Las Cruces Ranked #9 in the “Top Small Cities for Doing Business” List

The Las Cruces Metropolitan Statistical Area (Dona Ana County) just received two high rankings from Inc. Magazine. The rankings were #9 in the “Top Small Cities for Doing Business” list and #15 “Small City Boomtowns”. The Las Cruces Metro area has also been ranked within the top three(out of more than 160) small metros for business in four of the past five years by Forbes.com and the Milken Institute. The importance of these national rankings by leading business magazines cannot be overstated as they help provide needed national exposure which elevates not only the quantity, but more importantly the quality, of businesses considering expansions in southern New Mexico.

Firstlight Credit Union Grand Opening May 16th

Firstlight Credit Union is having a Grand Opening and Ribbon Cutting on Wednesday May 16th.

Location: 3791 E. Lohman (corner of Foothills and Lohman) in Las Cruces

Time: 5:30pm - 7:00pm

Contact Person Ken Binkley at 524-8118

Ansel Adams: The Man Who Captured the Earth’s Beauty

The Las Cruces Museum of Art is proud to present Ansel Adams: The Man Who Captured the Earth’s Beauty, organized by the Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, North Carolina, scheduled to open Friday, June 8 and run through Saturday, Aug. 4.

The exhibit will feature a selection of his work as well as images from many of his contemporaries.

Ansel Adams(1902-1984) was born in San Francisco and took his first photograph with a Kodak #1 Box Brownie camera in Yosemite Valley when he was 14. As a young mountaineer Ansel Adams discovered the natural beauty of the western landscape. He is perhaps among the last of those romantic artists who saw the great spaces of the wilderness as a metaphor for freedom and heroic aspirations. He is certainly among those who have sketched the outlines of a new pictorial understanding of the wild landscape, based on the nature's intimate details, unnoted cases and ephemeral gestures.

Although trained as a concert pianist from 1914 through 1927, he also studied photography with the photo-finisher Frank Dittman. By 1930, photography became his career choice and the American western landscape his focus. In 1932, he was a key figure in the founding of Group f/64 with Edward Weston, Imogene Cunningham, and others to promote what they called “pure” photography; the department of photography at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, New York in 1940; the department of photography at the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco, Calif., in 1946; and the Friends of Photography in Carmel, California, in 1967. His skill as writer and teacher had a tremendous impact on the history of creative photography. From 1955 until 1984, he conducted annual photography workshops, first in Yosemite National Park and later closer to his home in the Carmel Highlands. He was recognized as an ardent and effective conservationist and served as a member of the Sierra Club board of directors from 1034 to 1971. During his lifetime he received numerous awards, but his most treasured was the Presidential Medal of Freedom awarded by President Carter in 1980 for his conservation work.

The photographs that will be on display are a part of a Museum Set Edition, published by the Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust in 1980 and 1981 from vintage negatives. Thanks to his technical virtuosity and sensitive eye, these dramatic images remain profound reminders of Ansel Adams’ reverence for the beauty of the earth and the healing force of nature in our lives.

The Mint Museums, located in Charlotte, North Carolina, are unique gathering places for people to experience art through significant and varied collections, engaging in exhibitions, and innovative educational programming. The Mint Museum of Art is housed in what served as the first branch of the U.S. Mint from 1837 through 1861. Before it was dismantled and moved to its present site in 1933, the Greek revival building served as Confederate hospital, an assay office and a federal courthouse. It opened as North Carolina’s first art museum in 1936. The are museum houses extensive collections of pre- Columbian art, historic costumes, American art, and contemporary art; it is also well-known for its ceramics collections, including European and American, with particular strengths in works from North Carolina. The Mint Museum of Craft and Design, which opened in 1999 in the former Montaldo’s department store, focuses on the presentation and study of traditional and contemporary crafts made of ceramics, glass, wood, metal and fiber, as well as all 20th century design disciplines.

For more information, contact the Las Cruces Museum of Art at 505-541-2137, or by email at lpugh@las-cruces.org.

February Business on the Border Forum

The February meeting of the MVEDA Business on the Border Forum will be held on Tuesday, February 6, 2007 from 11:30 AM until 1:00 PM at the Best Western Mesilla Valley Inn Columbus Conference Center. The meeting will begin with a hot entree buffet followed by an update from MVEDA staff. Luncheon cost is $10.00 per person, payable by cash, check or major credit card. The meeting is open to the public and reservations are not required.

Jerry Tyree, Chief of Business Development & Marketing at White Sands Missile Range, will present an overview of the Future Combat Systems Initiative (FCS) and its impact on the Range and Southern New Mexico. Rebecca Rizzuti of Senator Jeff Bingaman's office will give an overview of the Future Combat Systems / Secure Border Initiative Event being held on February 21st at the Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum. The event will give local high-tech businesses an opportunity to meet with a wide-variety of leading defense contractors working on the FCS programs.

Due to a scheduling conflict, company officials of Wild West Express will not be able to present at the luncheon. MVEDA will reschedule their presentation for a later date.

Mesilla Valley Economic Development Alliance
505 S. Main, Ste 134 - PO Box 1299
Las Cruces, NM 88004
(505) 525-2852
www.mveda.com
www.southwest-advantage.com

Special County Commission Meeting February 5 to Address Spaceport Tax Proposal

On Monday, February 5, the Doña Ana County Board of Commissioners will meet to discuss passing an ordinance to adopt a County Regional Spaceport Gross Receipts Tax. If the ordinance is approved, a special election will be held on April 3rd to approve a .25% increase in the gross receipts tax to support the spaceport. The special meeting will begin with public comment at 9:00am in the Commission Chambers, 845 N. Motel Boulevard, Las Cruces, New Mexico

The Board of Directors of the Mesilla Valley Economic Development Alliance has long supported the spaceport as an exceptional opportunity to bring good jobs and educational opportunities to southern New Mexico while capitalizing upon this region’s long history as an aerospace development and testing center. The board formally passed in April, 2006 a resolution in support of the gross receipts tax funding mechanism. The board urges those interested in the economic development of this region to voice support for the passage of the increase at the meeting on Monday.

More information on the Spaceport Gross Receipts Tax proposal can be found at: www.peopleforaerospace.com