Opinion

‘Peace & Prayer Pilgrimage’ To Protest LANL Transmission Line Through Caja Del Rio Friday In Downtown Santa Fe

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Caja del Rio News:

SANTA FE — Friday, Oct. 25, the Caja del Rio coalition is inviting members of the public to join its “Peace and Prayer Pilgrimage” through downtown Santa Fe to protest the controversial Los Alamos National  Laboratory (LANL) transmission line project set to be built through the Caja del Rio plateau and call on federal officials to intervene.

The pilgrimage will begin at the Santa Fe County Administrative Complex (240 Grant Ave.) and culminate at the National Nuclear Security Administration building (N. Guadalupe Street) where participants will hand deliver the coalition’s Read More

Day: Los Alamos Needs A County With A ‘Can-Do’ Philosophy To Help Small Business Thrive 

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By ROBERT DAY
Los Alamos

I appreciated the editorial by Allen Saenz published in the Sept. 24 Los Alamos Daily Post (link). It confirms many of the concerns that I have regarding Los Alamos County’s lack of support for our business community. I have had my permanent address in Los Alamos for over 70 years and have seen our town proceed from having a thriving business community with a wide variety of stores to a few stores of very limited commodities.

This erosion seemed to begin in the 1980s and proceeded on a downhill path ever since. It appears to have been advanced by LANL being able to rent space at Read More

Sam LeDoux: Response To Española Mayor Vigil

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By Sam LeDoux
Española City Councilor
Educator

When I heard the Mayor (Española Mayor John Ramon Vigil) wrote an article in response to my criticisms of his proposed plastic bag ban in the Los Alamos Daily Post, I was hoping to find a well-reasoned and researched disagreement where we could have a substantive conversation about something that would impact our entire community. Unfortunately, as usual, the mayor took criticism of a policy proposal personally and wrote an angry screed filled with personal attacks. anecdotal evidence, and emotional appeals. I usually don’t answer the Mayor’s Read More

Los Alamos County Releases Findings Of 2024 National Community Survey

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COUNTY News:

Los Alamos County has released the results of the 2024 National Community Survey, which was conducted in August. Administered by Polco, the survey gathered residents’ insights into ten key facets of livability in Los Alamos County and compared these findings with 2020 and 2022 results and to national benchmarks from over 500 communities.

The findings highlight both high-performing areas and opportunities for improvement.

County officials thank the community for taking the time to provide this valuable feedback. Polco will present the findings to the Los Alamos County Council Read More

Dannemann: Early Voting Has Started In New Mexico

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By MERILEE DANNEMANN
Triple Spaced Again
© 2024 New Mexico News Services

Early voting has started in New Mexico.

Before you head to the voting booth or fill out your mail-in ballot, your first stop should be nmvote.org, on the Secretary of State website. From that page you can obtain a sample ballot, which will show you everything that’s up for a vote in your district.

In this general election we are not only voting for president but also one United States senator, all our members of Congress, the entire state Legislature, both House and Senate, and about half of our elected local officials including Read More

Lentini: City Managers Are Not Elected Officials

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By CYNTHIA P. LENTINI
Española Resident/Community Activist

The Unsheltered Committee of the City of Española met Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. It’s sad when City representatives spend more time in denials and retaliation than on the business at hand: What to do for the unsheltered in the community.

The highlights of the meeting were not presentations of data, facts, reasonable arguments, and planning. Instead, the meeting spent an inordinate amount of time complaining about the alleged BS of social media and the City Manager’s verbal attacks against City Councilor Samuel LeDoux. Sitting back Read More

Skolnik: What ‘Else’ We Need In Our Elected Officials

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By RICHARD SKOLNIK
White Rock

I thank Kevin Holsapple for his recent letter: “What I Wish For in Our County Councilors” (link).

All of the points Mr. Holsapple raised are fundamental.

However, they are not sufficient to ensure effective public service. For this, we need people who possess one additional trait:

The ability to focus unrelentingly on solving problems, in sustainable, cost-effective, and fair ways, despite the constraints to doing so.

This is in stark contrast, of course, to people who focus on telling us, often over and over again, “why problems can’t be solved”.

As someone who Read More

Holsapple: What I Wish For In Our County Councilors

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By KEVIN HOLSAPPLE
Los Alamos

With an election coming up, I am thinking about who to vote for, for the open County Council seats. I encourage every voter to have some criteria in mind when choosing who to vote for. It isn’t clear to me how the available candidates (or our current Councilors) match up to what I wish for in our County Council, but I would sure welcome hearing from them all on the following criteria as I decide who to vote for and talk to other people who ask what I think. All of the current councilors and candidates are good, nice, community-minded people who mean well, but voting for friends Read More

Gibson: Natural Gas Is Our Biggest Local Climate Change Challenge

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By ROBERT GIBSON
Chair
Los Alamos County Board of Public Utilities

What greenhouse gas (GHG) emission source is our largest and will be hardest for Los Alamos to reduce or eliminate? No, it is not automotive tailpipes or billowing smokestacks at the plants that still supply much of our electric power. It is natural gas, here called simply “gas”.

Gas is a hydrocarbon, like coal, oil, gasoline, and wood. Burning hydrocarbons produce carbon dioxide (CO2), the principal GHG. (They also produce harmless water vapor.) In addition, gas is primarily methane, a much more potent GHG. Unburned gas leaks Read More