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Journal North: Home | Sports | Opinion | Obits | Entertainment
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Tribal Leaders OK Demolition
By Jessica Dyer
Journal Staff Writer
Several New Mexico tribal leaders have publicly announced their support of the controversial decision to demolish the Paolo Soleri amphitheater on the Santa Fe Indian School campus.
Rumored since May, the planned demolition was finally confirmed by SFIS Superintendent Everett Chavez during an interview with an Albuquerque radio station last week.
The governors of the Eight Northern Indian Pueblos Council (ENIPC) on Tuesday unanimously passed a resolution to support the move, and All Indian Pueblo Council Chairman Joe Garcia said in a news release issued Wednesday that the "school's progressive educational agenda cannot be met if the (amphitheater) remains on campus."
Ed Calabaza, recently retained by SFIS for public relations purposes, said the school's board of trustees made the decision to raze the popular concert venue largely to avoid the $575,000 expense of bringing the facility up to code and the $100,000 spent annually to maintain it.
The demolition will allow officials to pursue other plans for the campus. Despite rumors, he said, none of the plans call for a casino.
Calabaza said it was too soon to announce specific plans for the Paolo Soleri site or the space that was cleared when 18 campus buildings were razed in 2008 because nothing is final. But Calabaza said a casino is definitely not in the works.
"I can tell you there is not going to be a casino there. There never were any plans to build a casino there. It is not allowed; the law prohibits that," he said. "The board of trustees has no reason to pursue that and is not even considering that."
SFIS is owned by the 19 pueblos in New Mexico and is operated by a board of trustees.
The governors of the state's eight northern pueblos gave the board of trustees' decision to tear down the amphitheater their stamp of approval during an ENIPC meeting Tuesday.
"People forget that SFIS is first and foremost an educational institution," ENIPC chairman Perry Martinez said in a Wednesday news release. "The tens of thousands of dollars spent each year maintaining the facility is better used educating our kids. The Santa Fe Indian School has our blessing to demolish the Paolo Soleri."
The 2,700-seat Paolo Soleri was commissioned in 1964 and named after the famed Italian architect who designed it.
News of its planned demolition has been met with sadness within the community. A Facebook page called "Save the Santa Fe Indian School Paolo Soleri" launched by school alumni now has more than 5,100 members.
Though money is the primary reason for tearing down the facility, Calabaza said it seems unlikely any outside donors will be able to save the amphitheater.
He said $575,000 is the "bare minimum" required to bring Paolo Soleri up to code, and it would likely take around $2 million "to keep it sustainable," in addition to the annual maintenance costs.
Amber Carrillo, executive director of the All Indian Pueblo Council, said Wednesday that the facility is aging, and the school's leaders would prefer to use the money required to fix it for educational purposes.
"If someone came up with $2 million to save the Paolo Soleri, I think that's something folks would have to talk about but, in all reality, there's so many more facilities that folks are desperate for," she said. "The Paolo Soleri is very important to folks and we realize the cultural heritage of it, but when we were out there just last week, it's in incredible disrepair."
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