Tag Archives: Santa Anna Star Center

No Hockey This Winter At The Santa Ann Star Center

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The Santa Anna Star Center was built in Rio Rancho to primarily be a venue for the New Mexico Scorpions hockey team. Not only are the New Mexico Scorpions not playing there, the New Mexico Mustangs won’t be playing there either according the the Rio Rancho Observer “Mustangs ‘inactive’ for season“.

The New Mexico Mustangs, who called the Star Center home for the past two seasons of North American Hockey league competition, were officially “granted inactive status” by the NAHL and will not compete in the league in the 2012-13 season.

A ticket to a Mustangs’ game wasn’t exactly the hottest item in town: The team drew an average of 802 fans for each of its 29 home games in 2010-11 and then 721 fans for each of its 30 home games in the just-completed season.

The situation with the Santa Anna Star Center was covered by the New York Times in 2011. The company that convinced the city to build the center, Global Entrainment, went around the country getting a lot of cities to build similar arenas making promises that didn’t come true.

Rio Rancho’s Santa Ana Star Center In The New York Times

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The New York Times has published an article titled “Company’s Arenas Leave Cities With Big Problems” which discusses the problems with the arenas that Global Entertainment built around the country, specifically the Santa Anna Star Center in Rio Rancho, New Mexico.

But trouble started almost from the day the doors of Santa Ana Star Center opened in 2006. Global Entertainment, the company hired to build and manage the arena, failed to book enough events, and the minor league hockey team it recruited folded. Attendance was light because of high ticket prices and the arena’s remote location. Unrealistic sales targets and high turnover among the arena’s staff added to the problems.

The article says the Global Entertainment promised revenue that was incredible even when there wasn’t a recession and that they weren’t able to meet their projections in several other cities. The free market at work, screwing the tax payer. The New York Times also included a very crappy picture of the Santa Ana Star Center.

Field of Schemes suggests the article was written with a pro sports spin because it’s written by New York Times sports writer Ken Belson and that Global Entertainment owns the Central Hockey League.

The article also includes an unrelated but interested history of Rio Rancho.

Controversy is not new in Rio Rancho. The city became nationally known in the 1970s when four executives from the Amrep Corporation were convicted of mail and land fraud for their role selling patches of desert in Rio Rancho to residents of New York and elsewhere. Buyers accused Amrep of using high-pressure techniques to sell lots that, they learned, had little resale value.

For years, Rio Rancho residents, including many from the East Coast who wanted to live more cheaply and quietly, resisted incorporating the town. Rio Rancho was so off the beaten track that the F.B.I. reportedly located some members of its witness protection program there.

Hewlett-Packard Opens Wednesday In Rio Rancho

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Unlike like the Lions Gate film studios, Hewlett-Packard (HP) is actually opening their doors in Rio Rancho.

It’s the day that technology giant Hewlett-Packard opens its 218,000-square-foot customer service and technical support center in Rio Rancho’s City Center area.

HP officials will join city, county and state officials in welcoming HP to the City of Vision with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 9 a.m.

Mayor Tom Swisstack said the Hewlett-Packard project is ahead of schedule.

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I took a drive down to the city center to look at the new building. It is located directly north of the Santa Anna Star Center. Many have criticized Rio Rancho for building a new down town in the “middle of nowhere”, I think it coming together nicely.

HP Comes To Rio Rancho

HP is bringing 1300 jobs in the way of a support center to Rio Rancho. HP is receiving tax breaks and the 1300 jobs could be realized by 2012.

According to the Albuquerque Journal, it’s likely to be build near the new downtown in the same are where the Santa Anna Star Center is. Yet another building that can be added to the list of building to be built in the new downtown which actually are not.

In another example of crack reporting (or reporters on crack) at the Albuquerque Journal:

Jobs at Hewlett-Packard mostly would be in customer support and sales. They could help offset layoffs at Intel, which remains the state’s largest private-sector employer despite cutting about 1,000 jobs during the last year.

I’m not sure how that works. The Intel layoffs were last year and new HP jobs are not likely to come for a while. A year or two at least. Maybe they will come in time for the next round of layoffs.

In any case based on what I read on the Consumerists, HP needs all the support center help it can get.

Note: I don’t actually know of a new round of layoffs at Intel. I’m mostly being sarcastic but I wouldn’t bet on anything in these times.

Mayor Parties Too Much On The Tax Payers Dime

Rio Rancho Main St - City Hall Construction BokehI’ve often thought there is a lot of corruption and ego in New Mexico politics. I should say, what seems like more than a normal amount of corruption and ego in New Mexico politics. Kind of a “god-old-boys network” that exists. The Mayor of Albuquerque seems to like to promote himself a lot more than I would expect, for example.

I didn’t expect it from Kevin Jackson, Rio Rancho’s new mayor. he campaigned on being different and trustworthy and I mostly bought into it. Now he’s almost blown any trust I had, since he’s had his credit card revoked from the city for spending $8000 at Scorpion games that wasn’t authorized. The non profit New Mexico Family Council-Best Choice has recently fired Jackson for mismanaging money too.

The Rio Rancho Mayor position is part time, and pays about $12,000 a year. Mayor Jackson said he was giving that money back to the city. Perhaps he thinks he was justified?

Update 10:54 PM: According to KRQE, Mayor Jackson is accused of double billing some trips to the city and his non profit foundation.

Update 6/5/07 6:18 PM:Oh come on now. This is just sour grapes, “Not only is former Mayor Jim Owen calling for Jackson’s resignation, he is also saying the council should name the second place finisher in the last mayoral election to take his place. That person would be Owen.”. Jackson can’t be as bad as this guy.

Update 07/06/07 10:03 PM: It just keeps getting worse. KRQE is now saying that the Rio Rancho city council may have a vote of no confidence at the next meeting (June 13th?).

Also, some of the Santa Anna Star Center receipts list “Mayor Chavez”, yet Albuquerque’s mayor says he’s never been to the center and doesn’t want his ass dragged into it.

Update 6/9/07 8:38 AM: Kevin Jackson has made an official statement saying he will pay back any charges but not admitting any wrong doing. Also saying something about others making charges. New Mexico FBIHOP suggests it’s his brothers that made the other charges. Very interesting.

Kevin Jackson has sent the following “letter to the editor”.

I do not believe in attacking others. When there are challenges and mistakes, we need to learn from them and grow through them.There are certain new issues that we have had to grow through. We can either grow through them professionally or destructively.

Also the Observer thinks the Mayor should resign and suggests alternatives. I say lets not be premature.

Rio Rancho High School Graduation

I’m trying to think back to my own graduation 15 years ago. It was held at the high school football field and I think there was a limit of how many people I could attend, something like 5 people (the class was 2000 people (update: 2000 is the total number of students in the school that year)). The Rio Rancho High School graduation is in some controversy due to the 8 person limit imposed when the school moved the ceremony to the Santa Anna Star Center. It was previously held at the “Pit” in Albuquerque.

The Santa Ana Star Center, which opened in November, will hold 5,500 of the graduates’ family and friends, while the The Pit held 11,000 for the ceremony last year, said Bill Duncan, Rio Rancho High activities director.

One thing that is annoying me is the woman I’ve seen on the news several times who complains that she cannot take all 50 of her relatives (she has a blog rioranchogradsunite.blogspot.com) to see her kid graduate. The Albuquerque Tribune says another person is upset because she ordered 40 invitations. Even if it was held at the Pit, there isn’t enough room for every kid to take that many people.

I know this is important to a lot of people and I don’t have a kid who is graduating nor 50 relatives that would come out for it even if I did. It appears that the school is willing to accommodate a reasonable amount of people (this problem isn’t unique to Rio Rancho High School). I feel it’s better to have the graduation in Rio Rancho, where the school is. I also feel that parents should be reasonable.

Unser Road Construction

Unser & AbrazoUser road is one of the main drags through Rio Rancho. It use to only take you to North Hills (where I lived when I first moved to New Mexico), it now takes you to the new Down Town Rio Rancho, along with all the house developments besides North Hills. It’s deplorable that with all the housing and the down town that the road is still only in progress of being widened from 2 lanes (no center lane) to 4 lanes. Anyone that’s been at the intersection of Unser and Northern about 7am can testify that this road should have been completed with construction about two or three years ago.

The Scorpion’s play at the new Santa Anna Star Center in the new down town on 27 October. I don’t see anyway that they will have this road paved in a week and ready for traffic. The other road leading to the events center is Paseo Del Volcan, which Cocoposts explains how the whole United States paid for the majority of the road. In fact, I think the whole country paid for most of the Unser expansion too. Thanks USA!

New Arena Progress

The ice floor is taking shape and soon the chiller will be connected to the building. For hockey fans this is one of the truest signs that the hockey drought is almost over. Season ticket holders can even see the seating bowl and picture their view of the Scorpions beating the competition. Come this October, anyone attending a Scorpions game will have a great view of the ice surface no matter where they sit. No more posts or pillars obstructing the view.

A article on the status os the Santa Anna Star Center