The Reporter welcomes original, signed letters to the editor. Letters (no more than 200 words) should refer to specific articles in the Reporter. They may be edited for clarity and space. Include address and phone number for verification purposes; these will not be published. Mail to Letters, Santa Fe Reporter, PO Box 2306, Santa Fe NM 87504, deliver to 132 E. Marcy St., fax to 505-988-5348 or e-mail (editor@sfreporter.com).
PORK YOU
Your relatively new food critic is indeed a "Total Pig" in more ways than one. I don't know why you would want someone so negative and amateur when local media readers are treated to the well-written columns of Anne Hillerman, Pancho and John Vollersten, not to mention our positive inclusion in national publications. The article criticizing our wonderful town for not having more ethnic restaurants [Total Pig, Aug. 3:
] like Albuquerque (population 60,000 vs. 450,000) and for having so many with New Mexico cuisine (loved by both locals and tourists) was painful to read. Now Total Pig is unhappy with the brand of water The Compound [Total Pig, Aug. 24:
] chooses to serve as well as how they serve it. And then criticizes the food. This writer's trivial whims do not deserve a space in your paper.
Sandra Culver
Santa Fe
THE PIG SHOULD FLY
Your "Total Pig" is a total pig. For us true foodies, chefs, food writers and the mature public who has the discretionary income (and taste) to spend "dining" out, that column is a waste of ink and paper. Who hired her? Who did she know? If I owned The Compound I'd be pissed she came and bitched about the water. One small paragraph to sum up her overall dining experience-and then continue to bitch about the prices??? Maybe she should review McDonald's or Burger King and give the job of honest food review writing to someone who knows coulis from their butts. She needs to go.
Kathleen Lyons
Santa Fe
BOXED IN
The recent vote on Wal-Mart's expansion in Santa Fe into its super-size clone drew a lot of attention [Zane's World, Aug. 24:
"It's Big, It's Boxy, It's Bluffing"
]. Since the company is already prospering in the city, we don't have to worry about depriving the public of its fun-which is to pile high bargains into its shopping carts. There's plenty of cheap stuff already here and the company is thriving. We're certainly not trying to drive them out of business-all of the little, middle-sized and, yeah, even large merchandisers.
The data proves this to be true, over and over again, in place after place, as smaller businesses close to the overwhelming competition of the giant store.
The City Council has voiced concern many times for the economic well-being of the community-even going so far as to spend money on studies for economic development! Fine…please reconsider your vote on Wal-Mart in light of the need to SUPPORT THE ONGOING economic life of established businesses, peopled by a wide diversity of folks who have invested their time and talents in making Santa Fe a City Different.
Seely Solomon
Santa Fe
LOCAL LOSSES
I really enjoyed Zane Fischer's column regarding Wal-Mart. It is true that the south part of Santa Fe is as much the heart and soul of Santa Fe as any other. Many decades ago my family chose the southwest part of town to live because it was in the country, close to the country club and in close proximity to the SF airport that housed my father's small Beech Bonanza airplane. The downtown area was too crowded then. The prices in all areas of Santa Fe were affordable. The people also shopped at their local stores. We drove into town to shop at local grocers and eat at local restaurants. We even shopped at local hardware stores such as at Big Jo where the Eldorado is now and the other lumber store that was across the street from Carlos Gilbert where a timeshare condo is now. What happened to the real estate prices all over town is anyone's question. Another name for "affordable" housing in Santa Fe now is segregation. All homes and land in Santa Fe should be affordable from one end of town to the other. I like Zane's sarcastic remark that the Super Wal-Mart should be dropped right on the Railyard. It is true that if it's not appropriate to place a Super Wal-Mart within the center of our city, why put it anywhere in the city? Santa Fe is forever changed. We can't get back our quaint, affordable, community-oriented city where the south, north, east and west parts of town were all united but the south part does have plenty of beautiful land to house that superstore. In the end, corporate hunger usually wins and the local people usually lose.
Brenda Green
Santa Fe
ALL PRAISE TO ZANE
Let's give a huge round of applause to Zane Fischer for putting the drama of the south side into perspective with such eloquence and respect. We live always with divisiveness in our culture which breeds complexity and people are stressed out with the complexity of it all. They just want to go one way or another in order to make their own lives easier. It is very difficult to move forward in a way that makes sense for the majority of us when all we can do is to try to stay numb to the rest of everyone else's suffering. We are killing the rest of the world with our unconscious over-consumption.
Locally owned small businesses retain the soul of the community when the force of corporate greed, aka "Mall Sprawl-America Monster," preys upon the sleeping like a disease, keeping us in the illusion of being free with so much choice. We have not been presented with a choice for the past two presidential terms, HELLO! Along with an increasing military presence here within city limits (haven't you noticed?) our beloved fine, and different, city now has Black Hawk helicopters flying with regularity along with military jets, mostly on the south side, and LANL is up for grabs to the scariest of the scary. Now is the time for everyone who loves this town, and this country, and the rest of the world for that matter, to give something to our collective evolution.
Alia Munn
Santa Fe
DO THY BIDDING
Just read the August 24th piece [SFR Talk, Aug. 24:
] with Jay Coghlan, misleading on some points. For instance, the small number of bidders responded. The RFP is very heavily slanted to "insiders" in most areas, so the only two "real" bidders are both insiders (UC and Sandia). This reflects Sen. Domenici's demands that the RFP had to be "fair" to UC.
Another point is Coghlan's concern that Lockheed Martin (LM) could end up running two of the nation's three nuclear weapons design labs. Simply wrong. There are two "nuclear weapons design labs," LANL and LLNL, and they are both run by UC, which has a monopoly. If LM/Sandia wins the bid it will break the existing monopoly.
It is foolish to worry about LM running LANL. This is about Sandia Lab, a very well run lab, taking over management of a mismanaged, dysfunctional, scandal-ridden LANL. This is the clear path to reform. UC has been talking about reform for 35 years, since the Zinner Report, with little improvement. Enough already.
I encourage Jay Coghlan to choose Sandia's bid and escape solitary confinement.
Chris Mechels
Retired LANL (1994)
Santa Fe
