Joey Petes
Javier Gonzales announces his candidacy for mayor of Santa Fe
Javier Gonzales finally made his run for mayor of Santa Fe official, with an announcement today to a packed crowd at Café Castro.
"Today you see in this room a cross section of our community," he told the crowd. "We are not a collection of demographics or lifestyles. We're no longer going to separate ourselves by longevity or geography. We are one city, one community. We're proud of our city's last 400 years, and we're ready to shape the next 400 years."
Gonzales got his start in the 1990s as a Santa Fe county commissioner. He later served two terms as chair of the Democratic Party of New Mexico from 2009 to earlier this year.
Gonzales tells SFR that the goal of his potential administration would be to "create upward mobility for Santa Fe families." He says he supports the city's living wage and doesn't want to cap it. He adds that he would support strengthening the film industry, public transportation and green jobs.
"We need to work on focusing economic clusters in neighborhoods so people don't have to drive to work," he says. "We need to move away from just being government, which is all centered downtown."
As for tourism, Gonzales says it needs to be "strategically targeted" to "make sure we're able to bring tourism dollars that benefit the entire community."
Last week, Gonzales made the headlines after writing a blog post announcing that he is gay.
Gonzales joins a crowded field totaling seven potential candidates. They include four Santa Fe city councilors: Patti Bushee, Rebecca Wurzburger, Chris Rivera and Bill Dimas. Two others, former Santa Fe County Manager Roman Abeyta and longtime resident Margaret Josina Campos, have also expressed interest in running for mayor.
Those who are serious will pick up their official city candidate packets next week on Sept. 3.
