BY LISA SHIN
LA Family Eyecare

This past Tuesday, October 27, 2026, there was a public hearing for 1735 Central Investment LLC to receive $6.7M in “public participation” (our tax dollars) to demolish and renovate the former CB Fox space. Our Council voted to table the ordinance with revised time schedules and is expected to vote on it on Nov. 17, 2026.

As many of you already know, I have been closely following our County’s MRA/LEDA program for the past 2+ years.  Unfortunately, my calls for local stakeholders and property/business owners to have a seat at the table, early in the process, and for more transparency and accountability have fallen upon deaf ears.  Because root causes of downtown blight have not been addressed and effective solutions dismissed, the County’s MRA/LEDA program will merely shift around the blight.  In other words, our County will blow millions in public funds to “correct” commercial vacancies, but will then directly cause other areas in town to become vacant.

These are my concerns and questions:

1. Councilor Ryn Herrmann asked whether neighboring businesses were consulted about this and questioned a bakery in the project, when there was already a bakery, “Sugar and Cream” around the corner.  Were any of the downtown businesses invited to the LEDA/MRA County Review Committee meetings to assess the impact of this project?Were local business owners specifically asked, “How do you feel about $6.7M of our tax dollars going to a project that requires 25 employees to each receive an annual salary of $64,225?” and “Are you OK with $6.7M in cash going towards a project that will offer the same goods and services that you provide?”
   
2. Councilor David Reagor asked about a total payroll expense of $1.2 M in the first year of operation (25 employees at $64,225).
   
     Would the project be able to generate enough revenue to cover this payroll expense? Indeed, with payroll taxes, this amounts to about $70,000/employee and a total $1.75M expense. A healthy business should expect payroll expenses to be about 35% of total revenues.   Can this project realistically generate $5M in the first year of operations?
   
3. An annual salary of $64,252 for the service industry is extremely high and 25 employees in the first year is unrealistic. Will this project not only cannibalize the customers of surrounding businesses but also cannibalize their employees? Will these be 25 new jobs to Los Alamos, or merely 25 employees who quit their jobs at Smith’s, Blue Window, Ruby K’s, El Parasol, hotels, doctors’ offices, and SALA Event Center?
   
4. Our County touts an economic benefit of $840,811.70 in lodger’s taxes, $3,883,370.73 in operating GRT revenues, and $391,048.94 in Direct Visitor Spending GRT at other local businesses.  How do we know that it won’t be $391,048.94 in GRT that will be decreased at other local businesses?  Will the public return of $1 of public participation be ZERO (instead of $1.02)?
   
5. Our County Manager is supposed to conduct regular “performance reviews and measurement.”  Where is the independent oversight?   Are public funds being misused and squandered in the name of “economic revitalization”?  Why is the public informed only after they are “done deals” ready for our Council’s rubber stamp?
   
6. Of note, our County gives Pig & Fig $106,000 in MRA cash to expand and renovate, but then gives $6.7M to the CB Fox project that shuts down its sister bakery, Sugar & Cream. The County gives The Rock a $868,000 interest-free LEDA loan and $400,000 in LEDA cash, but then gives Pig & Fig a $106,000 grant, making it impossible for The Rock to generate the required $1.2M revenues in the first year of operation.

Seriously, is the County giving sweetheart deals to local entrepreneurs on one hand, only to exploit, manipulate, and backstab them later? Is this all just a sick facade for the County to achieve its end goal:  seize private property for public use? Prove me wrong.

Ahead of the Nov. 17, 2026 Council vote, please voice your concerns to: countycouncil@losalamosnm.gov

Letters to the editor represent the opinions of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or editorial stance of the Los Alamos Reporter. The Reporter assumes no responsibility or liability for the factual accuracy of statements made by contributors.

Screenshot submitted by Lisa Shin

Screenshot submitted by Lisa Shin.