Los Alamos Reality Check

43) The New Battle for Civil Rights in Los Alamos

2010-11-23T08:18:00.000-08:00

It is said that freedom is never free -- it must be fought for and re-newed by every generation.

The book, "The Battle for Civil Rights - How Los Alamos Became a County" by Marjorie Bell Chambers describes the first battle for civil rights under the US Constitution for the residents of Los Alamos. The culmination of that battle was the Municipal Building which stood for Constitutional Rights and The Charter which embodies those Rights. The Municipal Building has been flattened and now The Charter is under assault.

Yet, there is hope. It will be some time before the Court hears the merits of the Chandler action. The Chandler action is based on a single case : a NM State Supreme Court ruling in Johnson v. City of Alamogordo. I was fully aware of the Johnson ruling before circulating the petition, and, indeed, I did some editing of the petition in light of the Johnson ruling. I do not believe that the Johnson ruling applies to the Muni petition -- I will discuss that later.

The Johnson ruling needs to either be clarified or overturned. That can only happen in appellate Court, and it may well require Federal Appellate Court for this is a case which goes to the US Constitution 1st Ammendment right of Petition. The question is this: if the State District Court, relying solely on Johnson, over-turns the Petition Will the County Appeal?

Will Council -- and the next Council of Berting, Chiravalle, Hall, Rodgers, Selvage, Stover and Wismer -- take this to the mat in defense of our basic Liberties? Will they stand and defend? Will they, in a second Battle for Civil Rights, preserve and restore everything that was won in the first Battle?

And what if they don't? What will citizens do? Will they finally get out the legal equivilent of the torches and pitchforks?

This is no longer about a construction project. But then again -- it never was.

42) Voting to restore, reaffirm, and renew Los Alamos

2010-11-15T12:16:00.000-08:00

There are those who say that a Muni is just an office building and that a small patch of grass, or a concert venue, or a ubiquitous view are more important than an office building. There are those who say that the only reason that we live here at all is for the job or for the surround. In an effort to stop the re-building of our Muni they will try to say that the original Muni can't or shouldn't be built.

They are wrong on all counts.

The Muni, our County Hall, is the most important, most significant building of our civic life. It is a statement about how the citizens of Los Alamos view Los Alamos itself: as it was, as it is, and as it will be.

Though the County had been created in 1949 it was more of a legal construct than anything else. In 1959 residents of Los Alamos could not own property. Their voting rights were limited. The Town Council/County Commission could not pass legislation, particularly of a budgetary nature, without final approval from the AEC. For over a decade the Constitutional rights which most people take for granted were limited here in Los Alamos. Then, in 1960, it all started to change.

Los Alamos was to be turned over to Los Alamos! The excitement was palpable. People could talk of nothing else. Families sat around the kitchen table and tried to make decisions about buying the government house they were renting or maybe building a "dream home" in the up-coming new developments of Barranca Mesa and White Rock. Los Alamos was about to make its first moves to becoming a "real" town. You had to have been there -- it was truly amazing.

It took seven years to get it done. One of the things that was done was planning what would be the first City/County Hall of an independent Los Alamos. For years, we had stashed what little local government we had in the Old County Courthouse which was a converted Sundt from the war years.

That original City/County Hall, the Los Alamos County Municipal Building, was to be the landmark of the political independence of Los Alamos and its establishment as a true polity - not just a legal construct. The significance of that building was stated by then County Administrator Paul Noland in his remarks at the dedication ceremony June 24th 1967 "This building symbolizes Los Alamos as a normal New Mexico town and a normal New Mexico County". That significance was under-scored by inclusion in that ceremony of the signing of the final documents which gave Los Alamos full autonomy and self-actualizing, self-determining Independence.

It was a time of Hope and Confidence and Optimism in, and for, the Future of Los Alamos -- a time of Civic Pride.

Voting to re-build the Muni through the democratic process of the citizen's initiative as guaranteed by our Charter re-affirms the self-governance, self-actualization, self-realization, and self-reliance of an independent Los Alamos.

Voting to re-build the Muni renews the proposition that Los Alamos was, is, and should be a place with its own separate identity and destiny.

Voting to re-build the Muni re-dedicates the citizens of Los Alamos to the vision of a future to which the Muni was first built and dedicated by our founding generation.

Voting to re-build the Muni re-establishes its significance as the symbolic and central building of our civic life, with the site and the unique architecture emphasizing and enhancing that significance.

Voting to re-build the Muni says that the citizens of Los Alamos believe in their County and its two small towns; that we honor those who founded Los Alamos and that we hereby acknowledge their hopes and dreams for the future to be our own.

Voting to re-build the Muni makes our statement about who we are, about what is truly important to us, about the significance of our County and its two small towns to us, about our hopes and dreams for the future.

Only this building on this site can make that statement.

41) Is There Any Hope?

2010-11-03T08:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the Council election. Today I got the following e-mail:

"Hall, Berting win. ALL ordinance issues pass. You still think there is hope there? And you have a paper that covers nothing. Very sad."

If we re-build the Muni, there may yet be a spark of hope. If we don't, I don't see there is any hope at all. I should explain that.

Jim Hall, previous and now future County Councilor and others, are of the theory that if the Lab were to close it would be the end of Los Alamos. The thesis goes that we have to compete with Sandia, Hanford, Livermore, and other national labs for the best and the brightest or LANL will become a second-rate lab with second-rate people doing second-rate science. It is believed that if that happens it will be the start of a downward spiral resulting in the closing of the Lab and the end of Los Alamos. The conclusion is that Los Alamos must be radically altered in order to provide the lifestyle that it is believed the best and the brightest want.

If you subscribe to the above, then there is no point in having a distinctive seat of government -- all that's needed is an office building.

But, by that logic, Los Alamos must always be a chameleon -- always re-inventing itself as times change and the expectations (or imagined expectations) of the best and the brightest change. Los Alamos can never be a real town with a history and a continuity of identity, character, and population.

I see no future in that; indeed I see the above thesis as the end of Los Alamos. The fact is that Los Alamos can never compete, head to head, with the host towns of other national labs. Certainly not by trying to be just like they are. People don't actually have to live here in order to work at the Lab. They can live in Santa Fe, the Espanola Valley, or Jemez Springs area and commute. The commute itself just isn't that far - 35 miles at most - and each community has access to the various lifestyles that people want. Santa Fe is becoming a fair size city with shopping and night life. Espanola offers a semi-rural lifestyle with a greater variety of shopping than here and easy access to Santa Fe. Jemez offers the village rural lifestyle with easy access to all the amenities of Rio Rancho and Albuquerque. Given that, it may be fairly asked, "Does Los Alamos need to be at all?" As a matter of security, and the Lab is in the high-security business, it would be in the Lab's best interest if there was a 20 mile non-residential perimeter. Far better for the Lab to clear the town (and possibly White Rock) and simply build better commuter transit. Far better for the Lab employees to not feel like they have a target painted on their backs as well -- reduces the stresses of life when you feel like you are safe.

I subscribe to a somewhat different theory. The best hope for Los Alamos is to become a real town (think of any other town this size anywhere in America). We don't have to provide the lifestyle that is found in other host towns. We can carve out our own niche which essentially ignores the Lab. Rather than Beaufort being our "model" we would be better served to look at Auburn, Ca, or even Bisbee, Az or any town in New England. We can expand and diversify our productive economic foundations, encouraging businesses of industries other than Science to take root here. The measure of success in that endeavor would be when people meet each other for the first time they would ask, "and what kind of work do you do?" instead of "and what division do you work for?"

If you subscribe to the above then beginning to act like a real town: that means preserving that which is "of Los Alamos" as a statement of continuity of true independent identity (most towns don't flatten their original seat of government). That means rebuilding the Muni, based on the original architectural designs of Max Flatow from which the first version was built.

Of course -- it would be really helpful if the Lab got out of the high-security business. Perhaps instead of Los Alamos accomodating the Lab, it is time that the Lab accomodate Los Alamos. Perhaps it is time for Washington to re-think where the high-security work of the nation would best be located. After all, its not like Los Alamos is "the secret city" any longer.

Is there any hope for Los Alamos? Kinda depends on which theory you subscribe to. What we do about the Muni is the test. What we do about the Muni will define the future.

40) The First Decision

2010-10-21T22:00:00.000-07:00

To achieve any goal, you must make a first decision -- the decision to achieve the goal.

The Municipal Building petition has achieved its purpose to place the future of the Municipal Building and the future of Los Alamos in the hands of the citizens. It is fitting that it do so, for the Municipal Building is the people's building -- as the agora of ideas and ideals where people come together realize their dreams, hopes, and aspirations for their County, its two small towns, themselves, their progeny, and for those who will inherit a future that those now deciding will never know. This, indeed, was the purpose of the founding generation of Los Alamos when first they imagined, then realized, a town and county that would be more than a company town -- a town, now two, and a county with its own destiny to fulfill. Not for nothing is Marjorie Bell-Chambers book, "The Battle for Civil Rights - How Los Alamos became a County" adorned with a full photo cover of the Municipal Building which was raised as the embodiment of that early vision.

Rebuilding the Municipal Building is both the right thing to do and the practical thing to do. How often in life do those two things converge?

No goal is ever achieved without first having made the decision to achieve the goal. This vote decides to begin the work. Though there are those nay-sayers who, desperately grasping at straws of detail and minutia, will try to convince whomever they can that it can't be done, the fact is if we have a will to do this, then we can do this. Having thus decided to begin the work, and having also thus decided the nay-sayers and cynics be damned, we can then meet what ever hiccups we may encounter as we work diligently to accomplish the goal.

Lao Tse wrote, "When the best of governments act the people say: We ourselves have done it". This is the true essence of the word "community", for it entails setting aside some small amount of personal preferences (site use), conveniences, and tastes (the architectural aesthetics or the view) for a purpose which effects equally all of our citizens. We now have it within our grasp to restore a true historic landmark. In its re-building, we can repair those flaws which it may have had. In its rebuilding we can restore the vision of Los Alamos with its own separate destiny and repair those flaws of policy which have created an unwarranted stagnation. By voting to put the Municipal Building back where it was, as it was, re-built, restored, better construction, we, ourselves, will be re-invigorating the dreams, hopes, and aspirations of the Vision for the future of Los Alamos to which the Municipal Building has been, and can again be, the embodiment -- a Vision re-built, restored, better construction.

39) Ride, boldly, ride........................

2010-09-16T22:14:00.000-07:00

"Over the mountains of the moon, down through the valley of shadow, ride boldly ride, ' the shade replied, ' if you seek for El Dorado" Edgar Allen Poe.

The signature drive for the petition to restore the Original Municipal Building is entering its final push, and it is appropriate now to discuss what this is truly all about. The previous post talked of Continuity, but there is something even more............................

Restoring the Muni is not about restoring the past, for that was never what the Municipal Building was ever about. The architecture and materials were not reminicsent of the War Years, nor of the Post-War, nor even were they reflective of the Cold War. Throughout its 40 years the building was unique in the town. And for a reason: steel and glass was held to be a construct of the Future.

The future is what the Muni was about, what it stood for, that was the intent in its planning and design. The Muni was to be a symbol of a belief in the future of Los Alamos -- that come what may, ir-respective of what might transpire with The Lab, Los Alamos would endure throughout the generations. It was a symbol of Optimistic Hope erected by a founding generation which had witnessed too much deprivation in the Depression, too much destruction in WWII, and too much doubt lingering like gathering storm clouds in the new era of the Cold War. It was a statement that against such darknesses there yet remained a future worth building for.

To restore the Muni is not to restore a dying past, nor is it to look longingly backwards to "simpler times" (if, indeed, there has ever been a time which could concievably be thus described with any accuracy). To restore the Muni is to restore Optimism in an age of angst. It is to restore Vision in an era of narcisstic entitlement. Against the backdrop of our own doubts in doubtful times, it is to re-new a Faith in The Future -- the simple proposition that, come what may, Los Alamos, as an independent, self-governing, self-actuallizing entity, will endure throughout the generations.

This is not about the past. This is truly about the future.

38) Community

2010-08-28T22:25:00.000-07:00

Has it occurred to you the Los Alamos doesn't have a Founder's Day? Most small towns do (even the fictional Eureka which is a take-off on Los Alamos). Founder's Day celebrates the founding of the town and the generation which labored to make it happen. It is a celebration of the town itself; a celebration of having the town at all. Hold that thought................

When you look in the mirror, who do you see? Pull out a picture from your high school days. Look closely – beyond the signifiers of age, are you really much different? I'm pretty much the same – perhaps a bit more weathered though perhaps no wiser. Yet the me in the photo of 40 years ago pretty much looks like me now. Its called continuity.

Who do you look like? Your mother or your father? And is there not a grandparent and a great-grandparent whom you resemble? I can pull out photos of my Dad in his 20's and the similarity is rather striking. I can compare photos of my Dad age 5, myself age 5, and my son age 5 and except for the background you could swear you were looking at the same kid. That, too, is continuity. Hold that thought...................

Every town grows and experiences change. New things are added. Some things are lost. Yet, look closely. Even London retains vestiges of Londinium. Today, Kit Carson could look at Taos and see all that is new, all that has changed over a hundred years – and yet, he would still recognize the place as Taos. The vast megalopolis that is Los Angeles retains the village from whence it sprang. So it is with all towns and cities, just as it is with us as individuals. You can see the growth and change, yet what that came from still remains. Certain aspects, the most important aspects, remain thereby establishing a line of continuity. Break that line of continuity and identity ceases to exist.

It is sometimes said that we need to keep the site of the original Municipal Building as a park, or perhaps build a performance pavilion. Either way, it is said that this will be a place for people to gather as a "community". Really? What is gained is temporary, what is lost is permanent. It becomes a fun zone for residents of the present without regard to those who came before or those who will come after. In what way is that "community" ?

To restore the Municipal Building, as it was, where it was (better construction) is to restore to Los Alamos a line of continuity, a heritage and identity. And more. The Municipal Building embodied and symbolized the crowning achievement of the Founding Generation of Los Alamos – Los Alamos as an independent, self-governing entity. To restore the Municipal Building is to honor that generation which made it possible for you to have a town in which to live at all.

The day when we re-dedicate the restored Municipal Building will be the first time that the people of Los Alamos will have truly celebrated the Founders of this town in a celebration of the town itself – of its past, its present, and its future.

That, more than a park or a performance stage, is what is meant by "community".

37) Walkabout

2010-07-27T22:51:00.000-07:00

I have been walking the neighborhoods and precincts of Los Alamos and White Rock, knocking on doors, and meeting and talking to the residents of the County since mid-March. Perhaps it would be useful to write something daily here, relaying what I hear -- downside is I am not really a diarist and then there is the time problem of just writing it (I type slow)..........besides, what I hear is best absorbed over time and doesn't really lend itself well to immediate report and analysis.

The exercise has proven educational to say the least. I wish that Council Chambers were filled with the people I have heard from telling Council what they tell me. Probably not likely. Things folks say to one another in single conversation rarely are expounded in the public arena; probably has to do with the formality of the latter setting and the time constraints thereof which tends to weigh against discourse.

What occurs to me is that the Leadership LA program would best be served by having its "students" engage in a similar exercise. Though like as not the results would be less than to be hoped for since the exercise would be a contrivance, not a conversation.

One thing is crystal clear: County government, policy makers, and policy advocates are so out of touch with the citizenry that they might just as well be from different galaxies. That fact cannot be in the long-term best interests of Los Alamos and her future.

36) The Pony Cart

2010-07-18T08:36:00.000-07:00

Los Alamos is a Pony Cart being pulled by a Clydesdale. Oh, and there is a haywagon hitched to the back of the pony cart. Of course all anyone can see is the horse. Because of that the pony cart, which was once fresh and new and rather nice, has been allowed to get shabby and rickety. But, hey, don't we have a fine Clydesdale!

Problem is the driver in the pony cart can only see one part of the Horse, and that is so big that the driver can't see the road. So the Horse just meanders along in whatever direction the Horse wants to go with no knowing on the part of the driver where that direction might lead.

Some seem to think that the thing to do is build a large, ungainly, superstructure on the pony cart. That, of course, will put extra weight and stress on the axles, wheels, and under-carriage, but the superstructure crowd isn't thinking about that.

Now, wouldn't it make more sense to get some ponies to pull the cart, get the cart back into decent repair, and hitch the Clydesdale directly to the haywagon?

35) Continuity

2010-07-11T08:56:00.000-07:00

Something I've been hearing is, "Well, its all about the people -- nothing else really matters". Really?

People are temporary -- they come, the go, they live, they raise children, they die and their children and children's children repeat the cycle. Populations cycle, though they never really change. And yet.........

At the end of the premier performance of Beethoven's 3rd Symphony a critic asked the composer, "Who are you writing for" to which Beethoven replied, "I am writing for a generation not yet born". It is the fact of the impermanence of our existance which drives us to leave some kind of mark, some legacy, beyond the span of our short years. Art, Literature, Music, Science, Engineering, Architecture are the works which live beyond us and create a continuity from one generation to the next. These are not a matter of the false pride of Ozymandius "Behold my might works and tremble". They are the Gift we give to those whom we will never know. Without them each generation would have to re-invent the wheel.

The Dark Ages were brought about by the total obliteration of the Roman Empire including her Legacy in the Arts, Sciences, and Engineering. The Rennaiscance was launched by the re-discovery of this lost knowledge -- a re-discovery without which our modern world would not be possible.

To my knowledge there are only two buildings standing in the Los Alamos Townsite which hearken back to the War Years -- the CB Fox building, and the Little Theater. Did you know that the Downtown Revitalization Master Plan adopted in 02 envisioned flattening both? Had the Plan been implemented an entire era would have been lost forever.

Look around you now. How many of the structures of the AEC era, 1947 - 1967, are being demolished? How many will remain? Did you know there was a proposal made which, if implemented, would have flattened every government built house in northern area?

Here's a rather odd contradiction: Recently the Historical Society rebuilt and restored the Romero cabin and Council has approved a plan which includes erecting a statue to an early scientist not for his scientific achievements but for saving The Lodge from demolition. Both of these are pre-War structures and each is the last surviving representative of its era. Yet, the people who celebrate these structures are the same who would have the Municipal Building and other structures of the post war years demolished and lost forever.

The Dark Ages were caused by the breaking of continuity with the Past -- a past that was obliterated out of pure spite. That continuity was broken for over 400 years. It changed nothing. The darker side of human nature remains. Where do you suppose we would be today if the the knowledge and works of the Ancient World had been preserved and built upon and added to in an unbroken continuity though the generations?

People are temporary; that which they build and create is what counts. When the thread of continuity from one generation to the next is summarily cut, then the future becomes very uncertain indeed.

34) The Lamp

2010-06-25T21:37:00.000-07:00

I have a small red plastic heart -- one of those little trinket charms that come from a bubble gum machine. It might be worth a penny. It was a gift which I've had for years and have no plan to get rid of it.

I also have in the house a lamp. It is what most people these days would call "god-awful". It is supposed to be art-deco in style. Its made out of aluminum. And it doesn't work. I have no plan to get rid of it either.

It is said that one person's trash is another's treasure. A current councilor said to me, "I just don't understand how anyone could love an old barracks." You don't have to understand why someone treasures something; you do have to respect that they do -- particularly when the thing treasured does no one any real harm.

In "Picture of Dorian Grey" Oscar Wilde wrote, "A cynic is a person who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing." We live in cynical times; we live in destructive times; we live in times when the treasures of some are cast aside by those who consider them to be trash.

Before there was the biblical story of Lot, there was the Greek story of Diogenes who wandered the streets of a doomed city holding the Lamp of Truth in his hand looking for one honest person.

The Lamp is my wife's. It was made by her beloved grandfather and is one of the few things she has of his and of him.

The question arises: is your definition of "trash" so correct, right, and true that it justifies casting aside that which someone else treasures, though the thing in contention does no harm? It is an ethical question. Good luck with that one. As you wrangle with it, one by one, the public buildings of Los Alamos pre- 1970 are falling.

The Lamp flickers and fades. Will you let it go out?

33) When developers get it right

2010-06-19T08:11:00.000-07:00

Roger Waterman had a good idea. It was called Bradbury Row and it was the best idea being pursued at the time. For that matter, it was one of the best ideas that has been proposed or pursued in Los Alamos in a very long time.

The idea was simple -- acquire the LA Apartments, rehab them, rent them, and use the rental incomes to finance building a retail/commercial portion fronting Central. This was a great idea -- create a classic mixed use development in a non-destructive manner while preserving buildings of a previous period of Los Alamos history and development. Had this gone forward, the total amount of the land space would have been brought into full economic use and the addition to Los Alamos in economic activity would have been substantial.

Unfortunately events conspired against Roger's very good idea.

But it is still a very good idea, and still very do-able -- a mixed use residential/retail/commercial development can still be done. It would provide housing for single adults while simultaneously creating a shopping promenade that would tie the Mari-Mac center with the older traditional center twixt 15th and 20th. If you have ever been to the Santa Monica 3rd Street Promenade, you know exactly what this would look like.

Reality Check -- which would give Los Alamos the greatest benefit on the LA apartment site: a Bradbury row style development, or a government office building which doesn't earn a dime nor in any consequential way contributes to the over-all economy?

32) The Cosmic Test

2010-06-11T11:08:00.000-07:00

So, you are walking along the beach in Santa Monica. It is early morning and you are the only person out and about. Well, almost the only person. You see a transient sleeping on a park bench up ahead. The person's shopping cart with all the worldly possesions is parked close by, and there is a jacket hanging on the end of the bench.

You have a $20 bill burning a hole in your pocket. What do you do?

A) You move to the far side of the promenade and pass on by.
B) You don't move to the far side of the promenade ---- just pass on by.
C) You wake up the transient and give the person the $20.
D) You wake up the transient and offer to buy the person breakfast.
E) You report the transient to the authorities.
F) You slip the $20 into the pocket of the transient's jacket and continue on.

I'm not going to give you an answer. But consider the following: What is your first reaction upon seeing the transient? Have you ever really seen one? What are you thinking? What assumptions have you already made about the transient? Is your choice influenced by sex, age, and general appearance of the transient? Why?

Which of the above choices is more about you, and which is more about the transient? Does it occur to you that the choice you make regarding the transient says more about who you are, about your world view, than anything else -- and that the same reasoning/feeling/beliefs that you bring into play here probably also direct most of your other choices?

Why do you/did you make the choice you made? And why to that? How deeply are you willing to explore your own motivations?

What else can you learn about yourself and your relationship to the Cosmos?

How does the above apply to your perceptions of Los Alamos?

31) The Look of Love

2010-06-11T08:19:00.000-07:00

When I first moved into the duplex I'm renting, the yard could have been declared a National Weed Life Preserve. So I got busy. My first summer, I dug up the entire front yard. Did this with a shovel and went about a foot and a half deep. Then I got out a hand held 3 prong cultivator and proceeded to go through every inch of the area digging out the weeds and roots systems. Once done I re-planted grass over the whole.

Since then I have done much of the backyard as well; we have put in raised garden beds and they and the beds that came with the house have been filled with flowers and vegetables. In the back there were once a couple of apple trees. These had been cut down some time before I moved in, but they insisted on living and with the watering for the lawn and other things, they came back. This year one of them will actually be producing apples. We will also have summer and other squash, snap peas, green beans, potatos, tomatos, lettuce, carrots, kale, spinach and a variety of herbs for the kitchen. Come winter those herbs will be hanging in bunches in the kitchen ready for use and giving off a wonderful smell.

So how come? After all, I'm just a renter -- why bother? Hmmm..ask my neighbors why they bother. The folks next door to me and across the street are also renting ---- and improving their grounds as well.

The County is about to hire a Code Enforcement Officer. Think that through. If you love, or at least respect, the home, the town, and the community in which you live you work to take care of it. You don't let the grounds go to weed. You don't let buildings fall into decay. You don't see "eyesores", you see a place that just needs a little help -- rather like Charlie Brown's Christmas tree. You don't need The Lawn Police, because you do what needs to be done out of respect, and love, of your home, your neighborhood, your town, your community.

The fact that we need a Code Enforcement Officer says a lot about Los Alamos ---- and nothing good.

30) Summer Reading List

2010-06-09T06:35:00.000-07:00

Recently a lady told me her son's theory as to why Los Alamos seems so screwed up. Goes like this: We have very smart people who live here. Their job is to think. They work at their job of thinking 40 hours or more per week. They think. A lot. So when they aren't at work, they simply stop thinking.

With that in mind, here is a Reading List which will require that you think ----

Irving Rein: Rudy's Red Wagon

Alan Watts: The Wisdom of Insecurity

Lao Tse: The Tao teh Ching

Henry David Thoreau: everything he ever wrote.

While you read this, try to apply what you learn to life in Los Alamos.

29) A Matter of Inclusion

2010-05-26T07:46:00.000-07:00

It is a matter of inclusion.

Right now the Golf Course is exclusive to golfers. Non-golfers cannot use the facility. They are excluded. But it doesn't have to be that way. A voter said to me, "we need a Chilis or Applebys. We used to have Trinity Beverage which was a good local alternative but they're gone". So, put a variation of TBC in the clubhouse. 1) the non-golfers of Los Alamos will be able to use the golf course facilities thereby increasing local revenues to the golf course, 2) a TBC facility at the golf course is what tournaments are looking for -- they want a food and beverage manager, a liquor license, tables, chairs, waiters. They don't simply want a kitchen and bring-your-own-everything-else. By providing this aspect to the facility, the golf course attracts tournaments and tourists who are spending money earned outside the county line. Creates a new income stream for Los Alamos. 3) The amount that the County government spends on supporting the golf course may well decrease, but even if not, local residents will be more supportive of supporting the golf course if they see that it is useable by the non-golfer population.

It is a matter of inclusion.

Right now the Stables are exclusive to horse owners. Non-horse owners cannot use the area. They are excluded. But it doesn't have to be that way. We can have, and the quit-claim deed allows for, a rent-a-horse riding stable. Non-horse owners would still be able to enjoy the horse experience. They would be able to rent the horse for trail rides, or take lessons in horsemanship. This would generate a whole new source of local revenues and attached grt. Tourists come to western mountain towns expecting to do a trail ride. A riding stable would fill this need thereby creating a new income stream to Los Alamos as more tourist dollars, earned beyond the county line, are spent in the county.

Its a matter of inclusion.

Right now the airport is exclusive to airplane owners. Non-airplane owners cannot use the airport. They are excluded. But it doesn't have to be that way. We once had a fairly successful air passenger service. We can do so again. When people can go to the airport for a flight to Abq, Santa Fe, or the Denver area then they will more readily support the airport activities. They will spend local money on those flights. And tourists will be able to fly directly to Los Alamos paying for those flights with money earned outside of the county line.

It is a matter of inclusion.

Pajarito Mountain figured this out. Rather than being exclusive to skiers they are open to snowboarders, sledders, and tubers during the winter, and in summer months they are open to bikers, hikers, picnicers, bird-watchers. Increased inclusion increases income.

Its a matter of inclusion.

Just as the golf course seems to be exclusive to golfers excluding non-golfers, and unnecessarily so; just as the stables seem to be exculsive to horse owners excluding non-horse owners, and unnecessarily so; so, too, Los Alamos is exclusive to Scientists excluding non-Scientists.............. and unnecessarily so.

It is a matter of the reality of inclusion and the perception of exclusion. Inclusion is what is truly meant by "diversity", be it diversity of population or diversity of economic activity.

It is not enough to say, "well, people have equal access" when the parameters of the access are narrowly defined. It is not enough to say, "everyone can share" when the barriers to the sharing are such that the sharing is not possible. In fact, the conditions make the statements lies which are readily seen through by all those who are excluded by the conditions. And that creates jealousy, resentment, anger, and open hostility. And unnecessarily so when it need not be so.

Over the past few years, county policy makers have been following advice best suited to Winrock Shopping Center. But, then again, county policy makers have tended to think of Los Alamos as an office complex surrounded by a shopping center. Wrong model.

You want a model for Los Alamos success? Look at your Mountain. They have it figured out.

28) Something else Los Alamos Needs

2010-05-24T22:20:00.000-07:00

Los Alamos has a great mountain bike event -- brings in folks from all over the country, maybe all over the world -- people who will stay in our hotels, eat at the diners, buy souveniers. And its pretty exciting to watch people engage in a sport which requires strength and stamina.

Notice though we don't have the "other" kind of Bike Run. Why is that? Brings in folks from all over the country -- people who will stay in the hotels, eat at the diners, buy souveniers. And its pretty exciting -- the thunder of American Steel, the flash of ...........................................................................sun on chrome................okay, and the flashing of flesh as well. :)

And, just as a follow-up, if we are going to have either or both, why is that we don't have someone who builds custom bikes -- be they mountain bikes or choppers. A local manufacturing business that creates an income stream from outside the county line..........................? That'd be even more of a novelty than a Bike Run.

27) The Los Alamos Problem

2010-05-24T08:21:00.000-07:00

I am "of Los Alamos". Being "of Los Alamos" is not a matter of where you are from -- there are those who grew up here who are not "of Los Alamos", and there are those who came from elsewhere who are "of Los Alamos". See, to be "of Los Alamos" is a matter of the heart. If you would prefer to live here than anywhere else you can think of then you are "of Los Alamos". Not everyone who lives in Los Alamos is "of Los Alamos", and not everyone who is "of Los Alamos" lives here. That's unfortunate on both accounts -- means a lot of people are living where they don't really prefer to be and that causes a certain amount of general unhappiness.

But that's the thing: You go where the Job takes you and if it isn't where you truly prefer to be then you make do as best you can. A study last year (sorry, can't cite this directly -- didn't have the sense to download the entire thing) pointed out that 50% of all Americans are not living where they would prefer to be. And it works out that half the folks in the urban/burban environment would prefer the small town lifestyle while half the folks in small towns would prefer the urban/burban lifestyle. That, too, is unfortunate -- means a lot of square pegs being jammed into round holes which is never comfortable for the peg.

Well, people have a tendency to leave it all and take it all with them -- or try to import it later. Mostly its just a matter of trying to round the peg and square the hole. Problem is you wind up altering the character of each to the detriment of both. They become neither-nor's in an uncomfortable fit which doesn't really fit. More is lost than is gained and everyone loses.
**********************

Los Alamos has become truly Lab-centric and Lab-myopic. To the detriment of both. The myth is that if the Lab closes, Los Alamos closes. Yeah, well, maybe not -- actually probably not, but if your lifestyle, livelihood, and life are dependent on the Lab its hard to imagine otherwise. And maybe you don't want to imagine otherwise. There is, after all, some perverse comfort in believing that everyone is in the same boat and if you have to drown when the boat sinks, well, so does everyone else. Worst thing imaginable is that the boat capsizes, everyone gets dumped in the drink, and then the boat doesn't have the courtesy to sink.

So what would really happen if The Lab outright closed? Well, first a lot of folks would leave town. Some would be happy to do so, more would be reluctant to do so but wouldn't really have much choice. But not everyone. Some would be able to stay fairly easily, others would re-arrange their life choices in order to stay with some difficulty. Still, Los Alamos population would shrink to a village.

And then.......................it would recover...................and be very different.

The people who would stay would be those who derive a significant portion of their income from outside the county line. That would be retirees of course. It would also be those businesses who have a fairly decent business beyond the county line. And, it would be easier for everyone.

There would be a lot of "affordable" housing. Actually, a lot of affordable everything since there would actually be a surplus of land, housing, and business space. That would be very attractive to a lot of people who aren't here. The commuter flow would reverse: rather than people living in Santa Fe and commuting to Los Alamos there would be an increase of people living in Los Alamos and commuting to Santa Fe (some current residents already do this). Creates a whole new income stream for Los Alamos. Arts, crafts, and music would find Los Alamos ideal -- they could actually afford to live here and the natural setting is certainly inspirational. Another new income stream. Mom-and-Pop-shop business would become the norm, catering to the necessities of a new population with a very different demographic. Over time, small manufacture would develop -- businesses in a variety of industries that would understand the only way to make any money is regional sales, not simply local. Another new income stream. In fact, the local economy would be significantly enhanced by more income streams from beyond the County line than currently exist.

The overall net result would be a whole new population with an entirely different demographic making their living in very different ways. The urban/burban lifestyle expectations of the Big Box, and National Chains would be absurd and the focus would be on re-establishing and re-invigorating a robust small town lifestyle -- you know, what we used to have.

There would be some interesting changes to government as well. Cancel most of the County supported amenities. Cancel also the County expenditures on said amenities. Cancel the Government Palaces -- not needed. Cancel the expenditures also. Government would have to concentrate on necessities and maintaining what exists. No big aquatic center - would have to re-open the high school pool. Probably fewer tennis courts. LA Transit would actually have to charge fares. No Civic Center/Performing Arts Center -- have to make do with what was once simply called the Civic Auditorium (the Duane Smith). While the drop in population and the loss of the grt from the Lab would be a huge hit, the demand for amenities would also drop like a rock because the folks as think they should have those amenities wouldn't be here.

As to the drop in Lab grt, well we haven't really had that big ol' windfall all that long anyway, have we?

So let's see what do we wind up with -- the people who want the urban/burban lifestyle with all the amenities thereto would be gone, which means the demand for the urban/burban lifestyle would be equally gone and the stresses, and costs, to meet that demand would be non-existant. There would be no millionaires -- the whole income demographic would shift downward and begin to look more like a bell curve.

We wind up with a small town with a small but diverse economy and a very diverse population made up of people who really, really want to live here and are willing to do what it takes to be able to live here -- in other words people "of Los Alamos".

We wind up with Los Alamos as it was in the 60's - when it was the Los Alamos Scientific Lab, and much smaller, and when mom-and-pops were healthy, when the population size wasn't much different than it is now, and when Los Alamos had a much more robust everything. Means we get to start all over again and do it right.

There is really no reason we can't do this now -- and keep the Lab. Actually, the windfall profit gives us the resources to Get It Right and build that non-Lab, non-Science economy and society. Los Alamos would become a very successful and robust little town and little County.

Reality Check: Los Alamos really is a small town. Remove the Lab from the equation and you get a small town. Put the Lab back into the equation and you still have a small town -- with an Attitude problem. We really don't have to lose the Lab -- we just have to lose the Attitude.

*** "When, in the course of human events............."

2010-05-11T22:17:00.000-07:00

Has the right of democratic self-determination of the people of Los Alamos met its final demise? Has the Social Contract been abrogated? Has the Los Alamos County Council become an elected Oligarchy? Or, has that same Council, regardless of who may be its individual members, become the thrall of an established, un-elected Power Elite?

The Council action on Ordinance 555 and its LAGRI petition precurser is instructive.

By concentrating on the subject material, Council once again chose to look at the proposal in a manner which avoided directly dealing with the underlying issue. The subject matter of any Ordinance initiative or Referendum initiative is but the tip of the iceberg.

The underlying issue, reason, or purpose of any citizen initiative invariably goes to a break-down in the social contract between government and the governed such that citizens find that their only recourse is to set aside the normal processes of representative government and re-establish the principle that ultimate authority for governance rests with, and derives from, the people. A Referendum intiative, commonly referred to as simply "referendum", which by its nature seeks to overturn a legislative action, is a direct challenge to the governing body. An Ordinance initiative, commonly referred to as simply an "initiative", by its nature of seeking to implement policy which has been ignored by elected representatives, is a somewhat more indirect challenge to the governing body -- though an Ordinance initiative which places strictures on the actions of the elected representatives is certainly a direct challenge to the governing authority.

Thomas Jefferson wrote, "It is the propensity of the functionaries of every government to gather unto themselves the rights and properties of their constituents................". The citizen initiative is the means by which those constituents may counter that propensity. Jefferson also wrote that he believed every society should have a revolution every 200 years or so in order to correct the tendencies towards governmental abuses. Certainly, as a challenge to the governing authority, the citizen initiative can be seen as a form of that revolution and, as such, is an action upon which citizens are normally reluctant to embark. People would prefer to trust their government to govern wisely and well and are usually reasonably tolerant and patient of governmental mis-steps. Still, "when in the course of human events.........".

That the governing body and the power elite would attempt to deflect these attempts of the citizenry to re-assert its hegemony is understandable. They will make every effort, in whatever manner, to retain thier power. The arguments will include those already given; that an avenue of public input exists, that the voters are not to be trusted to make the "right" decision, or that there is no legal basis for citizen action. Indeed, the County Attorney has broadly interpreted the case of Johnson v The City of Alamogordo far beyond its parameters in order to make a case which would scuttle the entire intiative process. The argument is untested in New Mexico courts, but, given that the right of initiative is a firmly established precedent in other States, it is unlikely that the argument would survive any direct challenge. Indeed, the "right to Petition" was listed in the Declaration of Independence as one of the driving reasons for that Declaration. Yet members of the Council will cling to this untested interpretation as yet another way to protect thier own postion.

Such tactics only makes matters worse. The governing body and power elite become further entrenched and divorced from the citizenry which can only increase the citizens' frustration. "Throwing the bums out" by the normal proceedure of regularly scheduled election is no longer seen as a viable alternative. Citizens are left with but two increasingly draconian options. The lesser of these two is the Recall initiative by which the entirety of the elected representatives may be summarily dismissed. Yet this does not preclude their being replaced by others of like mind. Should this be the case then it is not unlikely that citizens will seek to disband the governing body entire and replace it with a governmental form which citizens hope will be more responsive and responsible to the people in whom the ultimate authority of and for governance rests.

Reality Check: If the Council does not take heed to the underlying point of direct citizen action, if the untested opinion of the County Attorney is allowed to prevail, then resort to the more draconian measures will be a matter not of "If" but of "When".

Can you spell "revolution"?

25) The Fork In The Road

2010-05-07T11:32:00.000-07:00

People will say, "what's the big deal about 1967?" There is a timeline which many of today's residents of Los Alamos are not familiar with.

1947 -- it is determined to turn a temporary military base into a permanent science facility engaged in top-secret work. This will require a resident population. But all of this is created as a Federal Preserve, and the constitutional rights of the residents are severely limited.

1949 -- Los Alamos County is formed. Residents now have some voting rights, but the Pajarito Plateau is still a Federal Preserve. The "town" has a town council, but it can pass no legislation without AEC approval. Residents cannot own property.

1959/60. Congress passes the enabling legislation which will eventually separate the Town from The Lab and the AEC.

1967 -- The first Town/County Hall of an independent Los Alamos is dedicated. Los Alamos is now responsible for its own destiny.

However, in order for the citizens of Los Alamos through their elected representatives to begin to fullfil that destiny, the County government is given a stipend for the purpose of supporting essential services until such time as Los Alamos can develop the economic base needed. It is realistically recognized that for Los Alamos to build such an economy will take time -- several years, possibly decades, and that the bulk of the work will fall to the children who grow up in Los Alamos when they have come of age.

1968 -- The next step in the process is to form a governmental structure. That is accomplished with the completion and adoption of the County Charter.

1969. -- This is the last year that anything goes right for Los Alamos. In June of this year, the County Commission is considering it budget. A representative of the AEC tells them they will have to begin to devise a plan and strategy whereby the amount of monies from the Lab/AEC will be less than 50% of the total budgetary income of Los Alamos. This is the first challenge and call to County to begin the work of building an economic base which is distinct and separate from the Lab for it was always intended that Los Alamos would be distinct and separate. And then the representative says something very telling:

"You cannot rely on the Lab, for the Lab is unreliable".

PAUSE: Realistically, the County could not have done anything significant in regard to the building of a distinct and separate economy prior to this time. To do so requires a lot of planning and work and time -- the earliest date that County could have begun the process would have been January 1970.

The budget for FY70 is passed. It relies on more than 50% of Lab money to finance. What no one knows is that Los Alamos is about to get hammered by the first and largest RIF in Lab history..........................

24) Do You Believe in Magic?

2010-05-05T20:36:00.000-07:00

Magic is an interesting thing. It rests on the prinicipal of creating an illusion which is so strong as to obscure reality replacing that obscured reality with the reality the magician wishes you to believe. As an entertainer, I've often worked with other entertainers in other disciplines and magicians are truly cool. (So are jugglers -- unfortunately I didn't practice as much as I should have..........and juggling, btw, is also part illusion). The magicians who do the Big Tricks are the Rockers of the Profession, but it is the magician who does "table" or "close-up" magic who can really get you going. No matter how close you stand, or observant you think you are, the close-up magician has total control of the situation.

Total control is the name of the game. It has been said that "perception is reality". The only people who really get this are magicians -- and con artists. By controlling perception, you control reality and, therefore you control the situation. There are two ways to control perception and, hence, the situation. Either you are the creator of the illusion, or you are perceptive enough to see the illusion for what it is.

The belief that The Lab and Los Alamos are inseparable is an Illusion. The magician creating the Illusion is actually The Lab. Others may use the Illusion for their own purposes, but this originates with The Lab -- for its own purposes. The purpose isn't particularly nefarious, insidious, nor in any way was it meant to be harmful. In fact, it wasn't even meant to be aimed at the residents of Los Alamos. The Illusion was designed with Congress in mind.

It is 1944. A secret location must be found for a secret Project involving a Gadget. Security is an absolute. Ideally, the location should be as geographically isolated as possible, since geographic isolation provides a level of security that an entire cordon of officers couldn't hope to pull off.

It is 1947. The Project is done, but it is decided that the location should be made permanent for there is more work to be done as a result of the Secret Project which must be as secret and secure. Both The Lab and the Town of Los Alamos are born at the same time -- The Town is not the spin-off from The Lab for under the conditions of secrecy and security required a resident population must be available living behind Gates and Fences. No commuters allowed.

Reality Check: without the Town of Los Alamos, there could have been no Lab.

It is 1960. The enabling Legislation, an Act Of Congress has been passed setting the process by which full authority and independence is to be transferred from the AEC to The Town, and now, County of Los Alamos. The Gates are down, the County is open. The security needs still are there but The Lab has withdrawn into its own little shell.

It is 1989. The Cold War is over. Now, The Lab faces its real challenge. For the past 30 years there has always been the anti-nuke crowd, but there has also been The Soviets. Now there aren't any Soviets, but the anti-nuke crowd is still there and the balance of power has shifted.

The Lab has always depended, and still depends, on Congress for its very existance. And its money. As long as there were The Soviets, getting the money wasn't too difficult, except for that little hiccup in 1970, when the anti-war crowd, and the anti-Nixon crowd (helped enourmously by Nixon) joined forces with the anti-nuke crowd. But as of 1989 the math changed. "The Soviet Threat" was no longer leverage and The Lab needs leverage of some kind because of the 535 people who serve in The House and Senate, only 4 (now 5) represent New Mexico. Means there are 530 votes which gain nothing for themselves or their constituents by funding The Lab. That's a tough crowd.

But they are a fairly decent bunch (political shenanigans aside). Most of them really do want to do what is right, and most of them don't want to do anything that would be truly harmful to anyone else. And they all remember that little hiccup in 1970 when some very idealistic types thought that if you cut the Defense Budget the Pentagon wouldn't have any money to run its precious little war in some jungle/rice paddy paradise. The result of that hit not only Los Alamos, it hit every small town nationwide which had any contract with the Defense Department in any way shape fashion or form. A lot of people around the country lost their livelihoods -- and some took their own lives. No one in Congress ever ever ever wants to be responsible for that sort of thing again.

So The Lab comes up with Plan B. Tell Congress that if The Lab doesn't get The Money, the result will be 1970. Well, that's a little hard to believe, hence The Illusion -- That Los Alamos and The Lab are inseparable. Okay, well that'll only get so much traction as well, because what the heck its only the one little town. So make The Illusion more far-reaching. Ever since the Gates came down and there was a place called Rio Rancho, some small number of folks have been commuting to their jobs at The Lab. Kismet. Extend the influence range of The Lab to include all of Northern New Mexico. Congress may, reluctantly, let a small town go down the drain, but it won't let the economy of half of an entire State go down the drain. That would be enough of a version of 1970 as to essentially be 1970.

See how that works? Its Magic. But, and this is a big But, there is the threat of Heresy. Heresy is that Los Alamos and The Lab are separate. So at all costs, Los Alamos must be made to be totally dependent on the Lab and Los Alamos must never be allowed to institute its own Plan B -- fundamental productive economic diversification. The Los Alamos Plan B could undermine the effect of The Lab Plan B.

Right now The Lab is living on borrowed time -- bestowed by Osama bin Laden. Various nuclear weapons reduction treaties have reduced the prinicipal purpose for having a Lab in the middle of no where. The non-weapons, pure Science stuff, could be done anywhere. Do not think that congressional types have not thought about what a boost it would be to the economies of their constituents to snag one of those little plums. When the time comes, as it eventually must, that the weapons component of the Lab work is no longer required, then the only leverage The Lab will have is the ghost of 1970.

Control of perception is control of the situation. Either one is the maker of the Illusion, or one is perceptive enough to see through the Illusion.

Reality Check: The percieved/believed Los Alamos/Lab relationship is an Illusion wrapped in an Engima and enveloped in the Smoke from the Hookah Pipe that is puffing on the South Mesa. Know the Truth and the Truth shall set you Free -- but only if you want to be set free. Problem is, in times of percieved peril people would really rather hide in the little cages they have built in their own minds -- or have had built for them.

Magic.

23) The False Argument.

2010-05-05T07:13:00.000-07:00

There is a thesis being put forward, the first part of which says, "In order to attract the best and the brightest, LANL must compete with Sandia and Livermore................" There are essentially two parts to this:
1) For LANL to compete, it must engage in the highest possible level of Science.
2) Los Alamos is the host town to LANL, Albuquerque is the host town to Sandia, and Oakland is the host town to Livermore. Therefore, in order to attract the best and the brightest, Los Alamos must somehow compete with Albuquerque and Oakland.

However, the argument then concludes: ".............therefore, Los Alamos must provide the same level of amenities and lifestyle as Albuquerque and Oakland or the best and the brightest will not come to Los Alamos -- they will go to Albuquerque or Oakland and Los Alamos will only attract second-rate scientists which, in turn, will reduce LANL to second-rate Science leading to its eventual closure."

This is a False Argument.

The logic is screwy at best. First, the conclusion contains, and is, the premise which makes the argument circular. Second, the under-lying premise is false, creating a reducto ad absurdum by which the entire argument fails. Badly. Let's tear this apart --

a) Albuquerque and Oakland are urban/burban environments and provide the amenities and lifestyle which attach thereto. Thus, (substituting) : "Los Alamos must provide the amenities/lifestyle of the urban/burban environment or the best and the brightest will not come to Los Alamos".

b) This "or" statement is actually an "if - then" statement, to whit: "If Los Alamos does not provide the amenities and lifestyle of the urban/burban environment, then the best and the brightest will not come to Los Alamos".

c) The inverse of (b) is: "If Los Alamos provides the lifestyle and amenities of the urban/burban environment, then the best and the brightest will come to Los Alamos".

d) (c) may be reversed to: "The best and the brightest will come to Los Alamos if it provides the lifestyle and amenities of the urban/burban environment".

e) Since Los Alamos is a laboratory host town, as is Albuqueruque and Oakland, we may then subsitute: "The best and the brightest will come to a national laboratory host town which provides the lifestyle and amenities of the urban/burban environment

f) Since the "if - then" statement derives from an "either - or" statement, the statement becomes "A and not B" thus: "The best and the brightest will come to a national laboratory host town which provides the lifestyle and amenities of the urban/burban environment and the best and the brightest will not come to a national laboratory host town that does not provide the lifestyle and amenities of the urban/burban environment". (Yeah, I know, looks for all the world like an A and not A, but it really is A and not B).

g) Where-in we find the basic premise "The best and brightest will come to the urban/burban environment and the best and the brightest will not come to a non-urban/burban environment" which may be reworked into the following:

h) "The best and the brightest will come if and only if there is an urban/burban lifestyle/amenities environment".

Thus the basic premise of the argument is that the best and the brightest seek/prefer the lifestyle and amenities of the urban/burban environment.

Putting the premise into its proper place in the argument we get "Since the best and the brightest seek/prefer the lifestyle and amenities of the urban/burban environment (premise A), and since Los Alamos must compete with Albuquerque and Oakland for the best and the brightest (premise B), Therefore Los Alamos must provide the lifestyle/amenities of the urban/burban environment."

This is its own logical can of worms. Premise A is unproven, and assumed to be true. The premise is stated as a tautological truth, that all persons included in the set "the best and the brightest" seek/prefer the lifestyle/amenities of the urban/burban environment.

Premise B is likewise unproven and assumed to be true. Without going through all the steps Premise B actually works out to be "The best and the brightest have a choice of either Los Alamos, Albuquerque, or Oakland". This re-work eliminates the phrase "Los Alamos must compete" -- an important distinction.

Setting aside the problem of a conclusion supported by no more than 2 unsupported assumptions, the test of the argument lies in the truth or not of Premise A. If Premise A is true we get: "All best and the brightest prefer the urban/burban amenities/lifestyle. If given a choice of three host towns, they will choose that which best provides the urban/burban amenities/lifestyle."

If Premise A is not true then we get "Some best and brightest prefer the urban/burban amenities/lifestyle and some of the best and brightest prefer something other than the urban/burban amenities/lifestyle." Putting it all together we get:

"The best and the brightest have three laboratory host town choices. Those who prefer the urban/burban amenities/lifestyle will choose accordingly. The rest will choose based on some other factor(s). Los Alamos is a small town whch does not offer the urban/burban amenities/lifestyle. Therefore, Los Alamos will be the choice of some, but not all, of the best and the brightest and the best and brightest who choose Los Alamos will do so based on factors other than the urban/burban amenities/lifestyle."

The False Argument stated at the beginning is sometimes modified thus: the best and the brightest will choose based on The Science and their spouses will choose based on the amenities/lifestyle. This assumes that all spouses of scientists will prefer the urban/burban amenities/lifestyle. Plug "the spouses of the best and the brightest" into the above substituting for "the best and the brightest" and we still wind up in the same place:

"The spouses of the best and the brightest have three laboratory host town choices. Those who prefer the urban/burban amenities/lifestyle will choose accordingly. The rest will choose based on some other factor(s). Los Alamos is a small town whch does not offer the urban/burban amenities/lifestyle. Therefore, Los Alamos will be the choice of some, but not all, of the best and the brightest and the best and brightest who choose Los Alamos will do so based on factors other than the urban/burban amenities/lifestyle."

Reality Check: Los Alamos is a small town. Small towns do not provide the urban/burban amenities/lifestyle since small towns are not urban/burban. If Premise A "all best and brightest prefer the urban/burban amenities/lifestyle" or its alternative "all spouses of the best and brightest prefer the urban/burban amenities/lifestyle" is true, then Los Alamos is eventually screwed. If Premise A is not true, then pursuing policies based on the assumption that Premise A is true will leave Los Alamos equally screwed.

Here's the good news. The False Argument uses the phrase "Los Alamos must compete.....". That brings in the concept of Competitive Advantage -- where Los Alamos has some real opportunities.

22) Alternatives

2010-05-03T21:14:00.000-07:00

The best way to support the Lab is to ignore the Lab

Think of it this way : If Los Alamos got a note from DOE which said, "beginning this date next year, LANL will begin a phased closure to be completed over a period of 4 years. You have that long to come up with something else. It's been nice doing business with you. Have a good day.", what would we begin to do to change our economic base?

Why aren't we doing it now?

We have businesses here that do not rely on LANL -- who do over 50% of their business outside the county line, some as much as 90%. That is one source of revenue. We also have plenty of retirees who are pulling their checks from the Feds and other sources. Again, another source of revenue.

Some will say, but the Lab brings in so much money it could never be replaced, so why bother to try. Folks, it don't matter how much ya got, what counts is what ya do with it.

Right now we have the funds from LANL GRT to be recruiting and establishing businesses that could make goods and provide services that could be sold beyond the county line -- beyond the state line. For every successful business that gets established here, a new source of revenue is added to the local economy. There are over 7,000 LAHS grads -- do not think they all went into the sciences. If we can get just 1% of them to open businesses in the 238 areas which have been left fallow, we could significantly increase the non-LANL portion of the economy and thereby reduce the toxic dependency that the county currently has.

In a few years, LANL will be downsizing -- more of its budget will be "normal operations" and less will be clean-up and construction. The START and other nuke agreements will continue to downsize the stockpile reducing the operations portion of LANL in that area. We must not bank our future, and the future of our children and their children -- for Los Alamos belongs to them more than to us -- on remaining a one-trick pony. Both the trick and the pony get old and tired.

By beginning to upsize the non-LANL non-Science sectors of our economy in manufacture (no I don't mean steel mills), trade, transportation, and tourism now, we can off-set the reductions that LANL will inevitably see.
By diversifying our economic base we will also diversify our population demographics making it possible for people from all walks of life - professions, trades, crafts, arts, and other -- to make a living in Los Alamos. This broader, non-LANL, non-Science demographic will make for a healthier community and one which is less likely to be viciously manipulated. It will also provide a greater variety in demand for goods and services and a healthier retail sector (If you are the only person looking for something, you ain't gonna find it -- if 100 of you are looking for the same thing, it'll be available).

Some who read this may not like my references to Los Alamos of the late 60's (and what, exactly do you have against the 50's and 60's) but I know what Los Alamos was then and what it should have become. But the Times are what we make them to be and we make them to be what they are by Choice. We can Choose to get Los Alamos on a politically, socially, economically healthier path. We can create a town that is self-sufficient and therefore a better host to a large enterprise such as The Lab.

But we absolutely must break from the negativity. "Yes, but...." is how nothing gets done. The Lab will do what the Lab will do in the best interests of The Lab. Time Los Alamos does what Los Alamos does in the best interests of Los Alamos.

And it is absolutely not in the best interests of Los Alamos to have the personal, professional, social, cultural, economic, and political lives of the people of Los Alamos so dominated by a single effect as to fit the classic definitions of addiction, which distorts all other aspects of life into the one twisted fanatasy.What irritates me beyond belief is the attitude of some that not only can Los Alamos not become its own entity, but that it has no right to. That if the Lab goes Los Alamos will not only vanish from the face of the planet but that it SHOULD vanish from the face of the planet.

It is the ten year anniversary of the Fire. Many of the homes destroyed have been rebuilt or replaced. Much of the mountainside is showing new green as tiny spruce, pine, and aspen begin to renew the forest. Take a clue from that. Where there is a will there is a way -- but there must be a will, and right now our will belongs to The Lab, Science City, and LACDC. This must change. Now.

Our assets are not in our degrees or our woodlands. Our assets are our courage.

I have a photo on my desk of a small sailing boat at sea under a full moon. The caption reads: Risk -- you cannot discover new oceans if will not risk losing sight of the shore. Please to read my blog entitled "O Pioneers" (its in the April postings). Risk does not always pay off -- it can indeed lead to disaster. Well, nothing ventured nothing gained. More importantly, Safety and Security are an Illusion. If beyond the edges of the map there be dragons then go forth -- and domesticate the critters. For as sure as you were born -- you will certainly die of something at sometime unappointed by you. What you do twixt mortal birth and Cosmic birth is what counts.

Final thought and final lines from E.A. Poe's "Eldorado" -- "Over the Mountains of the Moon, down through the Valley of Shadow, Ride Boldly, Ride, if you seek for El Dorado."

Los Alamos is Where Discoveries Are Made -- seek to discover new oceans.

21) The 60,000 sq ft Boondoogle.

2010-05-03T09:13:00.000-07:00

The County is considering putting a 60,000 sq ft "Municipal Building" at the site of the LA Apartments - north side of Central. The reason given is that this will somehow enhance our economy. Really? The site is prime economic property – it is along Central, centrally located within the area 4th street to 20th, near banks, restaurants, shopping, and residential. How can retiring such property from potential economic use -- either as residential, commercial, retail, or mixed use – in any way enhance the over-all economy of Los Alamos? Indeed, retiring such land from economic use would represent a cost and loss to the Los Alamos economy. Would the promised increase in economic activity counter the decrease from retiring the space?

Some would say, "well, if we don’t do something the space will sit empty. It won’t be developed right away". There may be some truth to that – but consider the time frame. The proposed government building is supposed to stand for 75 for 100 years. That is 75 to 100 years during which time the land will be lost to economic activity. Do you really think it would take 75- 100 years to find productive economic use for the land? Do you really think it would sit empty for 75 - 100 years? The site originally had affordable housing on it, and realistically we could, at the least, build new affordable housing units again in fairly short order. The previous site owner had planned to fold the existing housing into a mixed use development – again, this is a much better use of the land and, with proper planning, could be accomplished within the next few years.

So how much does the Los Alamos economy lose if the land is retired from economic use for the next 75 - 100 years? Bear in mind that County has to build something somewhere – the question here is the cost to retiring privately develop-able land vs building on land which is not slated for, nor useable for, such private development. Let’s go through the list....................

1) there is the loss of direct economic activity -- commercial use, estimated at $100/sq ft revenue to the economy; retail use, estimated at $200/sq ft revenue to the economy.
2) there is the loss from parking – this is tricky because parking for the government building would be somewhat less than 100 % use as it would be "shared parking".
3) there would be the loss in subsidiary economic activity in goods/services purchased by the private user. For example, private owners contract out maintenance and janitorial services, government does not. The loss would be not only in the $ paid to such services, but in the loss of jobs and employment income which would then be spent in the economy.
4) cost of construction.
5) there would be the loss in tax revenues generated by the total of 1 - 4 above which are generally re-invested in the community.
6) monies pumped in to the economy are circulated in the form of spending/payments to other economic activities. This is called the multiplier effect increases total economic activity and revenues to the economy. The losses associated to the total of 1 - 5 above are subject to this multiplier. Right now the Los Alamos multiplier is fairly low, however this can change over time – and certainly over the span of 75 - 100 years.

Reality Check: There is a general principal that govenment buildings should retire the least amount of land from productive economic use as may be possible. And for good reason. The 60,000 sq ft boondoogle could easily result in a total loss to the Los Alamos economy upwards of 25 - 30 million dollars per year. For 75 - 100 years. In what fantasy nightmare does this constitute "economic development"?

20) The Dealer and The Junkie

2010-04-30T10:24:00.000-07:00

It has been said that Los Alamos is a one-horse town. People have no idea how apt that is. "Horse" is street language for heroin.

The Dealer is always happy to supply the Junkie -- until the Junkie no longer has anything to offer in exchange for the Horse. Then The Dealer drops The Junkie, because the Dealer doesn't need The Junkie and can always find a new customer. So The Dealer is always looking for ways to expand The Market and find new potential Junkies. The Junkie, however, needs The Dealer and believing he/she cannot live without The Dealer will do anything to keep The Dealer happy -- anything to stay on the Horse. The Junkie lives in constant fear of losing The Dealer. But to every Junkie there must come a time of Choice -- to either break with The Dealer, get off the Horse -- or Die. Because Dealer Dependency means certain Death.

Reality Check: Los Alamos must get off The Horse. The Lab and Science City are so pervasive as to invade every aspect of our personal, social, cultural, economic, and political lives. We absolutely must declare, and fight for, our economic independence. It will be damn difficult; it will take time; we will see more failures than successes and it will seem so much easier to just give up. But if Los Alamos is to survive there is no other alternative.

19) The Young Guns

2010-04-30T09:10:00.000-07:00

My parents moved here in 1952 because Dad had a job offer from the Lab. Not that he expected to. Mom and Dad lived in D.C. and Dad had seen this ad in the local paper for a drafting position somewhere in New Mexico, so he had applied for the job sort of as a lark mostly because he had always wanted to see The West and he figured if the prospective employer wanted to talk to him, they'd pay for the trip. They did, and he got to see The West. But he didn't really figure he'd get the job. See, Dad was 21, Mom was 20, I was 1, and nobody had been to college. Mom and Dad only had high school degrees. But he got the gig as a design draftsman and Mom, an artist, got a job at the Lab as a technical artist.

Think of that: you could actually land a job at The Lab which would estalish a career, pay well, allow you to raise a family here -- with no more than a high school education.

We are beginning to hear the mantra "grow our own". That could be fine, depending on what you are trying to grow. But the question has to be asked, "grow our own what?".

When I was in LAPS, I knew a lot of kids who were un-scientific and certainly not hard-wired for math. Now, the emphasis on academics and Go To College has always been pretty heavy here, but there were several offerings in practical arts. I took woodshop and drafting in junior high. In high school I took metal shop and two years of graphic arts -- with real honest to goodness printing presses and line copy photography. Other kids took electronics, home ec, and auto shop. What I learned in my practical arts classes I still use today. I also took history, civics, Latin, speech, band, chem, bio, along with the requisite 3 years of English (high school back then was 10 - 12). The only thing I learned in my one algebra class that I still use is the pythagorean theorem and that only to help my wife figure out triangle sizes for her quilting projects.

I hear tell its a bit different these days. Few electives, little in practical arts, and 4 years of math including Physics. I would never have graduated. The truth is that if you aren't a science type then the commencement speech you get is, "We've taught you everything we can, now go away."

So let's see - of 316 professional/business activities the mortality plan is to emphasize 16 that we already have plenty of, and ignore the 238 possible professional/business activities from which we could be expanding our economy. We aren't going to recruit non-science/tech types -- we're just going to "grow our own" whiz kids as more fodder for the Lab and Science City. We are going to keep our demographics exactly as they are now -- overpaid, overeducated, overwhite -- shove the non-science kids out the door and keep the non-science types in the wider world from coming in the door and somehow this will solve all our problems.

Reality check: More of the Same, Piled Higher and Deeper will only get you more of the same social - economic problems --- piled higher and deeper.

18) What Los Alamos Really Needs

2010-04-29T21:15:00.000-07:00

Okay, now for something a little tongue in cheek.......Warning! This is a bit risque and your children should not be reading this................ (I have edited out the somewhat more, ahem, descriptive parts :)

There is one business that Los Alamos needs more than any other. It is a business which will totally, radically, alter the social/cultural milieu and character of Los Alamos forever (or until it gets closed, which ever comes first). The following is a bit of "poetry" (blank verse, free verse, no verse, whatever, just get into the flow of the thing) that I wrote several years ago after an evening of poetry reading at a coffee house that was two blocks from where I lived in Palms -- in my bachelor days. I've been meaning to read it at a local poetry reading they have here, but......well......... (I'll do this in paragraph form with a / to indicate the line breaks)
******************************
"Polite Society"

I am a bit too old / and a bit too jaded / for this. / An evening of poetry. / Drinking exotic coffees. / Making polite conversation. / Eating French pastries / in a smoke-free environment / with oil stains hung on the wall / which reflect someone's vision / of something (I'm not sure what). / Surrounded by fresh young faces / with bright eyes / and glorious idealism. / On stage a lovely young lady / peaches and cream skin / lithe, nubile form / lilting voice / and sparkling eyes / which reflect a virginity / that is more than sexual. / Such sweet naivete / weaving fancies of utopian bliss / with callow cadence / decrying social failings / with ponderous pentameter. / Polite drawing room clap. / Burgeoning sophistication. / The Polite Society of Tomorrow. / Was I ever that young? / A callow dreamer / looking out from the window of a sheltered life / gushing of Love and Social Perfection / in torrents of verbiage / twisted into clever contrivances / finding "The Meaning of Life" / and calling it Poetry?

I need a damn cigarette / and a good Dive.

A smoke filled / dim lit / Dive. / A place where you can swagger / a place where you can brag / a place where you can forget / a place where you can get your throat cut. / Populated by denizens of shadows. / People who have stories to tell / and the good sense not to tell / who have walked down the back alleys / that polite society knows nothing of / and have moved through fog and dark / with grace, cunning, and daring / haunting the night / with haunted eyes. / Their voices, male and female / have a hard edge / reflecting the edge on which they live. / They do not discuss / "The Meaning of Life" / They live it.

The true netherworld. / With a stage in one corner / a stage with a woman. / A sleek stripper /..[edit]...../ whose sweat glistens / in all the right places. / There is something esoteric / in a stripper's sweat. /......[edit]............../ She gyrates in slow motion / to a raspy sax / the smoke in the room / providing her only veils.

A hidden Dive / with an alley door / and a pool table / in eyeshot of Salome. / A green felt playground / for the hard bitten / who wager their dollars / and souls / on the drop of the eight ball / under a harsh light / and the scent of Salome's sweet sweat. / Bump and grind and the clack of balls / a well turned form and a well turned cue / and eyes of hard steel ponder the possibilities/ .........[edit]...................

A dusky Dive. / A dark world / wherein hover the shades of poets / Milton, Dante, Poe, and Wilde. / But the only readings done here / are the backs of playing cards by sharps / or the fronts of tarot cards by gypsies / and the careful sizing up / of one's current company.
*************
You get the drift. There's a bit more imagery "ivory on felt..... Salome on satin sheets..the pungency of alchohol, tobacco, and sweat......lonely walks, dark alleys, rising fog, heavy silence broken by a passing train or a cat in a trash can..... slipping into the night listening to the steady rhythm of souls echoing off pavement and the ebb and flow of traffic......." with a contrast to "Polite society, genteel sophistries cloyingly correct".

Maybe someday I will read it to the local poetry society -- without the edits. But for now,

Los Alamos needs a damn cigarette and a good Dive.

17) I Have A Little List

2010-04-28T09:07:00.001-07:00

If you check the instruction booklet for the Federal Taxes 1040 you will find a little list on page C9-11 of "principal business or professional activity codes" drawn from the North American Industry Classification System (NACIS). It is a listing of 20 sectors and professional/business codes by type within each sector. 316 codes. 316 principal businesses or professional activities by which people earn their living. If you are in business, you file a Sched C with your tax form and on that Sched you write in the code which best fits your principal business/professional activity. Some of these we have here in Los Alamos, many we do not -- some are well represented here (good), others are under-represented (fair) or not represented at all (poor). Let’s go through The List and see what’s missing..................oh, and a little imagination here will go a long way. Too bad imagination is the one thing in which Los Alamos really seems to be short supply. It ain't called the Myopia Statement for nothin'.

Of the 20 sectors we are good in 5, fair in 8, and poor in 6 with 1 non-applicable. Of the 316 professional/business activities we are good in 80, fair in 85, and poor in 153 with 18 non-applicable. Combined, we have growth potential in 238 professional/business activity codes and 14 industry categories.

The Economic Mortality Plan lists 15 professional/business activities in 4 sectors that it is believed we should be recruiting -- these 4 being what we already do well. Of those, 0 come from non-represented activities. Go figure........

Remember: each professional/business activity listing which is either under-represented or not represented in Los Alamos is opportunity for economic expansion. I have highlighted the activities in which we do well in green, those where we do something but could do more in blue, and the activities where we have nothing or next to nothing in red (sector headings are in bold and appropriately colored). This is a long list, but if we really want to do something to expand the Los Alamos economy we need to know this.

I) Accommodation, Food Services, and Drinking Places -- Accommodations: There are three codes, 1 of which, "Traveler accommodations" we have to some degree. What we don’t have is "RV Parks and recreation camps" and "Rooming and boarding houses". My step-daughter came for a visit a while back and had thought we would have a resort of some sort with little cabins and cottages. We don’t. We could, but we don’t. There are all manner of forms of accommodations we don’t have. A little imagination.
--- Food Services and Drinking Places: there are 4 listed which we have to some degree. But think of all the different types of establishments you’ve ever visited – go through your own list and think what’s missing (mine includes a decent deli).
II) Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services -- 18 codes. We are good in every activity, with the exception of "convention and trade show organizers". As we establish/develop other activities in which we are lacking, this category will grow.
III) Agriculture, Forestry, Hunting, and Fishing – 7 codes. "Animal Production - including breeding cats and dogs". We don’t do that – husbandry is not our thing. But it could be -- we have an apiary, what else could be done? "Fishing" – nope, Reservoirs are too silted up for that. "Forestry and logging (including forest nurseries and timber tracts)" Okay, Logging and Timber is not really all that likely in the County, but a tree nursery is something that could be done. "Hunting and trapping" – nope, other than catching tadpoles and mudpuppies. "Support Activities for animal production (including farriers)" We have a bit of that, we could do more. "Support activities for crop production" Well we don’t produce crops. "Support activities for forestry". Why not?
IV) Arts, Entertainment, & Recreation -- 9 codes. "Amusement Parks and Arcades". "Gambling industries". "Other amusement & recreation services (including golf, skiing, marinas, fitness centers, bowling, skating, miniature golf). "Agents and managers for artists, athletes, entertainers, and other public figures". "Museums, historical sites, & similar institutions". "Independent artists, writers & performers" -- we're good on this, we just don't have anything that would help them make a living at it. "Performing arts companies". "Promoters of performing arts, sports and similar events". "Spectator sports (including professional sports clubs & racetrack operations)"
V) Construction of Buildings -- 25 codes. "Non-residential building construction". "Residential building construction". "Highway, street, & bridge construction". "Land subdivision". "Utility system construction". "Other heavy & civil engineering construction". "Drywall & insulation contractors". "Electrical contractors". "Finish carpentry contractors". "Glass and glazing contractors". "Masonry contractors". "Painting & wall covering contractors". "Plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning contractors". "Poured concrete foundation & foundation contractors". "Roofing contractors". "Siding contractors". "Site preparation contractors". "Structural steel & precast concrete construction contractors". "Tile & terrazo contractors". "Other building equipment contractors". "Other building finishing contractors". "Other foundation, structure & building exterior contractors". "All other specialty trade contractors". I have highlighted the entirety in blue -- to the best of my knowledge we have some of everything. We could do better in some areas. We could certainly do better in helping these folks find business beyond the County Line.
VI) Education Services (including schools, colleges, and universities). 1 code. We do okay on this, but there are possibilities for private schools which we have not explored -- for instance a conservatory for music and the arts.
VII) Finance & Insurance -- 11 codes. Oddly enough, we are good on this in each activity. As we establish/develop other activities this category will grow.
VIII) Health Care and Social Assistance -- 19 codes. We are good in each activity.
IX) Information -- 7 codes. "Publishing industries (except internet)". "Broadcasting (except internet)". Telecommunications & Internet service providers". "Data processing, hosting, and related services". "Other information services (including news syndicates & libraries, Internet publishing & broadcasting)". "Motion picture & video industries (except video rental)". "Sound recording industries".
X) Manufacturing -- 42 codes. Before anyone gets crazy here, there are certainly some things we simply can't do because of the requirements for large plant facilities or resources. But much of this we could be doing in smaller proportion thereby adding to the over-all diversity of our economic base. And there is nothing that says that the company headquarters can't be located here with the actual production facilities elsewhere. The goal here is to at least do some portion of the activities as opposed to absolutely none. "Apparel mfg". "Beverage & tobacco mfg". "Computer & electronic mfg". "Electrical equipment, appliance, and component mfg". "Fabricated metal product mfg". "Furniture and related mfg". "Machinery mfg". "Medical equipment & supplies mfg". "Paper mfg". "Primary metal mfg". ""Petroleum & coal products mfg". "Plastics & rubber products mfg". "Printing & related support activities". "Textile mills" (never gonna happen). "Textile product mills" (never gonna happen). "Transportation equipment mfg". "Wood products mfg". "Other misc mfg". "Basic chemical mfg". "Paint, coating & adhesive mfg". "Pesticide, fertilizer, & other ag chem mfg". "Pharmaceutical & medicine mfg" (Caldera). "Resin, synth rubber & artificial fibers & filaments mfg". "Soap, cleaning compound & toilet prep mfg". "Animal food mfg". "Bakeries and tortilla mfg". "Dairy product mfg". "Fruit and vegetable preserving & specialty food mfg". "Grain & oilseed milling". "Animal slaughtering and processing". "Seafood product preparation & pkg" (never gonna happen). "Sugar & confectionary product mfg". "Other food mfg (including coffee, tea, flavorings, and seasonings)". "Footwear mfg (including leather, rubber, and plastics)". "Leather & hide tanning & finishing". "Other leather & allied product mfg". "Cement and concrete product mfg". "Clay product & refractory mfg". "Glass & glass product mfg". "Lime & gypsum product mfg". "Other nonmetallic mineral product mfg".
XI) Mining -- 5 codes. We don't have the resources, but here's the list. "Coal mining". "Metal ore mining". "Nonmetallic mineral mining & quarrying". "Oil & gas extraction". "Support activities for mining".
XII) Other Services -- 22 codes. "Barber shops". "Beauty salons". "Cemetaries & crematoriums". "Coin-operated laundries & dry cleaners". "Drycleaning and laundry services". "Funeral homes & funeral services". "Linen & uniform supply". "Nail salons". "Parking lots and garages". "Pet care (except vet)". "Photofinishing". "Other personal care". "All other personal services". "Automotive body, paint, interior & glass repair". "Automotive mechanical & electrical repair & mtc". "Other automotive repair & mtce". "Commercial & industrial machinery and equip repair & mtce". "Electronic & precision equip repair and mtce". "Footwear & leathergoods repair". "Home & garden equip & appliance repair & mtce". "Reupholstery & furniture repair". "Other personal & household goods repair & mtce."
XIII) Professional, Scientific, & Technical Services -- 23 codes. "Legal services". "Certified Public Accountants". "Payroll services". "Tax prep services". "Other accounting services". "Architectural services". "Building inspection services". "Drafting services". "Engineering services". "Geophysical surveying and mapping services". "Landscape architecture services". "Surveying and mapping (except geophysical) services". "Testing laboratories". "Computer systems design & related services". "Specialized design services (including interior, industrial, graphic, & fashion design)". "Advertising & related services". "Management, scientific, & technical consulting services". "Market research & public opinion polling". "Photographic services". "Scientific research & development services". "Translation & interpretation services". "Veterinary services". "All other professional, scientific, & technical services".
XIV) Real Estate & Rental & Leasing -- 12 codes. "Lessors of real estate". "Real estate agents and brokers". "Real estate appraisers". "Real estate property managers". "Other activities related to real estate". "Automotive equipment rental & leasing". "Commercial & industrial machinery & equipment rental and leasing". "Consumer electronics & appliance rental". "Formal wear & costume rental". "General rental centers". "Video tape & disc rental". "Other consumer goods rental".
XV) Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional & Similar Organizations -- 1 code.
XVI) Transportation & Warehousing -- 17 codes. "Air Transportation". "Charter bus industry". "General freight trucking, local". "General freight trucking, long haul". "Interurban & rural bus transportation". "Pipeline transportation" (n/a). "Rail transportation". "Scenic and sightseeing transportation". "School & employee bus transportation" (n/a -- remember, this is a list of private companies). "Specialized freight trucking (including household moving vans)". "Taxi and limo service". "Urban transit systems" (n/a). "Water transportation" (n/a). "Other transit & ground passenger transportation". "Support activities for transportation (including towing)". "Couriers and messengers". "Warehousing and storage (except leases of miniwarehouses & self-storage)".
XVII) Utilities - 1 code. This is tricky -- DUP is semi-public.
XVIII) Wholesale Electronic Markets and Agents & Brokers -- 2 codes. "Business to business electronics markets". "Wholesale trade agents & brokers".
XIX) Wholesale Trade -- 27. Remember: we are talking wholesale here, not retail. "Electrical & electronic goods". "Furniture & home furnishing". "Hardware & plumbing & heating equipment & supplies". "Jewelry, watch, precious stone & precious metals". "Lumber & other construction materials". "Machinery, equipment & supplies". "Metal & mineral (except petroleum)". "Motor vehicle & motor vehicle parts & supplies". "Professional & commercial equip and supplies". "Recyclable materials". "Sporting & recreational goods & supplies". "Toy & hobby goods & supplies". "Other misc durable goods". "Apparel, piece goods, & notions". "Beer, wine & distilled alcholic beverages". "Books, periodicals, and newspapers". "Chemical & allied products". "Drugs & druggists sundries". "Farm product raw materials" (n/a). "Farm supplies" (n/a). "Flower, nursery stock & florists supplies". "Grocery & related products". "Paint, varnish & supplies". "Paper & paper products". "Petroleum & petroleum products" (n/a). "Tobacco & tobacco products" (n/a). "Other misc non-durable goods".
XX) Retail Trade -- 60 codes. "Hardware stores". "Home centers". "Lawn & garden equip & supplies". "Paint & wallpaper stores". "Other building material dealers". "Children's & infants clothing stores". "Clothing accessories stores". "Family clothing stores". "Jewelry stores". "Luggage & leather goods stores". "Men's clothing stores". "Shoe stores". "Women's clothing stores". "Other clothing stores". "Camera & photographic supply stores". "Computer & software stores". "Household appliance stores". "Radio, television, & other electronics stores". "Beer, wine & liquor stores". "Fish & seafood markets". "Fruit & vegetable markets". "Grocery (including supermarkets, & convenience without gas)". "Meat markets". "Other specialty food stores". "Furniture stores". "Home furnishings stores". "Gas stations (including convenience)". "General merchandise stores". "Cosmetics, beauty supplies & perfume stores". "Optical goods stores". "Pharmacies & drug stores". "Other health & personal care stores". "Automotive parts, accessories, and tire stores". "Boat dealers". "Motorcycle dealers". "New car dealers". "RV dealers". "Used car dealers". "All other motor vehicle dealers". "Book stores". "Hobby, toy & game stores". "Musical instrument & supply stores". "News dealers & news stands". "Pre-recorded tape, cd & record stores". "Sewing, needlework, and piece good stores". "Sporting goods stores". "Art dealers". "Florists". "Gift, novelty, & souvenier stores". "Mobile home dealers". "Office supply & stationary stores". "Pet & pet supplies stores". "Used merchandise stores". "All other misc stores (including tobacco, candle, and trophy shops)". "Electronic auctions". "Electronic shopping". "Fuel dealers". "Mail order houses". "Vending machine operators". "Other direct sales establishments)".

Heck of a list, isn't it?

16) The Tourists Guide to Los Alamos

2010-04-27T08:19:00.001-07:00

When you go on vacation is it the highlight of your travel to see someone else's new Big Box, Shopping Center, Bank, Government Office Building (GOB) or Jail? When you go to a town that has some significance to the Nation's History do want to see the old town or the new? "Gee, honey, let's go to Williamsburg and see their new Wal-Mart -- Oh I don't know, I'd rather go to San Antonio, I hear they'be got a great new shopping center -- Well that sounds fine, we could actually see both and we could stop off in-between at Hannibal, Missouri where I hear they have a lovely new Jail commemorating some writer".

The towns of New England were founded during the Whaling Era and their architecture reflects that period. The towns of the Deep South were Slave Era and their buildings are of the period. The towns of the Southwest were the Spanish Colonial Era and their architecture retains that history.

Of course, whaling and slavery are both extremely politically incorrect these days, and the Indians certainly didn’t do well under Spanish colonialism. Maybe all the buildings that were built during those heinous times should be flattened in an effort to erase the foul history from the face of the planet. They can be replaced with modern buildings as if to say, "We once were pretty not nice people and did some pretty not nice things, but now we are new and different and good".

That isn’t going to happen for a simple reason: Tourists. Tourists go to historic places so they can step back into the pages of history and vicariously Live The Life Of The Day – without giving up small things like potties and MacDonald’s.

Los Alamos is a town of the Cold War Era, and era which is fading fast and whose population is aging and dying off at an increasing rate. Tourists come to Los Alamos to see what life was like in not just any Cold War Era town, but the town that was at the center of it all. They want to step back in the pages of history........................

Only Los Alamos keeps ripping out the pages.

Rather than be embarrassed by our Cold War Era roots, we should celebrate them. Someone said to me, "I don’t see how anyone could love an old barracks" (meaning the Concrete Caves). Well, tourists revel in that sort of stuff. We should be designing in up-graded versions of the Era, not flattening it. And wouldn’t the tourists get a kick seeing cars from the late 40's and early 50's running around town? If the old quonset is falling to pieces, why not replace it with a new one that has the modern amenities and old style design? You could turn it, and others, into a tourist trap par excellence. Statues are nice, but wouldn't it be cool to think that maybe...."hey, was that Oppenheimer that just went in the post office?" Markers in front of the building they mark are helpful, but markers in front of a building no longer there are simply gravestones leaving the tourists to scratch their head and say, "Gee, nice building, but if it was of such historic significance, why'd they get rid of it?"

Reality Check: We think we are getting a national historical park here. This would probably work better if there was something historical remaining................rather than something hysterical -- like touring the three most important places in town: The Lab where we make our money, The Bank where we stash our money, and The Jail where we put people who would take our money.

15) Of Rowboats

2010-04-26T08:52:00.000-07:00

There’s a story of a fellow in his house and the flood waters are rising. He’s not worried because he knows God will save him. Along comes someone in a rowboat and offers a lift. Fellow says, no that’s okay, God will save me. Water gets up to the second story window. Along comes someone in a motor boat and offers a lift. Fellow says, no that’s okay, God will save me. Water just up to the eaves and our hero is standing on the roof. Along comes someone in a helicopter and offers a lift. No, that’s okay, God will save me. Next thing, the fellow is at St. Pete’s Gates asking how come God didn’t save him. The answer was, Well We sent you a rowboat, We sent you a motorboat, We sent you a helicopter, after that We figured you knew better than Us.

The policy for Los Alamos of an Urbanized Central Downtown Core with a Shopping Center at Trinity Place which has a Big Box is rather like that fellow in the flood who would accept nothing less than something miraculous and ignored the simpler solutions to the problem.

On June 24, 1967 at the dedication of the Municipal Building Los Alamos achieved its full independence – and the responsibility which attaches to independence. We had everything we needed to go forward. The town was fairly established with housing, roadways, utilities, and a variety of shopping. Following the historically normal developmental curve of any town, the next logical step would have been establishing small manufactures, trade and commerce beyond the county line, some level of tourism, and the beginning of population diversification. Many of these attempts would probably have failed since 80% of all start-ups fail in the first 5 years. But the ones that succeeded would have put down the roots necessary for future growth and expansion.

Of course, this didn’t happen, nor were any policies launched which would have encouraged this to happen. The capital formation of the 50's and 60's which should have been the basis for further growth and development was allowed to decline and now has been fully exhausted. Los Alamos, eschewing rowboats, looked for, and continues to look for, The Big Miracle.

It ain’t gonna happen.

What I am proposing is a simple rowboat policy. Go back to what actually worked and then go from there with small start-ups in all sectors of the economy which, over time, will put down roots for future growth and expansion.

Of course, folks in Los Alamos will have to actually get on board in the rowboat – and help pull the oars. Unless folks think themselves to be above climbing in a rowboat and, believing themselves to be The Chosen insist on waiting for The Big Miracle. For that, Los Alamos could drown – in a sea of red ink.

The flood is rising. Whatcha gonna do?

14) Whistlin' Past the Graveyard

2010-04-19T21:55:00.000-07:00

Take a walk with me. Let's start at Central and 20th headed towards 4th. On the right the first business we come to that principally sells product is Bella Costa Flowers. Next to them is CB Fox. Across the street is Bennet's Jewelers. If we were to turn aside briefly an walk down the main drive way into the Central Park Square parking lot we would find one business that is product oriented, Pet Pangea. Oh well. Continuing down Central on the right we find Metzger's and Cookin in Style. As we cross 15th Otowi Station is on our left. Nothing else. Continuing on down on our right at Knecht and Central is Fidel's. After that we have to go all the way to MariMac where we find Smith's, Auto Zone, Beall's, Brownell's and Casa Mesita Thrift Shop -- oh and there is a small clothier. 16 blocks east-west, 4 blocks north-south and the total number of product based businesses is 14. In the area from 20th to 4th, Nectar to the north side of Trinity, there are 7 eateries, 5 banks, 1 hotel, 1 gas station, 2 bars, several engineering/tech firms, and a variety of service oriented businesses. But only 14 product oriented businesses. Think that through. And think this through as well -- how does a Big Box solve this? It would be store number 15. Only like as not Beall's or Fox would close as well as the little clothier, so we're no better off than before and possibly worse off.

In the very early war years all the Lab needed was a px, a commissary, and a motor pool. Well that's really all they need today. Lunch counters (commissary), a grocery (px), and auto repair/supply/gas (motor pool). Didn't we just describe the heathiest businesses of our rather moribund Consumer Goods and Services sector?

Reality Check: The Lab doesn't need Los Alamos. Without the security gates, it certainly doesn't need a resident labor pool -- as attested to by the fact of the commuters including the Lab Director. Nor is there anything Los Alamos can do to support the Lab that the Lab cannot provide for itself -- including Fire, Security, and Utils. Heck, all of Los Alamos could be flattened and the Plateau turned into one big Research Park. As far ast the Lab is concerned Los Alamos is irrelevent to the Lab.

Its about time Los Alamos take care of Los Alamos and find a reason to exist that has nothing to do with The Lab.

13) O Pioneers

2010-04-16T20:58:00.000-07:00

In 1620 a small ship set out across The Atlantic with passengers intent on building new lives in an unknown land. In the late 1700's and early 1800's people moved inland from the settlements and towns of the Eastern seaboard intent on building new lives and establishing new settlements in untamed lands of the Louisiana Purchase. In the 1820's, responding to a recruiting effort by the Mexican government, people moved to the province of Texas to establish new lives and settlements. In the 1840's responding to the recruiting effort that was Manifest Destiny, people walked across a continent to build new lives and new settlements in unknown lands.

Would you have been one of these people? Would you have been willing to give up the comforts and conveniences of an established lifestyle to head out to parts unknown and risks unmeasured?

In 1947 a decision was made to turn a temporary military research base into a permanent facility and to build a town where none had previously existed. Advertisements were placed in newpapers across the country recruiting people from all walks of life to come to an unheard of place in a state that most people thought not to be part of the United States to help build and populate a town that did not actually exist. To do so, they gave up established lives of comfort and convenience for a very uncertain future.

Would you have been one of those people?

Just as the scientists at the Lab push the boundaries of knowledge and pioneer new areas of research, so, too, the people of Los Alamos have been those in whom prevail the pioneering spirit of courage, determination, and willingness to accept risk.

Los Alamos is not, nor has it ever been, a place suitable to everyone. Today, it still requires the same pioneering spirit that created the town in the first instance. To come to Los Alamos for the purpose of establishing a life and a business is a high risk venture. But such ventures can be successful.

14 years ago a young couple on their honeymoon happened to drive through Los Alamos. They fell in love with the place and when they returned to the big city they were from they decided they would move to Los Alamos. With their life savings, all their possesions, and an idea for a business they returned. Neither ever worked for The Lab, The County, The Hospital, or The School. There was no Job waiting for them. With little more than raw courage, determination, hard work, and a deep love of Los Alamos they have managed to build a successful business here. Today, this is a successful local business with 20% of its sales income generated from beyond the county line.

There are others -- the travel agency that does 90% of its business beyond the county line; the architectural firm which does a similar amount. Both of these were started by LAHS grads several years ago. And there are those who are just starting out -- Caldera Pharmaceuticals comes to mind -- whose efforts, commitment, determination, and resilience will pay off in time over time as they grow and expand to become a fixture of the Los Alamos economy.

These are the kind of people Los Alamos still needs. Los Alamos has sat on it fat assets for 40 years and those assets have dwindled. As in 1947, we will have to recruit like crazy. We need new store owners providing a variety of goods and services. We will need young entrepreneurs who will start enterprises in all sectors of the economy -- manufacture, trade, tourism, retail. We will need the professional, the tradesman, the craftsman, the artist, the shop-keeper; the independent, self-reliant spirits. We need to push outwards the limits of our own production possibilities frontier. In so doing, Los Alamos can become more self-reliant and self-contained sending the results of our own imagination and industry into the Wider World rather than just sucking in what the Wider World has to offer for the convenience of our sweet little selves.

Los Alamos will need patience and commitment to the long haul. From small nuts mighty ponderosas grow, but it takes time. Nor will Los Alamos ever be an urban/burban center of retail activity. There will always be a certain degree of "inconvenience" to living here just as there is in any small town. The general population will have to be cut from the same burlap.

Do you fit the profile? Or is Los Alamos simply a pit stop on your career path? Are you a builder and pioneer at heart willing to put more into Los Alamos than you get, or are you more interested in what you can get out of Los Alamos while you are stuck here?

The truth of Los Alamos is this: You really gotta love Los Alamos to live in Los Alamos and truly be happy in doing so.

12) Down in The Valley

2010-04-15T15:23:00.000-07:00

People will say, "how come dinky little Espanola has a big box and Los Alamos doesn't" -- in fact, Councilor Chiravalle asked this very question a couple of weeks ago. Well, let's see:

Espanola has a population of about 9,000. But Espanola is the largest town in Rio Arriba County which means it has a market population of over 35,000.

Espanola has a healthy and diversified Agriculture sector, Manufacture sector, Trade and Commerce sector, and Tourist sector. Espanola also has a more diversified demographic profile in all measures. These combine to give Espanola a healthy Retail sector.

Espanola has a major north south highway and is the Gateway to Northern New Mexico's wildlands and resorts.

Here's what Los Alamos has:

We have a market size of 18,000, no Agriculture, no Manufacture, no Trade, Tourism is a trickle, moribund Retail, no main highway to anywhere, and a demographic profile which is 70% or more High Education, High Income (relatively), and White.

Go from there.

11) ....and when the dust settles..........

2010-04-14T06:57:00.000-07:00

Let's see........thus far we have 1) lopped the top off a mesa in order to build a complex in order to flatten another complex in order to build a shopping complex which may or may not get built and won't survive in any event; 2) flattened a historic landmark in order to put up an office building elsewhere which won't generate a dime on its own in order to create a "synergy" which is an illusion in order to "revitalize" a central downtown core which never existed in order to fullfill a Myopia Statement; 3) flattened affordable housing in order to accomplish (2) above in order to bring more workers closer to the non-existant downtown central core in order to support the shopping center in (1) above in order to build more affordable housing for the non-existant employees of same; 4) have plans to flatten the high school and replace it with something that looks very different in order to have something very different that doesn't look like it was built during the hated 50's and 60's in order to attract people who won't care and alienate people who do care; 5) ditto one of the last 2 remaining elementary schools.

Oh, and we have a new Economic Mortality Plan.

What results can we expect?

1) It is believed that Trinity will be successful because if not no developer would risk the investment. Reality Check: the developer won't be paying the rents and trying to sell goods and services. In the first 5 years, the center will do reasonably well simply because of the novelty -- this is the period in which the developer will see the highest return to investment and probably make back the intial expenditure. Over the next few years the novelty will wear off as people begin to figure out that the problem of functional demand - which is the minimum amount of demand required to have anything in supply at all - is still unresolved. They will still find that what they want is not available and they will still continue to shop off The Hill. As a result, the businesses paying the rents to the developer will begin to see sales decline and some will go out of business. These latter may be replaced by other businesses but over time businesses looking at the track record will be less likely to invest in a business in Los Alamos creating a increasing vacancy rate in the center which will further deter new businesses. During this period the profits to the developer will begin to slow, then level off, then decline into net loss. For a time the net loss will be made up for by the tax write off on the net loss until such time as the net loss is greater than the write off. That's when the developer will bail. Estimated time of total failure: 15 years.

2) It is believed that a Big Box will bring to Los Alamos many of the goods and services that are currently not available. Reality Check: Most Big Boxes will avoid Los Alamos like the plague; several have already said they will not be locating here. IF we can sucker a Big Box into coming to Los Alamos, the dynamics described in (1) above will take sway. The store will carry only what it can reasonably sell in a reasonable period of time (for perishables this is a quick turn-around) and people will still find they can't get what they wanted and expected. The continued consumer flight will reduce the size of the Big Box to a Small Box with marginal profits. The next time the national economy goes south, the under-producing Small Box will close. Estimated time of total failure: 10 years (the national economy seems to hit a serious recession every 10 years -- perhaps this has to do with solar flares).

3) It has been suggested that we can put a hotel/convention center on Central next to the Bank. Reality Check: the tourist sector of our economy is a trickle. Turning Los Alamos into a National Park won't boost this significantly enough to support the suggested development plus the new hotel at Entrada plus the hotel on Trinity. Well, maybe we can convert the thing into that affordable housing. Estimated time of failure: 5 years after opening.

4) It has been suggested that putting a Municipal Office Building on Central will increase economic activity. Reality Check: A Municipal Office Building doesn't earn a dime. A Municipal Office Building does not attract customers to surrounding businesses who otherwise wouldn't patronize those businesses -- this is particularly true in a small town. A Municipal Office Building retires otherwise potentially economically productive land resources from economic activity resulting in a net long-term (life of the building) loss in real and opportunity cost. Estimated time of failure: 30 seconds -- Estimated time for anyone to notice: 2 years or Never.

5) It has been suggested that by changing the "look" of Los Alamos to something "modern" and "not 50's and 60's" more people will move to Los Alamos thereby increasing local shopping and increasing local property and GRT revenues. Reality Check: You can't live in Los Alamos if you can't make a living here. Doesn't matter how pretty it is. Estimated time of policy failure: DOA.

6) It has been said that the Lab will essentially pay for all of the above. Reality Check: (and you ain't gonna like this one): The primary reason the Lab is located here is the level of security that geographic isolation provides to a nuclear weapons Lab. As nuclear weapons stocks continue to be negotiated downward and other really effective ways of killing people make nuclear weapons increasingly obsolete, the weapons component of Lab work will diminish. Non-weapons work can be done anywhere, and this will not escape the notice of Congressional types who would like to get a science plum for their district. Though the Lab is unlikely to close it will downsize. Estimated time: 10 - 15 years, depending entirely on Congress and The White House.

Note that the estimated time of failure for the entire Mortality Plan is just long enough for the people who most support the Mortality Plan to empty the nest, retire, and go elsewhere leaving those who are stupid enough to stay to clean up the mess. And the mess will be enormous with a staggering debt load in the 10 digit range. Revenues to County may spike in the short-term but over the 20 year period of the debt those revenues are likely to decrease. The County may well default at which time the State will have to take over (I've seen this happen elsewhere). In a somewhat extreme scenario, as part of a debt re-structuring, Los Alamos County may well be folded into Santa Fe County which has the economic where-withall to begin to pay some portion of that debt. Alternatively, the Federal Government might well be forced to take over the recievership and Los Alamos could once again become the Federal Preserve it once was.

Ultimate Reality Check: After all the Change what will have fundamentally changed will be Nothing.

Happily, there is an Alternative...........................

10) Ain't Modern Grand?

2010-04-13T20:52:00.000-07:00

Los Alamos loves modern technology. Hey -- its what we do. The Economic Mortality Plan calls for More Science And Tech and high paying jobs. Loftiness abounds. I'm reminded of an episode of Star Trek with a city floating in the clouds. And, of course, this is Los Alamos -- a Shining City On The Hill casting its beacon out Illuminating Northern New Mexico and bringing Light where once there was Darkness.

Reality Check: Next time you flick your bic to light a smoke or the barbie remember this -- you are using flint and steel -- striking two rocks togther to make Fire. Now don't you feel a bit Neanderthal?

9) How To Kill A Town

2010-04-13T19:53:00.000-07:00

As I've been meeting folks I've been hearing some interesting comments. One was, "I was thinking about this the other day........this just isn't the town I moved to. Almost everything is gone."

The Municipal Building, the Los Alamos version of Independence Hall since it was on the steps of that building during its dedication ceremony when the documents giving Los Alamos full independence from the AEC were signed -- is gone.

The County has been renting spaces for employees now for three years --- there was no plan to re-build before the bulldozers struck

More County employees have been made essentially homeless as the Annex has been emptied for demolition -- and still no plan nor civic consent and agreement.

Dollars in the 8 and 9 digit range have been spent thus far for a shopping center -- which failed once and still may never exist.

Even it is built, which is doubtful, it has no reliable future -- The Community Center, MariMac, and White Rock Village leap to mind.

The much vaunted "open space" created by the demolition of the Muni and which has been the reason, if reason it may be called, for abandoning the historic site of the Seat of Government is now one of many as the bulldozers roll on -- we are about to have plenty of open space -- and no town.

Trinity Place which passed by a narrow margin and only then because of being part of an omni-bus bill is likely to become -- Trinity Park.

The fire took out many of the older homes and many of those residents left --- permanently.

That itself was a blow to many local businesses who lost a loyal customer base, which takes years to build and which is the foundation of many a business -- and those businesses have closed.

The early store owners, and even their offspring, are now retiring or retired and no plan was ever in place to find new owners for these businesses -- they, too, have closed.

The policy of trying to build a central core downtown, which Los Alamos never had, has failed and more of the same piled higher and deeper won't change the fact -- Main Street is a driveway into a parking lot.

There are now fewer businesses in Los Alamos then ever before -- yet attempts at new start-ups are met with scorn.

People demand a Big Box, totally ignoring the fact that many such have already said no to Los Alamos, yet they will have nothing else -- which is precisely what they have: Nothing.

Politicians and The Powers That Be, refusing to admit that their policies have failed miserably, slog on -- headed for the cliff.

Against the above backdrop we still hear "Give us more shopping", "We want a Big Box", "The town is an eyesore", "it was only a temporary town", "it wasn't meant to be a real town", "The town is too military", "The town is something out of the 50's and 60's" (as if that is a bad thing and why should the town be made to pay the price for someone's angst about the 50's and 60's), "We want Modern" (which is always Antique 5 minutes after it exists - does it occur to anyone that with a little new wiring and plumbing even a 200 year old adobe can be modernized without flattening it; that indeed such is the case with the White House and the US Capitol and many other structures built long before what is Modern was even invented?) It all adds up to "We want it and we want it now".

If ever anyone wanted to kill a town from the inside, one need only look to Los Alamos for the recipe.

Reality Check: there came a time when the people of the city of Rome became enamoured of consumer goods and luxurient lifestyles and entertainments and cared more about what they got out of Rome than what they gave to her. As to her past, well that was passe -- it wasn't modern. It was once believed devoutly that as long as the Flame in the Temple of Vesta burned, Rome would endure. But the flame went out -- and was re-lit and no one blinked. The people of Rome abandoned Rome long before they actually moved out. So, in 422 a.d. when Alaric stood at the gates of Rome, she had but one legion to defend her. Betrayed by the people she had long protected and sheltered she turned and faced Alaric alone -- and alone she died. Her temples were looted and destroyed; her arts and knowledge were lost for generations.

Still other towns have suffered similar, though less stunning, fates. Walk through Tsankowi and ask yourself if this isn't a very real future for Los Alamos. Then ask yourself if you even care.

8) Some little known realities

2010-04-08T07:34:00.000-07:00

In Los Alamos if you don't carry what is wanted then people go to SF or Abq to get what you don't have. Keep this in mind.

I have a music store, Hannemann Music, which retails musical instruments and supplies. Think of what you "expect" from a music store.

Reality Check: The popular brands of guitar are Gibson, Yamaha, Martin, and Taylor. In order to carry these brands each manufacturer has certain minimum requirements. You have to purchase between 50 - 100 units as a minimimum "buy-in" and then you have to continually purchase at least half as many per year in order to continue to carry the brand. You cannot return unsold items to the manufacturer simply because you didn't sell them. In order to meet the expectational demand of some Los Alamos consumers -- you know, the squeaky wheels mentioned in the previous -- I would have to purchase approximately 350 guitars up-front and then continue to purchase another 150 ish per year. Does anyone in their right mind actually believe I could sell that many?

It was suggested that over time I eventually begin to sell Yamaha instruments as well as Selmer. This will never happen. There is already a Yamaha dealer in Santa Fe. Yamaha doesn't care about the distance between Los Alamos and Santa Fe -- they care about market size. As far as Yamaha is concerned, a dealer in Los Alamos would be no different than a competing dealer across the street from the current dealer in SF. They would be competing for the same consumers in the same market with the same product and the total market -- which is pretty much all of Northern New Mexico, can't support 2 dealers. One would have to close.

Bottom Line: Manufacturers and distributors want dealers and outlets to succeed and so they are careful not to over saturate the market. Starbuck's is learning this lesson the hard way. They aren't closing stores because of the economy -- they started closing stores before the economy went south because they over-extended and over-saturated the market.

Los Alamos is not, nor can it ever be, Urban. The wannbe urbanization of Los Alamos will only result in Los Alamos as an Urban Wannabe Failure.

7) The Los Angelization of Los Alamos

2010-04-08T06:49:00.000-07:00

I lived in Palms, Ca, a section of Los Angeles on the west side, for 20 ish years. Within a half-mile radius the following was available: -- 2 Ralph's (Kroger), 2 Albertson's, 1 Von's, 2 Traders, 3 Thrifty Drugs, 1 Long's Drugs, 4 Starbuck's, 1 Noah's Bagels, 1 Coldstone Creamery, 1 Baskin Robbins, 4 hardware stores, 1 Ross, 1 Office Max, 1 Kinko's, 1 PIP, 1 Staples............that is just a sampling. Cuisine choices included -- German, Thai, Vietnamese, various Chinese, Japanese, various Italian, various deli, various bakery/donut, Brazilian (and when they win the World Cup they do know how to party), Mexican, Guatemalan, Salvadoran, Ethiopian, various vegetarian (there was a large Krisna Temple), Indian, and one really great pastrami stand run by a Chinese guy. There was a luthier, a store of musical instruments from India (and another with records and movies).

Sure wasn't Los Alamos.

Of course, within a half-mile radius there were over 150,000 people to support all that shopping. The cuisine available relected the people -- oh add Venezuela and Argentina to the mix.

Sure wasn't Los Alamos.

I lived 2 blocks from the major employer in the area -- Sony/Columbia/MGM studio complex, each of which brings in more money than the Lab could ever dream of.

Sure wasn't Los Alamos. And in what Nightmare Fantasy could Los Alamos ever begin to even approach a neighborhood of that amount of diversity and size?

Yet this is precisely the lifestyle that many people in Los Alamos are complaing they want and can't get and either don't understand why they can't it, or are in such desperately deep denial that they simply refuse to get it. To them, Los Alamos is a podunk nothing -- conveniently ignoring the fact that they couldn't get a job in Podunck if their lives depended on it. But they are the squeaky wheel and expect a lot of grease. Unfortunately, County seems determined to grease a wheel that no amount grease will satisfy.

The Plan is simple -- centralize Downtown Los Alamos into an Office Park surrounded by a Shopping Plaza. This requires eliminating any competition from neighborhood shopping of almost any kind. It requires giving people no option other than to Shop Downtown -- or go elsewhere.

Reality Check: Target has already said No to Los Alamos. We don't fit the market profile. Ditto K-Mart, Traders, Whole Foods. Walgreens is an iffy maybe. Los Alamos is geographically, economically, and socially isolated. Though the population within a 40 mile radius is said to be 215,000, there are no out-lying smaller markets that can be captured. The actual market size of Los Alamos is the population of Los Alamos. Commuters don't count since most people do thier principal shopping close to home. Commuters from SF certainly don't count since they have more available to them where they live than is available where the work.

Los Alamos is not, nor can it ever be, Urban. The wannbe urbanization of Los Alamos will only result in Los Alamos as an Urban Wannabe Failure.

6) The Neighborhood

2010-04-05T08:30:00.000-07:00

Oncemponcem time Los Alamos was a congenial little town of neighborhoods -- Eastern Community/Downtown, Western Community, and Northern Community. Each had its own shopping "center" with a market, pharmacy/general merchandise, and full auto service -- food, drugs, miscellaneous, and transportation, all the neccessities of Life. Each also had its own elementary school - Canyon (Eastern/Downtown) and Mesa (Western). Northern Community was the largest so it had 3 : Aspen served the section south of Diamond, Mountain served the section west and north of Diamond from Sycamore to 38th, and Pajarito served the north side of Diamond from 38th to Club Rd.

This worked out pretty well -- it created a cohesion of social community within the neighborhoods, strengthening bonds of friendship and familiarty. Your social life revolved around where you lived, not where you worked.

The community cohesion was a layered hierarchy from the ground up:
First, and the primary foundational layer, was the street on which you lived. These were the folks you knew best and the kids your kids played with most often.
Second came the elementary school neighborhood. These were the folks your kids went to school with -- you knew them through PTA, and various school events. When your kids were old enough for The Bike, their circle of friends grew and your circle of social network grew.
Third came the shopping neighborhood. These were the folks you were most likely to see on at least a weekly basis.
Fourth, was the Town. You couldn't get everything you wanted in your local center. Downtown was principally those businesses which carried Everything Else.
Fifth was Entertainment/Recreation. This was scattered all over town. The Movie Theater was in Downtown, the Civic Auditorium was in Western Community, the Golf Course was in Northern Community. Restaurants and diners could be found in every Community.
Sixth was the broadest layer: The Fairgrounds on North Mesa, the Reservoir, Sawyers Hill, Pajarito Mountain, and Camp May.

This layered approach, each layer being the foundation for the next, building a cohesive community, was mirrored in the lives of the children.

Kids transported themselves to school - a habit begun at an early age which continued on thereby creating increasing levels of independence and responsibility as they got older. At the youngest age, when Mommy and Daddy pretty much provided your every need, you walked to school until you were old enough for The Bike -- for which you actually needed a license proving that you knew the basic rules of the road and safety and without which you were confined to the sidewalk. Obtaining that license was a rite of passage -- you were old enough, and responsible enough, to ride in the street Then you rode your bike to school, to the store, to everywhere. You were also now old enough to start earning the money for some of your interests - money for Bike maintenance and accessories (a major component of your young budget), for Mother's Day gifts (from the local drugstore), for fishing accessories when you rode your bike to the Reservoir, for the special matinee at the movie, for snacks and other miscellaneous. You started finding a variety of ways to earn that money -- lemonade stands, home grown circuses, helping out the old folks in the neighborhood with gardening needs -- until you were old enough for The Car. Now you really could go every where and you also had to pay for it -- which usually took some kind of part-time job. Yes, kids actually had jobs and actually worked for their spending money -- imagine that.

These layers of social interaction and responsibility created a cohesive community which had absolutely nothing to do with, and was totally separate from, The Lab. The Lab was merely where you worked. Los Alamos was where you Lived, Played, Socialized. But as mentioned before, the point of The Independence of Los Alamos was to create an independent Los Alamos.

Reality Check: The best way to totally and radically alter a society is to undermine the society as it is by un-doing its foundations. This is akin to flattening buildings for the purpose of "re-development" only on a much more fundamental and socially insidious level.

5) A Word About Earthquakes

2010-04-03T21:56:00.000-07:00

There seems to be some concern about really BIG earthquakes. Let's see, last time we had one it opened the Rift through which runneth the Rio. That was a few years ago...........

I spect this has something to do with California escapees, mostly the Hollywood crowd, who, leaving it all behind them and taking it all with them, most particularly imported The Fear Of Tara Jello.

I've been through a quake or two -- Northridge leaps to mind. One of the things that is most noticeable about quakes in recent memory in the US is that most of the casualties are Heart-attacks "MY GOD ITS AN EARTH QUAKE! I'M GONNA DIE!!!!". This is a self-fullfilling prophecy. The thing is if you keep your head, and don't hang heavy stuff on the walls over your head, then it is simply a matter of riding it out. You, can, of course, be in the wrong place at the wrong time, but you have a better chance of being there for a normal car "accident" (most of which are not accidents, they are just plain stupidity).

But, there is our Friend To The West. The "thinking" (for lack of a better word) is that if Our Friend To The West wakes up its gonna be one big earthquake.

Reality Check: Folks, if Our Friend To The West wakes up, the quake won't matter because we are sitting on the lava flow.

People do stupid things for stupid reasons -- like flattening historic landmarks for fear of an earthquake.

4) Adults are crazy

2010-04-02T07:04:00.000-07:00

There is a Beatles tune, "In My Life", with the following lyric, "There are places I remember in my life, and some have changed/ Some forever, not for better..............." Los Alamos has changed, and not neccesarily for the better.

Take the matter of housing. Before Los Alamos Independence, everyone lived in government housing -- my family was in a Group 11 duplex on the Aspen side of 35th (I'm now in a G-11 on the Aspen side of 36th -- weird how that works out). My parents had high school degrees. Others had a range of education from h.s. to phd. But you couldn't tell by the housing. Nor could you tell what someone did or how much money they made. You couldn't use your house to "make a statement". What I learned from this was a job was a job no matter what that job was -- no one is more important than anyone else; no one is less important than anyone else. A house was a house, a neighborhood was a neighborhood and what was important about people was who they were, not who they thought they were.

Now -- well its a bit different. Its an adult thing.

Los Alamos was decidedly planned for children, childhood, and families. The yards were large. You could put in a swing set, sand box, picnic table and still have room for all manner of activities. Families would have backyard picnics with friends and neighbors. The play possibilities were endless. Summer evening games of hide and seek encompassed pretty much the entire street and every hiding place in every yard was fair game, while the grown-ups sat on the front porch late into the evening and quietly chatted. Croquet, badminton, and other such games were regular because there was enough space. Then there was The Sled Run. It started at the top of the hill in my backyard -- down the hill, across the flat, through the gate into the front yard, across the flat, down the front hill, across the street, down the front hill in Kenny's front yard, across the flat, through the gate, across the flat in the backyard, down the hill, through the back gate into the woodland area twixt 35th and 34th/Walnut. Of course, during the summer The Sled Run was The Wagon Run.

I've always felt sorry for kids in urban/burban areas, growing up in apartments or those zero-limit lot neighborhoods with lots the size of a postage stamp overwhelmed by houses that engulf the entire lot. You know, like Broadview and Quemazon. Areas that were developed by developers with the goal of stashing as many people into a square inch as possible so as to make as much money as possible. Recently a local developer suggested that Northern Community be re-zoned to allow purchasing the government housing, flattening it, and building more of the same kind of stuff. The case presented was that the yards represent wasted space. Only an adult would think of this -- adult thinking for adult interests and to heck with the kids. After all, they can play in the play lots or at the schools. And of course there are the canyons, woodlands and, mountains. They don't need yards. Well, its tough to be a developer here. The only way you can develop anything is to flatten something.

Please to note: one of the reasons given to not re-build the historic Municipal Building on its historic site at the Pond is "open space". The adults want open space. They don't want their kids to have it, but they do want it for themselves. So they can be "social". They can't be social in their neighborhoods, on their streets with their neighbors so they need a NYC style "central park". Go figure.

3) Growing Up Los Alamos

2010-04-01T07:50:00.000-07:00

In the 50's, 60's, and 70's growing up in Los Alamos was a Tom Sawyer/Huck Finn childhood adventure which stiumlated curiosity, imagination, and learning. It would certainly seem that Los Alamos was intended to be for children.

There were caves of all manner and size to be explored. Often these explorations turned up artifacts of earlier cultures and one could easily imagine living in those ancient times. Holding a pot, or an arrow point gave you an odd sense of being somehow close to the people who made them; you could almost hear their voices still speaking, telling you of their ways and lives. History, and its off-shoots of anthropology and archaeology, became interesting and you would be in the school library or Mesa library reading everything you could get your hands on about these people of long ago.

There were cliffs and mountains to be climbed and the intrepid young adventurer found it easy to imagine climbing the great mountains of the world. Back to the library to read everything you could find about mountaineering.

Wildlife abounded. I recall one day sitting in a shady nook of a cliff side in the upper reaches of Walnut Canyon, and suddenly four deer leaped down, passing over my head and then sauntering off through the brush further into the canyon. Pools in canyon streams teemed with tadpoles (who never lived to become frogs -- like the mudpuppies of Ashley Pond they went home with the young wildlife biologist). If you sat really still, all manner of birds and small creatures would decide you were harmless and go about their business within just a few feet of you. Off to the library to read everything you could find on wildlife biology.

There were trees to be climbed and if you climbed enough of them you started to notice they way in which they grew and the birds and bugs they supported. Back to the library to read everything you could find on forestry, ecology, and the life of trees.

And you always had snacks. Berries, wild onions, fruits and other edible plants abounded. The hungry young herbologist was off to the library to read everything to be found on Natures' Larder. This explains why a lot of kids weren't hungry come supper time -- it wasn't from raiding the cookie jar. At least we were eating all-natural healthy snacks, long before that became an adult fad, and sometimes doing so to the chagrin of local gardeners who added a variety of vegetables to the snack diet. And it could all be washed down with a drink from a cold mountain stream which was chock full of the kinds of minerals that are usually pretty good for you and are usually banned from public drinking supplies.

Of course, the Tom Sawyer/Huck Finn lifestyle is Dangerous, caves are Dirty and have Mouse Droppings which carry Disease, finding artifacts is Politically Incorrect as is bringing home tadpoles and mudpuppies as pets. Food is supposed to come from a store which is 100% bacteria-free. And as for the water -- did you know, that the water of Los Alamos had a natural flouride content that was 10% higher than almost anywhere else? Yet adults have banned flouride from drinking water for fear that it is a carcinogen (in enough quantity, what isn't).

Actually, come to think of it adults are pretty much fearful and disapproving of all the stuff that makes childhood so wonderous. Adults are crazy.

2) You Had To Have Been There

2010-03-31T06:27:00.000-07:00

Many people in my age bracket are just old enough to remember a childhood wading in a natural, and larger, Ashley Pond catching mudpuppies. A lot of mudpuppies met an untimely demise. We would catch them on the weekend, give them a name, and on about Thursday or Friday there would be the standard burial in the garden which meant catching a new one on the following weekend. They also think they remember an open space. Well, yes and no. The Old County Courthouse was sitting approximately where the JPJ sits now and there were some barracks and other Project buildings along what is now Oppenheimer. But there is something they don't remember, which I do.

Though the County had been created in 1949 it was more of a legal construct than anything else. In 1959 residents of Los Alamos could not own property. Their voting rights were limited. The Town Council/County Commission could not pass legislation, particularly of a budgetary nature, without final approval from the AEC. For over a decade the Constitutional rights which most people take for granted were limited here in Los Alamos. Then, in 1960, it all started to change.

Los Alamos was to be turned over to Los Alamos! The excitement was palpable. People could talk of nothing else. Families sat around the kitchen table and tried to make decisions about buying the government house they were renting or maybe building a "dream home" in the up-coming new developments of Barranca Mesa and White Rock. Los Alamos was about to make its first moves to becoming a "real" town. This is one of clearest memories I have from my childhood -- the excitement, the anticipation. You had to have been there -- it was truly amazing.

It took seven years to get it done. One of the things that was done was planning what would be the first City Hall of an independent Los Alamos. For years, we had stashed what little local government we had in the Old County Courthouse which was an AEC re-tread from the war years.

That original City Hall, the Los Alamos County Municipal Building, was to be the landmark of the political independence of Los Alamos and its establishment as a true polity - not just a legal construct. The significance of that building was stated by then County Administrator Paul Noland in his remarks at the dedication ceremony June 24th 1967 "This building symbolizes Los Alamos as a normal New Mexico town and a normal New Mexico County". That significance was under-scored by inclusion in that ceremony of the signing of the final documents which gave Los Alamos full autonomy and self-actualizing, self-determining Independence.

It was a time of Hope and Confidence and Optimism in, and for, the Future of Los Alamos -- a time of Civic Pride.

Unfortunately, there was a construction flaw. And, unfortunately, we no longer live in an age of Hope, Confidence, Optimism, and Civic Pride.

Now, the Muni and everything it stood for has been demolished and abandoned for the sake of vague promises of Retail, Entertainment, Creature Comforts and Amenities -- for the sake of a Myopia Statement which says "We will create a vital Downtown with shopping, theaters, and restaurants". Somehow, the Governmental Palace now being concieved is supposed to achieve that objective.

Reality Check: What other town in America would do this? If you were to go to any other town and suggest they demolish their original seat of government, their orginal town hall, the building which was the true birthplace of their existance as an independent polity, and replace it, in a different location, with a non-descript office building for the purpose of perhaps making a few lousy bucks would people in that town ask you to please leave? Maybe wearing a suit of feathers? On a rail? Yet, we'll do it here, and one has to wonder: what is it about Los Alamos? Or, as one long time resident asked me, "Richard, why do people hate Los Alamos so much?"

And consider this: in 2009 Los Alamos celebrated the 60th anniversary of its creation as a legal construct. Yet, in 2007, Los Alamos celebrated the 40th anniversary of its true Independence by demolishing and abandoning the landmark symbol of that Independence. Sorta makes you wonder................

1) As Goes Los Alamos -- So Goes Los Alamos

2010-03-30T08:17:00.000-07:00

The Los Alamos Myopia Statement says, "Los Alamos and the Labs are inseparable".

Reality Check : Au contraire. Los Alamos and the Lab are separate and have been ever since The Gates were opened. This was the intent when, in 1960, the process was begun to transfer authority for Los Alamos from the AEC to Los Alamos -- a process that was completed on June 24th, 1967 with the dedication of the Los Alamos County Municipal Building and the signing of the documents which gave full authority of Los Alamos to Los Alamos as an independent, self-determining, self-actualizing polity.

The future of Los Alamos depends on never losing sight of our independence and responsibility to the consequences thereof.