Shovel Ready

[Uninformed]

I was in New Mexico last week and numerous roads were under construction. I was stopped for 20min. outside Santa Fe and 20 min. again near Antonio on the road to Antonito, CO and again from Chama to Dulce and Santa Fe to Albuquerque. Several things were interesting to me.

First, the roads were not in bad shape. I am all for building infrastructure. Repaving roads that are okay and widening emergency lanes does not build infrastructure. It does not make the US more competitive and does not help businesses that operate in the US. Things like ports, bridges, railways, runways and improved city planning are infinitely more useful. Putting people to work or what looked more like rest than work, does not make the US more competitive, either.

Second, it was kind of startling to sit through all the road construction when towards the west, Los Alamos was burning. I counted at least 6 separate large fires that seemed to be growing by the day. Government is very slow to react and seems to address mythical problems while not even touching the concerns of the day. Congressional money always comes too late to solve immediate problems. I would have liked to have seen planes flying overhead and teams of firefighters rather than teams of construction workers. Of course the roads near Los Alamos may now be destroyed and need repair but alas the shovel ready money wasn't directed towards them and new money will be necessary to fix the new problems. I did visit a fire fighter camp near the 599 Relief Route: Those guys seemed overworked and understaffed.


BTW, the above was based solely on my observation over last week. The stated use of the New Mexico stimulus funds are graphed below and can be found atThe Link (The Recovery Dollars at Work headlines were not very impressive to me but you be the judge by visiting the website and reading about some of the projects).

 

[Oilfield]

What? New Mexico didn't get any Fast & Furious stimulus?

 

[Uninformed]

School leaders in Magdalena are using the sun to lower propane use and provide students with a unique educational opportunity.

The Magdalena Municipal School District received a $119,800 Recovery Act grant in December 2009 from the state Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department. This enabled school officials to install eight solar thermal panels to heat water for the cafeteria and gymnasium, which in turn significantly lowers the district's propane consumption.



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Jonathan Helf is sanding his way to a more positive future with help from the Recovery Act.

Helf is a small businessman and furniture entrepreneur in the village of Vanderwagen, about 20 miles south of Gallup in the foothills of the Zuni Mountains.

Helf wants to expand the furniture business, High Mountain Furniture, and simply make a living providing people with a high-quality product.

Helf signed up at the local library for a Fast Forward New Mexico class that taught him how to better market his business and target customers via the Internet. Fast Forward New Mexico is funded by the Recovery Act.


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EL MORRO, NM – The road to the Old School Gallery is beautiful, and hard – dust storms and winding roads, Ponderosa pines and a steady climb over the snowy Continental Divide.

Out here, Paula Tripodi has created an oasis for arts in rugged Western New Mexico. She acknowledges that the gallery, near El Morro National Monument, is isolated.

“That's why we're important,” she said.

The Recovery Act has helped support her salary since October. It's definitely helped, she said, or her hours would have been cut. She's paid part-time, but puts in more hours than that.

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David Bates For more than a decade, contractor David Bates had more work than he could handle. Then the Great Recession hit. Work slowed down, and he started looking for options other than house building.

Bates lives in Taos County in Northern New Mexico. The construction business has taken a hit, he says, and his company is no exception.

But thanks to the Recovery Act, Bates and his company – Ecosphere, Inc. – have been able to stay afloat with weatherizing homes and making them more energy efficient.

“Basically, it put us all to work,” Bates said of the Recovery Act.


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ACOMA PUEBLO – Pat Patricio and his son looked at the new Acoma Community Center recently. Patricio, a stonemason from Acoma, has been adding sandstone from a local quarry to the new building, one rock at a time.

“That looks nice, Dad,” Patricio's son Spencer said.

Patricio is building something that his son can remember for a long time – a state-of-the-art community center for the Acoma people.

The project is supported by a low-interest, $11.1 million loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The direct loan is funded by the Recovery Act.

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