Santa Fe New Mexican, May 4, 2014

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Pope’s sex abuse panel pledges more accountability Page A-3

New log-home compound overlooks scenic Pecos River Valley Home, inside Santa Fe Real

Estate Guide

May 2014

Locally owned and independent

Sunday, May 4, 2014

www.santafenewmexican.com $1.25 Garrett ‘Castle

’on market • W heelright ad

Day laborers wait for work at De Vargas Park on April 24. The Great Recession caused construction-related jobs to dry up, but as the economy picks up, workers who gather at the park say jobs are slowly coming back. Luis Sánchez Saturno/The New Mexican

Day laborers see more work as economy creeps back Local demand for cheap labor has picked up since recession By Uriel J. Garcia The New Mexican

A gray truck drives slowly along De Vargas Street and stops in front of the park where day laborers congregate. About five men surround the vehicle, asking the driver, “How many do you need?” Two men climb into the truck and drive off with him. Luciano Flores, a 64-year-old immigrant from Mexico who is sitting on a nearby bench with a lunch bag strapped around his back, chuckles at their eagerness. “Oh, well,” he says in Spanish. The jostling is a hopeful sign for the small and often-overlooked community of day laborers, almost always men, who gather every day outside the state Department of Workforce Solutions building across from De Vargas Park. During the last recession, construction jobs were scarce in Santa Fe, and demand for day labor declined sharply. But in one of the few signals that the local economy may be picking up, the need for cheap labor to help in landscaping, construction and home improvements is growing again. Not as fast as the men would like, but any improvement is good. Many of the men who gather daily at the park are undocumented, but not all. Some are living here legally, but because of age or work-related injuries, they can’t find full-time jobs. The park is their next best option. On any given weekday, about 40 men of various ages gather at the park starting at 6 a.m., waiting to get picked up by either landscaping companies who need extra help or by Santa Fe residents who simply need a person to do some handiwork around the house. At about 8 a.m., Mara Taub, co-founder of Los Amigos del Parque, an immigrant advocacy organization, starts serving orange juice and coffee

Please see LABOR, Page A-5

No dropout solution here

Cyclists endure ‘Torture’

Harmful education cuts

“What was Santa Fe smoking when it was sold this bill of goods?” asks Dorothy Klopf about Engage Santa Fe. Opinions, B-1

Participants in annual mountain bike race revel in pain and terrain of challenging competition. Local News, C-1

A new report says lower per-student spending, rising tuition will hurt the state’s economy. Local News, C-1

Opera overhaul

In debate, Dems save attacks for governor Candidates promise to back primary victor in challenging Martinez

An artist’s rendering of the renovated entrance. Courtesy The Santa Fe Opera

By Steve Terrell The New Mexican

$23M project will expand, upgrade off-stage areas at SFO By Anne Constable The New Mexican

E

verything looks flawless on the stage of The Santa Fe Opera — the scenery, the props, the costumes. For music lovers, the whole experience, from the mountain views, occasional lightning displays and worldclass musical performances, is matchless. But off-stage and behind the scenes, things are far from perfect. Opera expansion Size of existing facilities: 36,066 square feet Size after overhaul: 64,325 square feet

The dressing rooms used by opera divas such as Susan Graham, Natalie Dessay and Joyce DiDonato are reminiscent of summer camp. There’s a grim communal shower and a minimum of privacy in the toilet area. Inside the scene shop, there isn’t room to assemble an entire set. That has to be done on the open stage, outdoors on the deck or sometimes in Stieren Hall. Because there’s no dedicated paint shop, crews have to improvise. In the costume shop, there’s not enough room

between the work tables to even roll a rack of clothes, and there are only two tiny fitting rooms. Bolts of stock fabric are stored outside in barrels covered with a blue tarp. During intermissions, long lines form outside the opera’s restrooms and bars. It’s a struggle to get to the cash register in the opera shop. In short, the SFO, one of the most successful companies in the United States, is in dire need of an overhaul — and it’s getting one starting at the end of this season.

Opera club: 4,000 now; 7,965 after

Entrance/Plaza: 4,716 now; 6,920 after

Number of women’s restrooms: 42 now; 63 after Number of men’s restrooms: 30 now; 46 after Prop/scene shops: 13,940 now; 25,540 after

Please see DEBATE, Page A-4

Officials say confronting phone thieves is a bad idea

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B

By Ian Lovett

The New York Times

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Dressing rooms, costume shop: 13,410 now; 23,900 after

Rendering courtesy The Santa Fe Opera

Obituaries

New apps transform old method of driving around to check out homes and neighborhoods.

Today Mostly sunny. High 82, low 45.

Katherine (Kay) Keros Hertz, 78, Santa Fe, May 1 George Richard Alexander Maitland, Rio Rancho, April 11 Barbara Townsend Meem, 97, Santa Fe, April 30 Julianna Mikhailovna Ossorgin, 83, May 1 Miguel Phillip Trujillo, 73, April 30

Real Estate, E-1

Page D-6

Page C-2

Calendar A-2 Classifieds E-9 Lotteries A-2 Neighbors C-7 Opinions B-1

ALBUQUERQUE — The five Democratic candidates for governor seemed to be adhering to a selfimposed “fireworks ban” at a forum Saturday, as they fastidiously avoided taking any shots at one another. In fact, at the end of the two-hour debate sponsored by the state Democratic Party, Attorney General Gary King, state Sens. Linda Lopez and Howie Morales, longtime government administrator Lawrence Rael and Santa Fe businessman Alan Webber all pledged to enthusiastically support whoever wins the June primary to take on incumbent Republican Gov. Susana Martinez. All five agreed on several issues, including raising the state’s minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, allowing

Please see SFO, Page A-4

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Home info at your fingertips

Index

dition

Pasapick www.pasatiempomagazine.com

Contemporary Clay Fair Works by more than 30 potters and artists, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Santa Fe Women’s Club, 1616 Old Pecos Trail, contemporaryclayfair.com.

WEST COVINA, Calif. — After a boozy Saturday night, Sarah Maguire awoke the next morning to find that her iPhone was gone. Her roommate’s phone was gone, too. Were they at the bar, she wondered, or in the cab? Using the Find My iPhone app on her computer, she found that someone had taken the phones to a home in this Los Angeles exurb, 30 miles east of her West Hollywood apartment. So Maguire, a slight, 26-year-old yoga instructor, did what a growing number of phone theft victims have done: She went to confront the thieves — and, to her surprise, got the phones back. “When I told my mom what I did, she thought I was crazy,” Maguire said. With smartphone theft rampant, apps like Find My iPhone offer a new option for those desperate to recover their devices, allowing victims like

Please see PHONE, Page A-6

Real Estate E-1 Sports D-1

Main office: 983-3303 Late paper: 986-3010 News tips: 983-3035

Six sections, 48 pages

Time Out/crossword E-16

165th year, No. 124 Publication No. 596-440

Breaking news at www.santafenewmexican.com

Congratulate your graduate with a

• Not to scale;

in The New Mexican’s special keepsake publication for local grads!

Actual size is 3. 791”x2” •

Alejandro Men SANTA FE HIG

dez

H

Deadline: May 28, 5pm • Publishes: June 8th

Congratulatio We are so prou ns Ale! d of yo We love you! u!

$25 includes one color photo of your grad plus your personal message (75 characters max).

Mom, Kat, Nin Tito and Jasmina, e

You turn to us.

Visit santafenewmexican.com/gradgrams or fill out a form at The Santa Fe New Mexican, 202 E. Marcy St., to create your custom

GRADGram!✮ !


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