Council Decisions a Focus at Forum for Candidates

A spate of recent decisions by the Santa Fe City Council received attention Saturday at a forum for candidates seeking to represent the council’s Districts 1 and 2.

The political aspirants, among other things, roundly criticized a near-unanimous vote by the council earlier this month to temporarily eliminate residential impact fees paid by developers, in a move designed to stimulate the construction industry.

District 1 candidate Houston Johansen said there’s already a “glut” of homes in the Santa Fe market and he’d rather see incentives to put people into vacant housing. He also said it might make more sense to put people to work making energy-efficiency improvements to existing houses.

“I feel we just have too many buildings, too many structures in this town that are vacant, and if we can just upgrade them, bring them back up, it will bring more jobs to the industry and more security to the neighborhoods,” said Elizabeth “Dolly” Lujan, who’s competing for the District 2 seat.

Incumbent District 1 City Councilor Patti Bushee voted for the temporary fee elimination, but said Saturday that “at this point, it’s very clear it’s not going to stimulate the economy.”

All five council hopefuls at Saturday’s forum said they did approve of the council’s decision this week to move forward with a plan to purchase the old St. Catherine’s Indian School and lease it to the New Mexico School for the Arts.

“It’s a significant resource, both the educational benefit that may come from having a school in place but also because it’s a cultural resource and a major piece of land in an important part of town,” Bob Sarr, a businessman and candidate for District 2, said.

But Sarr and others also noted that the city needs to come up with a clear and advantageous plan for financing the purchase and contracting with the school.

Bushee described the buildings on the property — which the School for the Arts officials say they plan to raise millions to rehabilitate — as “black holes of money.”

“There are many steps ahead and they are important steps and I encourage people to come on down to the Finance Committee and check out what we’re going to do,” she said. The city’s Finance Committee plans to discuss the financial aspects of St. Catherine’s purchase on Monday.

Other topics at the forum, hosted by the League of Women Voters of Santa Fe County and the local branch of the American Association of University Women, included questions about a bond measure that will be on the March 6 ballot, the city’s budget problems, improving public safety and economic development.

On the latter, candidates offered ideas such as strengthening Santa Fe’s small businesses, investing in infrastructure such as Internet broadband and focusing on green energy initiatives.

“I think a push toward greening our economy even more in ways that would build small business opportunities, especially in regards to green jobs, makes a great deal of sense,” District 2 candidate Peter Ives, an attorney, said.

Johansen also emphasized the importance of maintaining Santa Fe’s appeal to tourists by making visitors feel safe and promoting historic preservation. He also said it’s important to create relationships with local colleges and find ways to keep young people, who Johansen said are more likely to take career risks, in Santa Fe.