The Reporter's Notebook, Ep. 20: Crime and Homelessness
Candles and flowers are placed at a vigil for Marcial “Mousie” Cruz on Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022. Cruz was 34 and experiencing homelessness when he died in Las Cruces. (Nathan J. Fish / Las Cruces Sun-News)
In this week’s episode, we’re talking about recent conversations about homelessness and crime in Las Cruces. Business leaders recently organized a forum to address a gap they say the city council created by ignoring the issue of homelessness and property crime citywide.
On June 2, the Greater Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce, the Las Cruces Association of Realtors and the Las Cruces Home Builders Association hosted a forum for business owners to discuss concerns about theft, vandalism, substance abuse and homelessness in Las Cruces. The forum was held at the Home Builders Association event hall.
On Monday, June 6, many showed up to speak during the public comment portion of the Las Cruces City Council meeting to address the same issues.
This week, we talk to Las Cruces Sun-News reporters Justin Garcia and Michael McDevitt — and photojournalist Meg Potter. Michael covers city and county government for the paper; Justin writes about public safety, cops and courts. We’ll talk about the issues expressed by the business community, the stats behind crime, locally — based on a recent Sun-News analysis — and what stories we’ll be following in the coming weeks.
This podcast was originally published by the Las Cruces Sun-News.
