Letters to the Editor: On the PowerUP Las Cruces Expo
These letters published in the Feb. 12, 2023 print edition of the Las Cruces Sun-News.
On the PowerUP Las Cruces Expo
On behalf of the Las Cruces Convention Center and the City of Las Cruces we would like to give a special shout out to the amazing volunteers, presenters, exhibitors, sponsors and the over 1500 attendees that participated in PowerUP Las Cruces Expo and Training on January 20-21, 2023. Together, we are powering up the notion that clean electricity is efficient, cost-effective, and good for our heath and the planet!
More:U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich visits PowerUp Conference
The City is committed to facilitating opportunities to learn more about rebates, technologies, building codes with incentives, and equitable benefits for everyone in the community when it comes to the energy transition. We will be updating the construction industry with quarterly e-newsletters on new research and tools. Residents can participate in a series of workshops with easy-to-understand information about how they can assess, plan for, and make changes in their homes. Stay tuned for more resources and opportunities.
We appreciate everyone’s contributions in this effort and invite others to catch the buzz on the changes ahead. For more information, check out the Climate Action Plan Building Sector (https://www.lascruces.gov/2398/Climate-Action-Plan) on the City’s website.Lisa LaRocqueCity of Las Cruces Sustainability Officer
On the Trost Clubhouse
In 1929 Trost & Trost of El Paso designed a clubhouse for the recently organized Las Cruces (N.M.) Country Club. Now, over 90 years later, it’s the lone surviving clubhouse of the three designed by that well-known firm. After more than a decade of “demolition by neglect” on the part of a series of private owners, a permit has been issued for its demolition.With no remaining context, no sign of its earlier life, it’s not a candidate for the National Register of Historic Places or the N.M. Register. A group of people interested in saving the building has worked with the development group since October to investigate options - adaptive re-use, moving it to a new site, saving only its façade. Despite all efforts, the developers insist that a road must be located exactly through this structurally sound and culturally meaningful building. They also insist that this land, less than half an acre, must be cleared now, even though there is no activity on the seventy acres of bare ground surrounding the Trost Clubhouse.
More:Demolition looms for Trost clubhouse as no clear option to save it has emerged
Our bottom line has evolved, so that our goal has become to document the building and its history. This archive will include a set of original 1929 drawings, historic photographs, 3D laser modeling of the building as it stands now, and collected historical notes of its place in the cultural development of the Mesilla Valley.The developers have agreed in part, and have offered to split the costs of the documentation with us. We need to demonstrate community support for historic preservation in general, by raising “our” half. We are holding pledges that have given us a good start for meeting this challenge.Now we are reaching out to the community at large with a GoFundMe campaign (search for “Trost Clubhouse”). GoFundMe has a minimum donation of $5 and there are service charges involved. The number of contributors counts even more than dollars. We would appreciate your participation, please join us!
Jo Ruprecht, Ph.D.
Las Cruces, N.M.
This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Letters to the Editor: On the PowerUP Las Cruces Expo
