SantaFe.com

There comes a time in the life of every city—usually when it is at a critical cross-roads, when its future is at stake—when it has to decide which other city it doesn’t want to be.

That was true for Portland, Oregon in the early 1970s.

It’s true for Santa Fe now.

Back in the 1970s I was an assistant to the young mayor of Portland who had run for office on a campaign that said, “Ours is a city with much to cherish, much to save, and too much to lose to remain idle.” In fact, Portland was at an inflection point. San Francisco to the south was established as a sophisticated city; Seattle to...

Friday, February 29, 2008 at 1:28 AM
by Alan M. Webber • SantaFe.com

Every city likes to think there’s something special about it.

Boston, for example, likes to tout its combination of blue-collar toughness and Harvard intellectualism. New York will always be the place where, if you can do it there, you can do it anywhere. Chicago has big shoulders and Mid-Western pragmatism: it’s the city that works! Los Angeles, on the other hand, isn’t about working—it’s about glamour, glitz, and gold.

Look around America and you’ll see it’s true: Cities of all sizes, shapes, histories and heritages have something they can point to that let’s them say, We’re different.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008
by Alan M. Webber • SantaFe.com