Wikimedia Commons
The Fork, March 28: “Why We Don’t Care That Santa Fe is Getting a Chipotle”
Spend Your Beliefs
I read with interest your recent rant on the impending arrival of a Chipotle restaurant in Santa Fe. I don't know what you're afraid of. If the places you mention (I've eaten at most of them and they're quite good) can't compete, well that tells you something. Having eaten around, I can tell you that they're not the same as Chipotle. It is unique. Maybe you prefer the others, that's fine but they're all different. You mention its proximity to La Choza. Do you really think people who go to La Choza will instead go to Chipotle? I don't think so. Santa Fe is a big mixmaster of food. McDonalds and Realburger. Burger King and Lotaburger. Taco Bell and El Parasol. PC's and Applebee's. I say that instead of the food police telling people where they should eat, just let them vote with their pocketbooks.
Robert Williams
Santa Fe
Local is Better
One of the things I like most about Santa Fe is the smaller mom 'n' pop/chef-owner places to eat in this town with really good and reasonably priced food that is frequently made from farmers market and locally sourced ingredients.
Why, oh why, would I ever go to a chain Mexican fast food place given all the other fantastic options we have? Since moving to Santa Fe I have not been to a Taco Bell or burger chain because the quality and choices of local options beats them all hands down.
Chipotle has every right to set up shop here, but hopefully they won't find much of a market with Santa Feans. We have too many local options that are so much better and residents will continue to strongly support our amazing local spots.
Jill Jones
Santa Fe
JK, We Love Texans
All I can say here is that I will never eat there—but with its pending location, it should just about cull all the Texans driving into and out of town leaving more seats for us locals at the all the good restaurants in town!
Susan McKee
Santa Fe
News, March 27: “Mucho Gusto”
We Bike in Town, Too
Glad to see this initiative to link outer trails with the city of Santa Fe. We need a similar vision for trails within the city, making it easier to use bike transportation for commuting and running errands in town. When roads are redone (as Paseo de Peralta was recently) let's use those windows of opportunity to design-in bike lanes that are safe. Riding on Paseo de Peralta near the Roundhouse, I look enviously at the wide, infrequently used sidewalks, as I cast a nervous eye at the cars zooming by. Why not build dual-use sidewalks and bike lanes, as is common in Europe and Japan? Pedestrians and bikes share an interest in being protected from cars and trucks. Some investment of creative design and a real commitment to bikes as urban transportation is needed before we can claim to be on the path to a sustainable Santa Fe.
David Groenfeldt
SFReporter.com
Web Extra, March 29: “Burglars Hit Cannabis Shops”
Easy Fix
If weed was legal and widely distributed, cheap and available, this kind of thing would not be happening. This is clearly fallout from the war on drugs.
Lawrence Israel
Via Facebook
News, March 20: “Wild Horses of Placitas”
Protect 'Em
The plight of the wild horses, not only in Placitas, but around the West, always comes back to the livestock industry, which views any wild animal out there as the problem. … This environmentally destructive lobby still calls coyotes "varmints," a term rooted in illiteracy [and] ignorance. Recently, efforts to ban trapping in New Mexico were rabidly opposed by these modern "cowboys" along with their hunting/trapping buddies in groups like the New Mexico Wildlife Federation.
Unfortunately, too many animal/wildlife lobby groups have been collaborating, genuflecting to these entities, thinking that somehow it might help their cause. Instead, it has weakened it, causing more animal suffering.
The Western Watersheds Project acknowledges that "the main cause of degradation of public lands in the arid West is livestock use, not wild horses."
The new Department of Outdoor Recreation will encourage activities like camping, hiking, etc., not killing helpless animals. While we're at it, get rid of the animal-killing Game Commission, and transfer the Game Department to the Outdoor Recreation Department.
Wild lives need peace and justice!
Rosemary Lowe
Santa Fe
Clarification is Good
Your article inadvertently tells New Mexicans that no groundbreaking New Mexico state's wild horse protection law was passed in 2007; that the groundbreaking court case against the New Mexico Livestock Board in Placitas was not won in the New Mexico Appellate Court, and agreed on by the New Mexico Supreme Court. (This was a very important hard fought win against animal cruelty of wild horses.) It also upheld the legislation passed and more; that the recent groundbreaking court ruling in the 12 District Court of New Mexico which established that wild horses are native wildlife and that it is the right and the obligation for any property owner to fence them out (if they do not want them on their property.) This case allowed the Alto horses to be released right back into the neighborhood they were stolen from.
The Placitas horses are New Mexico's native wild horses. This determination gives them many legal rights.
Your article states that the Placitas wild horses are BLM horses, potentially paving the way for their removal.
New Mexicans deserve to be informed of this treasure, not have history re-written so no one notices when the government makes their next attempt at wipe out.
Patience O'Dowd
Wild Horse Observers Association
News, March 13: “Building Code Blues”
Keep Your Promise
As 30-plus year residents of Santa Fe, the shortage of available and affordable housing has reached a crisis. …
I am also aware that these factors contribute to another complication, and that is the work force of Santa Fe. The wage-earners who provide critical service industry staffing are being run off and shut out of living where they work, where they grew up and where they had hoped to have their families.
Mayor Webber, you campaigned on the premise that this was a key issue to you. Take action, call town hall meetings, take surveys, get input from the residents—let's work together to find a solution to a situation that will not go away without action!
Jane Lipman and Kate Ernst
Santa Fe
Corrections
"Wild Horses of Placitas" (News, March 20) gave incorrect information about lawsuits filed by the Wild Horse Observers Association and how the state and the BLM differ in handling the animals. In a lawsuit filed by WHOA against the NMLB, courts ruled that the horses on state lands are to be classified as "wildlife."
In "Lisa Law Built a Museum in Mexico" (A/C, March 27), the Mexico-based contractor is Fernando Garcia. The "lover" referenced was not Law's later husband.
