No or Low Cost Clinic
Please remember that Ellen Wittman’s “No or Low Cost Clinic” group meets at 6 p.m. at the community center before the LCVA Board meeting. The LCVA encourages you to join this group if you are interested in bringing affordable health care to our community.
Erosion Issues
The Santa Fe Pojoaque Soil and Conservation District is conducting a survey of erosion issues in Santa Fe County. Please look forward to information on how you can report erosion issues and be included in the survey. The intent is to see what can be done to correct serious erosion problems.
Bus Service
La Cienega and La Cieneguilla may be closer to a trial run of bus service in our community. The North Central Transit District is currently conducting a couple of trial runs in communities in Northern New Mexico and depending with what happens with those routes our community may be next in line for service. Please remember that La Cieneguilla resident Marlene Foster is the LCVA liaison with the Transit District
Community Breakfast
To encourage better attendance the LCVA will be inviting special guests and presenters to our community breakfasts. Please look for notices on who will be attending our breakfasts and if you have an idea of someone to invite or know of anyone or a group that would benefit the breakfast please let us know.
La Cieneguilla Variances
The LCVA has researched the two variance requests in La Cieneguilla. Both variance requests are the result of previous unpermitted or illegal construction resulting in additional living spaces, in one case a hidden duplex. The LCVA opposes any variance that is the result of an illegal act.
BLM Sign
The Bureau of Land Management recently installed a sign in La Cieneguilla. The following letter was sent to Jesse Juen, the BLM State Director, explaining problems with the sign on November 25, 2014:
Jesse Juen, State Director
BLM New Mexico
P.O. Box 27115
Santa Fe, N.M. 87502
Dear Mr. Juen:
Please see the enclosed photograph of a BLM sign that was recently posted in the community of La Cieneguilla. The sign was posted without community notice or input. That was unfortunate and a bureaucratic oversight. As noted the sign reads: Santa Fe Ranch-Cienega – Recreation Area.
There are three problems with the sign. First the sign is posted in La Cieneguilla not Cienega. Second the name Cienega is slang, the proper name for any formal sign would be La Cienega and in this case it should have been La Cieneguilla. Finally Santa Fe Ranch is an area of BLM land near Las Campanas that has no community known connection to the BLM land in La Cieneguilla rendering that reference meaningless to residents and misleading to visitors.
This can be seen as an example of what happens when a federal agency, with no established connection to a community, makes uninformed unilateral decisions that affect that community. On top of the problems with the sign, there has been no effort, to our knowledge, by the Taos Field office to engage our community to help us understand what a BLM “Recreation Area” means. Our concern is what impact the Recreation Area will have on our community and on adjacent land owners, especially those landowners with existing grazing leases.
The Taos Field Office knows that the La Cienega Valley Association (LCVA) is an established community organization representing the communities of La Cienega, La Cieneguilla and El Canon. The LCVA has been in existence for almost 20 years, we work hard to protect our community interests and honor a responsibility to keep our residents informed. In the future we believe it would be to everyone’s benefit to encourage the BLM Taos Office to engage the LCVA when planning activities or actions that impact or affect our community. In the meantime we respectfully request that this inappropriate sign be removed.
Sincerely,
Carl Dickens, President
La Cienega Valley Association
La Cienega Valley Association Board Meeting
December 1, 2014 – 7:00 p.m., La Cienega Community Center
Preserving Our Rural Way of Life
AGENDA
Call to Order
1. Approval of Agenda
2. Approval November Minutes
3. Matters from the Public
4. President’s Report
a. La Bajada Ranch Update
b. Conference of Community Organizations
c. Review of LCVA Committees
d. Community Breakfasts
5. Treasurer’s Report
6. Committee Reports
7. Newsletter Content
8. Matters from the Board
9. Adjournment