Municipal Building Editorial

(This is a fairly old and out of date document now that a new plan for the MUNI building has been voted on by council. -Greg

Open Letter to County Council,

I am concerned about the placement of the Judicial Complex and the eventual new Municipal Building. I believe that the proper place for these buildings is on the property West of Ashley Pond comprising the area where the abandoned Municipal Building, Police Station and Demonstration Garden now sit. This has historically been our Municipal area. There is no need to change that now.

The abandoned Municipal Building is being evaluated for potential repairs. These repairs may allow it’s continued use, most likely, in a greatly reduced capacity. In all likelihood, the abandoned Municipal Building will never again be used to house County Municipal offices, or if it does, it will be of very limited use by the County. If it’s repaired, the building will likely hold a history center or other cultural facilities. Given this, it is clear to me that we should be moving forward on the planning of a new Municipal Building, regardless what happens with the abandoned building.

The county has created a design for a Judicial Complex that has grown way beyond anyone's original expectations. We need to step back at this point, while it is still possible to do so, and look at our county's building needs from a broader prospective.

I suggest that we build a new Municipal “Complex” on the West side of Ashley Pond which will include the functions of the Judicial Complex and the Municipal functions. Let’s do one master design and have one building project and save the Taxpayers a ton of money in the process instead of doing seemingly uncoordinated spot buildings all over the County. Let’s look at including a Civic Center/Concert Theater in a new design for that area too.

We are land locked up here in Los Alamos, so let's make the most of this property before it becomes a hodgepodge of separately designed structures that don't fit into the grand puzzle that is the West Side of Ashley Pond.

If more room is needed for this type of large project, reconfigure Oppenheimer Drive into two lanes from its current four/ five-lane configuration. Oppenheimer, behind the Police Station, is very lightly used. Holy cow, Twentieth Street in front of Starbucks must receive ten times the traffic volume that Oppenheimer does. Twentieth Street is only two lanes! Eliminating lanes on Oppenheimer will provide a lot more space for building what is necessary, including an expanded parking structure for a Municipal Complex.

I support the Demonstration Garden fully, but the Garden seems to have taken on a quasi “sacred” status as an immovable facility. My gosh, this is probably the easiest and cheapest thing to relocate in the entire county! Its hard to believe that we would rule out moving the Garden, yet that is what I've heard many times at Council Meetings, "We can't touch the Garden." Give me a break! Why not? If we need it for civic functions then let's move it to another appropriate location. How hard could that be?