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I was Louisville-Ky-bound, but husband wants to reconsider Las Cruces, where we have both lived in the past. He lived there from the 50's until 1992 but I lived there from 80 to 92.
He's elderly now and very much is missing the amount of sun and what he fondly recalls about the town, which he saw grow from very small to pretty big.
I had a miserable time there, though, after the first few years, because it changed. Although I lived first in a nice home in Elks Club and then in Las Alturas, I could not get away from vandalism. It really hurt my heart to be the victim of vandalism and theft, the vandalism most of all, which was mainly people throwing rocks to break our adobe walls of the house (stucco made to look like adobe), breaking out windows even though I broke down and got the bars on them, breaking out our car's windshield twice, tearing our American flag & garden flag down and even running over the pole, breaking our clay pots, tearing our Xmas lights down, etc. It was just endless, endless, and we were in a very nice part of the town at that time. I knew many who had heartache just the same from the same type of behavior.
While I was there, L.C. was caught between people coming up from Mexico who had been there less time than I had, and people coming in from the Midwest and East, ditto. Both these groups messed up the town IMHO. The Mexicans tended to act destructive and they routinely called me "guerra" and "la flaca" even in what ought to have been professional situations and catcalled on the street. I mean, at a doctor's office, would you stand for your workers to call out, "Hey, blondie, it's your turn?" Well, it was the equivalent.
The tagging was everywhere, all the time.
What was the INS back then (ICE now?) had a field day with me, perhaps because I was so obviously NOT Mexican. Forever being stopped and asked if I was a U.S. citizen, asked to show my license. It was strange!!! Just the Hispanic officers did this, and they were SO mean about it! I felt caught between 2 groups.
And the begging was unreal, just unreal, I could not go to the gas station, to Albertsons, etc w/o being begged from by the kids, which is heartbreaking, and of course, I just SO enjoyed being hit and flipped off by a kid when I wouldn't hand over any change. The libraries were unusable at that time, the homeless had taken them over, and tho I felt sorry for them, they would not leave me alone and also, frankly, the smell was awful.
Perhaps worse was the transplanted Anglos! They brought bad attitudes with them! By that, I mean they came to L.C. for the sweet rural feel, and then began passing laws to try to stop the ag around the city. Laws were passed calling for only giant-footprint homes! They griped about the slow drivers, the food, etc. They seemed to have a deadly fear of "spicy" foods and it seemed to me, they sat at a banquet and only wanted what was NOT there. They were disrespectful to the culture, and looked down on NMSU and so forth.
Well, I am hoping to hear it has gone through these growing pains and is now more livable? Because my husband does not have too many of his golden years left and if it's doable, I'll give up on Ky and try Cruces again.
I loved Fairacres, the little pick-your-own grapes place there and the rural feel, they are telling me it's gone now, developed? I'd be sad to hear that for real.
Any help appreciated, is it through w/growing pains and culture clash and ready to take its place as a beautiful peaceful town? It was a jewel at one time.
Well, I didn't live here in 1992 so I don't know how it was then, but I have never experienced racism or vandalism here. I've rarely had people beg either, but it does happen occasionally. I see very few homeless people. The border patrol has never pulled me over.
The area is still growing, and the speed of the growth has led to some controversy. I haven't heard of any laws requiring large houses or wanting to eat up farmland for houses. Most of the development is happening on the east mesa where there is no farmland.
Las Cruces was recently rated as one of the best places to retire.
I've lived here since 2003. So I can't say that you won't have a different experience here, but I've never experienced most the problems you had.
When I left L.C., it was just about unliveable, and my experience was shared by many, who also left, many of us really sad to do so. If you doubt my experiences, who lived through them first-hand, then I'd suggest looking at the crime stats and the archives of the Sun-News at that time!!! Only we called it the "Fun News" because the reporting was so awful. They were always writing about "uninformed police officers" when they meant "uniformed." But I'm sure many of the things I mentioned were also mentioned then.
Out near Shalom Colony Trail, there was raging controversy because the newcomers didn't like the fertilizer smell from the farms and lawsuits were flying. Also, there was a big push on to slap covenants all over vacant areas so that only large houses could be built on the land, in a squeeze play to keep the little person out of the city. It was Californication!!! There were nasty things going on against the people who owned the little motels out along Picacho, because they were owned by people from India, and this crazy flag-waving started against them.
The beggars were actually being bused up from Juarez and the police chief stated he could do nothing about it because they weren't from L.C. even though they did not have their kids in school and pulled them out to go begging! It was a mess, and it really happened! You could yell "La Migra!" and half the people in a room would go pale and half would get really angry, and the stupid green INS vans were all over bugging everyone and trying to grab up illegals!!! It wasn't a happy time! But it happened! But I guess L.C. as elsewhere has its share of rose-colored glasses.
UsernameLOL,
It sounds like you have issues that go well beyond any shortcomings of Las Cruces. I have either lived in or visited frequently the Las Cruces area since 1960, and I don't have any rosed-colored glasses. There are problems no doubt, but none of the ones you describe.
With your attitude, I am sure you will find Las Cruces no more to your liking, probably worse than in 1992. You should probably go be miserable somewhere else.
Well Las Cruces has grown tremendiously since 1992 especially the East Mesa area and now the West Mesa is the latest to explode so if you want the Las Cruces that i knew as a kid back in the 70's well it's gone.
However there are outlying areas that still have that rural charm like Mesilla and Mesilla Park. Also the North Valley of Dona Ana is still rural and relaxed and of course the drive from Stahman Farms to Anthony is a nice getaway.
When I left L.C., it was just about unliveable, and my experience was shared by many, who also left, many of us really sad to do so. If you doubt my experiences, who lived through them first-hand, then I'd suggest looking at the crime stats and the archives of the Sun-News at that time!!! Only we called it the "Fun News" because the reporting was so awful. They were always writing about "uninformed police officers" when they meant "uniformed." But I'm sure many of the things I mentioned were also mentioned then.
Out near Shalom Colony Trail, there was raging controversy because the newcomers didn't like the fertilizer smell from the farms and lawsuits were flying. Also, there was a big push on to slap covenants all over vacant areas so that only large houses could be built on the land, in a squeeze play to keep the little person out of the city. It was Californication!!! There were nasty things going on against the people who owned the little motels out along Picacho, because they were owned by people from India, and this crazy flag-waving started against them.
The beggars were actually being bused up from Juarez and the police chief stated he could do nothing about it because they weren't from L.C. even though they did not have their kids in school and pulled them out to go begging! It was a mess, and it really happened! You could yell "La Migra!" and half the people in a room would go pale and half would get really angry, and the stupid green INS vans were all over bugging everyone and trying to grab up illegals!!! It wasn't a happy time! But it happened! But I guess L.C. as elsewhere has its share of rose-colored glasses.
There is not one shred of truth in these comments ('cept maybe about the SunNews). They speak much more about the poster than they do about Cruces. Has it grown? Yes, and it's not necessarily for the better but this is inflammatory fiction at its worst. It almost sounds like Kurt Vonnegut.
Well it sounds like the Sun-News hasn't improved much since then. The weekly Bulletin is much better (and free in most places).
I agree with this statement completely, and I don't have any stake in the Bulletin or the LCSN. +1 for you.
While I enjoy living here, the LCSN is sophmoric writing, at best. The World section shouldn't even be attempted, most are just articles written by stringers from the AP. I really miss the NJ Star Ledger, which was the newspaper I read when I lived in New Jersey.
Wow...Was born and raised and Las Cruces and never heard of anyone being bussed from Juarez to Beg on the streets of Las Cruces....
I wouldn't say that Las Cruces did not have a huge Illegal Immigration problem in the early 90's.
I'm going to have to question that you really never lived in Las Cruces
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