artdirector@sfreporter.com
Morning Word
Gov: City can manage park funds
The State of New Mexico will not be managing capital outlay funds designated for City of Santa Fe parks after all. On Sept. 29, Santa Fe City Manager John Blair announced the Department of Finance Administration had redirected $1 million in 2021 capital outlay funds designated for City of Santa Fe parks to the state General Services Department to oversee. The authority to do so, DFA said, comes from a 2013 executive order signed by former Gov. Susana Martinez that requires entities receiving capital outlay money to have good financial standing, such as timely audits, which the City of Santa Fe has not for several years. Lawmakers at the time questioned the order’s legality and, indeed, SFR has learned, former Attorney General Gary King issued an opinion that year that it was not legal. In any event, Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, tells SFR he was very concerned when he learned DFA had moved the funds to the state’s General Services Department to oversee the parks work. “I think it sets a very dangerous precedent,” he says. “I have not seen this done like this so it did cause me some real concern.” He and House Majority Whip Reena Szczepanski met with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham yesterday; afterward, the governor, via a statement from her press secretary, said the funds would revert back to the city for oversight. (The original capital outlay funding from 2021 for Santa Fe parks had six sponsors, including the governor, whose sponsorship was for the largest amount: $350,000). “We recognize the City of Santa Fe is making progress toward completing their audits and look forward to seeing them get fully caught up by December,” the governor’s press secretary, Caroline Sweeney, writes. “New Mexicans deserve to see capital outlay projects completed in an expeditious and fiscally responsible manner, and we stand ready to assist the City of Santa Fe in completing this and other projects that enhance the quality of life for Santa Fe residents.” City Manager Blair, who recently released a statement pledging transparency, could not be reached for comment.
Santa Fe home prices continue to rise
As a Nov. 7 vote on a citywide ballot measure to additionally tax high-end real-estate approaches, the Santa Fe Association of Realtors yesterday reported third-quarter statistics that show home prices continue to rise while sales continue to decline. Inside city limits, costs rose by 3.2%, from $575,750 in the third quarter of 2022 to $594,000 this year. Meanwhile, city home sales in the third quarter decreased by 14.5% with 201 homes sold compared to 235 last year. Higher interest rates for borrowers and the “overall sluggishness in the economy,” are among reasons for decreased numbers of sales and higher prices, SFAR Government Affairs Director Donna Reynolds tells SFR. “There’s just a lot of pressure coming from increased mortgage prices and some economic uncertainty in the general sense that some folks are not sure they are going to come back down,” Reynolds says. “Of course, the feds are talking about maybe keeping it level for a while and that sends a message to the market. It really hits homeowners in the pocket first and makes everything more expensive, and it’s kind of really a mixed bag here.” The estimated months supply of inventory, however, increased 10.7% in comparison to 2022, which also saw increases from the year before.
Federal judge pauses parks, playground gun ban
US District Judge David Urias yesterday extended the temporary restraining order on Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s also-temporary ban on open and concealed weapon carry at parks, playgrounds and other children-centric public spots in Albuquerque and Bernalillo County. Urias extended the restraining order until Oct. 11 and gave plaintiffs until Oct. 6 to completely brief the case. Those plaintiffs include individual gun owners and gun-rights organizations, such as the National Association for Gun Rights and We the Patriots. The Albuquerque Journal reports the governor’s chief lawyer, Holly Agajanian, argued yesterday that contrary to the assertion of the plaintiffs that the current ban is vague and unconstitutional, the revised order focused on parks, playgrounds and the like is sufficiently specific for constitutional standards and provides children with places “where they don’t have to worry about whether the person with a gun is a bad guy.” A lawyer for one of the Albuquerque plaintiffs countered that her client carries a gun to Los Poblanos Open Space in that city to protect himself from “wild coyotes, stray dogs and potential human attackers.” The current public health emergency order expires Friday, but Agajanian told the judge yesterday the governor intends to extend it at least once.
SEC fines State Treasurer $1,000 for campaign finance violation
While she was a candidate, State Treasurer Laura Montoya violated the Campaign Reporting Act, the State Ethics Commission said yesterday, following findings by Hearing Officer and retired US Magistrate Judge Alan C. Torgerson, who held a hearing on the matter in August. As summarized in the SEC news release, Montoya “knowingly” received $10,000 in “straw donor” campaign contributions given by two companies managed by Gary Plante, a property developer, and misreported those contributions as received from Adelante Sandoval, a political committee, and not Mr. Plante’s companies. Former State Treasurer Tim Eichenberg filed the complaint against Montoya, and also paid a $250 fine last November to settle his own violations of the Governmental Conduct Act after he used the official seal of the office in campaign communications supporting Montoya’s opponent. Laura Montoya’s violation of the Campaign Reporting Act, an SEC news release says, constitutes a “serious violation” of that law and Torgerson imposed a civil penalty of $1,000. “Straw donor contributions, like those uncovered in this administrative case, undermine transparency in our elections,” SEC Executive Director Jeremy Farris said in a statement. “If wealthy individuals want to give thousands of dollars to candidates for office, that’s their right; but they can’t do it in secret. New Mexicans also have a right to know who is spending money to influence their votes.”
Listen up
Today’s noon Friends of New Mexico History’s monthly lecture—which take place online the first Wednesday of each month—will feature David C. Beyreis, chair of Humanities and Social Sciences at Saint Mary’s School, in Raleigh, North Carolina and author of Blood in the Borderlands: Conflict, Kinship, and the Bent Family, 1821-1920. Beyreis’ lecture today focuses on the “rise and fall” of Charles Bent in New Mexico between his arrival here in 1829 and “violent death” in 1847. Bent, according to event organizers, became “one of the most powerful men in the US-Mexico borderlands” after he and “his close associates used intermarriage with prominent local women to expand their business and political connections in New Mexico and the southern plains.”
Walking toward a winter wonderland
As we recently mentioned, Travel & Leisure magazine last month placed Santa Fe at #13 on its list for the 25 best Christmas towns in the US, citing the Canyon Road farolito walk as a main draw. Now T&L has added Santa Fe to its un-numbered list of the 20 best places in the whole world to spend Christmas, but makes no mention of the Canyon Road farolito walk and instead points visitors toward the Santa Fe Botanical Garden’s Glow event (which has yet to be announced for this year as far as we can tell); Christmas concerts inside the Loretto Chapel; and winter sports at Ski Santa Fe, amongst other attractions. Speaking of skiing, T&L includes the Pajarito Mountain ski area on its list of the 10 best ski resorts in North America for seniors, noting that Pajarito “offers free skiing for riders age 75 and up,” while 70% percent of its 44 trails are rated beginner or intermediate. Another “perk” for older skiers, the magazine attests, lies in Pajarito’s close proximity to Los Alamos because “history buffs will love riding in the tracks of Enrico Fermi and Robert Oppenheimer, who both skied here in the days when this area was simply known as the Los Alamos Ski Club.” Also on the ski-tip list front, T&L again includes Santa Fe on its list of the 10 best ski towns to visit even If you don’t ski. Why? Because if you don’t ski you can go look at art (we are paraphrasing...barely). Lastly, in Travel & Leisure’s current and indisputable fixation on New Mexico this week, the magazine includes Albuquerque’s Old Town on its list of the best Christmas displays in each state, albeit describing it in the story as “one of the best Christmas displays in New Mexico.” The Old Town Holiday Stroll on Dec. 1, the magazine notes, will make you “feel like you’re ambling through a southwestern Christmas postcard.” And to all a good night.
Like riding a bike
In a rare attempt at brevity, don’t miss this recent photo essay in Bicycling magazine by photographer and bicyclist Evan Green, in which he and friends set out to determine whether Albuquerque, where he lives, and Santa Fe could be linked together by “public transportation and good old-fashioned human power.” The resulting 104-mile route includes a trip on the Rail Runner to Santa Fe, followed by a “monumental ride back home,” and includes some wonderful photos of a classic New Mexico morning: Bikes, coffee and green chile breakfast burritos, along with the challenges of biking in the state, aka flat tires from “cactus thorns, Goathead stickers, and sharp volcanic rock.”
Brisk this
The National Weather Service forecasts a mostly sunny day, with a high temperature near 61 degrees and northeast wind 5 to 10 mph becoming west in the afternoon. Low temperatures tonight could reach around 35 degrees (not quite freezing, but getting there).
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