New Page Added

I have reorganized and combined the original four “Understanding Edgewood” posts and republished them as a single page. The new page appears in the list under the blog header: Understanding Edgewood Land Use Policy 1999-2021.

New page added to the list under the blog title

By request, I’ve added a page listing Edgewood’s elected officials from 1999 to the present. Some dates are approximate. Corrections/clarifications are welcome: email me using the address on the profile page. 

Edgewood in the news

Local Government at its finest?

This story posted in The Independent on February 14, 2025 features a call for a forensic audit of town finances with a special focus on legal expenses. Also mentioned are a need for new roads standards and the difficulty the town is experiencing in fulfilling Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA) requests. Another recent story from January 30, 2025 hints at the reasons for the postponement of the Campbell Ranch subdivision appeal as being caused by problems with proper notification of the January 30 public hearing as well as appellants experiencing problems obtaining information in a timely manner.  

My thoughts: Edgewood voters were promised more transparency if they approved a change from a Mayor and Council form of government to Commission Manager. Unfortunately, the town has failed to deliver on these lofty promises during the four years which have gone by since then. The town’s website is a mess. It looks pretty on the surface, but the contents are hard to find and important documents are missing. This state of affairs forces the public to use IPRA to get access to what should be routine information. 

The town has initiated, joined in, and has become the target of an unprecedented number of lawsuits during the past four years. This has diverted money in the budget away from basic services and has increased the burden on town staff to supply documentation regarding these numerous legal adventures. What does the Commission propose? Improve the website, reduce its litigation profile? Neither. They propose to spend money to pay someone else to do the work of town employees.  

The town needs new road standards? Perhaps it would save time and money if the town staff would simply have a look at what is already on the books and see if/where changes are needed.  The “de novo” approach will cost more money and take more time.    

Work smarter or work harder? After 25 years (yea us we threw ourselves a big party) the town government still can’t properly advertise, conduct, or follow through on a simple subdivision hearing? Hint: The office of the New Mexico Attorney General has information designed to help local governments with these important tasks. It’s public information, free to download at the NMAG website, and the language is accessible to the average reader. 

Link added for EMPAC

I’ve added EMPAC (East Mountains Protection Action Coalition)to the links list located the sidebar at the left side of the page. The page was created by our neighbors in the far northwest part of Edgewood who are directly impacted by Edgewood’s decisions on the Campbell Ranch Master Plan.  However, this group is not single issue and it is monitoring information on other land use questions which are of interest to the East Mountains. 

ETA:I will not be opening the blog to comments again any time soon. Moderating comments adds yet another layer to maintenance. For now, new material and updating links is challenge enough.  Feel free to contact me via email.