Santa Fe made real strides in moving toward a new economy.
For the last century Santa Fe's economic development plan has hinged on people's desire to come and see adobe and vigas and the intermingling of Pueblo and Spanish Colonial styles under sunny skies.
But while tourism has worked remarkably well for 100 years, 2005 was the year Santa Fe got serious about implementing a new economic development plan-one based more on the creative energy of its residents rather than the pocketbooks of its visitors.
***image2***"There's five years worth of projects in this plan that we are to accomplish," says the city's Economic Development Division Director Kris Swedin. "Each year we look at what we've achieved and what remains and there's a refinement of priorities, but we're very pleased with what's happened so far and we're excited about what's to come."
That refinement, though, isn't a closed door process, as the city proved on Oct. 26 when it publicly discussed its accomplishments over the past year, expressed goals for the coming year and asked for continued input from all comers [Zane's World, Oct. 26:
]. "This is really a plan that the community is very much involved in," Swedin says.
The plan was developed initially with the input of more than 2,000 citizens, unveiled by hired advisors Angelou Economics in April of 2004 and unanimously endorsed by city councilors soon after. But it wasn't until November of that year that the city was able to allocate funds to pursue it in earnest. Seven target industries were specifically identified for assistance and encouragement, including arts and culture, design, hospitality, water conservation and clean energy technologies, software development, publishing and new media and outdoor gear and apparel. Armed with funding for 2005 and jumping headfirst into the region's largest industry, the culture sector, the city entered into contracts with local organizations to create: a community box office, providing ticket sales for any and all events within the community; an arts and culture Web portal featuring detailed information for visitors and resources for artists and arts-based businesses [Zane's World, Nov. 2:
]; and Creative Santa Fe, a strategic planning organization with a special emphasis on the arts [SFR Talk, Sept. 28:
].
These initial events have energized the arts industry and with it the local economy in the eyes of Don Wiviott, chairman of the Economic Development Division's citizen oversight body, the Economic Development Review Committee. "Santa Fe has always been a hotbed of creative ideas, but people are happy to see some structure from the top down that their goals can fit into," Wiviott says.
Following the development plan's goals, the city also organized and hosted Santa Fe Design Week, a national conference featuring visual elements of ***image1***design as well as progressive environmental concepts and urban planning ideas. The conference was successful enough that one of the city's key Design Week partners, Grace Communications, took the initiative to operate a Santa Fe green design booth at San Francisco's November 2005 Green Festival as a national showcase for the city's intentions in renewable energy and progressive planning. In an environment dominated by established businesses and entrepreneurs, festival attendees were impressed. "No other city has ever had a presence there," says Santa Fe Economic Development Division Senior Planner Craig Fields. "We received a huge amount of positive input about the direction we're going in and the potential for Santa Fe to become a leader in renewable energy technology."
***image3***If 2005 was the year for economic development in the arts and culture sector, 2006 looks to be heavy on the environmental side. On Dec. 10 the Community College fired up its biofuel heating system, promoted by the city and developed with Local Energy [SFR Talk, Nov. 2:
] and next year the college will begin a special training program for plumbing with an emphasis on solar technology. In January or February the city also will be issuing a request for proposals for an organization capable of creating a "center for community sustainability" to serve as the local headquarters for small businesses focused on energy technologies and related workforce development.
