Cover, July 17: “No place to rest”
Dedication
I cannot tell you the number of students with whom I have worked (at Capital High School, Santa Fe High School and Santa Fe Community College) who are homeless and/or mentally ill. One of my older college students slept in his car with his dog, and STILL managed to pass his English class with me (at SFCC). Now, that's dedication. These stories are gut-wrenching, and I would venture to say there is a strong corollary between lack of affordable housing (gee, thanks Californian and Texan second home-owners) for young adults (especially those of color). Until Santa Fe realizes that affordable housing, addiction, mental health and poverty are all inextricably bound, and makes some significant changes to the way the City Different views young adults (rather than paying lip service to how "important" they are), Santa Fe will continue to push its young people into the streets, out of the city altogether, or into graves.
Lisa Jo Goldman
Santa Fe
Ongoing Coverage: Energy Transition Act
Lip Service?
PNM took out a full-page advertisement in your magazine last week, asking what their best choices for renewable energy might be. An obvious and organic part of the solution is for it to purchase electricity that is generated from its retail ratepayers by renewables. A viable price range would make it equal to PNM's cheapest source of electricity while still incentivizing production. But sadly, PNM's advertisement is merely a rhetorical question in an empty gesture of public relations. For while it is theoretically possible that the first public-sensitive Public Regulation Commission in living memory could make them do it, that is not the type of diversification PNM meant. Unlikely to be in the best financial interests of its out-of-state shareholders, PNM would prefer to maintain its monopoly on generation and wait for a return to PRC pliability in the future.
Barry Hatfield
Santa Fe
Web Extra, July 17: “We Are the Unicorn”
Southside Needs
The Southside of town has practically NOTHING. Just more housing and more retirement communities but no services, grocery stores, etc. etc. Not to mention Richards Avenue, a two-lane road to a community of thousands of homes, but of course this would fall under county jurisdiction, and that's a whole other story. How about a Costco, for jobs?
Rick Gilligan Fair-Ohlee
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