Santa Fe faces serious challenges in bridging deep social and cultural divides but can find hope in its history, Mayor David Coss said during a Friday night speech.
In an hourlong address that served as the final installment of the College of Santa Fe's annual lecture series, Coss told a crowd of more than 30 people the city must base its economy on equality, sustainability and, most importantly, human rights.
"That is the basis of Santa Fe's success," Coss said.
A first-term mayor with a labor background and a fondness for progressive politics, Coss levied serious charges at President George W. Bush, calling his administration "criminal and incompetent."
"They seem dedicated to making all of our problems worse," Coss said.
In particular, Coss blasted the federal government's failure to pass substantive immigration reform and said he plans to introduce a resolution at the U.S. Conference of Mayors' annual meeting in June that would pressure federal leaders to take action on the issue.
But Coss admitted Santa Fe itself also holds responsibility for social and cultural inequalities that have increasingly come to define the city.
While he praised landmark legislation such as the city's "living wage" law and aggressive affordable housing rules, Coss said Santa Fe has been stratified since at least the late 1960s, when policies of "urban removal" began to uproot longtime residents and change the face of the city's downtown.
Currently, more than half the members of the city's police force live outside Santa Fe as soaring housing costs have forced many young professionals to look elsewhere.
Coss told the story Friday of an elderly man he discovered one day staring at the house he used to own. The man told Coss he had moved to Rio Rancho for economic reasons. When he tried to move back to Santa Fe, he found he could no longer afford the community's cost of living.
"Santa Fe is losing its workers," Coss said. "When they go, they take with them a piece of our history, our personality and our future."
Despite such losses, Coss said city leaders aren't giving up on the idea of Santa Fe as both attractive to visitors and affordable to locals.
He touted the city's upcoming 400th anniversary as proof of the city's indomitable spirit and indicated an ordinance will be introduced at next week's City Council meeting that would impose a 1 percent tax on all portions of real estate transactions that exceed $550,000. All revenue generated would go into an affordable housing fund.
Such fees, known as transfer taxes, are used in many states but have been controversial in New Mexico. State legislators nearly moved earlier this year to prohibit cities from using them.
Coss also said progressive environmental policies can play a role in bridging the social divide by engaging young people in the future sustainability of the community and creating "green-collar" jobs that pay well and help the regional ecosystem.
"We all know we're not done," Coss said. "Not by a long shot."
College of Santa Fe President Stuart Kirk, who introduced Coss, said Friday the mayor has brought a "high degree of social concern" to City Hall.
But the chance to speak on broad societal issues was admittedly a change to Coss, who joked mayors spend most of their time fixing potholes, hiring police officers and plowing snow.
