Susan Morée talks to Nick Seibel, editor and publisher of Silver City Daily Press. Here is a transcript of their conversation.
Susan Morée:
So, Nick, it sounds like Cobre School District had a contentious board meeting.
Nick Seibel:
Yeah, one of a series of contentious board meetings. They started the meeting by swearing in a couple of returning school board members and one new school board member. The new school board member is David Wilguess, and one of the returning school board members, Gilbert Guadiana, actually ended up being the topic of conversation for more than an hour of the school board meeting held Monday night. The board voted to sanction Guadiana for writing an op-ed in the Daily Press back in December. Basically, Guadiana said that it was public information that he presented and it was topics that he had not been allowed to cover in board meetings. The rest of the board members felt that since he was an elected member of the board, he should not be speaking out to the press in that way. And so, under the terms of the sanction, he's going to have to undergo some board member training. He's also going to be prohibited from serving on leadership or committee positions for the board or representing the school district for the period of a year. And it's not the first time that Guadiana has been sanctioned by the school board. But since he just got reelected, he'll be there for another four years.
Susan Morée:
In Silver City, it sounds like there's going to be some improvements made on Ridge Road. What can you tell us about that?
Nick Seibel:
Yeah, folks who live off of Ridge Road, which goes down into the Silver Acres area, down to the area around the golf course, and also goes to the landfill and the county detention center, they've seen a lot of construction over the last several years. The part of the road that runs within the town of Silver City underwent two phases of reconstruction work over the last few years. And right now, the county is in the first phase of a two-phase project to improve their portion of the road south of the town limits. So, part of that has required Ridge Road traffic to be detoured through neighborhoods on Lance Drive to Bonita, and that's going to be going on for another three weeks or so. That's sort of a residential area and obviously sort of an inconvenience for folks who live in that area and folks who have to make trips to the landfill, a lot of extra traffic on those streets. The county officials point out, though, that when the work is done, it's going to be better for everyone. It's going to add shoulders to heavily traveled roadway that hasn't had them and make the whole situation safer for everyone.
Susan Morée:
Okay, and Western New Mexico University got a grant. What can you tell us about that?
Nick Seibel:
Yeah, of course, Western gets lots of grants, but this particular grant is part of a $250,000 Rural Transportation Innovation and Mobilities Equity Grant. It came from the Transportation Research Board, and it's supported also by the state Department of Transportation. What they're doing with that money is, they've got a consultant firm that's helping map out better routes for pedestrians and bicyclists between primarily campus and downtown Silver City, although they're also looking at connections between campus and the Boston Hill Trailheads, which is a popular outdoor recreation area in downtown Silver City, as well as the new early childhood development center that Western plans to build in a few years off of Alabama Street. So part of that yesterday, they had two different walking groups, one primarily students walking from campus to downtown, and then the other one, community members walking from downtown to campus, looking at the various routes and ways that they could be improved, with a real focus on things that can be done quickly and inexpensively. For one example, they're looking at streets that may not have sidewalks, using flexible bollards to maybe create a walking area that's sheltered from traffic that pedestrians can use more safely and feel a little more comfortable about making that commute on foot or by bicycle between campus and the rest of the community.
Susan Morée:
Where can we find more information about these stories?
Nick Seibel:
Yeah, there's a link to this survey that the university is doing as part of that project, as well as a whole lot more information about these stories and more at scdailypress.com.
