After
starting my campaign for State Rep, in 1998, placing
an Affordable Housing plank in my campaign platform, and after inventing my idea
for the Alternative Housing Institute, the Green Party
of New Mexico eventually got onto the affordable housing band wagon. -
Andrew Homer
Green
Party Development Resolution
Adopted by the Green Council
July 10, 1999
The Green Party of New Mexico (NMGP)
recognizes the ongoing and profound impact that residential and commercial development
has upon the population, natural resources, and cultural character of our state.
We believe that development must be constrained by the need to preserve existing
communities and cultures, watersheds, aquifers, sacred lands, agricultural lands,
and biological diversity. We also believe that THE NEEDS OF EXISTING URBAN AND
RURAL CITIZENS SHOULD BE WEIGHED AHEAD OF THE NEEDS OF CORPORATE INTERESTS SEEKING
TO ATTRACT NEW PEOPLE TO THEIR DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS. Open space and natural vistas
must also be valued.
WATER, a finite resource, is, and must be, the PRIMARY
LIMITING FACTOR in all development decisions in New Mexico. Presently, our laws
allow unlimited water appropriations in most rural areas. Our WATERSHEDS provide
all water not imported by environmentally damaging water projects, but receive
no protection. The NMGP calls for the repeal of the DOMESTIC WELL STATUTE and,
in its place, the immediate passage of STRONG LEGISLATION TO PROTECT OUR WATERSHEDS.
We believe that a first priority must be MAINTENANCE OF EXISTING INFRASTRUCTURE,
including traditional acequias, insofar as they can be made more efficient in
the use of a finite resource.
URBAN DEVELOPMENT must be focused on the
use of existing infrastructure, via INFILL, rather than development on existing
agricultural or wild lands (GREENFIELD DEVELOPMENT).
CARS, fueled by
subsidized petroleum, drive the impulse for UNRESTRAINED SPRAWL, and account for
endless deaths and tragedies in our state. We encourage traffic measures that
promote the SAFETY OF PEDESTRIAN AND BICYCLE TRAVEL, including CALMING OF TRAFFIC
at intersections, and the construction of BIKE ROUTES, as long as such routes
do not force bicycles off the road, or onto unsafe paths that cross traffic.
TRANSPORTATION RESOURCES must be allotted first to efficient use of EXISTING
TRAFFIC CORRIDORS, and expansion of PUBLIC TRANSIT, to MINIMIZE AUTOMOBILE USAGE,
and to facilitate economic development, and full employment opportunities for
residents. We believe in TRUE-COST PRICING of petroleum, in the course of which
process gasoline prices should gradually rise to reflect the actual environmental,
health, social, and economic costs of petroleum extraction, processing, and use.
RIDE-POOLING, rather than parking structures, should be subsidized.
NEW
DEVELOPMENT should be medium or high density, keyed to PUBLIC TRANSIT, AVAILABLE
WATER RESOURCES, and CULTURAL DIVERSITY, pedestrian and bicycle friendly, MIXED
USE, MIXED INCOME, and replete with PARKS AND PUBLIC SPACES. Consideration should
be given to establishment of a growth boundary for Albuquerque.
All planning
should be regional in scope and local in character. PLANNED COMMUNITIES should
be approved on the basis of EXISTING RESOURCES, not projected rewards. The COST
OF OUTLYING DEVELOPMENT, including infrastructure and schools, should be borne
by the developer, not the taxpayers of the nearest municipality.
WATER
AND ENERGY CONSERVATION should be emphasized in all development. ALTERNATIVE BUILDING
and ALTERNATIVE LIVING models, as well as ALTERNATIVE ENERGY PRODUCTION should
be encouraged.
PROPERTY TAX RELIEF should be coded
to protect resident homeowners from the impact of neighboring development. PLANNING
CODES should be rewritten and ENFORCED in accordance with DEVELOPMENT THAT IS
BENEFICIAL TO OUR PEOPLE, RESOURCES, CULTURAL HERITAGE, AND ECONOMY, AND TAKES
AVAILABILITY OF WATER INTO ACCOUNT. _________________________________________
Special thanks for this resolution goes to Roy Durfee who spent several
sleepless nights agonizing over the words and opinions of a group of strong-minded
people to synthesize their views into one cohesive document. And thanks also to
Angus Grieve-Smith, Danny Hernandez, Ben Jones, Carol Miller, Bob Anderson, and
Lynn Montgomery for being the strong-minded people whose words and opinions Roy
Durfee took into account when he synthesized this document.
* GTZ(Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit GmbH is an international
cooperation enterprise for sustainable development with worldwide operations.
For 30 years it has been providing viable, forward-looking solutions for political,
economic, ecological and social development in a globalised world. Its corporate
objective is to improve people’s living conditions on a sustainable basis.
GTZ operates in some 130 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern
Europe. Around 8,500 of its 9,600 employees world-wide are national personnel;
some 1,000 are employed at GTZ Head Office in Eschborn near Frankfurt am Main.)
