The battle for mayor has given Santa Feans both hilarity and dismay, with drama ranging from candidate impostors on Twitter to warring union endorsements. Again, the rules: no researching, no seeing the questions ahead of time and no editing the answers. Here’s what your mayoral candidates in the March 2 election said, verbatim. For the correct answers, see our key at the end.
Questions:
1. What is the property crime rate in Santa Fe?
2. The Genoveva Chavez Community Center has occupied the front pages a lot in the last few weeks. What’s the deal there?
3. Name two movies planned for filming in Santa Fe in 2010.
4. Who’s your biggest campaign donor?
5. Name two city services you think are unnecessary.
6. Say you were a really great mayor and the city decided to erect an ‘in action’ statue of you in your honor. What would you be doing?
7. What are the gross receipts tax rates in the city and the county?
8. Who would you rather have dinner with: Jay Leno or Conan O’Brien?
9. How much is the penalty for talking on a cell phone while driving in Santa Fe?
10. The highest traffic penalty in Santa Fe is $150. What’s it for?
11. How long after the election do you have to remove campaign signs?
12. The state senate made history this week by overriding Gov. Bill Richardson’s 2009 veto of what?
13. Name five of the ‘experience categories’ that make up creative tourism.
14. Given one day as the editor of a local newspaper, what story would you put on the front page?
15. How much have you spent on campaign signage so far?
16. How much does the city charge for solid waste collection?
17. Have you ever busted a tire in a Santa Fe pothole?
18. What would you do, if anything, to improve street maintenance?
19. Approximately how much did the City of Santa Fe receive in federalstimulus grants and contracts in 2009?
20. Santa Fe’s second-largest stimulus grant is a transportation grant for $2 million. What’s it for?
21. What is the jurisdiction of the Santa Fe municipal court?
22. Santa Fe Rep. Brian Egolf’s local banking bill recently passed theHouse. Where do you bank?
23. What is your position on the Northwest Quadrant and what should be done with it?
Answers:
Miguel Chavez, 55, District 3 city councilor, woodworker
1. The property crime has, uh—the rate…now, does this include everything together, like homicides, robbery…? Just property crime. Home and commercial burglaries, let me see…um…you just want the percentage, right?…Uh, I think it’s increased. I’m gonna say probably residential burglaries are up probably close to 50 percent from last year.
2. Uh, front page of the newspapers? The—I think the biggest issue is the operation and maintenance of the facility as it relates to the—the roof leaking. There seems to be a lot of, uh, humidity in the building; uh, we’ve had buckets catching water in different parts of the building. The floor on the basketball court has got a lot of water damage over the last couple of years. So there seems to be this perennial problem with how that building functions, and water seeping into the building is the biggest problem that I can remember.
3. Well, lemme see. The only one that comes to mind is Passion, and I don’t know much about that one, but that’s the only one that comes to mind.
4. Biggest campaign donor…uh, let’s see…I set a limit on individual contributions and pledged that I would not accept more than $1,000 from individuals, businesses or corporations. And so to answer the question, the largest contributor was Dr. Bill Herrera.
5. City services that are unnecessary…mmm…city services that are unnecessary, um…Well, I draw a blank. Um…We’re talking basic services or just overall city services? Don’t have an answer for that one right now.
6. Boy, let’s see. I—first thing that comes to mind is that I would be in a classroom, uh, working with, uh, students, uh, discussing a career path and the history of furniture making and wood—wood carving in the Santa Fe area. Um, and I guess that’s what I would be doing.
7. GRT versus—county versus city…the county—the city is at, uh, 6.85, and the county…I draw a blank on the county right now. It’s a little less; I think the county was at 6.75, if I remember right.
8. Probably Jay Leno [laughs].
9. First offense I believe is, uh, I think it’s at $100.
10. And that would be a first-time offense? $150? Don’t have the answer to that one, either.
11. I believe it’s two weeks.
12. Again, please? I haven’t been—I honestly have not been following the legislative session much this year because of the campaign, so I draw a blank on that one also.
13. Five categories that make up creative tourism? Uh, I honestly don’t have the answer to that question, either.
14. I would be the editor, and this would be the story on the front page? I guess it would be, um, probably, um, it would be a story focusing on the, uh, authentic, uh, and quality arts and crafts that are produced, uh—handmade items that are produced, um, in the area and would expand on that. Uh, and I think that, if it’s not a part of creative tourism, it should be.
15. On campaign signs we’ve spent $4,000.
16. For individual or for commercial? This would be household solidwaste? Uh, I believe it’s—I’m thinking—somewhere between $30 and $40 a month.
17. No, I have not.
18. Well, street maintenance needs to be a higher priority when we plan for—for—um, you know, when we balance time for our budget and allocate revenue to the different departments. And streets, visually and structurally, need a lot of work, and I think that we need to have that, establish that as a higher priority in the tax funding on a regular basis so that we can be more effective in maintaining and upgrading of our city streets.
19. That I don’t know, either.
20. That’s to enhance our Santa Fe Trail, uh, bus system and from what I’m—from what I remember, see, uh, we do have connectivity between the Rail Runner, Santa Fe Trails and the north regional transit district so all those components in regarding public transportation have the connectivity to move people around in a—you know, and be user friendly so that they can move from one transit district or system into another.
21. The jurisdiction? Of the municipal court? Is just hearing cases within the City of Santa Fe regarding traffic violations and other ordinances that apply to the municipal, uh, court.
22. I bank here, at the Century Bank.
23. Uh, I think the Northwest Quadrant, uh, should be shelved for right now, and we should focus on what we started, which is TierraContenta and the, uh, southwest sector, uh, which includes, uh, orit’s dictated by the, uh, settlement agreement
Wow, there were how many—15? Wow, so out of 24 I missed about five,no? ...Those were hard! You’re really testing us.
David Coss, 55, mayor
1. What is the property crime rate in Santa Fe? It is high. I think in January we had, uh, 59 burglaries, all told.
2. What is the deal there? Haha. The deal there is that we’ve had some mechanical problems with the system because we keep water at several different temperatures and we have a big pool and we have metal roofs and, uh, if you don’t balance the humidity and the temperature, you get condensation on those roofs. And so we’ve installed a system that’s managing that pretty well right now, and we’re looking at some, uh, some more significant, uh, structural improvements to—to continue to make sure that gets managed.
3. Uh, well, one is Thor, and the other is a Soderbergh movie, but I don’t know the name of it.
4. My biggest campaign donor is AFSCME.
5. Um, I don’t think there’s any that are unnecessary. There’s some that are probably higher priority than others, but I don’t think we do unnecessary things.
6. Planting a tree by the river.
7. Um, in the city it’s right at 8 percent and, in the county, it’s uh—I think it’s about a half-percent lower.
8. Jay Leno.
9. Uh, $150.
10. Speeding.
11. Um, less than a week.
12. On, uh, the confidentiality of Medicaid records.
13. Five of the experience categories that make up creative tourism? Um, I’m just gonna guess: cooking, hiking, singing and dancing. That’s four. Oh, throw in skiing, then.
14. Uh…‘Youthworks Green-Collar Jobs Training Program Hires 100 More Young People.’
15. [Laughs] Uh, I don’t know. We’ve got, uh, 20 big signs that cost, uh, around $400 apiece, and we ordered 1,000 small signs, yard signs. (Any idea how much the small ones cost? No.)
16. I think—for a permit, or a monthly fee? Monthly fee. Monthly fee is around 10 bucks.
17. No.
18. Well, what we have done is get more crew and more equipment, especially for snow removal, and we’ve, uh, gotten more flexibility, including Parks, into the public works department so that we work jointly with parks crews and the streets crews. Right now we’re putting together a very large pothole patching program, now that we—as we move out of the snow season, now we go into pothole patching season. So you’ll see a lot of crews out working on potholes in the
coming weeks.
19. So far, for the, uh, federal stimulus grants, I believe we’ve got about $12 million.
20. That’s for the Airport Road safety and pedestrian improvements.
21. Uh, the City of Santa Fe.
22. Uh, First National Bank of Santa Fe.
23. I think the—the great preponderance of it should be dedicated as open space and that a few hundred acres should be dedicated for a very high-quality affordable housing development.
Asenath Kepler, 59, former city manager
1. Well, the burglary rate, residential and commercial: fourth in the nation per capita. It’s over—well, it’s over 100 percent of the national average, like 167 percent, I think.
2. Based upon the news articles I’ve read it appears that the equipment that is supposed to maintain negative humidity in some of the areas of the Chavez Center has not been operating properly, or the people who are supposed to maintain it are not properly trained in how to keep it going.
3. The one that was just on the courthouse steps…[laughs] which name I can’t remember! And I am laughing because my mind’s not on movies these days, and I can’t remember the name of the other one, but I love movies and, when this election is over, I plan to go see every one of them that was filmed here, so…[laughs].
4. So far I believe it’s Sheryl and Jim Bohlander. In cash, not in kind. That’s cash. Yeah.
5. Right now I can’t think of any unnecessary city services.
6. Target shooting! [Laughs] That’s my sport! And you all are the ones who outed me on that, years ago [laughs]!
7. Eight-point-something. [Laughs] I—I think for the city it’s 8.0625 or something like that; I don’t have the exact number in my head. My—again, my treasurer has that information, so…[laughs]…the county I think is—I think they’re just a little shy of us. I think we have a little more than they do.
8. What’s the—who?...Conan O’Brien.
9. $100
10. I don’t know [laughs].
11. I think two weeks is the…oh, I’m thinking. It’s quick. It’s—let me see. It’s five days.
12. I know they overrode his veto, but I can’t remember what it was for because I’m so focused on municipal politics [laughs]. But I did see that they overrode him.
13. The experience categories of creative tourism…unh. I do not know the answer to that.
14. Hmm…You know, I think the best thing to put on the front page would be how we are handling our long-term, uh, water security.
15. Let me think. We’ve spent—we’ve spent almost as much as we’ve taken in, and I think that’s in the realm of about $30,000 or so. The last reporting period we spent over $30,000. I think we’re between $30,000 and $40,000, but I don’t have the exact number; my treasurer does [laughs]. (Just to clarify, I’m talking about the signs. Oh, the signs alone? Oh, I’m sorry, I thought you meant overall. I think signage is probably our biggest expenditure. I’m—I’m—let me think for a minute. I know it’s probably over $10,000…um…I don’t know the exact amount, but I believe it’s our biggest expenditure, and I believe it’s—I—I believe it’s over $10,000.)
16. Twelve…twelve…a little under thir—12 and some change a month. A little under $13 a month.
17. No, but I’ve hit them [laughs] on more than one occasion, and when I was city manager I used to have people scream at me, “Fix the potholes!” [laughs]
18. I would like to quit outsourcing it. We outsource a lot of patching and repairs. I would like to have a dedicated division that does that internally; I really prefer to have direct oversight over repairs and maintenance, uh, crews that we can support, so I would really like to bring that—all that in-house and perhaps have a citizen advisory board that is in that industry help us figure out how we can most efficiently and properly repair—keep those streets maintained.
19. In last year? It was millions, I know. Hold on a second because my other phone is ringing; I gotta turn this off. Feel like I’m working in Grand Central Station here today. We—I know that for example we received almost $2 million in stimulus money just to buy foreclosures, you know, buy up housing that was in foreclosure, so it’s in the millions. It could be tens of millions. I don’t have an exact figure, but it’s in the millions.
20. You know, I’m not really sure. I believe it was to help with the regional transit authority. I’d have to look at it, though.
21. It is for municipal violations and ordinances.
22. We spread it around. We bank at Los Alamos National Bank and First National Bank.
23. I’m opposed to it because I think it is unnecessary. I would like to see it environmentally preserved for future generations, and finally, we cannot afford it.
Answer Key
1. As of a 2008 FBI report, the property crime rate for the City of Santa Fe was 3,647 per 100,000 people. Later reports by the Santa Fe Police Department indicate that rate increased by 105 percent in the second half of 2009.
2. The GC3 has long been plagued by leaks that a 2009 report suggests derive from faulty ventilation and humidity control in the pool area, a design that allows moisture to enter the walls and roof, and/or insufficient interior climate management.
3. Marvel Studios’ Thor, the Coen brothers’ True Grit and Steven Soderbergh’s Knockout, among others, are planned to film in Santa Fe. Passion Play finished filming in Santa Fe in early February.
4. As of Feb. 5, Chavez: William R Herrera and Miguel Chavez ($1,000 each); Coss: AFSCME ($10,000); Kepler: Sheryl & Jim Bohlander ($2,500)
7. 8.0625 percent (city); 6.5 percent (county)
9. $100
10. Failure to stop at a railroad crossing
11. Five days
12. On Feb. 8, legislators overruled a Richardson veto for the first time, for a bill that gives legislative auditors greater access to financial records, including for programs like Medicaid.
13. According to santafecreativetourism.org: Categories are: agritourism; community/culture/heritage; family-friendly/children’s activities; gastronomy/culinary arts; general; literary arts; outdoors; photography; pottery; science; theater/dance/music; trails and tours; visual arts; weaving/fiber arts.
15. According to SFR’s analysis of the candidates’ reported expenditures from Aug. 11, 2009 through Feb. 5, 2010, here are the stats:
Chavez: $3,842.50
Coss: SFR found $1,211.96 reported as “banners and signs” and $3,272.19 as “campaign supplies” from My Campaign Store, which offers signs and other election paraphernalia, for a total of $4,484.15.
Kepler: $10,096.20
16. $12.78/month
19. $18,114,656 (as of Jan. 15)
20. Airport Road. There is a grant for Santa Fe Trails, too, but it’s for $1.37 million.
21. Municipal charges including traffic, animal, parking, shoplifting, DUI, petty misdemeanors and code enforcement.
