You wouldn't think much was going on in the fall election in Albuquerque in 2003. No president to vote on, no senators or reps to select, no national significance. At first glance, the ballot looked rather tame. Yes or no on a 1/4-cent public safety tax, a few bond issues, and four city councilor seats were up for grabs. Big deal, right? Well, thanks to our mayor, Marty "Sprawl" Chavez, the choice of whether to accept the street bonds became a hotly contested topic.

Instead of putting forth the standard "keep fixing the streets" package, our mayor tacked on a controversial plan to build a road through the Petroglyph National Monument on the west side of town. In recent years, the west side of town has blown up in population. Cheap housing, closeness to companies like Intel and Motorola, and the suburban mindset have caused many to flee to the other side of the Rio Grande.

As a result, there have been more than a few traffic problems for people coming to and from work. For two decades, people have pushed for a road to be built through the Petroglyphs, and for two decades, the majority has said NO. Not to be denied, Mayor Marty Chavez stuck the road project onto the street bonds, giving Albuquerque residents an ultimatum: Let me build this road or you get no money for any roads this year. Thanks, Mr. Sprawl.

Fortunately, the voters of Albuquerque always turn out to be smarter than the general public. The word got out about that part of the Petroglyphs would be bulldozed in the name of progress, and several special interests got active about voting NO again. Native American groups see the Petroglyphs as sacred ground, environmentalists view the area as protected, and many citizens believe building a road there is simply a waste of taxpayer money.

Personally, I don't think there's much to the Petroglyphs. They are nice lava rocks with some old pictures drawn on them. I've visited the area a handful of times and spent time strolling along paths and hopping on rocks. It's a nice natural playground that I wouldn't think of desecrating. I don't like the idea of a road going through them. There aren't any other places that are considered sacred or special for miles around it. The desert goes on and on west to Arizona, and nobody cares about the significance of much of it. Since the Petroglyphs have been claimed to be profound, leave them alone. Is it so hard to leave a chunk of recognized land alone? For our mayor, apparently so.

On Tuesday, the voters spoke. Every bond issue passed with the exception of one: the street bond. Given the choice between construction through the national monument and having no street money, the majority said NO. My city chose to have one of its special areas remain untampered. Once again, the public of my hometown defeated the whims of its politicians.

Being most ungracious in defeat, our mayor sounded more like a whiny brat than a dignified public official. "I think it will be interesting come next spring when someone calls City Hall and asks 'How come my intersection hasn't been fixed'. We'll have to say 'the public voted against it.'" That's it, Marty. Blame us for your own stupid move. We didn't vote against fixing our existing streets. We voted against you gutting a national monument to make a new one.

As the majority of the town has said for 20 years, we don't want that road. I'm stunned that people want to live that far away from the center of town to begin with, and the fact that there are bunches of houses popping up out there means that sprawl is well in effect. Some day, neighborhoods will completely surround the Petroglyphs, and residents might even say, 'Isn't it nice that we have this pristine land in the middle of civilization.'

Just another thing that makes me proud of the majority of my town.

Chris Jungle thinks globally and acts locally.