Maybe you should move?

Editor:

This letter is in response to the anonymous contributor who complains about people who complain (“Rants & Raves,” Rio Rancho Observer, Sept. 20). This person equates Rio Rancho to cities in other states, some with a population greater than the entire state of New Mexico, and says we should visit any one of them and read their complaint ratio. There is also a reference that the complainers should leave this lovely (Oops, belay that word) city run by developers. I recommended that this particular person should follow his/her advice and take the next stage out of town.

Now, when I say that developers run Rio Rancho, I’m not complaining ... just stating an observation. After all, if it weren’t for early developers (settlers) we wouldn’t reside further west than New York. 

Rio Rancho is growing at a pace that is breathless (oops, sorry again ... read brainless), which will put this city on the map of New Mexico similar to that which is called ... a melanoma. Spread, sprawl, creep or run, Rio Rancho is heading west into a vast area frequented by salivating developers asking the city to sponsor their endeavor. Infrastructure is, and always has been, hindsight. After the building comes the road, built with the benefit of repair several days after it is called finished.

Note that the writer signs his letters, and does not hide behind anonymity, I’m in the phone book, and you should hear the phone calls I sometimes get. They read the letter, and that, amigos, is why I wrote it.

Bob Harpley

Rio Rancho

The lights are too close

Editor:

Regarding the letter titled “It’s about Stop Lights!” by Bob Harpley (“Your Views,” Rio Rancho Observer, Sept. 27)

Yes, the new stoplight on NM 528 near Enchanted Hills is nothing but a nuisance. I have no problem with the slower speed limit, but as Mr. Harpley correctly points out, stoplights too close together create a definite traffic hazard. Not only does such proximity encourage tailgating accidents, it wastes gas and adds to pollution.

But then developers could care less about anything in the public interest. Once again developers do whatever they want and the city councils (Rio Rancho or Bernalillo) just go along with it. It’s high time for a conflict of interest investigation.

James Aruson

Rio Rancho



How to increase accidents

Editor:

There have been several letters to the editor over the past weeks about the number of traffic lights that are installed on NM 528 between US 550 and Idalia/Willow Creek.

The fact is that increasing the number of traffic lights not only significantly delays the flow of traffic, but it significantly increases the chances of accidents occurring.

The following excerpt is from the Access Management Signal Spacing Manual of the Public Works Agency, Transportation Department, Ventura, County, California.

The manual says that, “Increasing the distance between traffic signals improves the flow of traffic on major arterials, reduces congestion, and improves air quality for heavily traveled corridors. The appropriate spacing between signals for a particular corridor depends greatly upon the speed and flow of traffic, but anything greater than two signals per mile has a significant impact on congestion and safety.”

This criteria is now the standard in every state and almost every county and city in the United States. So why did New Mexico allow this to occur and place thousands of its citizens at serious risk on a daily basis?

Based on these standards, how would the entities that approved all these traffic lights defend themselves if they were named co-defendants in a injury lawsuit that the plaintiff(s) contend was the direct result of bad traffic engineering?

Harry Gordon

Rio Rancho

Elders not child-like

Editor:

While taking a class for continued education for massage licensure, I noticed some participants tended to look at elders as though they were children.

To look at the elder as childlike is doing a huge disservice to their lives. Some think that as the mind goes and forgetfulness occurs, etc., it’s childlike. I think it’s something that happens to the body when we age.

If we reach that point, it usually means we had a full life. For caregivers and others to reduce that by how the elderly are treated and spoken to and thought of doesn’t seem right. For example: childish plastic barrettes or huge silly bows in the hair, yelling (assuming the elder can’t hear), endearments to address the elder as though speaking to a child or sometimes not even addressing the elder, assuming the elder is not capable of being included and instead addresses a family member.

Maybe those people should take a memoir writing class with older people; they might hear how full and remarkable the lives are of older people. And when their lives wind down to the need for nursing homes, every caregiver and others will look at the elder with honor and respect. And do you really think that most of our elders don’t know they are being treated as if they were children? I think they surely do know and it just might hurt deep within them. We can show love with comforting words and touch and it need not be demeaning.

I use an exercise for better understanding. I reverse the situation. So therefore — no — please, no plastic barrettes!

Bonita “Bo” Vincent

Rio Rancho

No overseas taxes

Editor:

During this recession, the last thing Americans need is higher prices on products and higher unemployment rates.

A proposed $200 billion tax reform by President Obama on American businesses that operate overseas would decrease our economic stability even further because these companies would not be able to compete on an international level. The U.S. already has the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world and by raising these taxes, companies would be forced to cut jobs or eventually export jobs and America would lose its competitive advantage.

Congress must not pass this bill and come up with a better plan that will help businesses prosper, not damage them.

U.S. businesses located overseas are vital to stimulating and stabilizing our economy, adding increased taxes on top of what taxes they already pay is not the way to do it.

Tim Dingman 

Rio Rancho