Last Night's Socorro City Council Meeting
Last night's city council meeting was as fun as they normally are.
It was the first meeting that included Anthony Gandara, Socorro's newest member of council. His first agenda item and major policy push? The re-introduction of Mauro Rosas Park. Under the previous Gandara regime the council ear marked almost $2 million for the park. Even on the eve of being kicked out of office the previous regime was trying to push through some expenditures that a recent forensic audit called into question.
The new Representative Gandara used the same rhetoric to try to sell people on the park that the old Representative Gandara used, right down to sayings how people would "be able to see the rings of Saturn" and how the park will make people in Socorro smarter.
Essentially the agenda item the newest member of G-Unit was pushing would've been one giant do-over. After the old Gandara regime was vanquished, the clean council went in and reprogrammed a large portion of the money that was going to go to the park and directed it toward other projects.
Last December the current council went in and allocated $300,000 toward the park. But apparently that wasn't enough for Gandara. He was trying to bring up the funding back to the level allocated by his cousin Little Jesse.
Earlier in the meeting that city council had allocated some funding for street paving. Mayor Jesus Ruiz explained to Anthony Gandara that 180 streets in Socorro could be paved with the amount of money the Gandaras were wanting for the park.
And let's be clear about just where this park is located. It's not like this is a park off of Dindinger in an underserved part of Socorro. The park is next to a newer subdivision. Oh you remember the subdivision, it's the one that the Jesse Gandara council named all the streets after themselves. Interestingly enough, little Jesse had the longest street in the subdivision named after himself.
The park project at the more conservative funding amount would already be started if it weren't for the fact that the previous contractor that was selected for the project, who is allegedly a good buddy of little Jesse, closed its doors. He allegedly wasn't receiving as much work now that little Jesse was kicked out by the voters.
Once the agenda item was read, Representative Rene Rodriguez made a motion to deny the item. It was seconded and after discussion the item was voted down. Only Anthony Gandara voted in favor of the item.
Rodriguez explained that the commitment to the community was to focus on infrastructure first and then work on quality-of-life further down the road. "We owe it to our constituents to do the right thing and keep the money in infrastructure projects".
Representative Victor Perez explained to Gandara that focusing on a park when Socorro has so many infrastructures needs is like having a house that's falling apart and then buying a pool.
I was sorta expecting to see little Jesse at the meeting but he was not in attendance. His buddy Refugio "Fugi" Orta was there for a little while. But left a few minutes after I arrived so I didn't get a chance to ask him about Jesse or say hello.
The thing I was wondering the whole time was what was the urgency of having a budget amendment for a park? I mean I really enjoy the investment the city made in Bulldog Championship Park. My daughter loves that park and we go regularly, especially in the summer. But why couldn't this conversation take place during the budget session? What was so pressing that it had to be dealt with now?
So I asked Mayor Ruiz after the meeting.
It was the first meeting that included Anthony Gandara, Socorro's newest member of council. His first agenda item and major policy push? The re-introduction of Mauro Rosas Park. Under the previous Gandara regime the council ear marked almost $2 million for the park. Even on the eve of being kicked out of office the previous regime was trying to push through some expenditures that a recent forensic audit called into question.
The new Representative Gandara used the same rhetoric to try to sell people on the park that the old Representative Gandara used, right down to sayings how people would "be able to see the rings of Saturn" and how the park will make people in Socorro smarter.
Essentially the agenda item the newest member of G-Unit was pushing would've been one giant do-over. After the old Gandara regime was vanquished, the clean council went in and reprogrammed a large portion of the money that was going to go to the park and directed it toward other projects.
Last December the current council went in and allocated $300,000 toward the park. But apparently that wasn't enough for Gandara. He was trying to bring up the funding back to the level allocated by his cousin Little Jesse.
Earlier in the meeting that city council had allocated some funding for street paving. Mayor Jesus Ruiz explained to Anthony Gandara that 180 streets in Socorro could be paved with the amount of money the Gandaras were wanting for the park.
And let's be clear about just where this park is located. It's not like this is a park off of Dindinger in an underserved part of Socorro. The park is next to a newer subdivision. Oh you remember the subdivision, it's the one that the Jesse Gandara council named all the streets after themselves. Interestingly enough, little Jesse had the longest street in the subdivision named after himself.
The park project at the more conservative funding amount would already be started if it weren't for the fact that the previous contractor that was selected for the project, who is allegedly a good buddy of little Jesse, closed its doors. He allegedly wasn't receiving as much work now that little Jesse was kicked out by the voters.
Once the agenda item was read, Representative Rene Rodriguez made a motion to deny the item. It was seconded and after discussion the item was voted down. Only Anthony Gandara voted in favor of the item.
Rodriguez explained that the commitment to the community was to focus on infrastructure first and then work on quality-of-life further down the road. "We owe it to our constituents to do the right thing and keep the money in infrastructure projects".
Representative Victor Perez explained to Gandara that focusing on a park when Socorro has so many infrastructures needs is like having a house that's falling apart and then buying a pool.
I was sorta expecting to see little Jesse at the meeting but he was not in attendance. His buddy Refugio "Fugi" Orta was there for a little while. But left a few minutes after I arrived so I didn't get a chance to ask him about Jesse or say hello.
The thing I was wondering the whole time was what was the urgency of having a budget amendment for a park? I mean I really enjoy the investment the city made in Bulldog Championship Park. My daughter loves that park and we go regularly, especially in the summer. But why couldn't this conversation take place during the budget session? What was so pressing that it had to be dealt with now?
So I asked Mayor Ruiz after the meeting.
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