Chavez is running to bring business back to Belen
January 18, 2010
Tibo Chavez Jr., a Belen attorney, says he’s running to be Belen’s next mayor to help bring business back to the city.
“Driving up and down Main Street and Becker Avenue and looking at all the boarded up buildings, including the old city hall across from my office, it’s depressing,” he said. “I felt there is something I could and should do to change that.”
Chavez, who said it feels like Belen’s “turning into a ghost town,” spoke with other mayoral candidates before deciding to run, but he wasn’t satisfied with what he heard from them. They didn’t have specific ideas for creating jobs and bringing new businesses, he said.
“I decided I would come up with a plan and an approach and run,” he said.
He wants Belen to have more retail options and a variety of restaurants.
“It’s difficult when all of the businesses that used to be here are boarded up and you have to go out of Belen to do most of your shopping or be at the mercy of our local Wal-Mart,” he said.
To create a better business environment, Chavez plans to make city hall more receptive to people who want to open a new business, eliminating “brick walls” that stand in the way of new businesses. For example, he wants to streamline zoning and building code processes.
“The business should be encouraged to locate here,” he said.
Chavez would designate or hire an employee who can be the go-to person for guiding entrepreneurs through these processes. He would also utilize tax incentives for business owners.
He also wants to encourage major business development like Signet Solar, a company planning to build a solar manufacturing facility west of Los Chavez, a project Chavez said is “stalled” under the current administration.
“Those kinds of businesses that produce a product that would be used not only in New Mexico but around the country and the world are really great businesses for us to have,” he said.
He said Belen is perfect for solar industry because the city has the right ingredients — easy railroad access and the nearby interstate.
He said the combination of the railroad, interstate, Belen Alexander Airport, and Belen’s location at the center of the state makes Belen prime for transportation- and shipping-related businesses.
Aside from jobs and business, Chavez will be anti-crime and make neighborhoods safer.
“More and more as the SWAT team and metro law enforcement in Albuquerque push the gangs and the drug members out of Albuquerque, they will look to communities like Belen to set up,” he said.
He wants to coordinate with the district attorney, the attorney general and local law enforcement to aggressively reduce crime. He also wants to help set up neighborhood watches in all of Belen’s neighborhoods.
Chavez would make changes in city hall, too, operating it more like a business. He wants full accountability of how taxpayers’ money is spent, partly by posting the city’s budget and audits on the internet for the public to view.
“If the audits show problems, then those should be posted,” he said. “Everything has to be open and transparent. It is taxpayers’ money, and there’s no reason to keep it quiet or be secretive about it.”
He said city hall needs to be friendly. He said people shouldn’t call in to city hall and hear an automated voice answering the phone.
“I think somebody should answer the phone and say, ‘Good morning. City of Belen. My name is such and such. How can I help you?’” Chavez said.
In terms of infrastructure, the city needs to plan strategically for improvements and then apply for federal and state assistance based on the plan, he said.
“It has to be a long-term approach so that Belen grows in a manner that’s conducive to good quality living,” he said.
He said new paving, sidewalks and lampposts are good for Belen, but they aren’t enough.
“Those types of cosmetic improvements are helpful, but they haven’t stemmed the tide,” he said.