{"id":2503,"date":"2007-11-07T03:06:00","date_gmt":"2007-11-07T09:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/11\/voters-give-miyagishima-a-chance-to-make-changes\/"},"modified":"2007-11-07T03:06:00","modified_gmt":"2007-11-07T09:06:00","slug":"voters-give-miyagishima-a-chance-to-make-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/11\/voters-give-miyagishima-a-chance-to-make-changes\/","title":{"rendered":"Voters give Miyagishima a chance to make changes"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Vicki Nisbett<\/span> <\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a>Las Cruces Mayor-elect Ken Miyagishima<\/a> ran on a platform of slowing the city\u2019s growth and increasing public involvement. Now he\u2019ll get a chance to make that happen.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI feel very good,\u201d Miyagishima said after he learned on Tuesday that he had defeated Mayor Bill Mattiace<\/a> by 74 votes out of 11,416. \u201cIt really hasn\u2019t sunk in yet. It\u2019s a credit to everyone who\u2019s worked so hard for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

At a gathering for Mattiace, meanwhile, sullen supporters consoled the mayor after it became clear that he had been defeated. Mattiace thanked his supporters, and a number thanked him for his service.<\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a>Mattiace gave a brief concession speech, then phoned Miyagishima to congratulate him. When he couldn\u2019t reach the mayor-elect, he instead left a voice mail.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cMayor-elect Miyagishima, congratulations. This is Mayor Mattiace,\u201d he said. \u201cUnofficially, it looks like you are now mayor by a margin of about 74 votes. All of us here say \u2018congratulations.\u2019 We\u2019re one team again, a united city. Thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

You can listen to Mattiace\u2019s concession speech and call to Miyagishima by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

A teary-eyed District 2 Councilor Dolores Connor<\/a>, who narrowly won her own race Tuesday, spoke at Mattiace\u2019s gathering after he gave his concession speech.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cIt has always been such a pleasure, and although we didn\u2019t always agree, Bill, we always did what was best for the City of Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>,\u201d she said. \u201cYou and I have nothing to be ashamed of during the last four years. We\u2019ve brought this city to a whole new level.\u201d <\/p>\n

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

Mary Sellers, a business owner and Mattiace supporter, said she was saddened by his loss.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cWe just really appreciate the work he\u2019s done for the city,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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

At Miyagishima\u2019s celebration, on the other hand, an excited crowd congratulated the city\u2019s new leader.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI knew he was going to win,\u201d Miyagishima\u2019s wife Susana Chaparro said.<\/p>\n

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

Ric Rao, a Miyagishima supporter, said he was happy Miyagishima won because he wants to slow the city\u2019s growth. And Renee Frank, a Las Cruces<\/st1:city><\/st1:place> realtor, said she supported Miyagishima because she was \u201cconcerned about how our city is managed\u201d and is a proponent of the sort of growth Miyagishima advocates.<\/p>\n

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

Miyagishima and other candidates elected on Tuesday will be sworn in at a ceremony on Nov. 19 and take office that day. The city will now schedule a special election to replace Miyagishima with a new District 6 councilor.<\/p>\n

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

Miyagishima has twice run against Mattiace in the past and lost, but his determination has now paid off. He called Tuesday\u2019s victory \u201can incredible opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI promise to work hard. (Las Cruces<\/st1:city><\/st1:place>) is a great city and we\u2019re going to turn it into a dynamic city. It\u2019s going to be a model city in New Mexico<\/st1:state> and throughout the United States<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got people who are committed, we\u2019ve got new candidates that have been elected that are committed and we\u2019re willing to work hard and listen to people. It\u2019s going to be their government, their city.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Nisbett<\/a> is a reporting intern for Heath Haussamen on New Mexico Politics.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Vicki Nisbett Las Cruces Mayor-elect Ken Miyagishima ran on a platform of slowing the city\u2019s growth and increasing public involvement. Now he\u2019ll get a chance to make that happen. \u201cI feel very good,\u201d Miyagishima said after he learned on Tuesday that he had defeated Mayor Bill Mattiace by 74 votes out of 11,416. \u201cIt […]<\/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-2503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2503","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=2503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2503\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}