Opinion

Letter To The Editor: Los Alamos County’s Fiscal Predicament – Vote Against Rec Bond

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By LISA BRENNER, Vice President
A Better Way For LA PAC

No one likes to rain on anyone’s parade but I think we need a bit of a reality check on the Rec Bond issue. There are so many reasons to vote AGAINST this bond.  Here are a few:

Los Alamos County is not in a good predicament money-wise. Presently we have a $1,400,000 shortfall for this budget year due to the LANL contract’s limbo status. I hope everyone realizes that the windfall we’ve received from a for-profit company winning the last contract is what has funded our new Municipal Building, the Justice Center, the White Rock Library and other

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Letter To The Editor: Rec Center Bond – Bad For Small Businesses And Nonprofits

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By TOM TIERNEY
Los Alamos
 
The County of Los Alamos introduced a controversial choice that our community must make through the Recreation Center Bond election: Should the County be allowed to compete with small businesses and nonprofits in our local fitness industry?
 
Supporters of this Bond claim that the absence of a Recreation Center is a central stumbling block in attracting visitors and new businesses to the County. However, they have failed to recognize how this Recreation Center will be positioned to directly, and unfairly, compete with the very local businesses
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Skandera: Teachers Should Be Celebrated

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Education Secretary Hanna Skandera during a visit in 2016 to the Los Alamos Daily Post. Photo by Carol A. Clark/ladailypost.com
 
By HANNA SKANDERA
New Mexico Education Secretary
 
This week is Teacher Appreciation Week in New Mexico – a perfect opportunity to reflect on the tremendous impact our teachers have in helping every New Mexico child have a chance to succeed in life.
 
Every child in New Mexico – no matter their background – can learn, and the more we stand behind our teachers and support them, the more they have that chance.
 
Isis Feraudy-Marsilli
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Letter To The Editor: Recreation Only One Of Many Resident Needs In Comp Plan

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By MARGARET ANNE ROGERS
Los Alamos
 
I was once LANL’s expert on radioactive waste disposal sites and other contaminated areas. I also was the Planning & Zoning Commission chairman for development of a County Comprehensive Plan. Recreation was only one of many resident needs addressed in the Plan.
 
FACTS:
  • Los Alamos cannot grow! Neither in land-size nor population.
  • Landlocked by government and Pueblo land ownership.
  • We are built on mesas with deep canyons on sides.
  • Community no longer has “location knowledge” of legacy LANL activities producing hazardous and
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Letter To The Editor: Response To Dr. Neeper

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By RICHARD NEBEL
Los Alamos
 
This is a brief reply to Dr. Neeper’s recent letter (link). First of all, I did not suggest that people should go to work for private industry. I suggested that they form their own companies and go to work for themselves. That way you set your own corporate values, and those values can help restore credibility to science. That’s a little different than working for R J Reynolds.
 
I also think that volunteering is great, but volunteering isn’t going to create research jobs. We need to grow research, and taking the entrepreneurial route is one way to do that. It
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Shin: Vote AGAINST Rec Bond: There’s A Better Way

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By LISA SHIN, President 
A Better Way for LA PAC

A Better Way for LA PAC was formed by concerned citizens who propose that we expand and improve recreation in ways that are fiscally responsible and sustainable. I do not question the quality of life benefits our community would receive from the Recreation Bond. Personally, I would love to see an indoor ice-skating rink and expanded recreational facilities.

However, I question whether this Bond represents the highest and best use of our tax dollars, when there are so many competing needs. There is a better way. I am talking about robust and diverse Read More

Letter To The Editor: Thundersnow In Los Alamos

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By LYNN HANRAHAN
Los Alamos

Years ago, on a late winter evening, I noticed my daughter was a bit pale as she was pulling on her hockey gear. The season was approaching its end so it just made sense to go and enjoy whatever ice time remained even though the weather was a bit iffy, too.

It ended up being a night she would always remember. It was the night of the thundersnow! From what I remember her hockey practice began ordinarily enough but then the heavens broke loose and it began to rain, hail, sleet, thunder, and snow. The kids had a ball. By the time my husband brought her home

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Letter To The Editor: Response To Nebel

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By DONALD A. NEEPER
Portola Valley, Calif. 
(Los Alamos resident 1968-2014)

I was a signatory to the letter published in the May 4 edition of the Los Alamos Daily Post (link), in which 18 retired LANL scientists expressed concern regarding federal plans to suppress scientific research and monitoring related to environmental protection and public health.

In the May 6 edition of the Daily Post, Richard Nebel responded thoughtfully, pointing to the productivity of private industry, the bureaucratic ineptness of government, and the feelings of laborers (link). However, he missed the

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Letter To The Editor: Good Point … Split The Pot

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By CORINE CHRISTMAN
Los Alamos

Gerald Antos has a good point. Split the pot (link).

Some of the recreational items are necessary to keep up and others may be needed. The new splash pad costs $750,000. Is this needed? Considering that we have very few really hot days in a year with hopefully rainy days in July and August, there may be most of June and a smattering of other days to use it. Most kids will be happy running through the sprinkler or using a garden hose and that alone saves $750,000.

We also need to consider the yearly upkeep of all these facilities and the need for more employees for the extra facilities. Read More

Letter To The Editor: Consider Voting For Rec Bond … Small Tax Well Worth Enhancement To Quality Of Life

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By Monica Van de Water
Los Alamos

Please read, and please have an open mind. Our family always says, “options are always better than no options”!

Even if you don’t care, or don’t like it, consider “VOTING YES” to the upcoming rec bond. There are many families in Los Alamos that do want these recreational facilities. We should support that desire and the excitement that it is generating.

When the seniors needed money for improving the senior center, many of us voted “YES”. How does that benefit me? I’m not a senior. For the school bond, many seniors voted “YES” and they didn’t have children in

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