KRWG Public Media is covering the New Mexico State Representative race for district 34. Democratic candidate Juan Fuentes spoke to Noah Raess.
Noah Raess:
Just start off, can you tell us about how your background has prepared you to serve in office?
Juan Fuentes:
I'm a lifelong resident of the Sunland Park and the Santa Teresa area. You know, I was raised there. My parents have lived there for over 45 years. My wife, Norma and I have called Sunland Park and Santa Teresa our home for over 25 years. So I have a commitment for the community, within the district and in that area, because I'm also a graduate from New Mexico State University and I have my roots in that community. So I bring 27 years of experience in local government. You know, I have served communities across southern New Mexico, including as a city manager, where I worked on addressing the challenges, improving infrastructure, managing public budgets, and ensuring that the communities that I work for have the resources needed to grow and succeed. You know, always dealing with limited resources. You always have to find ways to be able to collaborate and work with state officials, federal officials, and other community officials and nonprofit organizations to be able to deliver some of the services the community needs. So my career, you know, within the community back in 1995, serving in a community action organization and then again, as I stated, I have over the years served in, in public service and I have also served as a former elected official, for the city of Sunland Park. So I have a history of serving the community in different capacities. So that's one of the reasons I felt, you know, now that I'm retired after serving 27 years, that I feel I can contribute back to the community. I do it now with, as a retiree. I'm also I'm a contractor with the southeast organization that works with local communities and small communities and helping them with their capital projects. So I'm still involved helping communities, in southeast New Mexico and, and also in Doña Ana County. I work with some of the communities and just helping them with the budget, helping them with capital projects. So I'm still involved and I feel like I can contribute to the district that I'm running for.
Noah Raess:
Why are you running for office?
Juan Fuentes:
Why am I running for office? As I stated, I feel that our district needs a little bit more stronger representation. So what we're looking at now is, you know, there's a lot of need within district 34. As I work in other communities, I have seen some of the progress in relation to road improvement in relation to, you know, infrastructure, and when I look at other communities, how they work for improving economic development, and I come home and I see our infrastructure, McNutt road being a principal state road that does not get the attention that other communities get when they're looking at state roads.We have a high traffic area, and it's growing even more because of all the development in the schools. So I see that there's a lack of attention in our communities. There's also a need for more infrastructure investment, as we have dealt with, as a resident of Santa Teresa and being impacted by the issues regarding the water in that area. So there's the issues with infrastructure and there's also issues with economic development as well. We see a lot of the economic development growth happening in El Paso on the West side. The growth continues. Businesses are popping up over there, but yet we don't see that trickle down to our district and into New Mexico. And one of the one of the goals I like to be able to work on is to be able to find ways of how can we improve that economic opportunity to provide jobs for the residents and the youth in that district. So there's a lot of things that I see that I think through my experience in collaborating with other officials throughout south New Mexico, that I'd be able to kind of contribute and be able to address some of those issues that are needed.
Noah Raess:
You already touched on this, but I was wondering if you could expand on some of the top issues in your district.
Juan Fuentes:
Again, so some of the issues that my district as I walk, the district, you know, so as I'm campaigning, I'm walking, door to door talking to the residents and I see some of the issues that are that are needed to be addressed. I talked about the infrastructure, right. We were talking about, you know, your roads. We're talking about your sidewalk. We're talking about, you know, the water and the wastewater systems there. So those are some of the things that are needed. I also see and people have shared some of the services that that the community probably should, you know, consider in looking into and providing we have an elderly population there that probably could benefit from having some centers that cater to seniors, that provides activities for them. We also have a need for a more robust transportation system. Considering the cost of fuel that people are dealing with, we need to start investing a little bit more on being able to provide the resources and the needs for people to be able to get to their work. As I stated, I mean, because a lot of the economic development, a lot of the jobs are in El Paso. Our folks in district 34, whether it's in La Union, whether it's in La Mesa or San Miguel, they have to either travel to Las Cruces or travel to El Paso. And right now everybody is struggling with the cost of fuel, with the cost of groceries and just in general, the affordability. So I think we need to be able to provide the resources. And I believe that, you know, I feel the state, through the efforts as a state representative, we can be able to be a better partner and a better advocate to address some of those issues in our district.
Noah Raess:
How would you address those issues?
Juan Fuentes:
So how would you address those issues? There's different ways. When it comes to infrastructure, there's a lot of programs, not only just the annual allocations that are provided to legislators through capital outlay. I think there's other programs that we can tap. And I think that requires sharing of information. So as a city manager or former city manager working with other local governments, now, we we help communities, to be able to do, grant writing. We help communities identify state programs to be able to apply for capital infrastructure projects. You know, there's the other funding mechanisms that can provide some assistance to organizations to be able to provide those services. And so there's funding at the state level. There's funding at the federal level that can be identified to help them and that's what I'd like to kind of bring to, to the district, is that experience and that collaboration and knowledge of what I've been able to to work with in other places, in other communities to be able to bring that those resources, to the district.
Noah Raess:
Finally, what else do you think is important for voters to know about you and your campaign?
Juan Fuentes:
What I would like for the voters to know, I think one of the things that I've heard through my, you know, campaigning in the district, I think a lot of the voters kind of may feel a little bit frustrated with the lack of progress, that that is being made at the state level. I mean, we talk about how education is at the bottom, in New Mexico when compared to other states. So, you know, so when they ask, well, what can be done? And one of the things that comes to my mind, and I have used as in my campaign materials well, is that I believe New Mexico voters should have the opportunity to decide on term limits, just as they will vote on legislative compensation in November. You know, I strongly believe that term limits can help provide a more robust accountability by giving voters hope that if elected officials fail to improve education, fail to improve job growth, fail to improve public safety, and fail to address affordability, that there will be an opportunity for new leadership and fresh ideas to deliver the results that they deserve. So I think that should be something that the legislature should consider and give the people that opportunity to vote on that question. So I think that's one of the things that differentiates me. I'm running to address the issues that the community needs, to be looked at without having this long term vision that I want to serve for 20 years. My goal is to go in and address the issues and be able to be an effective representative for the people of district 34.
