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SWOP homepageABQ Tribune: Time to bring basics to Pajarito residents
Editorial: Time to bring basics to Pajarito residents
Albuquerque Tribune
July 22, 2006
URL: http://www.abqtrib.com/albq/op_editorials/article/0,2565,ALBQ_19867_4861194,00.html
Pajarito Mesa is the flip side of "If you build it, they will come."
For more than a decade here in the sage and cactus above Southwest Albuquerque, hundreds have come, even though "it" was not built.
Since 2001 alone, the pioneering population has grown by nearly 100 families, despite the lack of basic infrastructure, government services and community resources - such as paved streets, running water and grid-powered electricity, which most of us take for granted.
It is a community of 418 families - most living in trailers, some with only 600 square feet of space - drawn by the open land, grand vistas, affordability and a free, if challenging, lifestyle.
It's a struggle, as Tribune reporter Kate Nash detailed in an article on Wednesday's front page ("Water on the way"), which focused on Pajarito Mesa residents' expectation that this could be the year when a community water well becomes a reality.
The community has received a $500,000 state grant for the well, but details about its construction, how long it will take to build and its distribution system are unclear. Likewise are Bernalillo County's responsibilities to provide basic services, including community planning, zoning, road construction, garbage service, and police and fire protection.
This isn't some high-powered West Mesa gated community or East Mountain cluster of ranchettes. These families are poor and relatively powerless.
Bernalillo County Planning and Zoning Director Sandy Fish says the county doesn't have enough staff to serve all the demands for such services. Yet, she admits, the county has not followed the recommendations of its own $100,000 study in 2001 to give Pajarito Mesa residents five years to meet zoning regulations.
"That's something we never followed up on," Fish confessed. That raises the legitimate question of how much in water lines or paved roads the $100,000 spent on the study might have bought instead.
Pajarito Mesa resident Sandra Montes, who works for the SouthWest Organizing Project, which is an advocate for the community, says these taxpaying residents are doing the best they can for themselves, but they need government help to guide and achieve basic community development.
"What we're asking for isn't a sidewalk or a light outside our house," she said. "We're asking for basic stuff." And it's not as if they've been whining about it.
Despite the daily grind, which includes frequent trips down the road to haul water and buy food for lack of refrigeration, Pajarito Mesa residents are amazingly upbeat. Some residents have organized a church, which provides a free lunch once a week. Others have been innovative in using car batteries to briefly power appliances or DVD players and TV sets. Still others managed to acquire a road grader to maintain the community's gravel streets.
But getting running water or even mail service are things they cannot do alone.
County and state officials should be doing more - all they can - to reward the spirit of people living in this little village on the high desert mesa, where hope and a sense of community have taken hold, are thriving and deserve to bloom.
Copyright 2006, The Albuquerque Tribune. All Rights Reserved.
Albuquerque Tribune
July 22, 2006
URL: http://www.abqtrib.com/albq/op_editorials/article/0,2565,ALBQ_19867_4861194,00.html
Pajarito Mesa is the flip side of "If you build it, they will come."
For more than a decade here in the sage and cactus above Southwest Albuquerque, hundreds have come, even though "it" was not built.
Since 2001 alone, the pioneering population has grown by nearly 100 families, despite the lack of basic infrastructure, government services and community resources - such as paved streets, running water and grid-powered electricity, which most of us take for granted.
It is a community of 418 families - most living in trailers, some with only 600 square feet of space - drawn by the open land, grand vistas, affordability and a free, if challenging, lifestyle.
It's a struggle, as Tribune reporter Kate Nash detailed in an article on Wednesday's front page ("Water on the way"), which focused on Pajarito Mesa residents' expectation that this could be the year when a community water well becomes a reality.
The community has received a $500,000 state grant for the well, but details about its construction, how long it will take to build and its distribution system are unclear. Likewise are Bernalillo County's responsibilities to provide basic services, including community planning, zoning, road construction, garbage service, and police and fire protection.
This isn't some high-powered West Mesa gated community or East Mountain cluster of ranchettes. These families are poor and relatively powerless.
Bernalillo County Planning and Zoning Director Sandy Fish says the county doesn't have enough staff to serve all the demands for such services. Yet, she admits, the county has not followed the recommendations of its own $100,000 study in 2001 to give Pajarito Mesa residents five years to meet zoning regulations.
"That's something we never followed up on," Fish confessed. That raises the legitimate question of how much in water lines or paved roads the $100,000 spent on the study might have bought instead.
Pajarito Mesa resident Sandra Montes, who works for the SouthWest Organizing Project, which is an advocate for the community, says these taxpaying residents are doing the best they can for themselves, but they need government help to guide and achieve basic community development.
"What we're asking for isn't a sidewalk or a light outside our house," she said. "We're asking for basic stuff." And it's not as if they've been whining about it.
Despite the daily grind, which includes frequent trips down the road to haul water and buy food for lack of refrigeration, Pajarito Mesa residents are amazingly upbeat. Some residents have organized a church, which provides a free lunch once a week. Others have been innovative in using car batteries to briefly power appliances or DVD players and TV sets. Still others managed to acquire a road grader to maintain the community's gravel streets.
But getting running water or even mail service are things they cannot do alone.
County and state officials should be doing more - all they can - to reward the spirit of people living in this little village on the high desert mesa, where hope and a sense of community have taken hold, are thriving and deserve to bloom.
Copyright 2006, The Albuquerque Tribune. All Rights Reserved.
