While reading the Sun May 7, I learned that the three county commissioners had provided new community centers in each of their home communities for a combined construction cost of $3,200,000 plus an unknown amount for operations – now and into the future. I am in favor of community centers but find the favoritism of the commissioners very frustrating.
I wrote to County Manager Lorenzo Valdez and Assistant County Manager Tomas Campos April 17 asking the County to continue its provision of insurance and utilities to the Ojo Sarco Community Center, currently the home of the Ojo Sarco Volunteer Fire Department. The Department is moving into a new building and the Acequia de Ojo Sarco plans to use the soon-to-be-vacated garage to store our equipment, tools and supplies. The
Acequia, as a unit of government, was seeking an agreement with the County government.
Valdez sent back a strong note April 19 copied to all commissioners stating, “My recommendation to the Commissioners is that the County can not afford that cost.” I accepted that until I learned the tremendous amounts of money the County has lavished on a handful of communities.
The Ojo Sarco Community Center, a former one-room schoolhouse, was purchased for $1 from the Peñasco Independent School District. The community used our own “sweat equity” to renovate the space and build a garage so that we could develop a fire department. We did not ask the County or any governmental entity for help. We did it ourselves.
Just for the purpose of comparison and using a high estimate of the cost of operations (utilities and insurance) of $1,000 per month, the County could support our community center for 162.5 years for the construction cost of the new community center in Chimayó. The Ojo Sarco Community Center is very well used; regularly by the Acequia, the Mutual Domestic
Water Association, the volunteer fire department, a weekly food bank, summer lunch program, graduation parties and funeral gatherings; as well as for occasional events such as voting.
I recommend that the County establish a task force to look at all of the community centers in the county and the needs for additional community centers where there are none. Rather than continuing favoritism (patronismo) there could be public involvement and transparency in the development of an equity plan and a budget line item for community gathering places throughout our very large county.
Carol Miller is an Ojo Sarco community activist and fromer candidate for several offices.