Miyagishima wants slower growth, better planning

This article is part of a series running this week profiling the candidates in the Nov. 6 Las Cruces municipal election.

By Vicki Nisbett

Though he’s run unsuccessfully for mayor twice before, Ken Miyagishima said the public knows Mayor Bill Mattiace better than when Miyagishima ran against him in 2003.

Because of that Miyagishima, 44, said the Nov. 6 race will be different.

“The public has seen what the mayor is and isn’t,” he said. “I like to pride myself on true accessibility. I would be a full-time mayor, 24/7.”

Mattiace was on vacation during the council’s discussion of the West Mesa Kennon Annexation in June. At almost 8,400 acres, it was one of the largest in the city’s history, and Miyagishima said it was unusual that the mayor missed the meeting.

“The people believe in you and want you to go to bat for them and carry their message,” Miyagishima said. “I don’t think (the mayor) has done that. I won’t fail in that.”

Miyagishima ran against Mattiace twice in 2003 – first in a special election and later in November of that year. The second time, Mattiace took 40 percent of the vote, Miyagishima secured 25 percent and three other candidates split the rest.

The city will hold a special election to replace Miyagishima as the District 6 councilor if he wins the mayoral election.

Growth – and specifically, slowing it down – is at the center of Miyagishima’s platform. He said the city’s current pace of growth is “like driving a Lamborghini at 150 miles in a 35-mph zone. I would still like to drive the Lamborghini, but at the speed limit.” He wants better planning, including increased public involvement.

Miyagishima was the only councilor to vote in May against the controversial development on the East Mesa called The Vistas at Presidio, a 6,000-acre project that could add 30,000 homes to Las Cruces. He said the annexation was approved without careful consideration and adequate citizen input, and proves his point about development being out of control. Galvanized citizens who agree with Miyagishima have rallied around his campaign.

“We’re building a lot of new (developments) and ignoring the existing neighborhoods,” Miyagishima said. “There are some neighborhoods that were annexed on the East Mesa about 20 years ago. It’s a shame they (still) don’t have paved roads.”

Miyagishima said he would also focus as mayor on reducing gang and criminal activity. And he wants to boost education.

“We have to make sure our community is as safe as possible through education and gang reduction,” he said. “… We have to reduce dropout (rates). We have to make sure that our children recognize the value of an education. Technology and science are the engines for economic development.”

‘Going to look out for all of Las Cruces’

Former state Rep. J. Paul Taylor has known Miyagishima for about 20 years. Taylor said he sat through two development meetings earlier this year and thought Miyagishima’s proposals made “very good sense.”

“Without saying anything to detract from anyone else who’s running against him, I think he’s going to look out for all of Las Cruces and even beyond, from what I heard him talk about at those two council meetings I attended,” Taylor said.

In one of those instances, Miyagishima wanted half-acre lots in the Heather Hills subdivision, instead of the smaller lots that were proposed, because adjacent homes were on half-acre lots. His proposal failed and he voted against the subdivision, which was approved.

The other instance was the Kennon Annexation. Miyagishima proposed excluding a parcel of land whose residents, he said, were opposed to annexation, but he was the only councilor to vote for his proposal, so it failed, and the Fairacres-area land was annexed.

Gilbert Perez, former director of indigent hospital claims and health services for the city and county, said he supports Miyagishima’s mayoral bid.

“He has the background and the knowledge for serving us because he knows the needs of both the city and the county,” Perez said.

About Miyagishima

Born in Biloxi, Miss., Miyagishima and his family moved to Las Cruces in 1971 so his father, Mike Miyagishima, could attend college after retiring from the Air Force. His mother, Catalina Gallegos Miyagishima, is from Alamogordo.

Miyagishima graduated in 1985 with a bachelor’s degree in finance and real estate from New Mexico State University. While attending college, he started his own insurance and financial services business in 1984, and he still owns it.

Even as a child, Miyagishima knew he wanted to hold public office. In elementary school, he offered to give jobs to two friends, who he thought were smart, when he became governor.

Miyagishima was a college instructor in finance and management from 1989 to 1996. He was a Doña Ana County commissioner for eight years, from 1992 to 2000, and is in his second term as city councilor, a position he first won in 2001.

When he was elected to the county commission, Miyagishima became New Mexico’s first Japanese American to hold public office. He is a former president of the Rio Grande Council of Governments and former chairman of the New Mexico Association of Counties Insurance Authority.

Miyagishima said he enjoys spending his free time with his wife, Susana Chaparro, a former Doña Ana County magistrate judge, and their two children, Michael, who attends NMSU, and Danielle, who attends Oñate High School.

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Nov. 6. Early and absentee voting are underway.

Nisbett is a reporting intern for Heath Haussamen on New Mexico Politics.