I was first introduced to Emmylou Harris later in life than most. It was in her 2003 album “Stumble Into Grace” that I got to know the heart and soul of one of the greatest country/folk/rock/pop music singer/songwriters.
In her ballads like “Here I Am,” “O Evangeline,” and “Lost Unto This World,” one common thread plays through her haunting voice: We are separated from each other, from perfection, and ourselves.
We spend a lifetime searching for and attempting to reunite our current selves with something better. It doesn’t have to be a perfect world. Just one where I add value. One that looks back at me and becomes instantly better.
So it is in our town. We look onto the sidewalks and parking lots of Española.
Colored reflections dancing hastily over the windows in our classic cars or motorcycle helmet visors as we drive by.
Whether headed to stock our fridge with necessities or going for a cruise with a Sonic slushy, we see the blight.
We see denigration. Busted up shopping carts litter the streets and city hall parking spaces. The stores that once owned them refuse their return for fear they are contaminated with illicit substances. I think they’re more afraid of the despair and hopelessness they carry inside their empty cages.
Our brains cannot handle two competing thoughts at the same time. Psychologists call it cognitive dissonance. When we experience cognitive dissonance, we feel uneasy and discomfort arising from the inconsistency between thoughts and actions. The words of politicians are different from their actions, so we no longer trust them.
For example, the City of Española sanctioned and built a tent city under the Fairview Bridge last year.
It placed trash cans and porta-potties everywhere. But to no avail. Trash, debris and shopping carts littered not just the cordoned off area, but evidence of a deeper problem burst open and filled our city.
City officials were then going to move the tent city to land in Chamita. After a raucous fight, officials denied such a plan ever existed when in fact talks had already been held. Since that time, we have known about plans to create housing of some sort in El Llano.
Last week, councilors cried (literal tears were shed by three councilors) that they had no idea such plans existed. They admonished the director of social services for not advising them beforehand – they felt blindsided, pretending they never knew about it.
Funny that the city had a town hall meeting in October of 2024 with a presentation by Pallet, an organization that builds rapid-response temporary housing villages. They build small, inexpensive and easy to construct units fit for sheltering people experiencing homelessness. Did they just forget? Caught so off guard apparently that even the Española School Board placed a presentation by the city about the project on its agenda. It was immediately yanked from the meeting once word got out.
Last month, the mayor was caught on camera dumping empty shopping carts in the city manager’s parking space to prove a point.
Took a lot of effort. But what was the point? First, it was ok to litter our riverbanks for months on end, but now suddenly they’re a no-go. Let’s dump them at City Hall instead. We are told the city plans to make homeless villages, but also says they don’t know anything about them. Which is it?
The mayor’s office appears to use what many people experiencing cognitive dissonance use, which is rationalization and denial. Pardon my French, but to heck with that. Life is supposed to be uncomfortable. It is not for the weak of mind or feeble-hearted. Politicians are elected to make tough decisions, not pussyfoot around problems to make it look like they’re doing something. Because, after all, looking busy doing something is better than nothing, right?
Wrong. We are at a crossroads. Either go all in or get all out. If you think building pallet homes is the way to go, fine. Do it. Go all in and convince us it’ll work. If we can’t afford to do the project and do it right – keep in mind that all big cities are moving away from their commitments to the unhoused because their programs don’t work, are too expensive, or budgets got re-prioritized – then get out.
Our community can’t even get our nursing home off the ground six years later and twice the budget according to last week’s Rio Grande Sun article. Our seniors matter to us but infighting and incompetence tell a different story.
We can’t even give them tortillas for lunch, much less a bed when they are ill. (For more about tortillas, please read my open letter to the council on Page A7).
Whatever plan the city puts together, let’s support it. If it’s going to succeed, the plan must be surefooted, transparent and honest.
Our streets are littered with sadness, despair and shopping carts. But they are also paved with strength, resilience and history. Our story deserves to be told. If only we could grow up to tell it.
In Emmylou Harris’s album, she pines melancholic: “I am standing by the river. I will be standing here forever. Though you’re on the other side, my face you still can see. Why won’t you look at me. Here I am … It is your name that I am calling.”
Here I am, Española. It is your name that I am calling.
Sanchez is a former Española mayor and El Rito Media investor.