Public housing residents watched in disbelief Dec. 28 as a village of Chama backhoe cleared the driveway of Mayor Archie Vigil’s daughter’s home in the Rio del Oso low-income housing complex but left elderly and sick residents stranded after several days of snowstorms.
“My dad cleared our driveway two days ago,” Angel Vigil confirmed. “It was (with) a city plow but we didn’t have no way out. He tried to get everyone’s driveway. He tries to help the elderly first. The person hired by the city, Johnny Rael, shovels elderly (people’s) houses.”
But several neighbors across the street and next to Angel Vigil’s home, including elderly and sick residents, were still snowed in Dec. 29.
The Chama Public Housing Authority sent residents a letter dated Dec. 18 stating that trash cans should be put inside residents’ yards to allow Housing Authority Groundskeeper Johnny Rael to sweep the street and driveways.
Resident Teri Romero, who lives across the street from Angel Vigil, is undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatments for stomach cancer. She shoveled her own path from her house to the street.
“The housing authority is supposed to clear the streets and said they’d sweep drive ways,” Romero said. “It snowed heavily (Dec. 25 and Dec. 26), and they started clearing the street (Dec. 27). But they didn’t clear our driveways. They cleared the mayor’s daughter’s. It’s corrupt around here.”
Asked why Rael had not cleared some residents’ driveways, Angel Vigil told the SUN, “He’s on vacation until New Year.”
Rael and Authority Executive Director Silvia Vigil, who is not related to the mayor, did not return phone calls for comment. A man answering Mayor Vigil’s cell phone said, “The Rio Grande Sun? Um, nobody’s here” and hung up.
Vigil later called the SUN to deny that he had used village equipment to clear his daughter’s driveway.
“I used a backhoe from the Cumbres Toltec railroad, where I work,” Vigil explained. “If I’d had a chance to help everybody, I would have, but I told them (the railroad) that I’d use the equipment just to help immediate family, and I didn’t want to go beyond that (to clear other people’s driveways). I had a granddaughter there at my daughter’s house.”
Vigil said he had cleared his parents’ driveway in Chama, as well as his daughter’s.
“I never have used and never will use village property, unless I really need to,” Vigil said. “If it wasn’t for that anti-donation law, I’d have helped others.”
Asked if he had asked the Chama Housing Authority why other driveways were not cleared of snow, Vigil said, “No, we have not asked them that.”
“I have no idea what he was thinking,” Village Councilor Billy Elbrock said. “If he was going to do for one, he should’ve done for all. I’d have thought he’d have better judgment.”
“I was unaware of it,” Councilor Darren DeYapp said. “My initial reaction is that if it was clearly a violation of the state’s anti-donation law and if he was indeed using village property, I would be opposed to that type of activity. It’s always better to be on the up and up.”
Apparently, even if Vigil did use the village’s backhoe to do the work, it was not a violation of the state’s anti-donation clause because the village operates the housing complex.
“It’s up to the Housing Authority whether to expend the resources to plow driveways,” federal Housing Department spokeswoman Patricia Campbell said. “There’s certainly no reason not to. There is no rule against using (city equipment) to plow snow from public housing units’ driveways.”
Despite an income level too high to qualify to live in public housing — and Housing Authority rules that forbid public officials with influence over the Authority, or their immediate family members, from living in public housing — Mayor Vigil lived in Rio del Oso from August 2005 until May 2008. He was evicted May 16 at the request of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Albuqueruque office. But Housing and Urban Development Program Center Coordinator Floyd Duran told the SUN that Vigil’s daughter Angel had been granted a special waiver to continue living there, because she is a low-income mother.
SUBHED
Several other Chama residents were forced to hire area teenagers or plow owners to clear their driveways, or to do so themselves with snow shovels.
“The city didn’t clear the driveways so several of us hired a plow,” resident Richard Martinez said. “The Gutierrezes across the street are pretty old, and couldn’t get out of their house. So their daughter hired a guy to plow their driveway.”
An elderly resident who asked not to be identified said, “I saw the city backhoe clearing the driveway at Archie’s daughter’s house, and waved at him to come clear our drives too. But he just ignored me. My son-in-law ended up shoveling me out. I couldn’t see if it was (Mayor) Archie (Vigil).”
Several Chama residents who live outside the housing complex also expressed frustration that city street sweeping piled up three-foot tall berms of snow across the entrance of their driveways.
“The berm blocked my driveway. I tried to dig out with a plastic shovel, but I have a bad back,” said resident Mary, who asked that her last name not be reported. “I’m afraid the mayor might retaliate and really bury me here. There seems to be a vendetta attitude against ‘outsiders’ up here, and we don’t want trouble.”.
Caregiver Leesa Sanchez said she had difficulty reaching client Delfina Foster’s front steps because of the unswept driveway.
“They should treat everybody, all of us, the same,” said Foster, who turned 86 Dec. 24. “I’m all alone here. They should have plowed my driveway too.”