{"id":2233,"date":"2007-09-13T05:55:00","date_gmt":"2007-09-13T11:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/09\/third-candidate-enters-las-cruces-mayoral-race\/"},"modified":"2007-09-13T05:55:00","modified_gmt":"2007-09-13T11:55:00","slug":"third-candidate-enters-las-cruces-mayoral-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/09\/third-candidate-enters-las-cruces-mayoral-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Third candidate enters Las Cruces mayoral race"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jon J. Mercurio has announced his candidacy for mayor of Las Cruces<\/st1:city><\/st1:place>.<\/p>\n

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

Mercurio, 64, is a retired federal scientist who runs a small business in Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> and has lived in the city since 1984. He said in a news release that he\u2019s running on a platform of \u201cfiscal 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cWe 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,\u201d Mercurio said.<\/p>\n

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

Mayor Bill Mattiace<\/a> is seeking re-election on Nov. 6, and he\u2019s also being challenged by District 6 City Councilor Ken Miyagishima<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

Mercurio holds doctorate and master\u2019s degrees in atmospheric physics and bachelors\u2019 degrees in mathematics and economics from the University<\/st1:placetype> of California<\/st1:placename>–Los Angeles<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>. Prior to retirement, he was the acting director of the former U.S. Army Atmospheric Sciences Laboratory at White<\/st1:placename> Sands<\/st1:placename> Missile<\/st1:placename> Range<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place>, and was a co-recipient of the Army\u2019s scientist-of-the-year award.<\/p>\n

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

Mercurio is a Vietnam<\/st1:country-region> veteran and former owner of a flight school in Los Angeles<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>. Prior to moving to Las Cruces<\/st1:city> he was an Assistant Professor of Physics at the University<\/st1:placetype> of Missouri<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place>. <\/p>\n

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

Mercurio said he supports \u201cthe concept of a large green space in the middle of the city in lieu of the downtown mall.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThe taxpayers should not be re-building the downtown, which was an ideal proven wrong in many cities, including ours, over the past 40 years,\u201d he said. \u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

He also criticized the city\u2019s current growth policies and actions, and said the city deserves \u201csome fresh ideas, some creative thinking that is not evident in any of the current city council membership.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThe local environment is losing, in reality, has lost, much of the attractiveness that greeted me 23 years ago,\u201d Mercurio said. \u201cIf we continue with this Tucson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> model, all the distinctiveness will have disappeared, our taxes will match Tucsons\u2019 and our quality of life will have been permanently supplanted.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Mercurio said, if elected, he will donate the mayor\u2019s salary, \u201cminus expenses,\u201d to local charities and \u201ccity projects that need support.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u2019s running on a platform of \u201cfiscal responsibility that stretches across the spectrum […]<\/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-2233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2233","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=2233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2233\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}