March 25, 2020

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If you are in Santa Fe, quick Midtown Project alert: if you want to speak against a LANL site in Santa Fe, call or email the City before 1 pm today

Dear friends in Santa Fe –

Apologies for the rather late notice, but this morning's Santa Fe New Mexican alerted us to an opportunity for public input to the City Council regarding any possible LANL role in the City's Midtown Project ("Santa Fe City Council to consider $500,000 for coronavirus response") [article has been removed from SFNM website]. Tonight's agenda

includes three [I see only two] public hearings in which people who wish to testify or make “petitions from the floor” on a matter not on the agenda have been instructed to call the city at 505-955-6520 or send an email to publiccomment@santafenm.gov with their name and number before 1 p.m.

“We will call you during the meeting,” the agenda states.

An employee in the City Clerk’s Office said around 3 p.m. Tuesday that no one had yet requested to speak.

Comments about Midtown or LANL will need to be in "petitions from the floor" at or after 7:00 pm and if you wish to speak then you should put "petitions from the floor" in the subject line of your email.

Recent previous letters and our Midtown web page provide talking points.

Mayor Webber and the City are forging on as fast as possible on the Midtown project.

The city also is making plans for when the public health crisis ends. Webber said planning for the redevelopment of the midtown campus is ongoing; he has asked his directors of economic development, public works, and parks and recreation to get brick-and-mortar projects ready for construction.

“I wouldn’t be surprised to see a package come out of the Congress and signed by the president that is comparable to FDR’s first 100 days,” he said, referring to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s response to the Great Depression. “If we’re prepared with a lot of projects that can immediately be implemented, I think there will be a huge amount of money and energy and positive optimism to put America and put Santa Fe back to work.”

After initially promising feedback from one or two city councilors regarding our proposed resolutions we have received no further replies to any inquiries. We believe the Council is being railroaded using a dubious interpretation of (voluntary) city procurement rules.

Obviously, you can write letters or make calls to City councilors, or write letters to editors, at any time!

Stay safe,

Greg, for the Study Group