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Logistics take wind out of veterans banners' sails

The Santa Fe New Mexican - 5/26/2022

May 26—It may not be a banner Memorial Day weekend in Santa Fe.

For the past few years, residents and visitors have been able to see an array of banners honoring the city's veterans as part of a Hometown Heroes project. But this year, it's unlikely the recognitions will go up in time for a holiday weekend aimed at honoring those who have sacrificed for their country.

A shift in the responsibility for installing the banners, combined with safety concerns about the impact of high winds on the vinyl signs, slowed down the project this year, organizers said.

With Memorial Day less than five days away, it seems nearly impossible to get the more than 300 banners ready to go installed by Monday. Traditionally, they go up just before Memorial Day in late May and come down after Veterans Day in mid-November.

"There's no way they can get 325 banners up by Memorial Day," Don Christy, the U.S. Air Force veteran who has helped spearhead the project, said Wednesday.

Though city councilors originally approved funding the installation of the banners in 2019, in February the council voted to change those terms — moving the financial and installation responsibility to local American Legion Post 12.

Mayor Alan Webber said Wednesday the city no longer can provide such services to such groups because it could conflict with the anti-donation clause in state statute.

"It wasn't supposed to be happening [over the past few years]," he said. "But it did."

He added if the city does something like that for any one group, nonprofit or person, it would be expected to do so for anyone who wanted a similar service.

Plus, he said, "We don't have the personnel to do it."

The city's departure left Post 12's members, as well as other veterans groups supporting the project, looking for funding to put the banners up in time.

Help came in the form of an entreaty from Public Service Company of New Mexico, which offered to use its workers to put the banners up this year.

Though PNM work crews began installations last week, the project was stopped when a lineman raised safety concerns about putting three banners on each traffic pole lining Cerrillos Road, said utility spokesman Ray Sandoval.

Sandoval said placing three banners on each pole adds stress to the aluminum standards and could, with the help of high winds, dislodge them if the banners began acting as sails.

Webber said he heard similar concerns from city workers who also looked into the matter.

PNM workers installed 22 banners before the project stopped last week, Christy said.

Sandoval said PNM offered about $40,000 to the American Legion to help it find a third-party contractor to do the work. But it wasn't enough time for American Legion officials to get the job done, said Post 12 Cmdr. Carmela Quintana.

"Through no fault of their own, PNM is no longer able to put up the Hometown Heroes banners," she wrote in an email. "An alternative solution, to include funding, has been made to the Post by PNM so the raising of the banners can continue.

"However, this requires conversations with the city, PNM, and the Post 12 executive board that hasn't happened, and is unlikely to happen in the next few days. I hope to get more information from the city, and PNM, but in respect for the upcoming Memorial Day weekend our focus will be on supporting Memorial Day events."

Many cities around the country have similar Hometown Heroes banner programs that request donations to pay for the creation and installation of the banners, which feature an image of the veteran's face, rank, branch and years of service.

In Santa Fe, people wanting to sponsor a banner for a family member or loved one pay $156 for the materials, but the costs associated with actually installing the banners are not covered by the fee. It's unclear how much it cost the city to install the banners over the past few years.

City spokesman Dave Herndon wrote in an email Wednesday, "That information is not readily available at this time."

Webber said the city remains committed to supporting the project, adding it is looking to work with Christy, PNM and Post 12 to keep the project going forward in the future.

"There are logistics and economics involved. But that's not a challenge to the idea," Webber said. "We want to recognize and celebrate veterans in our communities."

Quintana wrote she hopes "we will see the banners flying soon. They are a reminder of love, duty and sacrifice, and we need something positive right now."

At this point, Christy said, "I don't care who puts them up. We just need them up."

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