Friday, November 6, 2009

Press Release for Hand in Hand Event

Bernalillo County Commissioner Art De La Cruz Hosts Informational Community Event to Address Questions and Concerns

Issued by Bernalillo County
Public Information Dept.
Liz Hamm
lhamm@bernco.gov
Office: 468-7026
Fax: 768-4444


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Bernalillo County 2nd District Commissioner Art De La Cruz will host a free, community-wide program Saturday, November 7, 2009 that will bring County Hall to the South Valley. The public is invited and refreshments will be served.

The event, called “Hand in Hand (“Mano en Mano”): Bernalillo County Working with You,” will be held at Westside Community Center, 1250 Isleta Blvd. SW, from 10 a.m. to noon. The Commissioner and the County Manager, Deputy County Managers and other high level administrators, as well as the Treasurer, Assessor, Sheriff, and County Clerk will be on hand to answer any questions residents and businesses have about the programs and services the County provides and to respond onsite their concerns. The DWI Batmobile, K-9 Unit and Mobile Command Unit and a pet adoption will also be a part of the morning.

South Valley native Art De La Cruz has served in local government for 34 years. In that role and as an elected official he believes the most important service government employees can provide is to be responsive to the public.

“I have had positive feedback from many people regarding this event. I look forward to visiting personally with you. I encourage people to take a few minutes to join us for a cup of coffee and take advantage of this opportunity to come out and talk to us. This is a great example of how much Bernalillo County cares about the South Valley,” says Commissioner De La Cruz.

Increment of 1 Press Release

Issued by Bernalillo County
Public Information Dept.
Liz Hamm
lhamm@bernco.gov
Office: 468-7026
Fax: 768-4444


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In an unprecedented effort, the Board of County Commissioners and the Economic Development Team are reaching out to local businesses through the “Increment of 1” initiative. The objective is to help several local businesses create one job over the next few months. To achieve that, Commissioners are interviewing a variety of local businesses to gather information which will be used to create an agenda for an upcoming Business Summit on January 12, 2010. The information will also be used to prepare a “Local Business Needs Presentation” to the State Legislature and the New Mexico Congressional Delegation.

“This initiative is very innovative and unique. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, especially now,” says Commissioner De La Cruz. “We have been meeting with several types of businesses, gathering their thoughts and ideas and finding ways to have the County work with them to expand.”

“Our objective is twofold; the information we gather will help us prepare a fundamental and beneficial agenda for the upcoming Business Summit scheduled for January 2010. If we can have 500 small to medium sized existing businesses create and fill one job over the next few months, it will have the same economic impact as a big company moving into our community and the positions may be more sustainable,” says Commissioner De La Cruz.

“The Commission is refocusing the County’s economic development efforts on local businesses, on giving our existing employers the support they need to grow and prosper,” said Commissioner Maggie Hart Stebbins. “We will continue to attract new employers to this region, but we are putting our local businesses first.”


NEWS CONFERENCE

DATE: Thursday, November 5, 2009

TIME: 10:00 a.m.

LOCATION: New Mexico Foods
3041 University Boulevard, SE


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Increment of 1

I am proud to sponsor and initiate Bernalillo County's "Increment of One" program through the Office of Economic Development. During my campaign for Bernalillo County Commission, I made a promise to focus on Economic Development. I often said that over the past 9 years Bernalillo County was serious about Economic Development. So serious that they had one guy and a part time assistant. The budget appropriated to the Office was less that of smaller sections in the County. Despite the limited resources, the Office did an exceptional job in attracting companies such as Tempur Productions, the relocation of Verizon, and the issuance of IRB's such as Sennheiser Electronic, SBS Technologies, and New Mexico Foods (to name a few).

With the support of my fellow commissioners we have added staff and resources to the Office and they are now moving forward. An initiative that I promised during the campaign is a focus on small businesses. We spend all of our time trying to lure these international companies and forget about the backbone of our community - the small business persons. I am proud to say that the Increment of One Program is started and is now a great success. Each commissioner is visiting businesses in their district and - "listening to the concerns of the business people." It has been an eye opening experience. We have heard how government does not listen, how government impedes, how the small business people need connections with other businesses, and the need for a clearing house that will answer the most simple of questions. One overarching concern is that government offers incentives to large businesses and forgets about the smaller business people.

The second part of this program is that we will have a summit on January 13th at Albuquerque Studios. We will have micro-lenders, small business assistance and over 400 small businesses speaking of their experience. Finally, we will develop a legislative packet to submit to our local,state and federal delegation. For more information call Jesse Lopez at 468-7000.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

South Valley Clean Ups

The SOUTH VALLEY CLEAN PROJECT, which I initiated when I took office in the beginning of the year, is going full steam ahead. We continue to remove weeds, trash debris, old tires and graffiti from the South Valley. Through the support from the County Manager, deputy directors as well as other County management and staff our latest successful clean up focused on a neighborhood-wide clean up in the area around Rio Bravo and South Second Street in Mountain View.

The Neighborhood Association joined our endeavor working with the Solid Waste department and the Public Information office and me to produce an informational flyer. It proved to be a great tool that sustained a very productive cleanup in Mountainview Saturday, October 17, 2009. The Neighborhood Association used funds from a small grant to pay for the flyer printing costs and mailing advertising the clean up in English and Spanish that was circulated to over1400 People. The partnership with the neighborhood reinforced the efforts of over 75 Volunteers including high-level county staff and others that were engaged in physically cleaning up junk from yards and roadways.

The CCP details were onsite long before the major clean up to clear the path for us and in the vicinity on September 26, 27 & October 3 & 4 at Prosperity, and 2nd Street, William Street, Kinney Road SW and Mountain View Community Center. The total trash weight collected by the crews was: 22,320 lbs or 11.16 tons. We accomplished the following on the day of the clean up Recycled Items - 180 cubic yards total. Mountain View Site: Green Waste – 90 Cubic Yards; Metal – 60 cubic Yards; Tires – 180 cubic yards / 1800 tires. Solid Waste Removal-930 cubic yards total. Mountain View Site - 270 cubic yards; Illegal dump site - Prince Avenue-300 cubic yards. Independent Properties: Mary Street – 30 cubic yards; William Street-180 cubic yards; Sunnyslope Avenue-150 cubic yards. Graffiti Team: 2895 square feet of graffiti removed.