Third candidate enters Las Cruces mayoral race

Jon J. Mercurio has announced his candidacy for mayor of Las Cruces.

Mercurio, 64, is a retired federal scientist who runs a small business in Las Cruces and has lived in the city since 1984. He said in a news release that he’s running on a platform of “fiscal responsibility that stretches across the spectrum from smart growth, participation of the average citizen in their government, open government, infrastructure improvement for the existing community, job creation and quality of life.”

“We need a more diverse economic base. One cannot expect the current strategy of continual housing construction, as the only prop for the local economy, to have long-term success,” Mercurio said.

Mayor Bill Mattiace is seeking re-election on Nov. 6, and he’s also being challenged by District 6 City Councilor Ken Miyagishima.

Mercurio holds doctorate and master’s degrees in atmospheric physics and bachelors’ degrees in mathematics and economics from the University of California–Los Angeles. Prior to retirement, he was the acting director of the former U.S. Army Atmospheric Sciences Laboratory at White Sands Missile Range, and was a co-recipient of the Army’s scientist-of-the-year award.

Mercurio is a Vietnam veteran and former owner of a flight school in Los Angeles. Prior to moving to Las Cruces he was an Assistant Professor of Physics at the University of Missouri.

Mercurio said he supports “the concept of a large green space in the middle of the city in lieu of the downtown mall.”

“The taxpayers should not be re-building the downtown, which was an ideal proven wrong in many cities, including ours, over the past 40 years,” he said. “The commercial market should be impetus for such rebuilding, with the local government providing incentives that will entice merchants and entrepreneurs to take the risk. The private, not the public, sector should be assuming such risks.”

He also criticized the city’s current growth policies and actions, and said the city deserves “some fresh ideas, some creative thinking that is not evident in any of the current city council membership.”

“The local environment is losing, in reality, has lost, much of the attractiveness that greeted me 23 years ago,” Mercurio said. “If we continue with this Tucson model, all the distinctiveness will have disappeared, our taxes will match Tucsons’ and our quality of life will have been permanently supplanted.”

Mercurio said, if elected, he will donate the mayor’s salary, “minus expenses,” to local charities and “city projects that need support.”