[NENA] Brief D4 minutes

[JOE YARDUMIAN]

                                                                                                3/21/08

                                      BRIEF MINUTES OF THE 3/19/08 DISTRICT 4 COALITION
                                                           OF NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATIONS MEETING

Guest speaker Ernie C de Baca from PNM briefed the membership on the proposed PNM rate increase.  The increase is necessary because PNM's reserve is virtually exhausted and PNM is faced with substantial expense for infrastructure needs in the coming decade while demands have increased and costs of fuel, purchased power, and materials (steel, concrete) and construction have risen significantly.  PNM has not had a rate increase for several years and has been forced to draw down on their reserves.  PNM rates are currently 30 % below regional and 25 % below national rates.  Infrastructure investment over the next 5 years will be about $ 1.7 Billion.  Borrowing will cost more as PNM bond rating has declined and PNM stock has dropped from over $30/share to $7/share.  Mr. C de Baca also discussed several of PNM's consumer oriented program.

Councilman Brad Winter noted our state legislators have garnered $635,000 for Domingo Baca Park in the recent legislative session.  It was also noted the a presentation on the status of development at the park 
will be made on 3/25, 7 PM at the Methodist Church.  He briefly discussed the recent City agreement with the police and fire departments, salary increases of 5% over 3 years for the fire dept. and 20% over 3 years for the police dept.  The city is projecting a $50 million budget deficit in the budget with no indication of how to balance.

It was reported that the vandalism at the Arroyo del Oso school is continuing and individuals have been seen using binoculars to watch teachers lock their purses in their car trunks.  The trunks are later broken into.  Senator Diane Snyder has been asked for help and she is providing $80,000 for security upgrades and a camera system.  Police are aware of the problems but have been unable to provide adequate coverage to stop the vandalism and thefts.  Police at the sub-station have directed 2 officers to patrol the area, especially at night.  D4 is sending a letter to the Police Chief, Senator Diane Snyder, Brad Winter, and the PTA president expressing concern about the problems and requesting help. 

Several D4 members reported that attempts to retrieve local area crime data has been unsuccessful and   NAs are upset about the unavailability.  In addition it was noted that the "count" of police officers in the field", may have been inflated as police dogs may have been counted in the totals.

Del Rey Mobile Home Park reported that their case will finally reach the Design Review Board on April 2, 08.


Adjourned at 9:20 PM

Respectfully submitted
Joe Yardumian
NENA rep. to D4







-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://noreste.org/pipermail/members_noreste.org/attachments/20080321/d55f8107/attachment.html