Democratic Santa Fe County Commission, District 5
For the June 3 New Mexico primary elections, SFR will call up candidates in the CONTESTED races to test their knowledge. The rules for Pop Quiz are as follows:
No research allowed and if they call back later with the right answer, too bad.
To see who answered correctly (or came closest), check out our answer key below.
Questions:
1. At this week's Santa Fe Board of County Commissioners meeting, Commissioner Jack Sullivan made a final effort to spare county residents a one-eighth percent gross receipts tax that would fund public transit in northern New Mexico. Do you support or oppose the tax?
2. Do you believe in charging fees to builders to pay for new roads?
3. The county just bought 65 acres from the state on NM 14. What is planned for construction there?
4. Archbishop Lamy, whose namesake town is in your district, was the model for which Willa Cather novel?
5. What's the highest point in Santa Fe County?
6. Earlier this year Commissioner Sullivan opposed funding for Catholic Charities' teen-parent support program. Why?
7. Name three areas that are part of the county's Open Space program.
Answers:
Joe Auburg, 74, retired water planner
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1. I support the regional transit proposal. When gas gets to $4 a gallon, you've got to go to public transit. You can run a bus for almost the same amount of fuel as a pickup.
2. You betcha. And water systems. And street lighting and other infrastructure activities.
3. I have no idea.
4.
Death Comes for the Archbishop
. Actually there's some historically inaccurate statements in the book, but that's beside the point.
5. The ski basin. It's 12,400 feet I think.
6. I do not know, but I supported the funding. I'm also a member of the City of Santa Fe's Human Services Commission. And I supported funding of that from the city.
7. I think along the railroad track here through Eldorado is part of it. There is this park almost down to Lamy, which is really a disgrace of a park.
Ralph Jaramillo, 47, RL Leeder Company manager, Santa Fe Public Schools Transportation Department employee, licensed realtor and associate broker at Renee Edwards Prestige Properties
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1. At this point, the way it reads, I support the tax if we have all the parameters in line, all the info, data, statistics.
2. (Pauses) I'm gonna say to that question 'yes,' provided that each and every one is handled differently from what we have before us.
3. This is the studio, I believe, that I understand they want to put together.
4. I don't know.
5. As far as elevation? The highest point is the Santa Fe ski area. Santa Fe ski basin.
6. I don't know.
7. Rancho Viejo, near State Road 14 there's some open space. [Also] Caja del Rio, by the golf course, the Marty Sanchez area.
Mark Martinez, 34, Capital Moving & Storage vice president
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1. Is this the one for the Rail Runner? My main thing is personally I'd be against it but I'd pass it on to the voters because they're the ones who'd pay for it. People are taxed enough as it is.
2. I do. That's a quick one.
3. As far as I know, they're gonna sell that off to a movie production company. I don't know what their plans for it are, but what I've heard is it'll be a phased-in type thing.
4. Whooo. (Laughs) I don't know on that one. You're asking for the novel's name? That's one area I don't follow.
5. I think that would be Tesuque Peak if I'm not mistaken.
6. I heard that he blocked it but I really didn't see anything on it. I haven't been able to follow up on that at all.
7. There's the Cerrillos Hills Park. And I believe there's something in the Eldorado area but I don't know the name of it.
Liz Stefanics, 57, New Mexico Health Policy Commission director
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1. I don't support the tax necessarily, but I don't support pulling out of the Regional Transit Authority. Not being part of the Authority, I don't know, but there are alternate ways of funding transportation.
2. Yes.
3. I only know what the media's telling us, in terms of it being a film studio and it being green. I hope that the County Commission would require new businesses to be green. We should all be putting in green businesses and, along with that, living wages.
4. Oh, that's a hard one and I've read it. It's not
The Bridge
. Let's see…I can't tell you. I can add to that. When I moved to New Mexico I read a lot of New Mexico novels, and since I've aged since that time I'm probably having a senior moment.
5. Ooh, what is…I wanna say Baldy, but I don't even know if it's in Santa Fe County.
6. Because Catholic Social Services does not distribute contraceptives.
7. Well, yeah. Now the Santa Fe Botanical Garden. The Cerrillos Hills Open Space Park. There's a piece of land up near I-25 and the Old Santa Fe Trail exit. There was a piece of land near either Tesuque or Nambe, but that's all I can think of.
Stephen Wust, 51, Santa Fe County natural resources director
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1. I think that we should put it in front of the voters and let them decide.
2. For infrastructure, yes.
3. I believe it's the media park.
4.
Death Comes to the Archbishop
? For the Archbishop?
5. Lake Peak.
6. No, I'm not familiar with that one.
7. Yes, there is Cerrillos Hills Park, that was one of them. Certainly the Rail Trail. There's land down in Galisteo, some kind of open space thing. There's some land near Lamy too, an archaeological site. There is Agua Fria, some open space near the community center.
ANSWER KEY
1. This is a matter of opinion.
2. This, too, is a matter of opinion.
3. Santa Fe Studios plans to build an environmentally friendly production facility on the site. That acreage cost the county $1.8 million.
4.
Death Comes for the Archbishop
5. Santa Fe Baldy is the highest point in Santa Fe County, at 12,622 feet. Lake and Tesuque peaks stand at 12,409 and 12,043 feet, respectively.
6. According to Commissioner Sullivan, "the Catholic Charities program specifically excluded counseling regarding birth control…"
7. According to Scott Rivers, field coordinator for Santa Fe County's Open Space and Trails Program, the following properties are part of the Open Space program: El Rancho Property, Los Potreros Open Space (Chimayo-three parcels), Rio en Medio, Santa Fe River Preserve, El Camino Real Trail Easement, Agua Fria River Park, La Cieneguilla Petroglyphs, Santa Fe River (Old M&R Gravel parcel), Santa Fe River Corridor-Community Farm, Cerrillos Hills Historic Park, El Tanque Tract, El Penasco Blanco, Las Golondrinas Open Space, Madrid Wilderness, Madrid Church Lot, Madrid Greenbelt, Ortiz Mountain Preserve, South Meadows Field, Thornton Ranch Open Space (two parcels plus conservation easement), Wildlife West Nature Park (Edgewood), Arroyo Hondo Open Space, Picacho Peak Property, Old Pecos Trail Gateway, Lamy Open Space (Miller Parcel), Agua Fria Park, Bennie J Chavez Park, El Rancho Playground, Galisteo Community Park, La Puebla Park, Lamy Community Park, Pojoaque Tennis Courts, Rio en Medio Playground, Stanley Community Park and Santa Fe County Fairgrounds.
