Latest news with #SantaFeCityCouncil
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Social worker Liz Barrett declares bid for Santa Fe City Council District 2 seat
School social worker Liz Barrett has announced her campaign for the Santa Fe City Council District 2 seat with a platform focused on making the city more livable for working families. "I just see an opportunity for problem solvers, social workers, teachers to jump into politics," Barrett said in an interview Tuesday. "If not now, when?" A political newcomer, Barrett, 46, has some insight into what the campaign will entail: Her husband, former city Planning Commissioner Phil Lucero, ran unsuccessfully for the seat in 2023. Though Lucero didn't win, Barrett described the campaign as a learning experience for the family. Liz Barrett headshot 2 Liz Barrett "I kind of got a firsthand view of what it takes, which is funny, because everyone's like, 'After you watched him do that, you want to do that?' ' she said with a laugh. Lucero lost to Councilor Michael Garcia, who was elected to a second term with 54% of the vote. Despite raising over $45,000, significantly more than publicly financed Garcia, Lucero said at the time the incumbency advantage had been difficult to surmount. That won't be a factor this time around — District 2 Councilor Carol Romero-Wirth announced in April she will not seek a third term in office, paving the way for a new face on the dais. Air Force veteran and former government contractor Paul Bustamante also is running for the District 2 seat. Garcia, meanwhile, is running for mayor, which could create an additional vacancy in the district if he wins. The city charter calls for the mayor to appoint a district resident to fill a council vacancy within 30 days. The appointee, who must be approved by the council, serves until the next municipal election, when someone must be elected to the seat for the remainder of the term. At a glance, Barrett and Bustamante have many similarities: Both said they were inspired in part to enter politics because of their dismay at actions being taken by the Trump administration, and they want to try to help create a better city for their children. Bustamante is a stay-at-home father to his youngest daughter; Barrett has two children and adopted the campaign slogan, "Moms get it done!" 110723_GC_ElectionCoverage01rgb.jpg (copy) Phil Lucero, a former City Council District 2 candidate, and his daughter Zoe Lucero, wave to voters at the Santa Fe County Fairgrounds on Election Day in November 2023. Lucero's wife, Liz Barrett, is now running for the District 2 seat following his unsuccessful bid. A native of Michigan, Barrett moved to New Mexico in 2003 for an AmeriCorps post in Albuquerque and has lived in Santa Fe for the past decade in the same neighborhood near Ragle Park where Lucero grew up. She has a Master of Social Work from New Mexico Highlands University and is employed as a social worker at the state-chartered THRIVE Community School in Santa Fe. Previously, she was a social worker at Santa Fe Public Schools from 2010 to 2023, primarily at Aspen Community School. She is a volunteer coach with the Northern Soccer Club and was a Girls on the Run coach at her previous school. She has coordinated a Special Olympics program for students with disabilities at schools. Barrett described herself as a natural problem solver and said the ever-changing nature of her job has primed her for working in politics. "You could have an agenda and it could all change at a moment's notice," she said. Barrett's campaign website describes her as a Democrat and says one of her priorities is standing up to the Trump administration's "weaponization" of the federal government. Though the council race is nonpartisan, Barrett said she chose to publicly list her political party because it feels like an encapsulation of many of her priorities. "A lot of the things that I stand for, like affordable housing, mental health support, getting more money into rehabilitation services for addiction and substance abuse — I think those are historically Democratic issues," Barrett said, adding she is "very open" to working across the aisle. Like many other council and mayoral candidates, she said the high cost of housing is one of her major concerns, noting many of her colleagues in education cannot afford to live in Santa Fe. "That's just outrageous to me. ... If you work here, you should be able to live here," Barrett said. Making the city more welcoming for the families who already live here is also a top priority for Barrett, who said creating more incentives to draw kid-focused businesses to Santa Fe would be a boon, keeping tax revenues here. When it comes to public safety, Barrett said more investments are needed in support services to help get people back on their feet and in the Santa Fe Police Department. She cited the importance of close relationships between police officers and others in the city as key. "We need police to know our communities and where we need more support," she said. Like Lucero, Barrett has hired Sandra Wechsler as her campaign manager. Wechsler was Mayor Alan Webber's campaign manager in his successful bid for a second term in 2021, but neither of the candidates she worked for in 2023, Lucero and District 1 candidate Geno Zamora, won their races. Wechsler is not currently working with any other municipal candidates. Barrett is opting for private financing, while Bustamante has said he will pursue public financing. As a first-time political candidate, she said she plans to hit the ground running so District 2 can get to know her. "I'm going to go that route and give it my all," she said.
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Santa Fe launching grant program to help businesses with crime, vandalism
Operators of small businesses in Santa Fe could get some help fighting burglaries and vandalism if a new city program designed to address such issues gets off the ground before the end of the year as expected. The Santa Fe City Council approved $250,000 in one-time funding for the program Feb. 26. The Office of Economic Development will work in conjunction with the Community Services Department to administer and operate it. Economic Development Director Johanna Nelson has hired Santa Fe-based consulting firm Prospera Partners to study how the program should be structured. She said preliminary plans call for microgrants of less than $20,000 for business owners to help them better protect their property from burglars and vandals, perhaps in the form of security cameras, alarms, lights and locks. Nelson described the initiative as a pilot program that will be evaluated after its first year to determine if it works. 'If it does, we want to seek outside funding [to continue the program],' she said. Staff members from Prospera Partners and city officials will be gathering feedback from business owners so the program can be put together in a way that addresses their needs, Nelson said. 'We're very much in the research phase,' she said. Yalla 2 Malek Belghiti Alaoui, one of the partners in the Yalla Shawarma food truck on South St. Francis Drive, had a new surveillance system installed. While there will be some minor startup costs associated with launching the initiative, Nelson said the idea is for a heavy majority of the $250,000 to wind up being awarded as grants. She said she hopes and believes the grants can be awarded before the end of the year. 'A more ambitious goal would be by the start of the fiscal year,' she said, referring to July 1. Many councilors who spoke about the program at the Feb. 26 meeting expressed a desire to see it be as accessible as possible, Nelson said, adding idea will be a priority for the city staff. While burglaries and theft are a significant concern for many small-business owners in Santa Fe, Nelson said it was her impression many others are just as worried about vandalism and squalor. For instance, she said she has heard from many downtown business operators who open their establishment in the morning and routinely find human waste on their doorstep, requiring a cleanup. One Santa Fe business that has experienced both burglary and vandalism is the Yalla Shawarma food truck, whose owners sell Moroccan-style Mediterranean food from a site on South St. Francis Drive. The business was victimized two nights in a row in November, sustaining $7,000 in damage. Yalla 6 Lunchtime patrons place an order March 13 at the Yalla Shawarma food truck on South St. Francis Drive. Malek Belghiti Alaoui, part of the truck's ownership group, said he and his partners were able to reopen the truck about a month later after an online fundraising campaign netted nearly $7,000. He said he was very excited to hear about the city's plans to launch the crime mitigation initiative. 'Absolutely, anything that could help somebody to create an environment where we can feel safe and do business and encourage others,' he said. Belghiti Alaoui said his business has operated without incident since it reopened. He and his partners responded to the incidents by significantly enhancing their security and protection measures, including adding surveillance cameras. Those improvements were not inexpensive, he said, noting the total came to about $2,000. He said he would welcome the chance to apply for a microgrant from the city for additional equipment or for enhancements to the equipment already in place. 'You can go to so many upgrades,' Alaoui said. Another Santa Fe business that has endured crime issues is F1 Cyclery, which opened in September at 1189 Parkway Drive in the Siler Rufina District. Pedro Murga, one of the partners in the venture, said the shop was targeted twice within its first three months — once in September when floor-to-ceiling windows were broken, allowing burglars to make off with several bikes, and again in November, when someone tried to drive a vehicle through the front window. After that, Murga said he invested in heavy retractable steel shutters that allow him to seal the business every night. He also has installed motion-activated security cameras that allow him to monitor the property from his home computer. Murga laughed when he was asked if the additions have provided him with any peace of mind. He said a small bird has nested next to one of the cameras, sometimes triggering it to begin operating in the middle of the night and alerting Murga there is some activity at the business. 'Sometimes at 3 o'clock in the morning, [the bird] decides to wake us up. That makes it hard to go back to sleep,' he said. Yalla 7 Libby Maclaren, left, and Anne Vidovich of Santa Fe browse the menu at the Yalla Shawarma food truck on South St. Francis Drive on March 13. Murga said he wasn't sure if a grant program for security and protection equipment was the best way to address the crime issues. But he applauded the city for making an effort to fight the problem. 'That's a great start. That's awesome,' he said. A more effective approach, he said, might be to apply stricter penalties to those arrested for committing such crimes. 'We need to teach thieves a lesson,' Murga said. 'There's no punishment for a lot of them.' Nelson said the problem has gotten so bad in parts of the city that it is beginning to affect the bottom line of business owners. 'This has almost become a baked-in item in the cost of doing business,' she said. During the Feb. 26 meeting, the council also approved the appropriation of $150,000 for help fund the Office of Economic Development's Buy Local campaign, a program aimed at promoting and incentivizing shopping at local businesses. 20250130_MGS_F1 Cyclery_003.JPG (copy) F1 Cyclery partner Pedro Murga take a new bicycle down to the first floor of the shop on Jan. 30. Murga said the shop, which opened in September, was targeted twice within its first three months. Nelson has said the initiative is a priority for her office. The idea is to sustain whatever gains are made during the campaign over the long haul. Too often, she said, such initiatives lose steam or are forgotten after just a few months of emphasis. As with the anti-crime program, feedback from local business owners about what would allow the program to succeed will be sought and compiled, she said. Nelson said she is especially interested in exploring the idea of whether some of the tariffs planned by the Trump administration will provide an opening for some local manufacturers or business operators to capture a larger share of their market. 'Having a strong framework is getting us in good shape for whatever comes this way,' she said.
