People Will Freeze (Albuquerque, Santa Fe, San Juan: fit in, neighborhoods, voucher)

[Pintada Kid]

New Mexico has lots of Natural Gas it has plenty of Forest some burning down because theres too much fuel in them and ready to Ignite. We have lots of Sun and Wind maybe Someday we will put two and two together for the Sake of the Poor People and the people with families struggling to live and stay warm. IVE always said the Government should give the Wood to the People and regulate it in an orderly manner where people could get wood free in our Forests. Even Private land people could clear their land instead of trying to have Prescribed burns that go out of Control. The Wild Animals in some places have taken over and have become a Danger. We should have Regulated Hunts and give the Meat to the People.>>>> Homeless people the Government should have a way to build and Mass Produce Heavy Plastic Igloos with doors with locks and can be transported by the Dozens into areas of Disasters and into high homeless areas to keep people safe and warm from the elements. The Way the Economy is going we might all need them to live in. pintada kid at webtv.net

[GregW]

PK - Please realize that a government of the spoiled rich, by the spoiled rich and for the spoiled rich and (rich + 99th percentile or more) do not even know that there are less fortunate around let alone people too poor to afford to heat their homes. Just look at McCain’s remark the middle class is anyone below 5 MILLION DOLLARS per year. AFAK – 5 million is very wealthy indeed. He, and many other politicians, is completely ignorant of just how difficult it is to live in America without a decent source of a minimal income.

I like the idea of thinning fire prone woods for fuel either as directly burned in fireplaces and stoves or, along with agricultural waste, processed into fuel pellets. There are lots of things that can be done but first there must be political recognition of the problem and the development of policies that will solve the problem not just make the politically connected richer than they already are. The private sector will continue to ignore this because the poor people do not have the money needed to create the profit that motivates the business sector.

Unfortunately people may just freeze this winter and none of the powers that be will even notice. The powers will not notice because the dying will be done by the little people that do not even exist in the works of the powerful. this is the discrace of our current system.

[Towanda]

Originally Posted by Pintada Kid

Here in the center of N.M. where the temps can get to 25 below or colder in the winter

Do we have some documentation for temperatures this extreme?

Also.....gas prices have gone down....we have not paid $4.00 a gallon in Santa Fe for over a couple months now.

[W5UXH]

Originally Posted by Towanda

Do we have some documentation for temperatures this extreme?

I don't have documentation, but I do recall that around Thanksgiving of 1976 or 1977, we had -10 degrees F (not wind chill) in Socorro and -20 degrees F out near Datil (at the VLA). In Socorro we also had about 12 inches of snow (not drifts) on the ground that night.

So I can believe -25 in some areas is quite possible but I would guess it is probably very rare. In the 1970's, +15F was fairly common overnight in Socorro, but single digit temperatures were very unusual. I can't remember negative temperatures other than that one time, but perhaps there were a few such events.

Chuck

[Pintada Kid]

In 1967 i was working graveyard at a Service station and it was 20 below or colder during deer season. I remember your Lungs would burn so you had to cover your mouth. But the Old Timers years ago used to talk about 25 and 30 below temps and Lots of Snow here in the center of N.M.. Last years Temps in the Mountains of N.M. were 27 below zero but it gets colder then that. In the late 60s we had to light fires under the Oil Pans of the old 4x4 power wagons to get them started to get through the 2 or 3 feet or more depending on the Wind. If the Wind was Blowing Drifts would pile up to the Roofs of homes and you could Climb to your Roof through a Drift. I have no idea what the temps were back then but it was VERY Cold. pintada kid at webtv.net

[Zoidberg]

Originally Posted by _yb

That seems really good for this state.

According to Salary.com, a Legal Secretary III (As opposed to I, II, III, IV) in Albuquerque has a median salary between 39k and 50k.

[hogfarmer]

It will be interesting to see how capital improvements to building standards will follow the ever-increasing cost of utilities. Here in Minnesota, where it will start freezing in about 6 weeks and won't thaw until March or April, the buildings are such that heating is reasonably affordable. Not cheap, but doesn't kill us when it turns -20 for a couple of weeks. Houses all have insulated basements, 6" thick insulated walls, double and triple pane windows, at least 18" insulation in the attic, air/air exchangers, etc. A lot of these are building code mandated requirements, but a lot of improvements are produced by the market as well. So while the costs are certainly increasing, building standards are getting smarter, at least in this part of the world. Certainly lots of interest in biofuels (I make my living in biodiesel) but that's not the answer. It helps no doubt, but certainly not a slam-dunk solution.

[Devin Bent]

Originally Posted by Towanda

Do we have some documentation for temperatures this extreme? [-25]

As far as I can tell the coldest in Santa Fe since 1972 has been -17F and that is pretty rare and would have occurred in the early hours of the morning. The afternoon temperature would be 20 to 30 degrees warmer. When PK talks about -25F I think he is talking about some of the higher areas in the East Mountains.

[Vinegaroon]

Originally Posted by Pintada Kid

New Mexico has lots of Natural Gas it has plenty of Forest some burning down because theres too much fuel in them and ready to Ignite. We have lots of Sun and Wind maybe Someday we will put two and two together for the Sake of the Poor People and the people with families struggling to live and stay warm. IVE always said the Government should give the Wood to the People and regulate it in an orderly manner where people could get wood free in our Forests. Even Private land people could clear their land instead of trying to have Prescribed burns that go out of Control. The Wild Animals in some places have taken over and have become a Danger. We should have Regulated Hunts and give the Meat to the People.>>>> Homeless people the Government should have a way to build and Mass Produce Heavy Plastic Igloos with doors with locks and can be transported by the Dozens into areas of Disasters and into high homeless areas to keep people safe and warm from the elements. The Way the Economy is going we might all need them to live in. pintada kid at webtv.net

I disagree with you on this one Kid. I think instead of feeding the animals to the homeless, we should turn this whole overpopulation thing around and start carting the homeless out into the forest. Just leave them out there near bear dens and packs of hungry coyotes. This way the animals will not be hungry, will be less likely to dangerous, and we will be thinning out the surplus population.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by W5UXH

I don't have documentation, but I do recall that around Thanksgiving of 1976 or 1977, we had -10 degrees F (not wind chill) in Socorro and -20 degrees F out near Datil (at the VLA). In Socorro we also had about 12 inches of snow (not drifts) on the ground that night.

So I can believe -25 in some areas is quite possible but I would guess it is probably very rare. In the 1970's, +15F was fairly common overnight in Socorro, but single digit temperatures were very unusual. I can't remember negative temperatures other than that one time, but perhaps there were a few such events.

Chuck

anything is possible, who thought Belen would have a tornado, but it happened. Of course the temps can be pretty cold in the winters, single digits in Socorro not often.

NIta