{"id":1927,"date":"2007-07-03T10:48:00","date_gmt":"2007-07-03T16:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/07\/lawmakers-ask-guv-to-help-save-historic-theater\/"},"modified":"2007-07-03T10:48:00","modified_gmt":"2007-07-03T16:48:00","slug":"lawmakers-ask-guv-to-help-save-historic-theater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/07\/lawmakers-ask-guv-to-help-save-historic-theater\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawmakers ask guv to help save historic theater"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Two state lawmakers say Gov. Bill Richardson<\/a> has pledged to help them find $500,000 in state money save the historic Fountain Theatre<\/a> from an uncertain future. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The owner of the 102-year-old theater put it up for sale last month. The Mesilla Valley Film Society<\/a>, which operates the historic theater as a venue for alternative films, was given a chance to buy the facility if it can come up with $525,000 before July 17.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Though the group is holding a number of fundraisers<\/a>, it\u2019s a long shot.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>State Reps. Mary Helen Garcia<\/a> and Joseph Cervantes<\/a> of Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> took the opportunity while hosting a fundraiser for the governor\u2019s presidential campaign on Friday to talk to him about the project. Garcia told the Las Cruces Sun-News<\/a> that Richardson<\/st1:city><\/st1:place> agreed to help seek $500,000.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cWe mentioned the idea to the governor, and he made the commitment,\u201d the newspaper quoted her as saying.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

This is politicking at its best, or worst, depending on how you look at it. Raise some private money for the governor\u2019s campaign and, while you\u2019re doing it, ask him for some public money for a project.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Those who frequent the Fountain Theatre will be overjoyed.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

A Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> spokesman told the newspaper the governor \u201cdoes want to be helpful\u2026 but the details still need to be worked out.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The idea taking shape would be for the Town of Mesilla<\/a> to own the theater and lease it to the film society.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Cervantes told the newspaper that officials are examining whether any of this year\u2019s capital outlay money can be spent on the project. If not, under the proposal Garcia and Cervantes are putting together, a request would be made in January, and the seller would be asked to hold off until then to allow more time for the deal to be worked out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two state lawmakers say Gov. Bill Richardson has pledged to help them find $500,000 in state money save the historic Fountain Theatre from an uncertain future. The owner of the 102-year-old theater put it up for sale last month. The Mesilla Valley Film Society, which operates the historic theater as a venue for alternative films, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1927\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}