Letters to the Editor

Mail letters to Letters, Santa Fe Reporter, PO Box 2306, Santa Fe NM 87504, deliver them to 132 E. Marcy St., fax them to 988-5348, e-mail them to editor@sfreporter.com, or use our online form.

  CHEAP SHOT    

Aren't you yet tired of cheap shots made at the expense of a legendary actress who has never claimed to be holy in any way, has done her best to live a decent life, and has brought a great deal of both consciousness and pleasure to millions of people around the world?

Your announcement that she was appearing at Garcia Street Books [

] was disrespectful and downright stupid. Please. Find a new target.

   CHILDREN FIRST    

The members of the Agua Fria Elementary School PTC feel that it is essential that their voices are heard in response to the article featured in the Santa Fe Reporter's Nov. 7 issue [

. We are hopeful that awareness will now be raised to the seriousness of overcrowding in our schools and district.

There is no question that the south side of Santa Fe has grown tremendously over the past few years and will inevitably continue to grow. Without disregarding any children on the north side of town, we need to find a reasonable and constructive resolution to this problem. The agreed upon resolution should accommodate everyone and give each child the greatest possible chance to receive the best education that they possibly can have, and most greatly deserve.

All south-side residents, as well as the members of the Agua Fria Elementary School PTC, rely heavily on support from elected officials such as Ms. Angelica Ruiz, SFPS board member, to assist us in managing situations such as this. Especially due to the fact that this particular issue clearly affects not only our children of Agua Fria but all the children of Santa Fe. With this being said, we encourage and invite our school board member, Ms. Ruiz, to actively become involved by attending our PTC meetings. We believe that this will enable her to directly listen to our concerns so we can rectify this situation sooner rather than later. It is our hope that our elected school board member will demonstrate her ethical and moral responsibility to the needs of the schools on the south side.

Our main priority is to address the needs of our students and children and we are committed to standing up for their rights.

  GREAT FOR MULCH    

Having been born and raised in Santa Fe, and having lived in Albuquerque for 30 years, I've come to understand that what really makes "The City Different" unique is the obsession of its residents with smugness and a misguided sense of superiority. I'm glad to see that the editorial staff of your publication is no exception.

It must be all the cows' pee in the streams that feed the reservoir that makes you all so "special." So much so that you can execute a drive-by and take down two bystanders at once. Your

column managed to offend both Albuquerque and El Paso in the same breath. I guess you figured we're all too poor to come spend money in your special city anyway, so what could be the harm in having a nice laugh at our expense? Oh-did you forget about all the free papers you deliver to our "loser" city every week? It's making a nice mulch for the soil in my South Valley yard. Keep it coming.

  THE TIME IS NOW    

Activist/Councilor Karen Heldmeyer's Neighborhood Conservation Development Ordinance (NCDO) has grown out of neighborhoods' frustration with the city, re: irresponsible infill, and seeing the potential loss of existing neighborhoods as we all now know them [

].

Heldmeyer's proposed ordinance, along with the very recent creation of the Santa Fe Neighborhood Law Center, is no coincidence! The growing crisis (destruction of neighborhoods-which means Santa Fe itself) has given birth to the two entities that must change "business as usual" in Santa Fe development.

I attended two of Heldmeyer's well-organized and most informative meetings on her proposed NCDO. One was in District 2 (my district) and the other was in District 1. I learned an awful lot from her AND from the audience. What came through loud and clear from the audience was: "Money talks" and "It's the only way to do business in Santa Fe." Also, it was shocking for all of us to learn that the four-story "big box" 179-unit condo now being built behind McDonald's on Pacheco Street never went to Council! The developer got a variance on this from the city.

Longtime old-timer Santa Fe family audience participants in District 1 spoke freely amongst each other on how the system works here. As these disturbing concerns are freely talked about in meetings, I wonder if it is time for Santa Fe to have its own "deep throat" to tell the press/media how to "follow the money."

On another vital issue, the city could begin to show some intention of protecting people in neighborhoods by filling the four-plus year unfilled position of neighborhood advocate. This position was held by a terrific gal, Carrie La Crosse.

The District 1 audience sent a loud-and-clear message to Heldmeyer by breaking out in cheers and applause four or five times during her superb presentation.

Martin Luther King Jr. said the following: "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

Santa Feans: Now is the time. On Thursday, Dec. 20 at 6 pm, Heldmeyer's NCDO will be brought before the Planning Commission. See you there!

  NO CIRCUMCISION    

I am thrilled to learn that Alan Cumming got this year's Santa Fe Film Festival Maverick Award. Icouldn't agree more with his views on circumcision, as discussed in "Get the Picture" [

]. So I was baffled to read Carmen Espinosa's letter to the editor [Dec. 5: "It's not the same"], in which she says, "If male circumcision was similar to female 'circumcision' the tip of the boy's penis would be hacked off with a knife…and the sides of the penis might be hacked off as well." I guess Carmen is unaware of what sometimes happens in "botched" jobs.

Maybe she never got a chance to read the true story of David Reimer as told by John Colapinto [The Rolling Stone, December 1997: "The True Story of John/Joan" and also in the book by the same author: As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl, New York, Harper Collins, 2000]. Of course, Reimer was very brave in going public with his story. Most people in his situation would keep quiet out of shame. (He later committed suicide, by the way.) I am looking forward to the day when we can all agree that any time someone takes a knife to the healthy sexual organs of a (male or female) child, it's a human rights violation.

The Reporter welcomes original, signed letters to the editor. Letters (no more than 200 words) should refer to specific articles in the Reporter. They may be edited for clarity and space. Please include address and phone number for verification purposes; these will not be published.

Santa Fe Reporter