Believing something said, then it manifesting as reality, is only several degrees apart in the real world.
Especially when the context is politic and the topic is Edgewood. In the past, people were led to believe that there were some corrupt and therefore “bad” things happening in the Town’s governance. In hindsight, that belief may have been a ruse to make change where none had been needed – or at least not with the tactics which were employed to make it happen. The rhetoric and bluster were all about cleaning up a mess. However, the former Mayors and Councils been paying the bills and attempting to build a financially stable foundation for improvements for years……
But the fear and accusations were believed, and the changes happened – obviously the original governance of the Town wasn’t perfect, “Mayor Council” had its share of issues. But it seems to have been more transparent, more ethical, and more responsible than the “Manager Commission” government has been over the last 4.5 years. In fact, looking back at the past 4.5 years of this new government, things are far worse than before. There is much less transparency in the Town’s affairs, the funding for all of the plans that were built up over the previous 20 years have disappeared, finances are not being properly accounted, as is evident by incomplete auditing for almost the entire time the new government has been in office, and bills are not being paid on time, or at all!
The promises of removing corruption and malfeasance were simply a bait and switch for power, and an apparent design to destroy the Town’s ability to function as a positive governmental resource for this community.
By blindly spending the Town’s resources, this new group of “leaders” has bankrupted the town and crippled its ability to function to support the wellbeing of the community, or to improve the lives and livelihood of the residents. No funding for public works means that we have nothing to show for the tax money we have all put in as residents, because it is not going to the things we had expected or wanted.
Deceit and misdirection appear to have been an undercurrent in Edgewood Administration since 1999 when the Town was incorporated. In 1999 the public was told about the promise of better roads and a more attentive local authority. In the background the undercurrent was control of zoning and subdivision rules for developers and realtors. Neither has panned out as was promised. For the next 20 years the Town struggled with poor funding and conflicting goals. Then with the overthrow of the “Mayor Council” in 2021, by a well-funded and very vocal group that called themselves CORE (Citizens Organized for a Responsible Edgewood) it has become overtly, less responsible, less able to be effective, in almost every way dysfunctional. The change, instead of improving anything, has made things far worse than Mayor Council ever was, even as polarized as it became.
Isn’t it time to end the whole affair and return to a sensible, functional, and better funded Santa Fe County administration?
All images of signs are from the 2020 campaign to change Edgewood from Mayor Council to Manager Commission.