Plaza Cafe

The downtown Plaza Café reopened in July 2012 after being closed for almost two years. The restaurant was damaged in a kitchen fire in September 2010.

Sanbusco

The Sanbusco shopping center, which was developed by Joe Schepps in 1984, was taken over by creditors in July 2012. The center has been struggling since its anchor tenant, the Borders bookstore, closed in early 2011.

Santa Fe Prep

 

It has been pointed out to me that describing Prep as “the city’s other private high school” (in addition to St. Michael’s) implies that there are only two. Santa Fe Prep and St. Michael’s are the oldest and the largest, but there are other private high schools in Santa Fe, Desert Academy among them. Mea culpa.

Historic Districts Review Board

The Historic Design Review Board is now known as the Historic Districts Review Board. The name change, which became effective March 1, 2012, is meant to reflect the board’s responsibility for older buildings within multiple districts. The board was originally responsible only for the design of new buildings in the downtown/Eastside historic district.

Las Conchas fire

The Las Conchas fire is no longer the largest fire in New Mexico history.  The Whitewater-Baldy Complex fire in southwest New Mexico’s Gila Wilderness has consumed over 170,000 acres as of May 30 2012. This easily surpasses Las Conchas, which is measured at 156,000 acres.

Day Hikes in the Santa Fe Area

The book’s seventh edition was released in early 2012.

Cowan, George

George Cowan, Los Alamos scientist, founder of Los Alamos National Bank and co-founder of the Santa Fe Institute, died on April 20, 2012.

Johnson, Gary

Gary Johnson’s recent nomination as the Libertarian Party’s candidate for president reminded me of his appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher a few months ago.

Maher was talking to his three guests, including Johnson, about an incident on an airliner involving Mitt Romney. The man sitting in front of Romney was slow in following the instruction to raise his seatback before takeoff, and he objected to Romney’s nagging him about it. An argument ensued, and the man was led off the plane.

Maher  made the point that the man was an African American and asked his guests if the Mormon Church’s historical refusal to admit blacks could have been a factor in the incident.  One guest said that Maher had an interesting point.  An African American woman, a Republican, said it was a ridiculous idea.  Maher finally turned to Gary Johnson. Johnson thought for a minute and then said, “You know, I’ve never understood why I have to put my seatback up before takeoff.”

Kearny, Stephen Watts

     The pronunciation of the general’s name is as good a place as any to start up this blog, which I envision as a place for updates and corrections to the encyclopedia.  I will (once I figure out how to do it) create and maintain an alphabetical list of corrections and additions that people who have purchased the encyclopedia can easily access.  Such a list will, of course, also make it much easier for me to create a second edition in two or three years.

     So, the first issue in the log of errata and additions is about the pronunciation of the name “Kearny.” The online Dictionary of Name Pronunciation lists KEER-nee as the first option, followed by something that sounds a little more like KUR-nee.  Tom Jones, an Arizona historian who has written about General Kearny, states flatly that the name is pronounced KAR-nee.  But, since Kearny died in 1848, long before sound recording, no one can possibly know how the general himself pronounced his own name.

     All this is really beside the point, however. The fact is that Tom Sharpe is exactly right about how the name is pronounced here in Santa Fe.  Kearny Avenue and Kearny Elementary School are consistently pronounced  KUR-nee, not KEER-nee, which is how it appears in the encyclopedia.  Mea culpa on this first of many anticipated corrections.

     The name Kearny does not currently appear in the list of audio pronunciations on the encyclopedia’s website, but it will be added soon, and it will be pronounced KUR-nee.