Rathole?! Embittered RR resident needs an education
Alfred (Al) Puglisi’s recent rant against the people of Rio Rancho and Mayor Gregg Hull is a prime example of the vocal minority that no matter what happens, they are not ever going to be happy. Puglisi clearly dislikes where he has chosen to live. If Rio Rancho is as bad as (he) described, it’s curious as to why more and more people continue to move here each year? Why does surveying the community at-large find 88 percent indicating they would recommend living in Rio Rancho to someone if they asked?
A quick web search of Puglisi finds complaints lodged about a variety of government entities and issues, including former Rio Rancho mayors. Kudos to you Mayor Hull! You made Puglisi’s dislike list, which is basically everyone in or affiliated with government locally, regionally and nationally.
Puglisi wants a lot of government services, unrealistic I might add, provided to meet his personal wants and views. He does not offer any ideas or solutions for how to pay for these services. Instead, he criticizes Mayor Hull for trying to promote business growth and expansion in the community. The reason why the mayor does this is because more business activity means more tax revenue is generated to meet public service needs such as public safety, roads and parks. Tax revenue is the one and only source for the extra government services you want. The alternative is to simply raise taxes on everyone — that means (him). Based on (his) views on taxes, I don’t think (he) would like that either.
He laments about no new businesses in Rio Rancho and that (he has) to go to Albuquerque, a place he also does not like . ...
He wants better roads, so does Mayor Hull. That is why during the mayor’s term, available resources have been prioritized for roadway maintenance. As a result, annual residential paved road maintenance has tripled. This does not even account for the work done on Idalia, High Resort, Broadmoor and Sara to name a few others. Oh, I almost forgot, and before Mayor Hull’s current term ends, Southern improvement work will begin.
(He states) Mayor Hull got into office via ultraconservative tea party types. Mayor Hull has never been a tea party member. Furthermore, you do not win an election as Mayor Hull did in 2014 with 65 percent of the vote without broad community support spanning a wide variety of political views.
(His) final salvo was saying Rio Rancho is such a terrible place (that) kids call it “Rio Rathole” and we need to change this fact. Kids you say? This term was utilized by (him) to describe my home and community less than a month ago on the Albuquerque Journal online. Change starts with one’s self, Rio Rancho is not the place (he describes) in a juvenile manner.
Mayor Hull has done a tremendous job and Rio Rancho is a better place today than it was 3½ years ago. While (Puglisi indicates he) will be working to help whomever runs against him, know that I, along with many others, will be supporting Hull. We know for a fact he can best help the community overcome any current or future challenges.