KRWG Public Media is covering contested races around the region. Scott Brocato spoke with Biviana Cadena, who is running to be re-elected for Town of Mesilla Trustee.
Scott Brocato:
What in your background has prepared you for this office?
Biviana Cadena:
Well, I'm actually running for re-election, so I had the last four years of experience. But previous to that, I'm actually a nurse. I retired a year ago from nursing. So I just feel like there's a lot of things that have prepared me for this.
Mostly, though, this is a real act of responsibility or accountability. I just feel like we have to be involved in public service and in government. I was also a long-time member of the National Education Association. and the New Mexico Nurses Association, which I think prepared me just to be more open-minded,become a better listener--all the things that need to happen for a government public servant, because I just feel like that's the key to really serving the public is to listen. I mean, those skills are important in nursing, too, and so I've honed that skill, thank goodness. So I really think that a lot of things in my career have prepared me to be a Trustee for the Town of Mesilla.
But most of all, it's just my love for the Town of Mesilla, and my devotion to keeping it the way it is and moving it forward to the future so that we can sustain what we have, and bring more people in, because actually our population has fallen, and I'm not sure what are all the causes of that. But I want to make sure that we can sustain multiple generations of Mesillans and newcomers too. Because that's the other thing: I want to really welcome people to come to Mesilla and want to live in Mesilla.
Scott Brocato:
What do you see as the top issues facing Mesilla?
Biviana Cadena:
Well, I really feel that just having a diversity of housing, we need to work on that. I think we really need to think about what Mesilla might look like in the future, while preserving the authenticity and the hominess and the historic part of it. We need to look forward to how we bring people in. and how we sustain the quality of life that we're having right now here. I think that's a big issue that we want to think about.
Scott Brocato:
And how do you propose to best address that?
Biviana Cadena:
I think to our ordinances, we need to really consider things that may seem out-of-the-box. And we're already doing that, so I can't take credit for that. Multi-use properties like living and working in the same building, maybe developing some of the corridors--not commercially. necessarily, but in other ways also. I mean, kind of being able to preserve our green space by being more imaginative and creative about what can actually be in a green space and not just our traditional crops and trees that that use a lot of water and so forth, but things that may be more sustainable. And that's working with our entire community and working with farmers and newcomers alike. And I just think that's really important, and we just need to be able to listen.
Scott Brocato:
Well, final question: what else do you think is important for voters to know about you?
Biviana Cadena:
I think that...I mean, I already said about listening. I really do think that I absolutely believe that people should be able to express themselves and have a voice and feel like we're listening. And I think that goes a long way in participatory government, you know, in really feeling like you're part of what is happening in your own space and in your own local community. And I just feel like we need to be that kind of government in Mesilla.
