On Thursday, Carlsbad MainStreet’s directory, Ashly Key, formally announced that she would be stepping down due to her family relocating out of state. Ashly thanked the entire Carlsbad community for embracing her with open arms during her time as the program’s director.
During Ashly’s time with MainStreet, the downtown “Farmers and Makers Market” continued to expand. The monthly “Third Thursday” in particular became a very popular event. Ashly was also a great team player who was always willing to assist with community projects. This year’s Electric Light Parade, hosted by MainStreet, was a huge success. Ashly had been highly involved in the Carlsbad community prior to her accepting her position as MainStreet Director. She led the effort to provide Peer Support to first responders. Thank you, Ashly, for your service to Carlsbad.
In her letter, Key announced that Kathleen Davis will now be assuming the role of Carlsbad MainStreet’s Arts & Culture Executive Director. We look forward to working with Kathleen for the good of Carlsbad.
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We received an update on the current COVID-19 situation during our regular meeting on Wednesday. Moderna is now in good supply and will again be available at the weekly vaccination clinics, which are held every Monday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the civic center. Another 200 vaccinations were administered at the clinic this past Monday.
Carlsbad Municipal Schools is now offering rapid response testing for school employees and students at Edison School. This is a good development, as it will reduce the amount of students and teachers having to quarantine.
Over the past week, Carlsbad Medical Center reported 75 COVID-19 positive tests out of 465 tests administered. On Wednesday, CMC had ten COVID-19 patients, including eight in the ICU. Most of the COVID-19 patients who have been hospitalized are unvaccinated, according to CMC. The hospital has been receiving some additional nursing support from the state, which is also good news.
We’re still learning more about the “Omnicron” variant. Currently, about 99% of the COVID-19 cases in the United States are of the “Delta” variant.
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A New Mexico Legislative Special Session has been announced and will begin at noon. The focus of this session will be on redistricting and on the American Rescue Plan Act federal funding. One of our concerns during the redistricting process is related to some of the proposals for Congressional District 2. Some of the proposals being reviewed attempt to dilute the political power of Southeastern New Mexico by dividing the area into all three of New Mexico’s congressional districts. The City of Hobbs is even divided in half. These and similar proposals are highly biased, and we hope the state’s legislators will address this very quickly.
Sincerely,
Carlsbad Mayor Dale Janway