A New Mexico case study of misguided, ill-conceived government waste

NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – “Who the hell thought it was a good idea to put it where they put it? asks State Rep. Gail Armstrong. We don’t know who chose a remote location on the New Mexico prairie for a taxpayer-funded, multi-million dollar tourist attraction. But we do know that when it was torn down among the creosote and mesquite south of Socorro, it became misguided and ill-conceived government waste case study.

Welcome to the El Camino Real Heritage Center, a history museum dedicated to the Royal Inland Road. The historic road established by the Spanish conquistadors ran from Mexico City to the north of Santa Fe.

The Royal Road was used for three centuries; however, the museum existed for only a decade. Due to poor planning, it had few visitors, low income, expensive maintenance and inadequate infrastructure. Nine years after its opening, the monument was closed, the artifacts packed away, the exhibits dismantled, and the gift shop emptied. Today, the museum complex, which is very expensive for taxpayers, can only show abandoned buildings 40 miles from nowhere. The museum’s location is in State House District 49, represented by Legislator Gail Armstrong. A Republican lawmaker calls the museum “a complete waste of taxpayer dollars.”

“On paper, it didn’t look like a project that should (have) been funded. That’s not how government should work,” said economic development expert John Garcia. Garcia served in the state cabinet of two governors.

To understand how this happened, you have to look closely at the state legislature and how it spends public money. Most legislative appropriations are subject to checks and balances, including open hearings and debate. However, there are exceptions. In fact, tens of millions of dollars are spent behind closed doors each year. It’s called Capital Outlay, a legislative system that allows individual lawmakers to earmark public money for infrastructure projects. Under the cost of capital, companies are financed without justification, feasibility studies, planning, hearings or discussions.

Consider the Oñate Visitor Center in the northern New Mexico village of Alcalde. State lawmakers blindly shelled out nearly $2,000,000 for a giant, larger-than-life monument and statue honoring the infamous Spanish conquistador Juan de Oñate. At the time, no one questioned the extravagant embezzlement. But today, the multimillion-dollar monolith and statue will likely go down in legislative history as a reckless waste of taxpayer money. Due to lack of planning, vandalism and remote location, the state-owned visitor center opened in 1994 and closed a few years later.

“They built a big facility in northern New Mexico on a road that didn’t have a lot of traffic. That was the theory, build it and they will come. But nobody came,” said John Garcia, Gov. Gary Johnson’s tourism secretary. “I sold it on behalf of the (state) government for a dollar back (to Rio Arriba County) because we couldn’t afford to operate the facility, there was nothing in it,” Garcia said.

Since the visitor center closed seventeen years ago, Rio Arriba County has leased the building to a charter school, a flea market, a yoga studio, and now a chicken feed and pasta-making operation.

(El Camino Real Heritage Center)

And then there’s the El Camino Real Museum. Armed with $4,000,000 from the state legislature and the Bureau of Land Management, consultants were hired to find the best site for the museum. After studying various locations, the consulting firm suggested a remote location on the prairie 37 miles south of Socorro. Experts said: “Build it there and the museum will attract 100,000 visitors a year, bring $10,000,000 to the region and create 174 new jobs.” At the time, no one raised a red flag about building a tourist attraction in a remote location. It was only after construction was completed that officials found out that the so-called experts were wrong. The project was doomed before it even opened.

“I don’t think anybody could try to defend a project like this. I don’t think there’s any good excuse or rationale. It should have been tested from the beginning for its effectiveness, its benefit to the public, and that wasn’t done,” said former Cabinet Secretary John Garcia.

So what do you do with a $4,000,000 abandoned building in the middle of nowhere? Time and vandals have done a lot of damage. The museum was closed eight years ago, after which state officials abandoned the site. Since little effort was put into the empty building, it is no longer habitable today. Stolen copper wires. There is extensive structural damage, mold, rodent infestation, no electricity or light. Most of the HVAC, electrical, plumbing, water and sewage systems are outdated or inoperable. Cultural affairs officials now face two options: either repair the building at an estimated cost of $3,500,000, or tear it down and restore the site to the prairie. The cost of demolition? $840,000.

Anne McCuddin, director of the New Mexico Division of Historic Sites, said leaving the building and doing nothing is not an option. “We’re definitely going to learn from it, take those mistakes and learn from them. That’s what we can get out of it. Obviously, the building has no value,” McCuddin said.

The El Camino Real Heritage Center complex is owned by the New Mexico Museum Board of Trustees. “It was a costly mistake. Now the Board of Regents, unfortunately, has to make a decision about that historic site: whether to repair it, it’s terribly neglected, and that’s very troubling, or to tear it down,” said museum board chairman Dr. George Goldstein. “This will be the most important decision we make all year,” said Dr. Goldstein. Museum trustees will decide the future of the El Camino Real property at their next meeting on Dec. 4. at the International Folk Art Museum in Santa Fe.

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