Most of the mail generated in response to "Zane's World" columns arrives via e-mail and is marked "not for publication." When the letters are critical, there appears to be a fine line where someone absolutely must tell me what an idiot I am, but they don't want to do it publicly. I'd prefer for such dialogue to be open-after all, any idiocies I have are far from private-but I relish the private attacks as well. Some of them raise good points. Some of them are crazy and incoherent. One person wrote in serious tones to "use your power to do good." I'm a columnist, dude, not Spider-Man. Still, the do-gooder letter represents a common subset of private missives sent to "Zane's World." The gist is this: You are always criticizing everything; why don't you propose positive solutions instead?
I agree. With the caveat that criticism is important and productive, 2007 is going to be the year of solutions. Actually, it's starting in 2006. Two weeks ago, I proposed the CitiPass, a universal key to the city's cultural organizations, local businesses and public transportation. This week, I'll revisit an earlier suggestion with enough details to make it an earnest proposal. The umbrella effort above each proposal is that Santa Fe should put a quality of life initiative onto the ballot next year. These are some things that could be funded through the use of such an initiative (a one quarter of one percent gross receipts tax hike that would mean a minimum of $8 million annually for Santa Fe to spend on various projects). But none of these proposals, it's important to remember, would require such a tax hike.
The Sunday New Mexican recently ran a story one could file under "boring but important" that detailed the state's efforts to keep up with competitors in courting the film business. Now, Santa Fe's Economic Development Strategy makes it clear that, as a city, we need to keep up with the competitors in courting cool, interesting, young people who might like to live here. But no one's keeping tabs on that front. Our status as a cultural capital won't continue without infusing local cultural production with new energy. Santa Fe lacks three important factors in attracting young artists: prestige, peers and affordable space. So, with a mind to initiate remedies on all three fronts, I'll reiterate the need to use one of the unleased lots on the Baca portion of the city's Railyard property as a home for more than 20 free artist studios. How the hell can we afford that? By utilizing the detritus of America's trade deficit, ISO cargo containers. Goods, primarily from Asia, are shipped to the US inside steel containers and, by and large, it's cheaper for companies to leave them here to be sold on the secondary market than to reuse them. They are readily available in 20- and 40-foot lengths for between $1,000 and $4,000 dollars each, depending on condition, size and modifications. Let's look at the up-front costs: The city, via the Railyard Community Corporation, has to eat the cost of a land-lease on a small parcel (let's call it $18,000 annually). With bulk purchasing, it should be easy as pie to buy 30 containers of various sizes (which may be stacked three and four high and be within the master plan guidelines for the area) for a per unit price of $1,800. Add $1,000 to each unit for window and door modifications for a total price of $84,000 dollars for 9,600 square feet of space. These portable, stackable, reconfigurable units don't require permanent foundations, so let's figure on site improvements, crane fees and grading being absorbed by the larger Railyard project and $10,000 for prep costs. Add $30,000 for installation of minimal electric and plumbing using donated materials. How about another $30,000 for exterior staircases, access ramps and ensured egress (again with donated materials) and a yearly $5,000 in hefty liability insurance? That's $177,000-call it $200,000, of which $23,000 is a recurring, annual expense, not yet calculating utilities. That's not bad, especially considering the containers hold their value as individual units and are 100 percent recyclable. That's approximately 30 percent of the city's budget for Design Week and less money than the city has given to, say, Creative Santa Fe, an organization that, as far as I can tell, has done absolutely nothing (despite good people being involved) except to tell us we need to do something like what I'm proposing.
What do we get out of it? Twenty studios given away for free to artists, writers, musicians, etc., on rotating tenancy/residency terms of six months or one year. The remaining units will be used to house complementary and support services: bicycle collective, book exchange, day-old pastry shop and Internet café, boutique featuring products made by participating artists, common gallery space, sound studio, black box theater, small tool-lending library, solar-hydroponic tomato farm and the like. A few units could be kept back and rented as affordable starter spaces to Santa Fe Business Incubator projects. All the artists and entrepreneurs involved would have to propose a project, discuss its reasons and merits and illustrate that they don't have the means to complete it without free space. Applicants would be judged by a panel that would eventually include current tenants, and being awarded a space could mean inclusion in exhibitions and catalogs hosted by respected organizations and funded by public and private philanthropies. Tenancies could be scheduled to leave a certain amount of space available during annual events like Design Week, in order to encourage off-site, annex events with more edge.
Free spaces that concentrate working artists in a high-density space granted on the basis of a project's merit and excellence tackles the three problems of prestige, peers and affordability all at once. Because of their lack of resources, applicants would tend, de facto, to be young and willing to pursue risky ideas. But those are attributes we can't attract without taking them on ourselves.
