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At the Greater Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce’s annual Las Cruces Day in Santa Fe last week, several entities presented their wants and needs to state legislators and administrators.
More than 125 Las Crucens also made the trip, learning more about the community in the bargain.
Tracey Bryan of the Bridge of Southern New Mexico summed it up well: “We’re all here, as one community, trying to improve the overall quality of life in Las Cruces and Doña Ana County.”
Those entities included the City of Las Cruces, Doña Ana County, the Mesilla Valley Economic Development Alliance, Spaceport America, the Greater Chamber, the Las Cruces Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, New Mexico State University, Doña Ana Community College, the Bridge of Southern New Mexico and Las Cruces Public Schools.
Sometimes the interests of those entities don’t always coincide. Sometimes they even contradict.
This time of year, however, they get together – literally on the same pages – as the Doña Ana County Legislative Coalition (DACLC). They find common ground and work together to promote the issues and needs of our region.
When I say on the same pages, I mean in a nice booklet which details key legislative priorities for each entity.
During the even-year, 30-day sessions, the legislature’s primary focus is on the budget. But there are plenty of opportunities for additional bills, and the important laying of groundwork of topics and issues for future sessions.
Most of the DACLC’s priorities for this year are related to infrastructure. The priorities include the following.
CITY OF LAS CRUCES
DOÑA ANA COUNTY
MESILLA VALLEY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ALLIANCE
SPACEPORT AMERICA
NMSU
THE BRIDGE
LAS CRUCES PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Lt. Gov. Howie Morales addressed the attendees at breakfast Monday, Jan. 27, and his words echoed the weekend’s theme.
“We’re all in this together,” Morales said. “We won’t always agree, but we must work together.”
A legislative session, as it gets going, has a way of bringing out disagreements both wild and mild.
And partisan politics, especially in today’s world, has a way of getting in the way of progress and compromise.
But we can hope the logic of moving New Mexico forward, in a fiscally responsible way, can be a path all want to discover.