Editor,
A Los Alamos County Councilor began his defense of gifting County-owned property defined as Eastern Area 3 Tract NN Lots 6C; 5C; 4C; 3C; 2C; and 1C located on 20th Street Extension, (all the land the county owns on the south side of 20th street) to a private for profit corporation by saying, “I don’t believe in supporting Los Alamos’s business”. That is a little hard to stomach when you own a business in Los Alamos.
The County has incurred the cost to put the utilities in and creating 6 lots so there could be economic development, but the County has turned down all buyers.
The Marriott corporation has plenty of money to develop this project. No one needs to gift them anything.
The proposal guarantees 17 jobs for the price tag of The Real Property. The appraised value of the land is One Million Eight Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand Dollars ($1,825,000). Those jobs come out to costing us $107,353 each for service industry jobs. The majority of service industry businesses in this community would hire more help if they could find it to hire. Why is the county promoting increasing a labor need that is already in short supply?
The proposal is for 85 long term stay rooms and a conference center. A 300 person conference room for rent and a minimum of 1,800 sq. ft. of stand-alone food and beverage retail. There are not 300 hotel rooms in this community. Why doesn’t the Marriott Corporation buy the land and build a hotel? Does the Marriot Corporation think we need a conference center? If yes, let them buy the land and build it.
We have over 400 housing units planned to be built in the next 2 years. Why don’t we see if we need a long term hotel after the housing is built? – maybe we should just have a hotel for the tourists the community is trying to entice into town.—maybe there be a better labor force.
What impact will a minimum of 1,800 sq. ft. of stand-alone food and beverage retail have on the restaurants already in the community? What impact will this have on the local bed and breakfasts, and current hotels in the community?
Don’t forget the councilor’s words. I DON’T BELIVE IN SUPPORTING LOS ALAMOS BUSINESSES. Should we conclude the Council supports people from afar who have no vested interest in our community?
There were no public hearings. On August 6, an ordinance was introduced at the County Council meeting. All the County Councilors need to do is vote yes on August 27 and they are giving our County land away to a for profit company to build a long term stay hotel and conference center. Is this what Los Alamos wants? It is what our elected government is planning.
We, the public need to become informed and find out why this land gift should occur in 3 weeks’ time from start to finish.
Read the ordinance found here. http://losalamos.legistar.com/gateway.aspx?M=F&ID=06b6fb27-6fe3-4cd8-bb05-99a733f5c0c7.pdf
Attend the County Council meeting on August 27 and make your opinion known. Email the County Councilors at countycouncil@lacnm.us Please don’t sit on the sidelines and then complain about the outcome. BECOME INVOLVED!!!
Gillian Sutton