Funky TorC On Verge Of Big Changes

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES — Spaceport America is huddled in the desert 30 or so miles east of here, a Jetsonesque expanse of concrete, glass and steel.

When it opens, the Spaceport will house Virgin Galactic, whose mission is to blast civilian astronauts 68 miles high. There, just inside the edge of space, they will gaze out at planet Earth and enjoy weightlessness before gliding back to the runway to rejoin us mere mortals who could not afford the $200,000 ticket.

More than 400 people have already put down a deposit to reserve a seat, and, if all goes well, several hundred people will start streaming through the town of TorC, beginning next year, to head to the Spaceport and the ride of a lifetime.

When I asked TorC City Commissioner Steve Green how a quirky little desert town is going to handle all those rich people, he gently corrected me. “They are very, very, very rich people,” he said.

If the pie-in-the-sky predictions of the Spaceport’s success come true, TorC and Las Cruces will become gateways to a deluxe space-themed DisneyWorld, attracting those wealthy civilian astronauts and their posses, as well as throngs of less-moneyed tourists who want a glimpse of the next space frontier.

TorC’s mission, Green said, will be to benefit from the new economy without losing its soul. “We’re not Santa Fe, and we don’t want to be Santa Fe,” Green said.

TorC has a lot going for it.

It’s located on the banks of the Rio Grande between recreation opportunities at Elephant Butte Lake and the Gila National Forest.

It sits on natural hot springs that have spawned a dozen or so soaking businesses, everything from basic mineral baths by the hour to elegant inns.

And it’s got an unforgettable name, thanks to a challenge in 1950 from TV game show host Ralph Edwards to change it from the pedestrian “Hot Springs.”

But Green is right: You would never confuse TorC with Santa Fe. Or even Silver City. In the downtown historic district, a grid of 12 blocks that holds the majority of TorC’s tourist attractions, vacant storefronts outnumber trendy shops and the streets have an empty “Last Picture Show” feel.

“Quirky” and “funky” are the words often employed to describe the town. If you happen to like quirky and funky, you like TorC. But will the very, very, very rich and their families on an extremely expensive vacation appreciate quirky and funky? Or will TorC have to wipe a little of its offbeat charm off its chin to clean up for the invasion of rich civilian astronauts?

The town already has restaurants that offer an $18 pasta and $39 steak and inns with fancy soaps and thick bathrobes. But when Virgin Galactic’s booking agents made a trip to TorC, stayed in its inns and ate at its restaurants, they gave the town some tough-love feedback. Rich people apparently expect wireless Internet, wake-up calls and someone to carry their bags.

“They told us that we needed a little bit of improving here and a little tweaking there and that possibly we do not have what they require,” Green, in jeans and sandals and driving a pickup truck that was both quirky and funky, told me. “We are not a five-star destination resort. That’s not us. We are real and authentic and who we are.”

Virgin Galactic plans to put its own luxe resort out in the desert to keep its civilian astronauts sequestered during the three days of training and testing that will lead up to the spaceflight.

But with no provisions made for a private hangar on the Spaceport property, those taking spaceflights and their friends and relatives will come in through commercial airports in Albuquerque or El Paso, or fly on private planes into the TorC airport, which can handle jets, before heading out to the Spaceport.

“They’re not going to want to stay in a Super 8,” Spaceport board member Jerry Stanger said on a drive out to the Spaceport, which is reached by a two-lane road that passes, among other things, Elephant Butte Dam, the Pine Knot Saloon, a yard selling used boats and buffalo roaming on Ted Turner’s Armendaris Ranch.

If the predictions are accurate that the Spaceport will employ several thousand and attract a half-million tourists annually, TorC will have to change, Stanger says. He’s a banker, and he welcomes new businesses and subdivisions to feed and house all those newcomers. On the way back from the Spaceport, Stanger detoured through the Turtleback Mountain Resort, a luxury golf community at Elephant Butte, to give a glimpse of what the area’s future might look like.

It’s rare to be able to recognize a point in time when a place begins to undergo a shift in identity and spirit. Wouldn’t it have been something to have noted the first millionaire or Range Rover arriving in Santa Fe and observed what came next?

In TorC, we’ll most likely have that opportunity.

Downtown, Debbie Stickney was closing up her Turtleback Oasis health food shop and deli on a Friday night when I asked her what she thought about the prospect of the town being at a turning point.

“It needs an oomph,” the Wisconsin native said. “It will still keep the funkiness. It will still be eclectic. But how do I say this without being rude? It’s time for TorC to change.”

UpFront is a daily front-page news and opinion column. Comment directly to Leslie at 823-3914 or llinthicum@abqjournal.com. Go to www.abqjournal.com/letters/new to submit a letter to the editor.

— This article appeared on page A1 of the Albuquerque Journal

Photo Credit – RICHARD PIPES/JOURNAL
Cutline – Truth or Consequences is often called quirky, funky and eclectic. The desert hot springs town might soon be called a major tourist destination.