Truth or Consequences (Las Cruces, Hope: transporting, employment, inspection)

[GregW]

Your descriptions of T or C sound like some North Country (NH) towns after the paper mills closed except T or C never had the mills in the first place. Some towns recover by finding a new economic situation and others just languish. Some are completely deserted.

[highdesertmutz]

Howdy gregw,
according to city-data statistics, the population of T or C has dropped by at least 5% in the last few years. normally, in most cities around the country, population expands or grows by a few percentage points. normally, I don't compare statistics, or even care to, but I find it noteworthy that there seems to be an exodous of this city. I know for a fact that the business climate here has somewhat of a chill to it. in fact, designer, one of our friends here at city-data has noticed businesses leaving, or no longer open. I think part of that problem stems from when a person opened a shop in the downtown area, the torrential rains of the monsoon season came, and roofs of the spaces they rented leaked, ruining their stock or causing other damages to their store fronts, so, these businesses owners just shut their doors, it's my summation that this is likely what happened. who want's to open a new store, and the next thing you know, the darn (that's d a r n ) not the other.... roof leaks on you? In fact, at least one lawsuit filing has been contemplated by at least one renter of the property owner. so, Truth or Consequences might sound like a funny name for a town, but there's nothing funny about what's happening here! nothing at all. so, will T or C become a desert ghost town like winston and chloride? I know some people have some BIG PLANS for this place, e.g. racetrack, spaceport, etc., but we'll see if it flies or not in the future! My wife and I are ready to check outa this place when we sell the trailer. missouri was always kind to me, I lived in KC for a number of years, and was stationed at Scott AFB near St.Louis, and liked it. so, our sights are on MO.
we don't know much about the surrounding areas, except what we've been told......and experienced first hand, silver city is a very expensive place to live, high priced food stores for one, we heard deming is windier than T or C, but the smaller towns around e.g. hillsboro, winston, chloride, cuchillo don't hardly have anything, and people come from all over to T or C or go to las cruces to shop. the main attraction at the butte is the lake and state park. I think part of T or C's stigma is the lack of amenities the city itself has to offer, and maybe it will always remain a 'tourist town'. time will tell.

Originally Posted by GregW

Your descriptions of T or C sound like some North Country (NH) towns after the paper mills closed except T or C never had the mills in the first place. Some towns recover by finding a new economic situation and others just languish. Some are completely deserted.

[chili man in california]

It is my understanding that some of the downtown area is owned by a slumlord that knows about the problems and refuses to fix them..Also the stores downtown have not been inspected for years for fear that they will be condemmed.

[GregW]

Suprise - we come back to our old buddy corruption and cronyism. Too bad.

[highdesertmutz]

Thank you for saying it! I myself was trying to refrain from charging this slumlord, as, I still live here, and don't want repercussions of making accusations. You're 1000% right. and, I used to rent from this 'slumlord' you've coined, it took them 8 days to get a water leak fixed. when I called them about roof shingles being blown off, they did NOTHING! it's a darned good thing I had renters insurance! oh yeah, the place had roaches as most places in this town does, and I was paying 40 bucks a month to have an exterminator spray every month. did it help? who knows, I still saw these creepy crawlers even after the exterminator treated the place! hard to kill! the 40 bucks was out of my own pocket. I was sooooo glad to get out of that dump and wash my hands of that slumlord! you understand correctly chili man, the slum lords of T or C are alive and well. inspections? I don't think the city knows what that word means! take for instance, the newly opened public laundry, the one south on broadway, the owners are the same ones that operated the one next to the dollar general store up by IGA.....the facade and overhang of the new laundry appears to be falling down, loose bricks above the entrance, no cover plates over electrical boxes inside, how did this place ever get a final???? no wonder the town looks run down, nobody in the inspection department has an eye for detail! I used to have a web page named truth-or-cons-truth dot com, but had to shut it down because I picked on too many people and stepped on too many toes. oh yeah, the place I rented from the slum lord? I could have bought it for $52,000, as a fixer upper. I told the slum lord I didn't buy fixer uppers for 52K!! I'm going to have to rep your comment!

Originally Posted by chili man in california

It is my understanding that some of the downtown area is owned by a slumlord that knows about the problems and refuses to fix them..Also the stores downtown have not been inspected for years for fear that they will be condemmed.

[highdesertmutz]

Ain't it the truth!

Originally Posted by GregW

Suprise - we come back to our old buddy corruption and cronyism. Too bad.

[dracul]

So sad to read these revelations about the long suffering TorC. While not surprising, they are dismaying because we really want to relocate there someday. In the mean time we will set our sights elsewhere. Perhaps Las Cruses...although I'm finding out that LC has a rather dark under belly as well. Decisions, decisions. If I were younger I'd just roll the proverbial dice and wade right in, expecting to take some hits. Now, entering the autumn of my years, so to speak, I'm a bit more cautious and don't want to make detrimental mistakes. Not enough cushioning anymore for hard falls, if you follow my drift.

[highdesertmutz]

Well, normally, the sun shines most of the time. One could look to the sky in daylight and, use their imagination as the clouds roll by. Thinking that this cloud or that cloud looks, or resembles certain things. It's rarely overcast here. the sun usually shines 'most of the time'. One can stargaze here too. The sky is so wide open at night, there's a billion stars at night.
Low crime rate? can the low crime rate be attributed by the low population? It is a possibilty. OK, we do lock our doors at night to keep the T or C boogerman out. I think we started locking our doors at night at the time we realized crime was on the rise nationwide, and that was many year ago, and, in a different city. Anyway, locks only slow criminals down, they don't keep them out. If someone wants something bad enough, they'll find a way in, no matter how well it's secured.
The crime rate. everytime I tune into local news (albuquerque) it seems there's a homicide every day or night. so, I think one could feel relatively safe here. I have not heard of a murder or car jacking in T or C recently, and, that's a good thing in my opinion. The last crime I've heard of in T or C was the two guys that had an argument about one's wife, and a pellet gun was drawn and discharged. Thank goodness not everyone in the State of New Mexico has a permit to carry a firearm, we'd be flashing back into the old west days, where a person shot another in a gunfight. it's more civilized and settled nowadays.
Something nice I have to say about the PD. I have met and conversed with 3 since my time here in T or C, and all seemed to be level headed and acted professionally, and seemed, not too awfully friendly, and I don't know if it's because they're trying to be cops and keep a shirt sleeve's distance of being friendly, or, if they are unfriendly by nature. as I've known cops in the past in chicago, most try to keep meetings with civilians on a prof. level, and don't get too friendly with people. but this is where and when you end up meeting one. once, I was delivering medical supplies in cabrini green (chicago) and asked a copper about addresses on the buildings there, as they were removed, and he told me about half way down the street and wished me luck. I found the locals were actually more friendly to me than the cop. cabrini green is, or was a low income housing project with a mostly black population, and at the time I made the delivery, I was the only caucasian in the area, other than the copper. I was not uncomfortable working in diverse situations, I grew up in it, and was comfortable with being around diverse persons. It was plain for me to see that the copper had a problem though, wishing me luck.
I might be amazed if the city of T or C decided to condemn the downtown buildings and just raze them. But for now, I think they must be generating at least some type of revenue from them, otherwise, the buildings would be leveled.
I guess the town is what one can see good or positives out of it. It does have 'some' positives, but also, the negatives pretty much outweigh the good. the thing that a person must keep in mind if deciding to make this place a home, or just a visit is that you have to take everything with a grain of salt, and realize that this is only a small town in the middle of nowhere, and it just doesn't have everything an equally sized town has in the midwest. the cliche', put things into perspective. try to keep an open mind. since I've pretty much closed my book on this place, that doesn't mean that this town doesn't have anything to offer to someone else. I'm sure my opinion differs from others. so, don't take my words for anything, find out for yourselves. come here, stay awhile, get the feel of things, and, if it ain't your cup o tea, keep your wheels warm!

[highdesertmutz]

Originally Posted by highdesertmutz

Thank you for saying it! I myself was trying to refrain from charging this slumlord, as, I still live here, and don't want repercussions of making accusations. You're 1000% right. and, I used to rent from this 'slumlord' you've coined, it took them 8 days to get a water leak fixed. when I called them about roof shingles being blown off, they did NOTHING! it's a darned good thing I had renters insurance! oh yeah, the place had roaches as most places in this town does, and I was paying 40 bucks a month to have an exterminator spray every month. did it help? who knows, I still saw these creepy crawlers even after the exterminator treated the place! hard to kill! the 40 bucks was out of my own pocket. I was sooooo glad to get out of that dump and wash my hands of that slumlord! you understand correctly chili man, the slum lords of T or C are alive and well. inspections? I don't think the city knows what that word means! take for instance, the newly opened public laundry, the one south on broadway, the owners are the same ones that operated the one next to the dollar general store up by IGA.....the facade and overhang of the new laundry appears to be falling down, loose bricks above the entrance, no cover plates over electrical boxes inside, how did this place ever get a final???? no wonder the town looks run down, nobody in the inspection department has an eye for detail! I used to have a web page named truth-or-cons-truth dot com, but had to shut it down because I picked on too many people and stepped on too many toes. oh yeah, the place I rented from the slum lord? I could have bought it for $52,000, as a fixer upper. I told the slum lord I didn't buy fixer uppers for 52K!! I'm going to have to rep your comment!

And, by the way, I was paying my own utilities, which included the water bill! so, I wonder how much water was wasted that I paid for? hummmm?

[catman]

I just read a story on my start page (SBC Yahoo) which list T ot C as one of 10 great small towns to live in! I've never been there so I have no personal opinion, but this thread doesn't seem to agree with the article, to say the least.