William Melhado
Online, March 8: “Obelisk Plan Will Be Withdrawn”
Now do park names
As our community continues to come to terms with the legacy of violence, genocide and land theft upon which our city and economy is built it is crucial that we not only LISTEN to the voices of indigenous matriarchs, leaders, and families but also concretely ACT upon their statements and requests. Generations of harm and trauma cannot be healed overnight by removing a monument BUT we can take incremental actionable steps each day to acknowledge, make amends, and change our behaviors to move forward with integrity. Now that the recent proposal to reconstruct the racist and harmful Plaza obelisk has been abandoned our next step could be to systematically consider and make changes to the plethora of street, school, and park names and monuments to genocidal actors such as Kit Carson and Oñate, as well as ending the continuing harmful presence of Fiesta Council visits in our public schools. Indigenous voices have repeatedly asked for these glorifications of conquest and erasure of the indigenous peoples of this land to be removed. Let’s listen and ACT! These must be faced and dealt with before we can truly begin a healing process for all.
Jo Christian, settler resident on Tewa Lands of O’ga P’ogeh
More dancing
The bandstand is a winner. A state capital filled with music. Just… no bro country, okay?.
John Charles Nix, via Twitter @HeadingWestNow
News, March 22: “Secret Standards”
He should resign
I have never written a letter in response to an article concerning someone with a DWI. But I am disgusted that a “judge” has not only received a citation, but that he is pleading not guilty. Does he think he is above the law? He does not deserve to be a judge. He should resign. And, use Deborah Walker’s behavior as an example of maintaining a higher standard as a public official.
Rosemary Molnar, Santa Fe
Cover, March 15: “The Foilies”
Notorious LANL delays
Concerning the article “presenting the nationwide look at the last year’s most terrible transparency,” the Santa Fe Reporter could have stayed home and reported on its own backyard. The Department of Energy and the Los Alamos National Laboratory are notorious for their lengthy delays in honoring Freedom of Information Act requests. As a federal judge ruled in one of our FOIA lawsuits, “administrative officials invoke every conceivable delaying technique and force citizens requesting information under the FOIA to resort to expensive litigation for vindication of their rights. Information is often useful only if it is timely. Thus, excessive delay by the agency in its response is often tantamount to denial.”
It once took me eight years to get back a FOIA request about safety issues at a LANL plutonium facility. I have twice had to litigate to get “Performance Evaluation Reports” on contractor performance that American taxpayers pay for. Information is crucial as the Lab and DOE spend tens of billions of dollars on expanded manufacturing of plutonium pit bomb cores for increased nuclear weapons production for a new and more dangerous nuclear arms race.
The Freedom of Information Act is a wonderful law and I strongly encourage citizens to use it. Now we need to enforce it!
Jay Coghlan, Nuclear Watch New Mexico
Morning Word, March 20: “City of Santa Fe’s Late Audit Compromises Capital Cash, Bond Rating”
Love those links
Thank you for your Morning Word updates, in particular your reporting on the ongoing saga of audits at the city. I especially appreciate that you have links in your articles that go directly to relevant source materials; it gives much needed background to the story.
Tom Spray, Santa Fe
Morning Word, Feb. 24: “DCA in Turmoil”
Small town snark
I am writing to voice my concern for the recent spate of negative, hearsay-based reporting I am seeing in regard to the Department of Cultural Affairs. It’s a sad time for journalism when a letter signed by people who the majority of whom are retired from (some for many years) or left of their own accord, the employ of the State of New Mexico is held up as the only evidence in this story. It’s also a reflection on our community that female leaders are fair game for a dog pile – if Cabinet Secretary Garcia y Griego and Gov. Lujan Grisham were men, their leadership would be seen as decisive, assertive and direct.
Debra Garcia y Griego is one of the most professional, instinctive and intelligent people I have ever had the pleasure to work with in my 30 years in Santa Fe. She knows what is needed for a task and will be the first person to roll up her sleeves and do whatever is necessary to get the job done. She also has an astute sense of how government entities work and how to work within them to affect change when change is due. Anyone who has had the pleasure of working with Debra knows that she is thoughtful in her words and her deeds. I am certain any firings (of which there have been few, check the record) were not carried out without cause. The lack of mudslinging from the State’s side of the aisle speaks volumes about what is really driving this vitriol, hearsay, gossip and small town snark.
Jackie Camborde, Santa Fe
Correction
The March 23 story “Sine Bye,” gave incorrect information about the location of House Bill 6 at the end of the session. It died in the House.
