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Sunday, February 13, 2011
Down by the Riverside
By Kiera Hay
Journal Northern Bureau
SANTA FE — When it comes to running a river, places as diverse as Paris and Pittsburgh may have something to teach Santa Fe.
At least, that was the thinking earlier this week when a small group of designers and planners from around the country gathered in the City Different to discuss ways to generate activity around and excitement about the Santa Fe River's downtown reach.
Suggestions ranged from river-bank vendors to water features to bringing businesses closer to the river.
"It's a great problem to have," said Marilyn Jordan Taylor, dean of the Pennsylvania School of Design in Philadelphia.
The gathering was part of a Mayors' Institute of City Design conference. The Mayors' Institute, an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts, brings a handful of mayors and design experts together several times a year to brainstorm on specific issues.
Santa Fe Mayor David Coss, who attended an institute conference in 2009, asked organizers if they could arrange a special meeting to discuss possibilities for making about three blocks of river along Alameda Street "a part of a vital downtown."
The invitation came partly because of a plan to begin releasing 1,000 acre-feet of water annually into the often-dry Santa Fe River. The city has also been working on improving sections of the river trail with money from a parks bond.
Questions considered by the roughly 20 people who attended Wednesday's session at the Inn of the Governors — about half of whom were Santa Fe residents — included how best to enhance residents' relationship with the river, how to establish a river corridor district and how best to pursue funding. Participants were asked to look to rivers in other cities for ideas.
An animated discussion followed a short tour of the downtown river area and small-group sessions.
Santa Fe's situation is "a little bit like Paris" with its bridges, an environment that encourages strolling and carries the potential for hotels and businesses to bump right up against the river itself, maintained Jacinta McCann, a vice president of design, planning and economics for San Francisco-based AECOM.
Another thing that makes Santa Fe "a little Parisian" is that it already has arts, music and other cultural offerings not far from the river, she said.
The city should work to bring activity closer to the water, some suggested. That might mean eliminating most of the parking spaces along Alameda, working to geographically extend businesses toward the river and adding housing along the bank.
Vendors selling everything from food to crafts could be stationed along the river. One attendee suggested each of New Mexico's pueblos could have a sales cart. Others said businesses near the river should have priority — the manager of the Inn of the Governors, across Alameda from the river got a laugh when he said the hotel's Del Charro restaurant could sponsor a margarita cart.
A few out-of-towners said downtown Santa Fe already has the arts and food angle covered and the river corridor could instead emphasize sustainability or the ecology.
Several attendees made the point that Santa Fe should consider ways to attract people to the river both during the day and at night — with playgrounds as well as romantic walks and live music.
"Right now, it's a scary place to be at night," Coss admitted. "It should be a vibrant place to be at night."
Pittsburgh has done a good job of retaining both kinds of activity, Jordan Taylor said.
She also noted that downtown Pittsburgh has a set of cascading water pools that give the appearance of leading to its river and help "extend the sense of playing in (and) accessing" the river. The pools actually consist of municipal water that's constantly recirculated.
"Especially when (the Santa Fe River) gets a little wider, you might have an opportunity to do something like that," Jordan Taylor said.
But some wondered how far the city should go to encourage activity in the river itself, such as swimming, fishing and kayaking.
"The challenge when you have a small, delicate river is what you want to do with it," Santa Fe Parks Director Fabian Chavez said. "You could end up loving it to death if the programming isn't right."
Financially, the city might look at public-private partnerships and private philanthropy, some suggested. Other ideas included forming an assessment district or trying to pass a fractional sales tax dedicated to river efforts.
McCann said that Santa Fe is one of the few places in the country where wealthy donors who don't live in the city could probably be convinced to give to the cause.
Coss, in an interview after the event, called the Mayors' Institute discussion "very productive."
"I was really pleased to be able to take advantage of that. It's good to see if your ideas are matching up with other ideas that are being tried around the country," he said. "I thought we got really good input that will help us work on that area of river."
Coss said he especially liked the idea of adding water features, as well as playgrounds and play areas targeted at children.
Santa Fe officials say the goal is to implement major changes in five years.
"I appreciate how committed the downtown business people and city and historic preservation people are to the river and bringing it back and making it more of a beautiful feature of our community," he said. "I thought it was a good opportunity for us, with the Mayors Institute on City Design, of having national expertise in town. I appreciate them sharing some of their time with us."
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