Group will declare downtown Santa Fe "endangered."
Downtown Santa Fe is in trouble. Dangerous trouble. The kind of trouble that saps a city of its defining characteristics and transforms it into an average American "Our Town."
That's the perspective of the New Mexico Heritage Preservation Alliance (NMHPA), which will announce Feb. 13 that ***image1***Santa Fe's downtown area, contained within the Paseo de Peralta loop, is now one of New Mexico's "Most Endangered Places."
The group, which will make its proclamation at the Roundhouse, is concerned that private economic development, coupled with local government pressure to redevelop existing buildings, will ultimately make the City Different not so different.
Executive Director Gary Wolff says NMHPA chose downtown Santa Fe from more than half a dozen statewide nominations.
This year's selection has a political twist-the nomination came from City Councilor Karen Heldmeyer. In a letter to NMHPA, Heldmeyer takes aim at pending projects she believes will change Santa Fe for the worse, such as the city's new convention center, the Archdiocese of Santa Fe's proposed Alameda Street cathedral extension and other private developments.
"My motivation is to get people to open their eyes to what's happening downtown and to show that this isn't just one person or one group which is saying this, but that it's a wider problem." Heldmeyer tells SFR. "I don't understand why creative people come here and want to turn Santa Fe into wherever it is they came from. Now, if we don't speak up it will be too late."
Heldmeyer also criticizes the private consulting firm hired by the city in September to create a comprehensive downtown plan. In her letter, Heldmeyer says the consultants, Crandall Arambula of Portland, Ore., are more interested in fostering new development than historic preservation and reaching out to developers rather than ordinary citizens.
George Crandall, a partner in the firm, denies Heldmeyer's assertions.
"This is the kind of process where we listen to everybody. We listen to the general public and the development and business community," Crandall says. "The idea is to bring back some very general ideas, to evaluate them and to really respond to what the community wants to do."
Crandall Arambula, which is being paid $200,000 to devise the plan, is scheduled to hold its second series of public meetings this week (6 pm, Feb. 9 at the Scottish Rite Temple; 10 am, Feb. 11 at the Genoveva Chavez Center).
The Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce also takes issue with Heldmeyer's contentions.
"There could be a lot ramifications for the future of Santa Fe in naming our city endangered," Pat Murray, chairwoman of the board of directors for the Chamber, says. "We all agree that the core downtown needs preservation but there are many laws and ordinances that preserve our historic foundation. The business community has a lot of respect for our culture and history but we feel this would be a gross disservice to our city."
City Councilor Patti Bushee, whose District 1 includes downtown, says she's interested in hearing what NMHPA has to say but does not believe there's been enough wholesale development to threaten the area.
"Right now, I don't see downtown as a development district because we have good ordinances in place protecting the area," Bushee says. "I think we need to preserve the heritage and historic nature of downtown, but we also don't want to sterilize downtown and keep people from it."
Mac Watson, chairman of the board of directors of the Historic Santa Fe Foundation, believes the designation is deserved.
"Hopefully, this will have a positive impact on the preservation of that area as well as the other historic districts in Santa Fe," Watson, whose group maintains various historic properties throughout Santa Fe and works on local preservation legislation, says.
NMHPA has doled out its "Most Endangered Place" designation since 1999. Its selection committee includes members of the state's Historic Preservation Division, National Park Service, archaeologists, historians and the group's board. Past winners (or losers, depending on perspective) include the La Bajada Mesa in Santa Fe County and the Mesilla Historic District outside of Las Cruces.
As a result, La Bajada Mesa has been spared mining projects and Mesilla's famous adobes structures have been properly restored, Gary Wolff says. According to Wolff, 40 percent of the time NMHPA terms a particular place "endangered," local organizations and community members become involved in preservation efforts.
Wolff says he hopes this year's announcement will compel residents to take a more urgent interest in protecting downtown Santa Fe.
"This is an issue of reinforcing the value of historic preservation in downtown Santa Fe," Wolff says. "We want to encourage residents to become active in that process."
