continue despite low passenger volumes, officials indicated, but two scheduled months of nearly-unbooked flights to Las Vegas, Nevada, are kaput as of November. Visit jsx.com for flight availability.
"Las Vegas only has a 7-percent loading factor," explained Chief Procurement Officer Bailey Andrea. "So that route is actually utilizing more subsidy than what we originally thought it would. The subsidy, or the load factors to calculate the estimated subsidy needed each season, is based on a 75-percent load factor. That being said, we looked at trading that out for Dallas."
Matthew Thomas, executive director of The Paseo Project, which organizes PASEO, Taos' free annual immersive art festival, notified town officials the annual dayslong art event will begin next Thursday (Oct. 3) in Kit Carson Park. A complete list of offerings is available at paseoproject.org, including tickets to this year's feature: Luminarium.
"It has 19 different chambers, and it'll take up pretty much half of [Kit Carson Park]," Thomas said, adding that free pre-reserved tickets are available at paseoproject.org.
"If the tickets run out, it is not sold out," Thomas added, noting the extended four-day festival has more art in the park than he could list to officials. "There will always be an entrance for people to access."
In other news, Taos High School student Angelina Burns Diaz, who is also an intern for the Taos News and TrueKids1, was appointed to the position of town council youth member, which does not come with voting power.
"I did go to the Taos High School [in] the past couple weeks to solicit some letters of interest, and received a number of letters," Maestas said, encouraging those who weren't chosen for the youth council position to apply for other roles in town government.
As the council's youth representative, Burns Diaz will serve in similar capacity to her fellow elected officials, including holding a seat — and having a voice — on the dais during meetings. Burns Diaz takes over the position from Carlos Miller, who relocated to Albuquerque to attend the University of New Mexico after graduating from Taos High this spring.
"I'm very interested in how government works, so I'm very excited to see how I can learn from the Town of Taos and hopefully provide helpful insights to the youth in the community as well," Burns Diaz said.
via Taos News