Mayor's race hinges on game plans

Source: The Santa Fe New MexicanDec.self storage 29--The Santa Fe mayor's race has gotten off to a contentious start, with candidates slinging barbs at one another over various allegations of campaign finance abuse.But as those attacks have failed to take hold, many voters are still waiting to hear how the rivals will address pressing issues in the city.It's perhaps no surprise that all three candidates in the race -- Patti Bushee, Bill Dimas and Javier Gonzales -- think a vibrant economy and more jobs would be good for the city. And none is advocating for fewer cops and more crime.All three say they want better schools, too. Although they would have no direct authority over the public education system, it would not behoove a mayoral candidate to remain silent on the city's dismal high school graduation rate.And no one is saying they want less water, either. In fact, Dimas promises "abundant water" in his campaign literature and jokes that he may call on his deceased father to perform a rain dance in heaven to make it pour.With all three candidates not so far apart on the issues, the defining difference among them may not be the "what" but the "how.""I notice when I hear them talking, they say, 'Oh yeah, we need to have apple pie and rainbows and unicorns.' Well, of course we do. But what are you going to do to actually start an apple pie factory? What are you going to do to recruit unicorns and rainbows to Santa Fe?" Simon Brackley, president and CEO of the Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce, said Friday."I want to hear some commitment and vision from them rather than lists of ways the community could be better. That's not leadership," he said.The candidates have had help defining the issues.Not only have they been hearing directly from voters in their grass-roots campaigns, there has been polling, too.A poll commissioned earlier this year by the chamber, the Santa Fe Association of Realtors and the Santa Fe Area Home Builders Association found that voters identified the top issue in the race as the economy and jobs. Crime, public safety, water supply and conservation all tied in second place.A separate poll commissioned by ProgressiveNow New Mexico, a liberal-leaning Albuquerque group, also listed water protection, improving schools, job creation, crime reduction and maintaining the "living wage" among the top issues."Candidates, unless they're special interest candidates, know what the main issues are because polling has been done, if not by them, by somebody else," said former City Councilor Karen Heldmeyer, who remains active in local affairs. "So then, the question becomes not what issues they say are important but what they are going to do about the issues."Former Mayor Debbie Jaramillo said she's still waiting to hear from the candidates."I have yet to see any issues out of anybody," she said."They're going to have to be forced to bring it out and not just wait for forums. The forums, if you want to call them forums, the way they're running them nowadays, they're just sending emails and surveys and saying, 'Answer them and we'll let you know how we feel about you when we decide.' What happened to open forums so that the public can attend and hear issues? It's just not being done that way."Mayoral forums, which will be open to the public, are scheduled to start in January.The candidates say they've been discussing issues with voters face to face for months on the campaign trail.Each has a different plan to address the issues affecting voters.Dimas, a city councilor who is a former magistrate and police officer, said growing the economy, public safety and restoring the public's faith in city government are among his top issues."If I was elected mayor, I want to surround myself with the most knowledgeable, innovative, experienced problem solvers. I want people whose background is beyond reproach for honesty and integrity," he said.His plan for improving the economy includes streamlining regulatory standards for new businesses, waiving performance bond requirements for public works projects under $250,000 to allow smaller, local companies to bid on those projects "rather than having them go to the larger Albuquerque contractors," and providing tax breaks to companies after they've created jobs."The current practice has been to provide those incentives before companies have a proven track record," he said.Dimas, whose daughter died from a drug overdose, said he wants to build a stronger relationship between police and neighborhoods to fight crime and re-establish a narcotics unit in the police department.Dimas' plan for "abundant water" calls for an "aggressive policy to purchase water rights" and possibly acquiring the uncontracted supply of 4,990 acre-feet of water from the San Juan-Chama Project, which moves water from the San Juan River Basin to the Rio Grande Basin."We could almost double our share from the project by acquiring the unallocated waters, but迷利倉it's going to cost a lot of money," he said, adding that some peg the cost at $22 million.Ultimately, Dimas said, the city needs to get back to the basics and avoid contentious issues that don't necessarily affect residents, such as a recent resolution asking President Barack Obama to deny an application for a permit to build the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to Oklahoma."We should be concentrating on city issues: maintaining our streets, making sure that we have adequate police protection, fire protection," he said.Gonzales, a former county commissioner and state Democratic Party chairman who is a scion of a Santa Fe political family, said he's met with about 1,000 people at dozens of house parties over the last six weeks. They and other people he's encountered say they want the next mayor to focus on the environment, education and the economy, he said.Gonzales says he has a multipronged plan to address each issue.For education, he proposes a citywide early-childhood education program that would be funded "either through existing resources" in conjunction with federal grants or a tax increase, which he said would only be a last resort."If we're going talk about the future, the city needs to have a direct role in improving education," he said. "However we get there, it's time for Santa Fe to make a commitment to one, bring about a program, and two, properly funding it. And everything is on the table when it comes to that."Gonzales also wants to create a youth service corps, partially funded by the private sector, that would allow high school students to develop leadership skills through community service while receiving a stipend. He also proposes working with the schools to develop a "school of sustainability" that teaches youth to be environmental stewards. The idea is to build a green workforce within the city.Gonzales said the city needs to take a regional approach to protecting the environment, from aggressively pursuing federal funds to create healthier forests to developing a community solar farm."I propose creating what's called the 'Santa Fe Verde Fund.' It's a creative way where the city, the county and others can utilize power purchase agreements to be able to access funds to build community solar," he said.Gonzales' plan to improve the economy includes expanding the film industry and increasing tourism through advertising in international markets and a series of art symposiums that would attract a global audience."I want Santa Fe to be a global thought leader when it comes to art," he said.Bushee, a small businesswoman and longtime city councilor who ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2002, said she would move the city forward by taking advantage of what Santa Fe already has to offer."We're going to have to build on our strengths," she said. "For instance, I have been busy for the last decade really working on building up our infrastructure for bicycling, for pedestrians, for outdoor enthusiasts. From that, we have been able to capture a whole new segment of our visitor industry. I'm not saying that these trails have been built simply for our visitors. It's just a nice, new offshoot. Locals have been able to enjoy these trails."When asked for specifics on her platform, Bushee continually talked about her record as a city councilor and said those details could be found on her website."What's important for you to know about me is that not only am I not beholden to special interests, I've never been there to advance my career. This is not a launching off point for me," she said. "This is a culmination of all my work of 20 years to be able to put all that experience and know-how and skills to work for Santa Feans."Bushee's platform includes an emphasis on protecting the environment, from water conservation by increasing gray water use to pursuing legislation to allow the city to build community solar arrays without having to go through Public Service Company of New Mexico, which is New Mexico's largest electricity provider.Her platform also calls for improving code and regulations at City Hall to encourage business creation and growth and streamlining the process for business license and permit applications.In the interview, Bushee said the city needs to get its financial house in order and that her first task as mayor would be to audit all city departments and projects for "efficiency, effectiveness and compliance.""We really need to review everything and see where we're at first," she said.The New Mexican requested an interview with the outgoing mayor, David Coss, to discuss what he perceived to be the biggest issues facing Santa Fe, but a spokeswoman said he was unavailable for comment.Contact Daniel J. Chac鏮 at 986-3089 or dchacon@sfnewmexican.com.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 The Santa Fe New Mexican (Santa Fe, N.M.) Visit The Santa Fe New Mexican (Santa Fe, N.M.) at .santafenewmexican.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉