Letters to the Editor

Morning Word, Feb. 8: “Committee cool on housing bill”

Past an emergency

The housing crisis in Santa Fe is off the charts, given how much available housing has been swooped up by greedy landlords and out-of-towners, and reserved—not for local residents with a vested interest in building community—but for tourists who will pay top dollar for a short-term rental. It has to stop.

We’ve reached a crisis point, and are losing the young people that our arts scene has attracted in recent years. It’s time we outlaw AirBnB and Vrbo, and rent to actual Santa Fe residents who care about being good neighbors…Crime is skyrocketing. It doesn’t help to have strangers in our neighborhoods, who are clueless as to which cars are suspicious, and which ones belong to our neighbors, who pick up randoms at bars and bring them back to our apartment buildings, and our complexes.

Pure greed is pushing this nonsense, which is only exacerbated by real estate sharks who don’t even live in the state, but are swooping up properties by the dozen, so they can overcharge tourists while our own people can no longer afford to live here. We are dealing with an emergency situation, and none of our so-called representatives give a rat’s pickle about how bad it is for renters. If folks need to rent out their rooms or casitas to make ends meet, they can rent to locals for reasonable prices. It’s time we take this matter into our own hands.

Ari Gold, Santa Fe

Opinion, Feb. 7: “Industry”

Nope

Holly Hopkins, whose LinkedIn profile suggests a career of oil and gas extraction and no ties to Santa Fe or New Mexico, is in the Reporter advocating for “leaders in Santa Fe” to support policies that will exacerbate drought, wildfire, biodiversity loss and all of the other damaging symptoms of the climate crisis to New Mexico’s frontline communities and fragile landscapes.

Rather than listen to out-of-state industry lobbyists, local and state decision-makers should ensure that they are protecting the future and health of our communities. I’ll take a sustainable, renewable, living future over the scorched-earth, short-sighted, boom-and-bust fossil fuel economy every day, even if that costs Ms. Hopkins’ industry a few dollars.

Chris Smith, Santa Fe