Mayoral candidates share visions of Gallup's future

William Bright, with the Gallup Committee for a Minimum Wage Increase, holds up one of the pamphlets with a peanut attached to it that he was passing out to attendees at the Meet the Mayoral Candidates Forum at El Morro Theater on Thursday evening. [Photo by Matt Hinshaw/Independent]

By Bill Donovan
Staff Writer

GALLUP — Gallup's seven mayoral candidates made their plea again Thursday night for Gallup voters to look to them for solutions to Gallup's problems.

Some pointed to past accomplishments as a reason they are in the race this year, others said they decided to run because they felt they had a great vision for Gallup's future and one admitted that he flipped a coin.

But all seven had something to say Thursday at a forum attended by some 70 people and sponsored by the Neighborhood Association Task Force.

Jimmy Parish Sr.
Parish comes to the race with 24 years of experience working for the city and the county. Now retired, he said, if elected, he can be a full-time mayor.

Much of his talk centered around improvements to Gallup's infrastructure. He promised to work for more repaving of streets, more sidewalk improvements and replacing worn out water pipes.

He said a couple of times he didn't like the city's decision in the past four years to close down numerous parks.

The current administration has done a good job in making improvements to the downtown area and he pledged to continue these efforts.

"We do need to improve the lighting in that area," he said.

All of the candidates agreed that Gallup has a major drug problem and Parish said he would like to see police be more active in schools, talking to students about the dangers of taking drugs and checking to make sure that drugs are not being brought to the schools.

"We also need to do more about finding out who is bringing the drugs into Gallup," he said.

Harry Mendoza
A former county commissioner and the "father" of the downtown plaza and veteran's memorial at the plaza, Mendoza talked of his successful efforts to improve the quality of life for all of Gallup residents.

He's doesn't like what drugs are doing to this area and the fact that "crack houses seem to be all over the town."

More police are needed, and they're needed on the streets, he said. He would like to see, as the command staff retires or leaves, this money be used to hire young police officers and put them on the streets.

He agreed that an underpass will create flooding problems but definitely felt that an overhead walkway for pedestrians was needed as soon as possible. Whatever happens, he said, "we need to keep Second and Third streets open."

When asked about how he felt about the current city manager and other top officials for the city, Mendoza said he felt the city had "great employees." As for the question of whether he would retain the city's current city manager, Eric Honeyfield, Mendoza said he would have to do an evaluation of him before he made that decision.

"I am not a micro-manager," he said, but when he was a county manager, he did go around to the various departments and talk to the department directors about what they were doing and the problems they were facing.

"I listened to them and I would do the same thing with the city if I was elected mayor," he said.

Anna Rondon
The first Native American woman to run for the position of mayor, Rondon said her administration would look to help all segments of the Gallup population benefit from government policies.

For example, she sees the way to solving the problems of the downtown area as one of bringing more activities to the area and doing more in the marketing area.

She would also like the city to be more "user-friendly" by allowing a break for people who don't have the ability to put up the high bonds required to hold an event at the city plaza.

On the city's alcohol and drug problem, she believes the problem can be alleviated by having neighborhoods within the city get more involved. For example, she said, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has funds available for community policing, and areas of Gallup that are seeing increased drug activity should consider seeking these funds.

Her vision of Gallup, she said, is one where more affordable homes are available and the city government takes steps to provide the residents with a cleaner environment.

As mayor, she said she would also work to give the 37 percent of the city's population that are Native American a voice. She would also promote the idea of an Indian center and a center for veterans.

"I think Gallup will get an American Indian Chamber of Commerce, whether I am elected or not," she added.

Ralph Raines
Raines has been a candidate for the past 22 years, and over the various campaigns, he has been seen, at times, as a sort of visionary.

In past campaigns, long before they became a reality, he has spoken out for things like a detox center in Gallup as a way to reduce the problems with drunks. He also proposed a sports complex for the city years before that was created.

In Thursday's forum, he talked passionately about the city's efforts to combat the drug problem, getting so emotional at one point that he broke up and had to stop.

"We have to start teaching our kids about life," he said, "the pressures of life. Kids have more pressure on them today than anything I have ever had," he said.

He said after running so many times for mayor, he had decided at one point not to run this time but friends encouraged him to reconsider; so, he flipped a coin and once again was a candidate.

He has a good view of city employees, saying that he feels they are doing, for the most part, a good job.

"Talking to Honeyfield, he seems like a pretty smart fellow," Raines said, although he isn't too impressed with a couple of the decisions Honeyfield has made over the years, such as allowing city firefighters to burn down the Log Cabin Motel as a training exercise.

Ralph Richards
A restaurant owner and president of the Gallup Chamber of Commerce, Richards thinks the way to solve the downtown problem may be through more promotions.

Although the city has a lot of signs encouraging visitors to stop by, none of them directs the tourists to the downtown area.

And while 160 people, on the average, attend the nightly Indian dances at the city plaza during the summer, only two stores downtown remain open to serve them. That has to change, he said.

Burlington, Northern And Santa Fe Railroad needs to step up to the plate and help Gallup solve the Second and Third Street crossing issues.

"We also need a quiet zone downtown," he said, adding that having a train engineer blow his whistle every seven minutes is something that the downtown no longer needs.

He said he wanted to correct a misconception that people may have because of a previous story about minimum wage in the Independent. "The article said I was opposed to an increase. That's not true," he said. "It's very clear that the business community is ready for an increase but this is a matter for the voters to decide."

One way to deal with the drug problems in this area, he said, is to get tougher with people who are arrested as drug dealers. Stiffer penalties are required and he feels that judges today are too lenient on drug dealers, giving them, in many cases, a "slap on the hand."

He questions whether the city has done enough in the past to improve the quality of life here, pointing out that the population has been stalled at the 22,000 level for two decades now. "If we had a good quality of life, we would be at 40,000 people by now."

Larry Winn
He comes in as a candidate who has seen, during the past four years, a major improvement in the quality of life here in Gallup under the Rosebrough administration.

"I think we have seen a remarkable openness during the past four years," he said, adding that if elected mayor, he would strive to add on to what has been accomplished.

As executive director of Connections, a local counseling agency, Winn said he has worked with many of the city's top officials over the years and cited the valuable contributions that city officials, such as Lance Allgood, the city's utility director, and Glen Benefield, the city's economic development director, have been doing.

He also signaled out Honeyfield saying the city is "incredibly lucky to have someone of his caliber" here.

As for Gallup's future, he said the main priority of the Gallup government must be to "assure that the citizens of Gallup have a sustainable supply of good water for the future."

If the downtown area of town is to improve, he said, "the main thing is to invest in it."

He pointed out that Connections has four buildings in the downtown area and he and his wife just purchased The Coffee House downtown, which has resulted in their funneling everything they have into the downtown area.

Mary Ann Armijo
A member of the city council for the past four years, Armijo said one of the things she would like to see developed for the downtown area is an Ambassador program, where people could direct tourists to the murals and the city plaza.

"I would also like to see more parking enforcement," she said, so that tourists have a greater chance of finding a parking spot near the stores they would like to visit. "I would also like to see more youth events downtown."

The current administration came under criticism from one woman in the audience who didn't think it was fair that the city would put its own minimum wage proposal on the ballot after citizens spent a lot of time and effort to get theirs before the voters.

But Armijo said one reason why she opposed the proposal submitted by the Minimum Wage Committee was that one of the provisions said that it would not apply to all businesses.

She said she didn't think it was fair that employees who worked at one restaurant who had a lot of employees would be entitled to $7.50 an hour while those working at a smaller restaurant would have to remain at the current minimum wage.

If elected, she said she would work to continue the efforts started by this administration, providing more funds for repaving, improving the city's infrastructure and renovation of the municipal golf course.

"We have a wonderful city," she said. "Let's not let others tell us how awful we are. We are Gallup, New Mexico and we are proud of what we are."