Archive for November 5, 2008
Not Quite Over For The Political Junkies
by Chuck Ring
For those who are political junkies or just feel like a junk heap after the election, here’s something you can play with to see trends and results statewide and countywide.
After you arrive at the page you will see that you are on the results page for Santa Fe County. If you wish to dig down to individual precincts you will find a precinct select window next to the county window in the upper left corner of the page. Of course you can also select another county to examine if you want to spend all day and night on the site.
In Santa Fe County precincts 15, 16, 18, 73, 84 and 85 the transit tax was voted down. The total vote was 2755 against to 1515 for, which seems to verify that most folks in those precincts (which is mostly Edgewood do not see a train track or any other real overall transportation benefit to the citizens in our future. But, the bad news is that the rest of the Santa Fe County portion of transit district citizens felt differently and voted for the tax, so that the totals were 34934 for to 28,501 opposed.
So, what will happen as a result of the transit tax passing? On January 1, 2009, you will see the gross receipts tax for the incorporated area of Edgewood (inside Santa Fe County) rise from 7.625 to 7.750. This tax, joins other taxes that have been foisted on us because we cannot overcome the votes from the rest of the county when it comes to tax referendums. One answer to the perpetual problem is the possibility of forming a county out of portions of Santa Fe, Bernalillo and perhaps Torrance counties. This is not the first time that this possibility has been mentioned, but it might be more viable now, because it is difficult to walk much less run, with Santa Fe County’s hand in our back pocket.
It could be worse. Santa Fe City joins Española, and Taos to have gross receipts tax rates above eight cents on the dollar.
It Ain’t Over ‘Till It’s Over – And It’s Over.
by John Weckerle
We wake up today to a very different world than that in which we lived yesterday. Despite the clouds currently scudding over our region, and the blustery winds buffeting us, we can all breathe a little easier, step a little lighter, and look forward to a better time.
The political ads are gone.
They will be replaced quickly, of course, with the usual barrage of holiday advertisements seeking to entice us into borrowing money and sending it to foreign factories as a way of showing our friends and families that we’re thinking of them. For once, this will be a relief (although it probably won’t seem so after a week or so). Target, Walmart, Kmart, and Sears will not likely be lying about each others’ philosophy, ancestry, or upbringing, and I’m betting that Hasbro and Mattel will not be showing grainy and unflattering pictures of each other’s products. Tickle Me Elmo will not be attempting to link Ken to the Cookie Monster, and nobody is going to be attacking Barbie over the price of her wardrobe. Toys will be toys (which, in this day and age, means most of them will probably break before Valentine’s day), and come January, we will all be back to wondering just how we’re going to make ends meet in what promises to be – from an economic standpoint – a very difficult year for many of us.
Now that this is all over, I’d like to thank our correspondents for not dragging NM-Central into the mess, as we agreed that this was not the place for the seasonal diatribes. Only one slip occurred, and it was minor enough that the only likely repercussions might be having one’s head Photoshopped onto a scantily-clad Madonna and posted on YouTube.  It is my hope that the intense emotions of the election season will quickly give way to some of the better sentiments associated with our upcoming holidays, and that we will all remember that – while we may disagree strongly on some things – we really agree on most things. After being reminded of our differences every six minutes for the past year and a half, I look forward to all of us remembering what we have in common.