Hoping to rein in the runaway development that has
transformed Santa Fe, N.M., into a mecca for tourists and the
affluent, a new group is registering voters for the city elections
March 1. Take Back Santa Fe has trained dozens of volunteers who
are going door-to-door to register people to vote. Organizer Gloria
Mendoza says they hope to change the composition of the
traditionally pro-development city government by bringing seniors,
low-income and Hispanic people to the polls. Mendoza says these
people are getting pushed out of Santa Fe by rapidly escalating
housing costs. “The majority of people here want to change the
direction of the city,” she says. “Right now that direction is
money.” The business community has formed a political action
committee called Santa Fe Tomorrow, which is backing its candidates
for mayor and four council seats. Mendoza says her group hopes to
fight big money interests with a surge of people power. The city
elections are just the start for Take Back Santa Fe, which is a
spinoff of the Albuquerque-based Southwest Organizing Project. The
group will next focus on the county commissioners and the
governor’s office. For more information, contact Gloria Mendoza at
505/473-2090.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Taking back Santa Fe.
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