9-13-26 When Will There Be a Debate?

I wanted to talk about Spaceport for a minute because you were there.

And there's a lot of talk about that, you know, that was a Governor Richardson deal that he wanted to put up.

And some people think it was a waste of money, that nothing's happening out there.

From the pictures I saw on your Facebook page, it looks like something is happening out there.

Well, it is.

And this is a similar conversation to what we had when I first became the mayor of Rio Rancho.

Was the event center the right thing to do? Probably not at the time, but it was built.

There it sits.

So what do we do? How do we utilize it now that it's there? So you can't tear it down.

You can't sell it where it can be towed away and taken somewhere else.

It's on government property and it's a building.

And the last thing we want to do is see another building like what happened with that visitor center.

the boondoggle that got bulldozed out in the middle of nowhere.

Okay.

We don't want that.

So what do we do to attract businesses into this? And so as part of a total overall economic plan, I felt it was very important for me to go out and visit spaceport, get an eyes on visual of what it is that's happening out there.

And I got to tell you, I was very impressed with some of the things that are happening out there, but also I saw the incredible opportunity to leverage the investment that is there and, And try to get additional partners or tenants out in that area that feed into space science, space research, space tourism.

All of these things that I believe since we've laid the foundation for it, we've spent the money.

How do we now capitalize on the investment that's been made? Now, back then, I don't know that I would have made the same decision or a different decision.

I don't know.

I wasn't there.

I wasn't even in politics back when this was decided.

So, but here it is.

And the state has invested a lot of money into this particular project.

So now how do we become nationally recognized entering the space race? And I had a great meeting with The manager of Dona Ana County and a county commissioner when I was down in Las Cruces and we had a tremendous discussion about the fact that they'd like to talk about possibly doing a space industry industrial complex just to the south of Spaceport in Dona Ana County in order to support some of the industries that are there.

I wanted to talk about Spaceport for a minute because you were there.

And there's a lot of talk about that, you know, that was a Governor Richardson deal that he wanted to put up.

And some people think it was a waste of money, that nothing's happening out there.

From the pictures I saw on your Facebook page, it looks like something is happening out there.

Well, it is.

And this is a similar conversation to what we had when I first became the mayor of Rio Rancho.

Was the event center the right thing to do? Probably not at the time, but it was built.

There it sits.

So what do we do? How do we utilize it now that it's there? So you can't tear it down.

You can't sell it where it can be towed away and taken somewhere else.

It's on government property and it's a building.

And the last thing we want to do is see another building like what happened with that visitor center.

the boondoggle that got bulldozed out in the middle of nowhere.

Okay.

We don't want that.

So what do we do to attract businesses into this? And so as part of a total overall economic plan, I felt it was very important for me to go out and visit spaceport, get an eyes on visual of what it is that's happening out there.

And I got to tell you, I was very impressed with some of the things that are happening out there, but also I saw the incredible opportunity to leverage the investment that is there and, And try to get additional partners or tenants out in that area that feed into space science, space research, space tourism.

All of these things that I believe since we've laid the foundation for it, we've spent the money.

How do we now capitalize on the investment that's been made? Now, back then, I don't know that I would have made the same decision or a different decision.

I don't know.

I wasn't there.

I wasn't even in politics back when this was decided.

So, but here it is.

And the state has invested a lot of money into this particular project.

So now how do we become nationally recognized entering the space race? And I had a great meeting with The manager of Dona Ana County and a county commissioner when I was down in Las Cruces and we had a tremendous discussion about the fact that they'd like to talk about possibly doing a space industry industrial complex just to the south of Spaceport in Dona Ana County in order to support some of the industries that are there.