A day in the City Different

This reporter spent Tuesday in Santa Fe covering the opening day of the state Legislature and Gov. Bill Richardson’s “State of the State” speech.

After nine hours in the City Different, including more than eight in what the late great news commentator Ernie Mills used to call the Merry Roundhouse, a few impressions stick with me.

Second, government bureaucracy is still in full force. For most of the day, the elevators were not working. Little signs posted over the buttons said elevators were out of order for “routine maintenance.” Deep down I suspect it was part of Richardson’s health care plan, a wellness program to get everybody to use the stairs.

Amazingly, after the governor finally delivered his speech, the elevators started working again. Presidential disappointment aside, maybe he does still have the power.

Third, I’m amazed at the job done by the media regulars who cover the session. Press conditions are best described as early American latrine. The press galleries that overlook the Senate and House chambers haven’t changed at all in 25 years.

Take a piece of spaghetti, multiply it by about 150 and you’ve got a rough idea of the size and shape of the working space. With TV reporters demanding space in the print press area to get their live shot of the speech, and no security to keep non-media members out, reporters were stacked four-deep in a six-foot wide room for the governor’s speech.

About the speech itself: Mercifully, it was only about 25 minutes long. Given an advanced copy of the text, it is interesting that only one line was actually cut on delivery. After introducing everybody in the beginning, the text reads, “Thank you all for being here. It’s good to be back.”

Upon delivery, the second sentence was cut. Since Richardson is fresh off the presidential campaign trail and facing a hostile reaction to his health care proposal, perhaps it means it’s not so good to be back. Or is the omission an indication he won’t be here for long because he’s packing for a D.C. job, like vice president or secretary of state? He denies it, but he also denied he was going to run for president until he changed his mind.

There were a lot of familiar and friendly faces in the Roundhouse on Tuesday. It was good to see former Rio Rancho city clerk Tina Gonzales working in the governor’s office during the session as one of two front-desk receptionists. Senator Jeff Bingaman was shaking hands all day and received one of the loudest ovations in pre-introductions done by Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, perhaps befitting of his soon-to-be-stature of senior U.S. Senator with the pending retirement of Pete Domenici.

Former governors Bruce King and David Cargo, whose service to the state dates back to the 1960s, also were making the rounds. Even former House Appropriations and Finance Committee chairman Fred Luna, who I once saw get into a brawl with another representative named Ron Gentry in the old Bullring bar next to the capitol, was there. It appears he’s getting older, but maybe it was the perspective through eyes that are 25 years older and need bifocals to bring things into focus.

What was strikingly different was how many people were making the rounds with a cell phone in their ear. It makes me wonder how anybody ever found anybody in the good old days. And the pay phones where I used to dictate stories are out, though the wooden booths that once held the phones remain in place.

There have been some changes. The old Bullring, where everybody used to hang out, has long since relocated. And the sense of back-room wheeling and dealing seems to have been replaced, on the surface at least, by staff members racing from room to room with the latest updates.

Some things, though, will never change. Parking is still a nightmare. Road repair crews are still working on the section of I-25 between the Cerrillos Road and St. Michael’s Drive exits, a project that never seems to get done. People on the roads are still in a hurry and are just as inconsiderate as ever, not letting people in or out, stopping wherever they want and zipping in and out of lanes like Al Unser on steroids.

Speed limit signs are posted, but I don’t know why. Nobody comes close to it. There are two traffic speeds in Santa Fe – too slow and not fast enough. It doesn’t matter what lane you pick, you’re either behind somebody who is driving 15 mph under the posted number or have somebody (usually a pick-up with high beams on) hugging your rear bumper. Driving home on I-25 must be what NASCAR drivers feel like – high speeds with somebody almost under your rear bumper. Move out of your lane at your own risk, because you might never get back.

If Sandoval County wants to raise money for its broadband and desalination projects, I suggest it takes the entire county sheriff’s office, arm them with ticket books for the next 30 day and locate them on I-25 at the northern border with Santa Fe County. You  could pay for every project the county could dream up, plus cut property taxes, from the revenue that could be raised from those racing home – including the Park-and-Ride bus drivers.

Having lived and worked once in Santa Fe for nine months, I can safely it’s a good place to be from – far from, especially when the Legislature is in session. The crowds, noise and traffic will wear you out in no time at all.

Having said that, it should be mandatory that everyone spend at least one day at the Legislature every year. As much as government can irritate and frustrate the average citizen, one should be required to spend a day in Santa Fe and observe how 70 senators and 42 representatives are put in a fish bowl for 30 or 60 days every year.

Occasionally good law and policy is made. And once in a while legislators reveal themselves to the public as human beings who care, as happened Tuesday when senators took the afternoon to offer up their favorite stories about Ben Altamirano, who died shortly after Christmas and whose mellow style will no doubt be missed this session.

As crazy and inept as it all seems sometimes, I'm not sure how we should do differently. Besides, taken in appropriate doses, it can be the best show in town. It's reality TV without the commercials.

As legislation that impacts Rio Rancho and Sandoval County reaches key committees or votes, a return trip or three may be necessary. Perhaps there will be time to walk around and appreciate the ambiance that really does make Santa Fe a different city, not just the City Different.

Until then, Dorothy was right. There’s no place like home.