DAILY LOBO new mexico
Mr. Family Values
friday
see page 4
January 20, 2012
The Independent Voice of UNM since 1895
Construction project harms local business by Christopher Bartlett bchris89@unm.edu
Ongoing construction has made parts of Lead and Coal Avenues inaccessible since November 2010, forcing some businesses in the affected area to close their doors and leaving others struggling to stay afloat. Nan Morningstar, owner of Free Radicals located on the corner of Yale Boulevard and Lead Avenue, said her business has dropped significantly since construction began, while a clothing store across the street, Steppn-2-Style, was forced to close permanently.
“Half of the businesses are gone. It sucks.” ~Nan Morningstar Owner of Free Radicals Corner of Yale and Lead “We talk to some of the neighbors and you’ll note that half of the businesses are gone,” she said. “It sucks.” The construction is part of the $26 million Lead and Coal Improvement Project, which aims to update storm drain infrastructure, landscaping and lighting along Lead and Coal Avenues and reduce both avenues from three lanes to two lanes each.
The work is projected to be finished this spring, but local business owners said customers still can’t drive up to many of the businesses located on Lead Avenue, bringing in-store traffic nearly to a halt. Ramzi Hijazi, owner and manager of Tri-H Convenience Store and gas station across Yale Boulevard, said the construction has been hurting his business since it began. While Tri-H is still accessible by car, surrounding road closures make the convenience store difficult to get to. He said business has dropped between 50 and 60 percent, and he has been forced to fire employees. “I’ve recently had to work in the store myself in order to compensate because I can’t bring in any new employees,” he said. Luis Rodriguez, an employee at Casa De Piñatas, located on Lead Avenue near Yale Boulevard, said he’s never seen such a decline in business since the store opened 16 years ago. “Business is down 60 to 70 percent from last year,” he said. “It’s been really frustrating dealing with the construction; we’ve already been broken into and robbed because the city took down all the lights in front of the store.” An anti-donation clause in the New Mexico state constitution prevents the city from compensating businesses affected by the construction. “Neither the state nor any county, school district or municipality … shall directly or indirectly lend or
see Lead
Francisco Rodriguez, the owner of Casa De Piñatas, says that business has plummeted since the construction on Lead and Coal avenues began in November 2010. Dylan Smith Daily Lobo
Luis Rodriguez works for his father making piñatas in Casa De Piñata. The Lead/Coal Improvement Project has hurt business and brought crime to the area since workers broke ground last year, Rodriguez said. Dylan Smith
& Coal PAGE 5
Daily Lobo
Athletics no longer guaranteed student fee money e qu Re Student Health and Counseling
ed nt st u e l l o ta ta qu o e T To Am FTE R TE t 13 s 12 12 16 13 5 F Y que 7 Y F FY FY , 1 F ,3 Re 23 23 $4,484,026.25 $191.83 $191.83 $4,434,342.28
Athletics
$81.75
$1,889,733.00
$149.73
$3,500,000.00
Student Union Building Recreational Services
$75.73 $29.42
$1,750,574.68 $680,072.72
$75.73 $34.70
$1,770,188.75 $811,112.50
University Libraries
$129.24
$675,911.84
$49.36
$1,153,790.00
UNM Children’s Campus
$15.00
$346,740.00
$15.00
$350,625.00
Information Technologies Center for Academic Programs Support
$10.00
$231,160.00
$128.34
$,3000,000.00
$8.63
$199,491.08
$9.63
Student Government Accounting Office
$7.50
El Centro de La Raza
$4.71
$173,370.00 $108,876.36
$7.50 $6.42
$225,101.02 $175,312.50 $149,997.38
LGBTQ Resource Center Popejoy Hall
$4.06
$5.70
$133,120.63
$4.04
$93,850.96 $93,388.64
$6.42
$150,067.50
Music Bands (+30k one time)
$3.55
$82,061.80
$3.16
$73,907.08
KUNM Radio African American Student Services
$3.30
$76,282.80
$2.94
$68,699.13
$3.26 $2.31 $2.26
$75,358.16
$3.11
$72,799.10
$53,397.96 $52,242.16
$3.32 $4.84
$77,605.00 $113,135.00
$2.12 $1.50 $1.50
$49,005.92
$2.42
CLPS (+$20k one time) Research Service Learning Program
$34,674.00
$2.34
$56,637.63 $54,674.00
$34,674.00
$1.48
$34,674.48
Project for New Mexico Graduates of Color
$1.49
$34,442.84
$2.76
$64,443.01
Career Services OIPS (+$9.5k one time)
$1.30 $1.15
$30,050.80 $26,583.40
$1.29 $1.71
$30,153.75 $40,000.00
Theatre & Dance
$1.13
$26,121.08
$1.57
$36,799.96
COSAP
$0.00
$0.00
$0.81
$19,027.25
Language Learning Center
$0.00
$0.00
$196,350.00
PATS (+$100k one time)
$0.00
$0.00
$8.40 $1.29
$486.78
$11,252,406.48
$486.78
n sti
g
E
it nt
y
American Indian Student Services NMPIRG Women’s Resource Center
Total
$30,153.75 $16,872,400.73
by Luke Holmen holmen@unm.edu
UNM Athletics, Popejoy Hall and Student Health and Counseling are among nine on-campus organizations that lost their guaranteed funding from student fees for the fiscal year 2013. UNM President David Schmidly on Thursday approved Student Fee Review Board’s recommendation to eliminate the “protected status” of nine groups that currently receive guaranteed funding from student fees. SFRB Chair and GPSA President Katie Richardson said the measure will give students more control over how funding is given to organizations across campus. “I think that students and the administration feel that student organizations need some consistency from year to year to plan their budgets, but now students can make recommendations in whatever form about the funding to determine the way in which students can best be served,” said Richardson. “All organizations that apply for fees are treated the same way and the SFRB has completely flexibility as recommendations about the amount that each organization receives.” None of the nine organizations that lost protected funding were available for comment Thursday. Organizations requesting funding
for FY13 face strong competition for limited funding. Budget requests this year amount to nearly $17 million, but last year only about $11 million was handed out in student fee allocations. UNM Information Technologies is requesting $3 million in student fees, a nearly 1,200 percent increase from the $231,000 it received last year. Athletics is requesting $3.5 million, about 85 percent more than the $1.9 million it received last year. Right now, the SFRB baseline student fees, the minimum amount students will be charged in fees for FY13 is set at $460 per student, compared to last year’s $486.78. Richardson said she hopes to keep student fees low this year. Organizations in need of funding present their case before the SFRB on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The individual members of the board will deliberate following the hearings this weekend and each of their recommendations will be averaged during meetings Feb. 6 and 13. The averages will then be given to the President’s Strategic Budget Leadership Team by Feb. 15. The team votes on the final allocations by March 1. Schmidly also approved a oneyear change in the composition of the
see SFRB PAGE 5
*blue items have historically recieved guaranteed funding but will not recieve reoccuring funding in fiscal year 2013.
Inside the
Daily Lobo volume 116
issue 82
Going $16,872,400.73 pro?
Photo essay
$11,252,406.48
See page 8
See page 2
TODAY
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