City Politics
January 17, 2008
Even as a
The new council approved a special election for Jan. 15 to fill the District 6 seat, and city clerk Esther Martinez announced a candidate filing deadline of Dec. 4. District 6 includes the Sonoma Ranch, Telshor and
Sharon Thomas, a founder of the Quality Growth Alliance, and a former co-owner of the Red Mountain Café, has confirmed she will be a candidate. Quality Growth Alliance describes itself as an organization that “advocates for balanced development through meaningful public participation in order to ensure healthy communities with a sustainable future.” Thomas said she is resigning from her position with QGA before officially declaring her candidacy.
“I’m running because I think the city is at a critical turning point,” she said. “Now is the time to plan our growth if we don’t want to end up like
Thomas, who was a member of the Las Cruces Downtown board and serves on the Health and Human Services Alliance of Dona Ana County, a citizen advisory council for health issues, said, “My goal is to find common ground.”
She added, “All I want to see is a beautiful
Thomas said people have been telling her they want “a vibrant downtown, a vibrant city core.” Those in the older parts of town tell her their neighborhoods are being neglected, she said, while those in newer neighborhoods say they aren’t finished.
“We have a lot of work to do, but it’s possible to find common ground,” Thomas said.
A retired professor of writing, rhetoric and American cultures at
A priority for the region, Thomas said, will be adoption of a coordinated comprehensive plan to address future growth. She said she supports continuing cooperation between the city and county on Vision 2040, a regional comprehensive proposal that will have “huge public input.” Until now, the city, county and Extraterritorial Zone (ETZ) each have had different comprehensive plans in the works.
In a letter to the Las Cruces Sun-News on Nov. 11, Thomas called for both economic growth and responsible urban planning, describing the kinds of communities entrepreneurs want to locate in as those “that offer the kind of neighborhoods their employees want to live in – walkable neighborhoods with local (safe-to-walk-to) schools, recreation areas, and bicycle lanes, as well as neighborhood retail and nearby employment centers to reduce cross-town congestion.”
Thomas also described her vision of sustainable communities, sensitive to water conservation and drainage, better mass transit and nearby employment, options for conserving energy and the preservation of farmland, historic sites and wilderness areas.
She said the Vistas at Presidio development annexed by the city last spring didn’t impress her as striking a balance between housing and employment and had “only a small parcel” devoted to walkable neighborhoods with retail employment opportunities. She cited Mesa Del Sol in
“A city requires planning,” she said. “You can’t just cobble together a bunch of subdivisions and some strip malls and call it a city.”
Others named in local media as potential candidates include: Patrick Curran, a former county magistrate judge; Edward Fernandez, a former administrator with Las Cruces Public Schools; businessman Lawrence Joy, and Karen R. Trujillo, a real-estate broker and president of the Hispano Chamber of Commerce de Las Cruces.
Steve Klinger is editor and publisher of Grassroots Press.
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