In situations such as this, it is very difficult to remaian impartial and relay useful information not skewed by my utter distaste for Clovis, however so, I will attempt to do so.
I am military and have recently been sentenced to a tour in Clovis for an unfortunately undisclosed peroid of time. I do not believe the individuals posting negative comments,do so for the sole purpose if slandering the "City" of Clovis for fun. I do believe their words are truthful in many respects yet, the individuals who have the power to do something about Clovis' problems choose not to act.
I was ordered to report to Cannon AFB a little over a year ago and I was not excited due to the snickers and ribs from co-workers at my previous duty station. Inspite of all the negative connotations, my wife who is experiencing the US for the first time and I decided to give our new assignment a chance and make our own conclustions. It did not take long after our arrival for our optimizm to be irrevocably dashed. Now, I will explain why.
We flew directly into the Clovis Municiple Airport with only two other newly assigned "inmates" from Japan via Colorado and after a long 23 hour trip, were immediately greeted to the stinch that is Clovis, no taxi service to the base, and the one airport staff on duty had only one concern....going home. Mind you, it was only 7pm. He made it clear he was not interested in converstation so we felt alienated right away. So we dragged our bags outside to wait for AF personnel to pick us up so he could close only to met by a 5 foot snake on the porch. After a 2 hour wait, we were finally met by someone from the base to take us to TLF. As soon as we pulled out of the parking lot of the airport, he starts talking about the "Shifty Fifty" and how he was going to retire becuase they weren't treating his wife well becuase she was of East Indian descent. Without getting into too much detail, she worked as a medical professional and they fired her becuase they didn't want to pay for her services even though she was under contract at the time. They, in turn, hired another individual apparently from Clovis.
Well lets just get the main points why most Cannon personnel do not enjoy their tours in Clovis.
1. The weather is consistantly inpredictable. It almost always windy (20+ MPH)
2. The stinch can be smelled for miles and it's so strong it can make you sick to the point you want to throw up.
3. Very few trees and only a few homes have grass yards. There's no water other than a man made pothole filled with muddy water and no fish. In other words it's very ugly no matter how you try to dress it up.
4. The town does not focus much on upkeep. 90 percent of the roads have huge potholes that never get fixed. Most of the road markings are so faded you can barely see them in the daytime and not at all at night. There are very few street lamps except for on the main drag of Prince St. This is where you'll see most of the business in Clovis...This is a busy road with most of the worse potholes in the town.
5. Customer service in most of the Town is lack-luster at best. From McDonald's to your local auto repair shop, to medical care representatives. It's all bad. They seem to have the mantality of take what you get and give me your money. I assume this is due to the fact that the closest competition for your business is 150+ miles away in any direction. I consistantly get sloppily presented food, I'm sold lemon vechicles at high prices and sold shifty warrenties that aren't honored when I try to use them, and medical services that are basically a waste of time.
6. The cost of living for this area to far too high for what you pay for from food to housing, to internet and cable/cellular services. Basically, you are forced to overspend to get service for things better places provide at bargain prices.
8.The local people couldn't be anymore out of touch with the military population that they are. Most of them have no idea what goes on at the base or how critical Cannon is to the Clovis economy. I've heard routine comments such as we don't really want the military, but we want the base, but we want our people (Clovites)to operate it. Clovis does give out nasty burger one day a year during "Cannon Appreciation Day" Observe that it's Cannon appreciation...not military appreciation day. Clovites seems narrow minded and unwilling to see Clovis for what it really is. And instead of addressing why so many military are unhappy there, they simply get offended and discount what so many say.
I can go on, but there isn't enough time in the day. To sum things up. Even though the area isn't the best, there's only so much you can do about it. What makes Clovis so bad is the people. Who don't care enough about what the military goes through to even give them honest, pride filled services. The mindset of "We'll take as much of your money as we can and then you can go" is rampid and I refuse to spend any more money than I absolutely have to on the Clovis economy. I also spent 5 years in Minot ND, and I though that was my worst assingment until I came to Clovis. At least I felt like a part of the community while I was there as the people of Minot do so much more than just pretend to be patriotic so congress doesn't pull the military and leave them to their own greedy devices. I would be utterly pleased to watch Clovis flounder like a fish out of water when Cannon finally does pull out. Clovis does not deserve consideration as far as I'm concened and if you don't want the military there, I'd be happy to leave you your smelly, run-down, dirty, obscenely over priced township all to yourselves..You can have it. And when your economy shrivels up like a raisen, don't come crying to phrases of patriotism becuase you need your Cannon AFB crutch back.
Clovis can be a descent place to live, but it up to the ones in charge. Show that you care and mean it or at least do something. The local population can make an assignment to Cannon bareable if they cared to try. Stop cheating the military for every cent of their money...stop acting like we have money to spare. At least give services that match the prices.
Dero |
Clovis, NM |
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