Actions speak louder than words

Who among us has reached out to a city official or elected representative, requesting nothing more than a simple response to a benign question, only to be met with, at best, silence, and at worst, ridicule?

“I know better than you” is the theme I am especially familiar with. At a town hall in January 2024, I was regarded as a monster in insisting that the homeless drug addicts that hurl drug-hazed insults at people that aren’t there and break into businesses simply to break their cycle of boredom, are dangerous and that someone was bound to be hurt very soon. Three weeks later, a young police officer lost his life to a violent man that should have long been institutionalized, and suddenly, people were paying attention.

But only for a little while. When 75 business owners came together in the aftermath to publicly ask the city for a collaborative work session on public safety and how to address the crime in our community, we were met with disdain and disregard.

In the time since then, I’ve learned that business owners have been requesting help with the crime for years, falling on deaf ears and crushing the will of many (now former) business owners whose dreams died the fifth or sixth time they had to replace storefront windows, the last time their insurance company said they could no longer carry them, the exhaustive red tape of getting a business license or certificate of occupancy, the hordes of drug addicts that harassed customers, bar tenders and employees alike.

But the city basks in its accomplishments – Las Cruces was recently named as Developer of the Year by Housing New Mexico (formerly New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority), for its feverish work to build affordable housing throughout the city. The city seeks to spend millions of dollars revitalizing El Paseo, South Solano and West Picacho, known as their Metropolitan Redevelopment Areas, but didn’t support a struggling business in that area when they were broken into on multiple occasions.

And yet, any mention of the crime that still lurks is quickly dismissed as propaganda. Apparently, there’s villainy in questioning why $350,000 apartments meant for drug addicts can’t be prioritized for domestic violence victims, kids aging out of foster care, or veterans, even though advocates for those struggling populations also plead for help from the same body of representatives.

And while some seek to affect change, the train that the city is on is fast and powerful and safe within the status quo.

Today, I hold out great hope for the new city council candidates running for office this cycle. Several have been engaged with city politics, as concerned residents and business owners, for years. Several others have already started doing things to make a difference in our community, long before seeking office.

Many have participated in forums, town halls, and presentations by concerned citizens that only seek to help all of Las Cruces. Most speak of action and change. Regardless of your politics, most of us would agree that Las Cruces needs change. The status quo is no longer safe for citizens. It is not safe in your business, your public park, your grocery store parking lot, your tax-funded downtown, your neighborhood.

At a press conference on Aug. 12, 1986, President Ronald Reagan famously said, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’”

Many of those currently running our city wish to ridicule the public when we make suggestions about how to course correct our community. I’ve watched it time and again during city council meetings. “I know better than you.”

Being an elected leader doesn’t make you an expert and “experts” can be wrong anyway. The semblance of our democracy was built on collaboration with and new ideas from its citizens. And until we elect leaders that we can trust to take our suggestions and work with us, instead of against us, Reagan’s words should haunt us all – and carry us post-haste to the ballot box.

Shawna Pfeiffer is a life-long Dona Ana County Resident, graduate of NMSU, small business owner, hobby farmer, dog-lover, outdoor enthusiast and mother to two young children. She can be reached at srpfeiffer1@gmail.com.