Hot Springs, named for the thermal springs that bubbled up from the Rio Grande as it ran through downtown, jumped at the chance and reveled in the publicity. In 1950, the popular game show “Truth or Consequences” promised to broadcast from the first town to adopt its name. Located about 150 miles south of Albuquerque, Truth or Consequences is accustomed to unusual attempts at urban renewal. “This town is going to experience a renaissance.” “I came here because there’s a spaceport being built,” said Brad Grower, 46, who moved to town in 2009 and hopes to start a business selling electric bicycles. “We’re a pretty small town it’s been pretty simple here for a while.”īut some critics say their complaints lie with the local power structure, not space travel. “We’re really changing who we are as a community,” he said. Gary Whitehead, a member of the Spaceport Commission and former county commissioner, says those critics are wary of the looming transformation of their sleepy town of about 7,000. Trucks hauling gravel rumbled through Truth or Consequences’ tiny downtown this fall, upsetting some businesses and residents who complained about congestion and pollution. Now Audette’s performances include ditties denouncing local officials who support the project.Īs workers pave a 2-mile-long runway at a facility due to open in 2011, the $225-million Spaceport America project has hit its first earthbound speed bump. She expressed her backing in a typically quirky Truth or Consequences manner - sprinkling herself with “space dust” and playing pro-spaceport songs on her pink violin in a local park. When residents of this isolated place voted in 2008 to tax themselves to pay for an audacious redevelopment scheme - construction of a commercial spaceport in the desert - Kim Audette was an ardent supporter. Reporting from Truth Or Consequences, N.M. .
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